Signatus - Injusta Penitencia
An obscure harsh-noise/HNW inspired project with its second release out on Marbre Negre, and the first one for Kalteldur to review. Limited to only 15 cassette copies, a 25 minutes noise delight on each side. This means that the 25 minutes recording IS on each side, which then means that IF you have one of those tape players which automatically flips the side... then you can have an endless stream of primal cassette energy.
What does the band name mean then?. It means marked, sealed, or just something which has been signed. And Injusta Penitencia means Unjust Penance, which then means that you have by unjust means received punishment for being a sinner. This then takes us back to charmers like Matthew Hopkins the Witchfinder General, the Spanish inquisition, the Crusades, etc. The cover artwork shows you animal skulls, and one being penetrated by a curious sort of sword/dagger. Has a slightly anti-christian feel to it so far. Let´s get on with the recorded material, shall we?
The first track Falcata (name of a Roman sort of sword, notice the cover-artwork!). A raw and distorted sort of human-breathing sound, slightly metallic in its sound. Maybe the sound of a Falcata being sharpened before going to war. This get´s replaced and mixed with disturbing high-pitched squeals. Unpleasant intro for a brutal release/concept so far!
The second track Ídolos De Hueso Y Altares de Carne continues the high-pitched sounds with a thumping mixture of sounds trying to squeeze itself through the recording. Feels like your eardrums are being chopped up in small pieces. Interesting sort of real-time recordings going on in the background, some sort of microphone being scraped on something... Lovely screaming ending here kids.
The third track Revalación Bajo El Monolito introduces noises not far from the sort of high-speed noise coming from a manipulated short-wave radio. Love the bass-rumbling going on in the bottom.
The fourth track Pozo De Serpientes starts with a mechanical scream... which continues and continues until it completely explodes into a static noise wall. The background sounds like one of those glass-bottle factories. Could really feel my ears on this track!
The fifth track Eterna Devosión A La Nimfa Estigia continues the noise-brutalism with a more compact sound than the former. Putting a microphone inside the head of someone being tortured for being a sinner, could sound like this. A longer and more varied track here.
The sixth track Camino De La Injusta Penitencia starts the track in the realm of noisy ritual-music? So far the most interesting track on the album, offering mood and noise at the same time which then gives the track... a conceptual aesthetic. At this moment I couldn´t help thinking if this album would be in the same style as this track... then...
The seventh track Ungido Por Los Cuervos De La Guerra returns to the noise-wall/harsh-noise treatment with dynamic chaotic elements. If you do ask me, if you intend on doing noise then don´t forget these two words: Dynamics and mood. This track balances both dynamics and mood, the mood before action right? Also the longest piece on the album here!
The eight-track Más Carroña Para Los Lobos... is short and brutal HNW with an ear-damaging end.
Last track Netón Escupe Sobre Vuestros Cadáveres is the albums last attempt at damaging your hearing. I am not hearing it on high-volume kids! Not a directly aggressive piece, but a constant and torturous piece of nerve-griding sound-treatment from hell.
And that ends our final lesson in religious sound torture people. If you ask me, I can still feel and hear the album in my ears, a good thing or a bad thing?... I don´t know! It´s not a ground-breaking kind of a release, the storytelling conceptual theme is rather hard to hear. The one good thing (or two) I have to say about it, is that It contains a mood/feel combined with relentless noise brutality. It could leave you deaf if you are hearing it too loud!
