Blawan SickElixir
Blawan's SickElixir lands as a bruising, claustrophobic manifesto that converts personal trauma and industrial decay into violent, danceable architecture. Across professional reviews, critics point to modular synth textures, vocal manipulation and mechanized grit as the record's defining language, and they consistently single out tracks like “Rabbit Hole”, “Weirdos United” and the title cut “SickElixir” as the album's most arresting moments.
The critical consensus is largely favorable: SickElixir earned an 80/100 consensus score across 5 professional reviews, with reviewers agreeing that calibrated chaos and distortion serve a clear artistic purpose rather than mere shock. Critics praised “Rabbit Hole” for its queasy, psychedelic respite and vocal clarity, “Weirdos United” as a melancholic centerpiece that uses chopped-and-screwed menace, and “SickElixir” for its brief, hallucinatory decay. Reviewers also highlighted opener “The GL Lights” and “Creature Brigade” for their blown-out bass, fluttering arpeggios and head-spinning modular work, naming those among the best songs on SickElixir.
While some critics find stretches of the record deliberately punishing, the prevailing view treats that difficulty as an aesthetic choice: the album frames addiction, grief and dehumanisation through dance as catharsis. Reviewers consistently note how voice-as-instrument techniques and controlled chaos create an oppressive, post-industrial atmosphere that rewards repeat listens. For readers asking if SickElixir is worth exploring, the consensus suggests a challenging but essential entry in Blawan's catalog that balances experimentation and club potency.
Below, detailed reviews unpack how these standout tracks and recurring themes make SickElixir one of the most unsettling and inventive releases of the year.
Critics' Top Tracks
The standout songs that made critics take notice
SickElixir
2 mentions
"Two minutes into the title track, a homage to a friend who passed away, the drums drop out and a distorted progressive chord progression appears."— Resident Advisor
Weirdos United
3 mentions
"He tackles chopped-and-screwed nursery rhymes on "Weirdos United,""— Resident Advisor
Creature Brigade
3 mentions
"and his grunting becomes a kick drum on "Creature Brigade.""— Resident Advisor
Two minutes into the title track, a homage to a friend who passed away, the drums drop out and a distorted progressive chord progression appears.
Track Ratings
How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.
The GL Lights
NOS
Weirdos United
Rabbit Hole
WTF
Casch
Birf Song
During Elevation
Don't Worry We Happy
Style Teef
Sonkind
TCP Burn
Creature Brigade
SickElixir
What Critics Are Saying
Deep insights from 5 critics who reviewed this album
Re
Critic's Take
Blawan's SickElixir is a bruising, haunted record where the best tracks - notably “SickElixir” and “Weirdos United” - splice metal and club machine music into something genuinely new. Ivry writes with awe, casting the title track as a two-minute moment where drums drop out and a distorted chord progression decays like a hallucinated sunset, and he points to “Weirdos United” for its chopped-and-screwed nursery-rhyme menace. The reviewer's tone remains measured but emphatic: these songs, alongside “Style Teef” and “TCP Burn”, show Roberts using his voice as another instrument, turning grief and industrial heft into the album's core strengths. This is why, in Ivry's voice, listeners asking "best tracks on SickElixir" should start with the title track and then explore the abrasive highlights that follow.
Key Points
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The title track “SickElixir” is the album's emotional and musical apex, pairing a decaying chord progression with the loss that inspired it.
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The album's core strengths are its inventive use of Roberts' processed voice, industrial-meets-metal textures, and bold expansion of techno's emotional range.
Themes
Critic's Take
Blawan keeps his mechanized fury taut on SickElixir, where the best tracks like “The GL Lights” and “NOS” turn corrosive noise into strange, danceable architecture. The reviewer's language revels in the album's brutish, unhinged gestalt, praising how “The GL Lights” extracts techno from dense strata of mechanized grit while “NOS” compresses blown-out bass and clipped whisper into a unified eruption. Lesser moments still serve the whole, as the odd charm of “Rabbit Hole” provides brief, alien relief amid the album's cavernous rhythms. Overall, the record's calibrated violence and sly production make these songs the clearest entry points for listeners searching for the best tracks on SickElixir.
Key Points
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“The GL Lights” is best because it anchors the album, extracting techno from mechanized grit while keeping the record taut.
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The album’s core strength is its controlled chaos: meticulous production that sculpts distortion and vocal manipulation into compelling, brutal forms.
Themes
Critic's Take
Alexis Petridis relishes how Blawan makes SickElixir sound claustrophobic and relentless, singling out “Rabbit Hole” and “Creature Brigade” as vivid high points. He describes “Rabbit Hole” as psychedelic and queasy, a moment when the chemicals start working too dramatically, and praises “Creature Brigade” for a fluttering synth arpeggio that turns eerie before collapsing into disturbing ambience. The review answers what are the best tracks on SickElixir by pointing to those songs as the most immersive and affecting, while noting the album’s concentrated, oppressive power. Petridis’ voice remains analytical and exacting, convinced this is a journey worth taking despite its difficulty.
Key Points
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The best song is "Rabbit Hole" because its psychedelic, queasy propulsion most vividly conveys the album’s claustrophobic intensity.
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The album’s core strength is its relentless, immersive sound design that turns even innocuous sounds into ominous textures.
Themes
Critic's Take
Blawan's SickElixir feels like a mechanised prophecy, and the best tracks - “Weirdos United”, “The GL Lights” and “Rabbit Hole” - crystallise that vision with brutal clarity. Jon Buckland writes in jagged, evocative sentences that map industry and rot onto thunderous drums, making “Weirdos United” the record's melancholic centerpiece and “The GL Lights” its terrifying opener. He highlights “Rabbit Hole” as one of the few humane respites, Monstera Black's vocal cutting through the machinery and giving the album its rare moment of clarity. The review's voice remains forensic and apocalyptic, pitching SickElixir as dance music for a world already lost to automation.
Key Points
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‘Weirdos United’ is the album's emotional and compositional centre, where Blawan's dystopian vision coheres.
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SickElixir's core strength is sculpting industrial, machine-driven textures that still allow fleeting human clarity and catharsis.
Themes
Critic's Take
Blawan's SickElixir thrives on discomfort, the best songs turning that unease into warped intrigue. The opener “The GL Lights” sets the template with blown-out distortion and paranoid vocals, while “Creature Brigade” is the album's showcase for head-spinning modular synth textures. “Rabbit Hole” and “Don't Worry We Happy” supply melodic lures - bubblier moments that still feel dangerously cunning. This is a challenging record, but those tracks stand out as the best songs on SickElixir because they balance menace and inventiveness in ways the rest rarely match.
Key Points
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The best song is "Creature Brigade" for its head-spinning modular synth textures and complex rhythms.
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The album's core strengths are its unsettling distortion, inventive modular textures, and a willingness to make the listener uncomfortable.