Pharmakon 'Maggot Mass'

Pharmakon returns with 'Maggot Mass', her fifth full-length album, marking a bold evolution after a five-year hiatus. While still rooted in power electronics and noise, the album introduces industrial and punk influences, breaking from the original boundaries set by Margaret Chardiet for her project. 'Maggot Mass' reflects on humanity's toxic relationship with the environment, exploring the isolation and loneliness stemming from this broken connection. It questions personal and collective responsibility for destruction, urging us to recognize the cost of our comfort is not measured in dollars, but in death.

Chardiet critiques how humans often measure worth by accumulation—money, assets, and objects—mistaking this for power, while nature, embodied by maggots, plays a crucial role in regenerating life. Maggots recycle death, transforming it into nourishment for new growth, while humans pollute and exploit. Grappling with grief and loss on both personal and global scales, Chardiet finds solace in the idea of rebirth through decay. In 'Maggot Mass', Pharmakon imagines a path where life and death are given back to the earth, sustaining the ecosystem and challenging humanity’s disconnection from nature.