Chronicles of the Residuum: The Age of Destruction

The Age of Destruction is the first album in Robert Ratcliffe’s Chronicles of the Residuum: an ambitious electronic concept-album series combining beat-driven and cinematic music, sound design and narration to create an original science-fiction universe.

Across its 95-minute journey, the album follows Anku, a human escorting Unagu through the Residuum as her guardian and protector. Together, they travel through a vast and hostile realm where time, memory and reality do not always behave as expected, encountering strange civilisations, creatures and forces as a much larger story gradually begins to unfold.

Rather than placing a collection of songs around a separate narrative, The Age of Destruction tells its story through the music itself. Recurring characters, locations, themes and musical motifs connect the individual pieces, while a single narrator, environmental sound and carefully constructed transitions allow the album to unfold as one continuous experience. Its musical foundations lie principally in electronica, IDM and dance music, drawing upon the energy, invention and sonic experimentation associated with artists including The Prodigy, Aphex Twin, Orbital, Leftfield and the Future Sound of London. These influences are combined with cinematic and experimental elements, with each track shaped by the location, events and emotional atmosphere it depicts.

The album draws inspiration from classic concept records, science fiction, fantasy, horror, electronic music, film soundtracks and audio drama, while constructing a distinctive mythology of its own. Its world-building extends beyond the recording through original artwork, character and environment designs, invented languages and a developing comic adaptation, all revealing further dimensions of the Residuum and its history.

The Age of Destruction has received two Silver Medals at the Global Music Awards, for Electronic Music and Production/Producer, alongside a 9.5/10 review from Sonic Abuse and coverage from publications including Prog, Record Collector, Electronic Sound and the Journal of the British Fantasy Society.

It is not simply an album accompanied by a story. It is a story constructed through music.