PARADOX ENCOUNTER GROUP – Supersede
written by Mads Heilskov
Paradox Encounter Group is a fairly new project, with its first release being in 2017 according to Discogs, but Paul Harrison, who is the man behind it, has been around for a long time both as label owner and noise maker. On Supersede, he delivers 6 tracks of quite varied and enjoyable noise music. There is an old-school vibe on this release. It sounds like something that could have come out in the mid-‘90s, and there is a fair amount of darkness and claustrophobia present as well.
The first track features a blend of metallic and reverberated sounds, eerie choral work (I think…) in the background, and some more rhythmic structures. There is a handmade quality to this that I like a lot and it sends me straight back on a nostalgia trip to a different era of industrial noise in the best of ways from the very onset.
The second track picks up where the first left off with metallic clanging and rhythms that coil in and out of each other. The fine line between the erratic and the structured is balanced perfectly for uneasy listening, where buried shouted vocals and eerie spacy sounds blend seamlessly into each other.
The third track is more rhythmic and drum machine-heavy and features some sound effects that make me think of vintage video games; the kind you could play on arcade machines. This style is taken further and mangled more on the next track, which sounds like it’s perpetually breaking down. I like the broken sound of this track and the way snippets of vocals (or whatever those are?) blend in on occasion but are buried so deep in the mix that they mainly act as mood-makers.
The third track is more rhythmic and drum machine-heavy and features some sound effects that make me think of vintage video games; the kind you could play on arcade machines. This style is taken further and mangled more on the next track, which sounds like it’s perpetually breaking down. I like the broken sound of this track and the way snippets of vocals (or whatever those are?) blend in on occasion but are buried so deep in the mix that they mainly act as mood-makers.
The general feeling on this release is dark, often erratic and energetic as well as varied in equal measure. Supersede is dystopian in the sense that many of the sounds that are used recall heavy machinery breaking down. At the same time, it maintains a playful feeling throughout, perhaps because of the recurring sounds that have that certain vintage arcade game vibe to them. The sound palette is mostly mid-range throughout all six tracks, which adds to the vintage feeling. If you can look past the, let’s just say it, overtly bad cover “art”, then you’re in for a pleasurable old-school noise experience.
