ALBUM REVIEW: Prostitute – Attempted Martyr

After teasing listeners with a partial release last year, Michigan-based industrial/noise rock outfit Prostitute now formally unveil their debut album Attempted Martyr via Mute Records. 

Formed around frontman Moe and drummer Andrew, Prostitute also features Ross, Bret, and Dylan. All five members grew up in Dearborn, Michigan, attending the same schools and moving within the same social circles before eventually coming together as a band.

Speaking about the record, Andrew explains: “When we started the album, the war in Gaza hadn’t begun yet. But the world was still pretty fucked up. The album is about someone trying to transcend in some way. This character is reprehensible, but we’re not trying to tell anyone what to think. This isn’t some manifesto — this is art. It’s an outlet for things we were feeling.”

That sense of unease and confrontation runs throughout Attempted Martyr. Opening track “All Hail” sets the tone immediately, fusing abrasive percussion with droning textures and seething lyricism. The result is raw and unsettling — a slow, grinding build of sound that feels deliberately unstable.

Elsewhere, “In the Corner Dunce” channels a faintly grungy atmosphere reminiscent of Nirvana, but avoids the expected explosive climax. Instead, the track lingers in a murky, slow-burning haze of distortion and warped tones before closing with a primitive, drum-driven outro.

A standout moment arrives with “Joumana Kayrouz,” named after a well-known Michigan attorney whose image appears on billboards across the state. The track unfolds like a fever dream, twisting voyeuristic fascination into a swirl of tense guitars and uneasy melodies, creating one of the album’s most hypnotic and unsettling passages.

Closing track “Harem Induction Hour” pushes the album toward its most overwhelming moment. Waves of guitars and synths collide in a rising wall of sound, producing a dense, almost radioactive blast of noise that captures the album’s emotional and existential turbulence.

Across its runtime, Attempted Martyr churns with tension and catharsis, balancing harsh industrial textures with carefully constructed songwriting. It’s a debut that feels deliberately confrontational yet strangely compelling — a chaotic reflection of a world that often feels just as unstable.