Chrome tears rolling down cyborg cheeks, Gesaffelstein is at his most vulnerable in GAMMAhis first album in five years.

The French electronic music icon reinforces itself as a sculptor of emotional resonance, building out monolithic structures carved with dark, glitched-out bass. Yet within these imposing buildings, intricate nuances shimmer and whisper. Gesaffelstein’s mastery lies in this equilibrium.

If Hyperion was a chrome-plated monument, GAMMA is the demolition, its anguished vocals writing to the soundtrack of his world on the brink. From the opening salvo of “Digital slaves” to the haunting, ambient coda of “Emet,” the new album is an exercise in duality. His virtuosic command of texture and timbre feels both alien and intimately familiar, an unflinching confrontation with the depths of the human condition.

Elsewhere in GAMMA, Gesaffelstein cranks up the claustrophobia by virtue of “Psycho,” a distorted banger that could soundtrack a horror film set in a mirror maze. And after that strobe light headache, he bathes in his afterglow in “The perfect,” a sonic sensory deprivation tank wherein his tortured vocals float atop a chugging beat.

You can listen to GAMMA below and find the new album on streaming platforms here.