tirsdag den 6. februar 2024

Chaigidel - Entrails of the Earth



A new and fresh label called Dark Odyssey Records has just released its first release (read former label text on Kalteldur, link below). Entrails of the Earth by an Italian project called Chaigidel. This one is a re-release that was originally released in 2020. It was self-released digitally on Chaigidel´s official Bandcamp site... and it was also released by Nailed Nazarene Industries, both as a digital one and as a CD? I'm not sure if the CD was ever released, there has been some strange talk about the dodgy label Nailed Nazarene Industries... but enough of that! 2 other releases can also be located with Chaigidel, and they have been released by Cryo Champer, and Cyclic Law (check Discogs link below!) 

A decent cassette re-issue with excellent printing on thick white paper. Even a cool-looking colored photo of the artist Mattia Giovanni Accinni (behind the project) inside the inner sleeve.

The album contains only 4 tracks, but 40 minutes in total!    

The first track is called A Little Seed. There is a deep and huge cellar room, with a huge sort of circular steel barrow rolling on a stony surface. The sound is very good I must say. Next, there is a sort of... shimmering bell sound with some harsh glittering on top of it, and a creepy slow-flanging drone hums like a ghost in the background. There is a seed growing all right, not a pleasant one if you ask me. Maybe, it´s a virus (if you look at the cover artwork). Additional scratching sounds and creaking doors are added to the creepiness. A subtle rhythmic sound there and more subtle dark-ambient unpleasantness are added. So far, it´s very adventurous! Lots of dynamics and color (although dark and bleak)! Very good first track, the perfect fusion between ambient and industrial!

The second track is called Under the Soil. It's a very slimy sort of intro. Imagine worms and snails crawling over you, while the ever-growing roots of plants and trees are squealing your body together. And that is the sound there is here, there is also a heavy and monotonous loop giving it all a decent claustrophobic feeling. Some nice and harsh metallic bashing here, giving it a nice industrial edge. 


We flip the cassette and continue with the fourth track which is called Sulfur, Mercury, and Salt.  A thumping bone-crunching machine... thumps and thumps in the cathedral, not that far away from the sound of Brighter Death Now´s Pain In Progress. Lovely heavy and minimalistic soundscape, with hints of a sound there and here... which somehow manage to disappear into the ever-engulfing darkness within. Some extra and mysterious looped sounds are added, which are nicely faded in and out. Again, the aesthetic and adventurous feel are still here, feeding our constant curiosity. 

The last track is the fourth album which has the strangest title... 16/4. Is it a date? Or is it how much alcohol there is inside a vodka shot with a licorice taste? I tried doing a Google on 16/4, and the first answer was the vodka shot with the licorice taste. But the whole track could sound like the actual hangovers. Can you puke or not, or should you just go back to your bed? Whatever! The track starts like a headache, with very high-pitched sounds and some subliminal heavy moods in the background. If you added some trip-hop sounds it could sound a bit like Scorn! There is also the presence of human voices in there, and some low-tech radio equipment perhaps? Low-tech and heavy harsh death-industrial sounds are added, maintaining that atmospheric clinical sort of vibe. The whole last track is a humongous-moody monster, which could have been released as a single mini-album/EP. Perfect soundtrack material here for any horror movie. 

And that was... the sound of the Entrails of the Earth. Horrific and classic Italian death-industrial with a clear focus on mood and ritualistic aesthetics. I was actually surprised by this since most artists I have come across (who have had a connection with Cryo Chamber and Cyclic Law ) always sounded so... sterile and clean. Maybe that is why Cryo Chamber and Cyclic Law haven't made a re-issue of this one? Perfectly executed industrial-ambient with a nod or two to the harshness of noise. I´m curious what the other releases sound like! 



    



kl.