Ostgut Ton's first significant release of 2020 comes courtesy of Phase Fatale, an industrial techno-focused alias of New Yorker-in-Berlin Hayden Payne. "Scanning Backwards" is the producer's second album and is every bit as muscular, forthright and mind-altering as you'd expect, though the presence of clear EBM and industrial funk influences also ensures a healthy dose of rhythmic funk beneath the growling electronics, riotous riffs and slightly panicked Nitzer Ebb style melodies. Highlights are plentiful and include the metallic dancefloor paranoia of "Blinding By Oath", the pitched-down, wall-of-sound creepiness of "During The Freezing Process", the Test Department-does-ambient vibes of "Proxy Contact" and the throbbing intensity of "De-patterning".