Save for a couple high-gothic palate cleansers from Siouxsie & The Banshees and Sisters Of Mercy, this challenge room is fairly grueling, a stinging desert where melodies barely dot the landscape like dead weeds. Machine Gun is an apt title for Portishead’s barrage of percussion. Scott Walker’s unearthly command of silence turns “Patriot” into a horror movie. And listening to “Hunting And Gathering” feels like being stretched on a torture rack, as vocalist Attila Csihar opens the gates to a realm of chthonic evil. Just beautiful stuff.