Noise Cluster - Medusa, Who Else?
Another cool and interesting act from Italy. The first time I met Noise Cluster, was when I was reviewing the collaboration cassette album they did with Lyke Wake. Noise Cluster is Flavio Derbekannte (Also known as DBPIT) and Arianna Degni Lombardo (XxeNa). And this album is their fourth album. This album has been released as a digital release with a physical sleeve attached to it... quite a new thing right?. The sleeve is a great-looking poster/sleeve printed on recycled high-quality (thick) paper... it really looks awesome! An album containing 6 tracks, almost 30 minutes in total.
As you might have noticed, then yes... this is a concept album about the mythical being known as Medusa. The whole idea/concept is beautifully written on the Bandcamp site, here goes :
Medusa, who else? - Noise Cluster (and friends)'s latest music project - looks afresh at the ancient myth from the modern perspective which depicts the only attractive Gorgon not as the evil creature she is traditionally portrayed to be, but as a victim whose narrative was twisted to better serve a patriarchal culture.
Those who dared to look into her eyes were turned to stone because
of the coldness in their own hearts, but Medusa was blamed for the stony fortress constructed around their own souls.
Her hair was turned into magical snakes by the goddess Athena as a punishment for having been raped by the god Poseidon in her temple.
Her gaze was known to turn men into stone and only by a cunning trick did Perseus manage to behead her, during a supposed suicide mission the king Polydectes had sent him on, in order to get rid of him and have a free hand with his mother.
In other words, the story of Medusa is a story of a witch-hunt, where the hero is reality the perpetrator, and the victim is a symbol of sexual abuse. Interesting perspective if you consider the time we live in. Looking forward to hearing this album!
The first track is called Meet Medusa. Soundwise undercurrents of ritualistic ambiance start the track, with a cool and atmospheric-sounding hornet as well. We really need more industrial acts using a hornet/trumpet, like Throbbing Gristle and Klinik did! A spoken word revelation by Medusa herself starts, later on. An awesome rhythmic industrial ritual beat rises the moody tension of the spoken words. Great sounding voice (regarding the spoken word), slightly altered voice with a thick southern European accent (speaking English btw).
The second track Walled-in continues the great-sounding trumpets with some eerie cosmic sounds. A barbaric Conan the barbarian rhythm starts up with some spoken words, again... love how they have altered the voices! Really sounds great how the spoken voices (and effects) jump between your speakers!
The third track The Gorgons is an instrumental track without the vocals/spoken words. More cool trumpets ( I love them) and some ghosty sound effects, voices, and creepy piano parts. The ambient part stops and gets into a cold technoid rhythmic thump? Something new on the album for sure, but it sounds great nonetheless.
The fourth track Death By Stone has some interesting xylophone-sounding sounds, and some really great female vocals parts as well. For some reason, I am reminded of that Norwegian cult act Aghast, if they ever do something with In Controlled Bleeding! Very ritualistic and has lots of moods here, might be the best track on the album so far.
The fifth track Perseus Not A Hero truly marks my ability to understand the beauty of the German language, I cannot understand the bloody language. But it sounds great. Lots of cool industrial sounds with some nice esoteric moods (plenty of it).
The last track Pegasus is a full-blown techno beast of a horse. Thumping fusion between psychedelic dark ambient and cold industrial techno! Great way to end the album.
A great mini-album with lots of new thinking ideas inside. A fusion of various ideas has created something very unique. Old mythical tales were brought into a modern perspective, and into modern experimental electronic music. And I simply love the idea of only having the beautiful booklet/poster, while the album/music itself can be located (and heard) on my Bandcamp account. Highly recommend this album! Do seek the poster out, limited to 100 copies!
Bandcamp (band)):