Almost a year to the day since their debut album Tundra was released, Lakker follow up with the most realised vision of their mutated strain of industrial/dub techno yet. Struggle & Emerge is not your average 'techno' LP though (we're talking 9 DJ tools and three ambient pieces to break it up a bit) more a fully realised body; Struggle & Emerge in the sense of a true LP has been designed to listen to from start to finish, giving the feeling of it being a journey rather than a few stand alone tracks pieced together.

A concept album of sorts, the basis for the work has been commissioned by the RE:VIVE Initiative who asked the duo to work with the broadcasts from the Dutch National AV archive to create music that was themed around water and the catastrophic 1953 floods and radio broadcasts at this time. This translates well as there is an urgency to the sounds on Struggle & Emerge. Deep and foreboding, they take in submerged electronics and oppressive beats to create a techno sound based upon survival. Steeped in history and rich in detail while carrying an undercurrent structured in historic fact, the context of this sound really shows a darker side to the duo that is not been prevailed before.

Much like recent sides from Skee Mask and Milton Bradley, this is a very modern techno sound that's spirit is one of fighting against oppression whilst looking for survival, and with this LP Lakker truly do emerge, it's just not clear yet if the dangers are swallowing up the world they have ended up arriving in.