torsdag den 25. maj 2023

 Barrera - No Input Can Save Me From My Demons



Yes! A new Barrera tape from David López Saludes! This time on an interesting Swedish label called Mima Kass, an anti-music cassette label since 2019. Few copies left on the label, so you better be quick! A simple setup of tracks. One track on each side, each track being about 30 minutes long. All in the glory of pure HNW! Before I continue with the review, let me introduce you to a piece of philosophical text found within the inner sleeve:

"Does God want goodness or the choice of goodness? Is a man who chooses to be bad perhaps in some way better than a man who has the good imposed upon him?!

A text which raises certain questions, in the same manner as reading and understanding the stories of the Brothers Grimm or fables by Fontaine. Moral issues and questions regarding the actions of human beings. The question answers the question, in a way. Is it the bad man who imposes goodness upon others to control them? Might just be, does raise some questions when it comes to organized religion for mass consumption! This point of view also links nicely up with the artwork from the movie A Clockwork Orange, where man has invented a method to use technology to impose goodness upon certain criminals, in other words... to control them.


But anyways, the first track is also simply called No Input Can Save Me From My Demons... Side A. The cassette starts like the engine of a drag racer car. The sensation of bursting flames and smelly hot fumes and melted plastic. And again, as it is often with the case of Barrera... I can hear and sense a heavy dark-ambient texture roaming in the background. Which really is something that works great with HNW! With a long track like this, you (as the listener) really have to be patient. In the same matter as speaking and talking to an Ent, a single word/expression takes ... well. 30 minutes. But it's good anyways, the ambient texture in the background makes the noise vibrant, dynamic, and adventurous. I am not even halfway through the first track just yet! Later on, it does sound as if the dark-ambient textures have turned into eternal-looped moans coming from the mouths of dying angels. Yes, it does actually sound as if heaven has caught itself on fire! The sound of something which sounds like a short-wave radio also being present here. 

Ok, I'm tuning into the B-Side of the tape. I do have that strange sensation that I have been here before. Like getting lost inside a HUGE maze, and you end up being back to where you started. And as I was writing this, suddenly something new was revealed to me. The sound of this album is so dense, that u can alter the sound of it if you turn your head/ears. If I turn my head up, I can easily hear the heavy sounds. And if I turn it down, then the high sounds can be easily heard. Virtual reality and HNW in one page, who would have thought of that! Basically, I think that both tracks 1 & 2 should be seen as 1  track... instead of two.  

Well, my ears are red and I can feel a throbbing sensation inside my skull. Good thing I have a beer beside me. This one with Barrera is probably the most challenging of all his releases. Not because of its length, but more because of the expression itself being completely spaghettified like being sucked into a black hole! Might just be the last Barrera release/album? It's a hell of a beast, non-dynamic yes but filled with constant violent tension. So yes, if this doesn´t save you from your own demons... nothing will!


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