Praying For Oblivion - Station Grau
If you don´t know Praying For Oblivion, then I can reveal to you that this harsh-noise/power-electronics project has been around for some time now. And has been highly productive aswell. Been around 1999, and has had releases via cult labels like Smell the Stenth, Cranial Fracture, and Tourette Tapes. This one came out last year via Spanish Marbre Negre (30 copies) and U.S-based Imploding Sounds (25 copies). A-side contains a 17 minutes live recording called Zodiak, while the B-side contains two tracks called Station Grau I & II.
We start the A-side with Zodiak. A metallic, ritualistic and blistering wall of dynamic harshness greets the listener. Static radio noise and occasional painful human voices can be sensed in the vortex. There is a physical presence in the sound, the sound of a rumbling microphone-thingy inside a dryer-machine-thingy. A lovely and dynamic live-recording delivering harsh-noise statements with an industrial and ritualistic edge to it. Love the "one more time" from some guy at the concert, and offcourse the noise continues... into burning oblivion offcourse!. Would love to have experienced this live concert!.
We continue with the B-side which soundwise goes into another direction. Station Grau I is not a harsh-noise action, but more of an abstract low-tech experiment with a sound-track´ish approach. Surreal, musique concrete, early Dr. Who-soundtracks made by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop... that sort of stuff! And it´s actually very good, and incredibly inventive and dynamic.
The last track Station Grau II moves away from the abstract and moves a little bit closer to an intense bad trip. Not as subtle and quiet as the first one, but more of a nerve grinding tale to smother your ears into pulp. Not as interesting and mind-bending as the first Station Grau-track though.
A release having a great diversity in sound and dynamics. Great live recording, and some great moments with the Station Grau tracks. The release works and feels like some sort of an outlet of tracks, like a compilation. Would be great if the track had a clearer conceptual idea behind it... but as you guys know... that is how noise-artists work! Overall I think it is a great and interesting release, give it a spin! You can also purchase the t-shirt which came with it, check out the link below!
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Bandcamp (label):
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Official website (band):
T-shirt: