Film soundtracks nowadays tend to fall into one of two categories: a) variable quality/variable genre affairs with no obvious cohesion between the tracks other than the fact that the artists involved use it as a way of luring listeners in via film and b) background music which is capable of adding atmosphere to a film but taken out of context as a standalone piece is ultimately worthless. 'Perdition City' is described as music for an 'interior film'. The film probably doesn't exist of course, for this music is too obtrusive, and to be frank, too good for a soundtrack. It's hard to believe that this Norwegian collective once plied their trade in heavy metal given the offerings laid on for the listener. On the one hand there's the jazz-tinged side of desolate piano and intense percussion (evocative of Bark Psychosis and Talk Talk) and then there's the industrial side with breakbeat and trip-hop (redolent of Laibach's criminally ignored 1992 opus 'Kapital' with which it also shares some ropey vocals). Add these two styles together and the result is one of the most consistently riveting and atmospheric releases that is likely to be heard this year.