Sokushinbutsu Project - 5980 - 

Patto Generazionale

The newest release from one of the more mysterious and esoteric industrial acts from Italy, almost (in a lot of ways) being an act that pays tribute to the industrial past of Italy. Thinking about acts like Ain Soph, Sigillum S, Circus Joy, and Teatro Satanico. The act made their thunderous debut 即身仏 on Industrial Ölocaust Recordings and came out as the second-best release reviewed on Kalteldur in 2021. This time the act has jumped onto something completely else, doing an interesting kind of remix/sampled/revisited-cover versions of vintage pop songs. Sampling sounds from the original recording and changing them while adding guitars, vocals, and various sound effects. 

The release has been released via a Swedish label called TIBProd, a label started by Jan-M. Iversen. I know this guy, cause I love the album he did together with Maurizio Bianchi (Rekviem MB-JMI). Anyways, the physical release is a nifty-looking red cassette encased with a nifty-looking cover artwork showcasing the two members looking like prober upcoming pop stars of the new age. Loving the whole camouflage kind of thing going on, and I love the idea! 

The first track Oh! Carol is by Neil Sedaka. A classic piece of easy-listening vintage pop music from the age of rock n- roll, milkshakes, and drive-in-cinemas. This version is beyond recognition but learns kind of close to a drunkard version of The Blutharsh. I love the primitive and harsh guitars, and the industrial rhythm going on. The vocals? Cool as well, lovely kind of apocalyptic feeling going on here. Boyd Rice would be proud.

The second track Passion Flower is by The Fraternity Brothers, an act and a song that I don´t know. I checked it up on Youtube but still have no clue. The track is more of a ritualistic and esoteric thing. Eerie-sounding (slowed-down) trumpet-like sounds and slowed-down sampled rhythms also end up being reversed as well. Disturbing and distorted sounds from a 90s clock radio, sleazy sounding jazz music (Nurse With Sound?) with some cool reversed ritualistic voices. A VERY hypnotic piece...strange and seductive too.

The third track gets even madder!. Tom Dooley with the Kingdom Trio! We even sang that song in school when I was 10 years old, back in 1987 that is! The track starts with a sample from the original recording, and then with real guitars and vocals done by Sokushinbutso Project. If you never felt the doom and despair of the original version, you are bound to get it with this version for sure. Twisted, sick, and slightly warped... but very minimalistic as well. 

The fourth track My Sharona by the Knack. A new-wave power-pop classic from 1979, which u all have heard soo many times on your radio channel for classic pop songs. This time, the track has been mutated into doom-filled noise rock! You can even mention early Earth here, it´s really quite heavy and without any light at the end of the tunnel. 

The fifth track Upside Down by Diano Ross is, by all means, one of the biggest hits from the disco era (besides Donna Summer´s I Feel Love of course!). It starts with a metal-bangin ensemble of early Test Dept´ish rhythms, slow distorted melodies, primitive warped sound effects, and some really frightening and evocative (sampled?) vocals. Everything is quite...upside down here. The primitive drum-machine parts, later on, are just spot on, lovely kind of early industrial sound here! Sampled recordings of Diana Ross saying Upside Down here...are just wicked!

Last track The Wanderer by the queen herself Donna Summer! Never been into that hit of hers, always preferred her I Feel Love with Giorgio Moroder. This version of the Wanderer could sound like something from the first Unnatural History by Coil instead. Which of course makes it "sound" better than the original version. A very spacy industrialized piece with some cool mind-warping sound effects, early console-gaming consoles, and Coil together? I must say that I love it!. 

And that ends that journey. When old nostalgic industrial guys think back to a time when pop music actually... meant something. I would HIGHLY recommend listening to the original before listening to the cover version. The first time I listened to their album, I didn´t actually get the vibe. But when you get into the original recordings first, it ends up being a completely different journey. Actually surprisingly mind-blowing! Again, like Boyd Rice (and Fad Gadget) would say... Easy listening for the hard hearing!. 

Bandcamp (label):

https://tibprod.bandcamp.com/album/5980-patto-generazionale

    

   

Kadaver - Micro Death

We´re back again with another release from the maestro of harsh death noise, Kadaver from Israel. Micro Death came out last April on a label (which I do not know) called Fantasy 1. A cool-looking noise label from Texas with cool acts like Black Leather Jesus, Astro, and Vomir. The new Kadaver CD-R album has been released in a slim-line DVD with an insert, my promo version is in a nifty-looking plastic pocket with yellow paper which has been printed on it... think I recognize the photo on it... from some old 80s Italian horror flick I think. There are two tracks on this mini-album, about 35 minutes in total here. 

