“Holy Scum”. Say it out loud. It’s a name that can’t help but be spat out viciously; a snarling exclamative that fits the bludgeoning sludge and feedback drenched improv rock that its progenitors unleash.

Initially a Manchester-based collaboration between guitarist Peter J Taylor (formerly of Action Beat and serial project starter under his own and other aliases), Gnod co-founder Chris Haslam on bass and his bandmate Jon Perry – also of Shuck – on drums, the thick gauze of Holy Scum’s endless hours of recorded jams from deep inside an old Victorian mill have been pulled apart in production by one of half of the legendary hip-hop duo Dälek, Mike Mare (aka Mike Manteca). In fact, he also provides the growling, guttural vocals that fight the elements around them.

“At first we were just turning up to our space in Brunswick Mill, having a chat, drinking some beers and jamming on some riffs, which eventually started to become this mostly improvised, free noise grind,” says Haslam. “When Mike got involved it became another thing entirely to what we had originally perceived. He added a whole new dimension to what we had been working on.”

Taylor, Perry and Haslam came into each other’s orbit at Salford’s Islington Mill, an artist studio space and former venue where Haslam spent many years living and where Taylor and Perry frequented

regularly. As a founding member of Gnod, Haslam helped lead them through an ever-evolving journey through the thick end of dark and heavy experimentalism, but the chance to start from scratch on something appealed greatly. For Taylor and Perry, it was a chance to rekindle the creative aspect of a long-held friendship.

Mare and Taylor, meanwhile, go back to 2007 when Action Beat toured with the former’s solo project Destructo Swarmbots and subsequently played several shows with Dälek over the years. Taylor initially reached out to him to provide some guest vocals, but once the producer started opening up the tracks he found himself adding synths alongside his vocals, as well as twisting, contorting and layering up the group’s already lacerating fuzz into something even more behemothic.

A celebration of the collaborative spirit in all of its twisted forms, howling amidst a world fallen off its axis, Holy Scum are unflinching in their confrontation of it.