Soma - Vociferando En Lenguas Antiguas
I have been in the company with the abstract and extremely harsh-noise unit Soma once. I have experienced the act through a release on the label Marbre Negre, the excellent Ewige Schönheit album (see the former review!). This time we´re not dealing with a split, just an entire album/cassette release with Soma. For those who don't know Spanish, then I can reveal to you that the English translation would be Screaming In Ancient Tongues.
This is kind of interesting when you examine the beautiful cover artwork. At first glance (front cover) you´ll see something which looks like something...which could look like something being zoomed in. A kind of strange but still recognizable organic/fungus-looking pattern. When you open up the cover and witness the photo inside, it´ll show a strange and ancient-looking cave wall with an enigmatic bust of someone on a square platform. Looks like a spot of some kind of worship. The same fungus-look structure can be seen on the cave wall itself. So the title Screaming In Ancient Tongues makes sense with the artwork itself... I like that. The idea is there, but there isn´t actual info about the location of the photo on the cover. Makes the listener wonder of course!
There are two tracks on this album, 40+ minutes in total. Live recorded as well!
The first track is called Primera Vociferación (First Vocation). Its starts with a hiss, which then evolves into harsh radio static. The harsh radio static starts to clatter, and with added flange effects it starts to move slowly up and down. Additional layers of abstract noise are added to top the cake. Screaming vocals from the world of the dead can be felt and heard later on (in the background). Love the way how elements of the vocals are being looped as well, kind of in the same way on early albums by NON. The whole thing then dissolves into a completely psychedelic Wunder-Baum of terrific cosmic noise from another dimension! Pure madness here.
The second track is Segunda Vociferación (Second vocation). Sounds like a distorted version of an old computer game, and then it starts to sound like noise coming from a haunted television...´They are heere´. After that, the whole thing collapses, and tons of action-driven noise drills, cuts, and impale the listener again and again. A bit more madness going on here than the former track, or is it just the sounds having an effect on my ears and brain!
A complete smörgasbord of every kind of mental mood that u can find/hear (and locate!) within the world of harsh noise-music. A challenging sound-beast that will (and can) give aural hallucinations! Don't say that I didn´t warn you. By the way, the Sonic-looking fellow below is actually the logo of the label Crystal Mine, be sure to check out the other releases from the label aswell!