The first track is called Fleschette Bloodletting. Fleshette (or Flechette) is another word for a pointed steel projectile with a tail for a stable flight... dart. And with bloodletting after that, it would then sound like some sort of i-dare-you-contest... or some new kind of torturous sport! Anyways!. The track starts with a blistering and crunchy wall of high-pitched sound. A cool and menacing bass wall, distorted demonic voices are hidden within, and then also the razor-sharp machinic wails and screams. The sound quality is excellent, love it when you can hear all the effects and the crunchiness of it all. Harsh noise version of Brighter Death Now´s Inner-war in a way. Also a kind of cosmic greatness in the sound, very high to the ceiling as well. A devastating and hellish 18 minutes and 48 seconds in pure delight.

The second track simply called Wasser (Water in German) starts with a distorted sound which I haven´t heard in some time... with the speakers on your old tube television going down or some of that gritty noise that could be located on an old VHS tape. Additional elements of shattering and shredded noise are added to the tube television. Away from the BDN sound and closer to the Grey Wolves sound, but still in the slowly-built harsh-noise approach/atmosphere. Not as action-driven as the former track, but closer to a kind of dynamic noise wall. More of a nihilistic vibe going on here. I like the idea that the track seems to have a kind of static expression in the sound, but listening closer and you may notice the action going on behind the static expression. And the sound expression intensifies (slowly) the further you get into the track, giving you that impression of getting higher and higher in some elevator. Maybe the track was trying to illustrate how water moves when flooding is happening... I know! ... Since I have experienced that in my cellar!

Cool tracks, cool album. Delivering what was promised from a Kadaver album. Abstract ambient noise or just harsh death industrial noise? The Sound (and the expression) is excellent and diverse, with a lot of layers and depth in the sound as well. I was almost close to finding the second track a bit boring, but as Hannibal Lector would say ´ All Good Things Comes For Those Who Wait! ´ and that is exactly how to describe that second track. Overall, a fantastic noise treat!. 

Bandcamp (label):

https://fantasiaeternal.bandcamp.com/album/kadaver-micro-death

Bandcamp (band):

https://kadaver.bandcamp.com/

 

 Fallen - Our Dreams Will Be Told

Fallen is another act that I haven´t heard about before, although the artist behind this project has been quite active since 2015, with 14 albums so far. Lorenzo Bracaloni is the brain behind the project, and he is also working as The Child of a Creek. Fallen is mostly within the spectrum of atmospheric ambient, while Child of a Creek works around psychedelic folk music. 

This album was released this year, in May 2022. Which would mean (According to Discogs) that we are dealing with the latest Fallen album. This one is called Our Dreams Will Be Told, and the cardboard-wallet sleeve features a dreamy kind of vintage photo of a beach in the summertime. Which was kind of perfect, because at that time I was listening to the album for the first time... I also was at a beach, in the summertime. Watching my 2 eldest sons bathing in the sunset. Quite a perfect setting right? The physical is already sold out (65 copies) on the label, but the digital version is of course there on the label Bandcamp site (link below). 

The first track on the album is called Let there be more Light. A melancholic bell-like synth melody starts the track, and an additional dreamy ambient synth is added later on. There is a  feeling of nostalgia here, and there is a longing feeling for those days of old. Suddenly Camouflages synth-pop classic Where Has The Childhood Gone pop-ups into my mind, while the tune reminds me of Psychic TV folksy ballad Drifting. A beautiful piece of melancholia here. 

The second track Undisclosed Promises enters a more 80s film-soundtrack kind of vibe. Dreamy string synths, piano, and a humming and rhythmic bass drone in the background. Additional human choirs also being present as well. Great piece of ambient music, I'm not sure about the piano and the acoustic guitar though (a little bit too close to wellness music for me). 

The third track Dove´s Secret Shelter opens up with quiet but majestic synth keys. Just imagine dunes, the very pattern the wind creates in the dunes. Some cool-sounding NIN kind of piano tune is added here as well, with some post-rockish guitars as well. A very good track here, everything sounds good here! The wellness feeling is absent here, so no worries. Epic, mysterious and majestic beyond description.

