1003 – 0.3 EP
1003 – 0.3 EP
Self-Released
Release Date: 30/01/26
Running Time: 26:59
Review by Dark Juan
7/10
Well, I am furiously trying to catch up to Oli Gonzalez and new Ever-Metal.com alumnus Jon Deaux as they have set a scorching pace to reviewing music in 2026 on our little corner of the World Wide Web. I am extremely a) perturbed and b) relieved because it has historically been Rory and I vomiting up reviews at pace, before Oli and the other current crop of writers joined the slightly rusting and leaky ship but as both of us have moved on to actual adult work involving responsibility and this means that I can no longer keep up the frenetic pace I have done in the past. I can’t speak for Rory. He’s probably been locked away for the safety of the realm or something. However, this infusion of fresh blood (and their slightly concerning enthusiasm and ability) means I have to up my game again and stop resorting to the same old tropes of slaughterhouses and wet grey concrete and come up with exciting new similies. Time to buy a thesaurus and go synonym and antonym mad…
Things I have been excited by this week include finding Vocation Brewery’s Death By Cherries sour beer for sale in Asda, finally cracking open the bottle of absinthe I got for Christmas and it not snowing on Friday and therefore creating a staffing nightmare I would have had no control over. Something that did not excite me was my oldest dog having a somewhat negative response to medication and turning basically into a living, breathing shitcannon all over the bedroom at 4am when I had to be up at 7am and Mrs Dark Juan had decamped into the spare bedroom because I apparently snore worse than the entire second watch of a Royal Navy warship.
She is lying. And yes, I have been reading Horatio Hornblower novels.
The Platter of Splatter ™ has been coaxed from its lair with the promise of alcohol and music. It is easily convinced by booze, as is Dark Juan. An offering has been reverently placed upon it, this being “0.3”, the latest EP from 1003 – an Electronic/Synthwave/Post-Punk band from the proud city of Marseille, in France, for those for whom geography is not their strong point. And not the ones in Illinois and Ohio either. The proper Marseille. The French one.
The record opens with, amusingly, ‘THE END’. One is immediately drawn to the seductive and wide-ranging tones of vocalist Jessy Bengold. He sounds like a particularly lascivious Trent Reznor prowling a goth club looking for just the right lady. The music ranges from the squeaks and squelches of Synthwave and mixes these with a pounding backbeat of Industrial percussion and some elements of Futurepop. It makes for an unusual listening experience, like being in a completely liminal space with sensory overload and an unsettling disquiet about just what is behind the door to your left. A promising start.
‘THE CONTRADICTION’ is next and this chucks a Thrash Metal riff into an industrial mixer with sweeping, discordant electronics and a brisk beat and then tops of it off with a bizarre, alternate-universe feel like driving a convertible car down the brightly lit Miami strip where all the population are bloodsucking vampires. There are not birds, there are bats, and the shadows are a dangerous place to be because that’s where the feral revenants are. ‘THE DEBATER’ chops this aesthetic right out, though, as it enters into the realms of Electronic Body Music and Electropop. This is a song that makes no pretense towards anything like brutality – instead it gains its power through bells and left-field Gallic charm. It has depth and feel, and starts off firmly in the dark, until increasingly frenetic drums lift the piece until eventually it emerges, blinking and disorientated into the light.
‘THE HOLE IN THE GROUND’ covers more musical territory, a Hip Hop beat underpinning a real Pop aesthetic on the verse, that gives way to a Trip-Hop chorus. It echoes the Poppier elements of David Bowie in the vocal lines and arrangements and is very reminiscent of “Dummy”-era Portishead, which is indeed a Very Good Thing. Until the song absolutely explodes with buzzing, angry Electronic basslines and fuzzy guitars. It then adopts an epic quality which the likes of Gunship and Carpenter Brut effortlessly attain.
‘THE BODY’ begins in a fun fashion, with tinkly-bonk squelching and squeaking, not unlike a bit of Chiptune until it morphs into an insistent, martial tempo with some unusual drum patterns and coruscating waves of Synth work, very reminiscent of VNV Nation in their pomp. One can easily imagine Ronan singing one of his peaens to peace over the music. It then settles down into a fairly standard piece of polished, shiny Electronic Industrial that doesn’t really go anywhere, musically. It is a bit of a disappointment compared to the quality of the songs that have gone before.
The record closes with ‘THE SHAPES’. This is a return to the form shown by 1003 before ‘THE BODY’. All unusual vocal phrasing, psychedelic Trip-Hop beats and a simple yet insistent bassline is shot through with robotic chirps and squawks before some much-needed weight is provided through some particularly visceral percussive samples and distorted, heavy guitar.
The high points of this record are the vocals and lyrics. The words are dark and unsettling and the vocals both disturbing and seductive at the same time. It is that otherworldliness, the slightly off-kilter aspect of the music that makes me a fan of 1003’s music. I will state for the record, though, that “0.3”is not likely to be a record that the more mainstream fan of Metal will get a lot from. Only the more intrepid musical explorers will be able to partake of the dark delights this French quartet have to offer. 1003 are more for the Industrial people who are able to handle a bit of exploration of the genre. This is not a failing. In an ever more crowded musical world where even sub-genres have sub-genres, having something that is fresh and unique is valuable. 1003 are both of these things as well as being polished, capable and sexy as hell.
The Patented Dark Juan Blood Splat Rating System (Le système breveté de notation des éclaboussures de sang de Dark Juan est de retour, de la part de votre francophile préféré… ou presque ! Je tiens à vous assurer une fois de plus que, bien que britannique, j’aime mes amis européens, et plus particulièrement mes amis français, et j’attends avec impatience le jour où ces crétins de Britanniques se débarrasseront du Brexit et où nous retrouverons nos amis européens. Nous avons été pris en otage par des imbéciles et des racistes, et je m’en excuse. Nous sommes des millions à ne souhaiter rien de plus que de retourner au sein de l’UE, aussi imparfaite soit-elle. J’espère que nous y parviendrons bientôt.) awards 1003 a score of 7/10. This is to reflect that the music flirts with Metal occasionally but could not even loosely be described as Metal.
TRACKLISTING:
01. THE END
02. THE CONTRADICTION
03. THE DEBATER
04. THE HOLE IN THE GROUND
05. THE BODY
06. THE SHAPES
LINE-UP:
Jessy Bengold (vocals/guitars/synths/machines/lyrics/composition)
Louise Baudu (synths/machines)
Martin Baudu (bass/guitars/machines)
David Benzazon (drums/drum machine)
LINKS:
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