Eptic

Eptic, the Belgian producer Michel Bielen, started writing dubstep as a teenager and began performing as a DJ at 19. He gained real notice in the scene after his 2012 EP 'Like a Boss' came out on Never Say Die Records, the label that would carry much of his catalogue afterward.

His tracks are built around aggressive, precisely constructed sound design, with horror and monster-movie imagery running through titles, artwork and the growling, animated basslines themselves. It gives his productions a cartoonish, exaggerated sense of menace rather than straightforward heaviness.

He has collaborated widely across bass music, working with Habstrakt, DJ Snake, Valentino Khan, Jauz and Dillon Francis among others. His extended play Overlord became one of his more visible commercial releases, reaching number 22 on Billboard's Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart.

In his sets he favours high-impact drops over long build-ups, keeping the emphasis on the same craft and menace that mark his studio work.