The fourth track Blue Waves, Gentle Wind gives the listener just that feeling. Love the drums here, the icy ambient beats. Stretched-out human voices haunt the scenery, while that gentle piano falls like raindrops. Fans of William Orbit would love the piano parts. 

The fifth track Bright Eyes Don´t Lie kind of continues where the former track ended. I really like the beautiful simplicity of this. It´s quite easy to get that kind of aesthetic feeling here, there´s almost a story going on here (I think). In other words, I don´t think we are dealing with fiction. It still within that 80s soundtrack kind of feel, when James "Sonny" Crockett of Miami Vice gazes over the beach... pondering and wondering. 

The sixth track Stolen Empathy, Bitter Tears... there´s some drama in here I think. Kind of, the silence before the storm. Is there a storm brewing on the horizon? We don´t know, but we hope not. Cool and icy rhythms and cool reverbed melodies here as well. 

The seventh track Out of Noise... is not a noisy track of course. But more of a track/thing that has survived the storm which I mentioned earlier. The feeling of bitter disappointment perhaps? It lingers in the melody here kids. Kind of going home on the bus/train after a party and asking yourself what the hell happened (sort of sound/feeling). Don´t drink too heavily at harsh-noise concerts, bound to fxxx you up!      

The last track Our Dreams Will Be Told (same as the title of the album) might prove that there is a cure for your hangover from last night, in other words... there is light at the end of the tunnel. At that ends the album. Again with melancholic synth dreams.

I like the album a lot, if you/I get past the nods of mental and spiritual wellness then you are actually dealing with a fine piece of pure ambient music/pop. It´s not for everyone as you can hear, but I would recommend (nonetheless) the album for any fan of 80s ambient music. A good example would be guys like Steve Roach, William Orbit, and Brian Eno of course. Decent chill-out stuff for troubled times.

Bandcamp (label):

https://rohsrecords.bandcamp.com/album/our-dreams-will-be-told

Bandcamp (band):

https://thechildofacreek.bandcamp.com/

 

   

 The Rita - Macha Vs. Knife

Another review for Swedish label Ominous Recordings. Legendary pioneers of harsh-noise-wall-act The Rita is out with a two-track compilation called Macha Vs. Knife. Out on CD (Digipack!) via Ominous Records. Two huge tracks are 30 minutes in total, which leaves the listener with an hour of relentless noise-scapes for the hard of hearing! The limited CD is out on 300 copies, so it should be possible for the curious to get a copy!

The first track called Macha Magall, was a track that was originally released as a split with Goat on Deadline Recordings in 2007. The title of the track itself is also the name of the movie actress which you can see in the cover artwork. A cult actress from Belgian who was in erotic and nazi-related exploitation flicks of the 70s, mostly known for her role in La Bestia In Calore. 

The Rita is mostly known for its HNW outputs but this recording is more in the vein of stretched-out harsh noise. Metallic and thundering epic noise from the bowels of a tank. Shrapnel from an exploding hand grenade rotates in the air and cuts into the flesh, kind of the same way how the noise operates from one speaker to the other. Primitive extreme low fi harsh-noise at its best. Incredible how much energy the artist has squeezed into 30+ minutes! Proto HNW in a way, imagine a TV screen showing a static snow screen. And you can almost sense, see and hear various fragments of a transmission hidden in there. Kind of an expression forcing its way out of nothingness. 

The next track is called Straight Razor Vs Knife which was a track that was originally released as a split with Maim on Snip-Snap Recordings in 2005. More of an HNW noise track, but with a more aggressive ambient-noise approach. The start of the track gives the listener a sound-wise sensation of a knife getting sharpened on one of those machines. Later on the sound spurts and screams with microphone distortions, and a vinyl player playing a sand-covered record. And then later on it enters an almost digital-created soundscape, and the noisy analog sounds transform into square computerized pixels. I'm not even close to being halfway through this track! I guess at this point, the ambient-noise approach has been vaporized into the thin air. 

Probably one of the most brutal 2-track albums I have heard in a long time. At times you do think that you have a pretty good idea of where the album/sound will take you, but then once in a while, it takes a sharp turn into a new direction all. Very monotone kind of sound expression, but also a very adventurous and refreshing sound on this compilation album by The Rita.   

     

Bandcamp (label):

https://ominousrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/macha-vs-knife

Bandcamp (label):

https://phagetapes.bandcamp.com/album/macha-vs-knife