Encroaching - Ash In The Room Below (demo)

There is more from Bent Window Records that needs a review! The moment I saw the cassette cover artwork and the enigmatic name of the act (and the album title), I just knew that it had to be good. Of course, we know that what we are looking at looks like a thing between a newborn baby and an extraterrestrial. I'm not sure where the photo comes from, but I am sure I have seen it in one of my books about aliens, Roswell, and UFOs... or in Spielberg´s Close Encounter of the Third Kind? 

Ash In The Room Below has come out as a limited 25 copies cassette, and it´s also the first official release by this elusive act. It´s a solo act with a... N.G. doing synths, I wonder who N.G. could be? Probably one of those weird isolated types from British Columbia. Maybe one day I shall find out who it is, whatever is on this tape... is absolutely pure gold!   

The first track is called Illuminated War. A cold, monotonous, and dry tone slowly moves up and down, clearly getting the listener into the mood of some dead base in the Antarctic. A warped recording of something speaking through an ancient radio adds an extra element to the subtle but horrific experience. 

The second track Dilapidation perfectly describes the sound of decay, and how things just... well... fall apart. A reversed sound of effect-layered windy sound, primitive synth-drones... and that awesome sounding sound of metal, maybe from some sort of rusty coil of metal? The whole track really gets under your skin. Looking out of your window, and maybe experiencing utter desolation and decay. There is really nothing out there, just emptiness. But don´t run away, these nihilistic atmospheres get me in a really good mood!

The third track Guiding Ease From The Outside has a more of a sci-fi sort of spacy sound to it. Echoed analog synth keys and a mind-mumbling background. At this point, you are quite aware that this stuff is getting into you. Strangely retrospective familiar and strangely tripping unique.

The fourth track Transfix The Eye wraps it all together in a lovely old-school proto-death-industrial sound, not that far away from Lille Roger! Everything sounds... like a small hole that the listener can see through. The sounds are incredibly intriguing and inviting as well, the recorded material wants to invite the listener inside! It´s hard to see (with your rational mind) what the hell is going on, but your irrational mind is seeing way more!

That´s the... effect of Ash In The Room Below. It doesn't expand your mind as such, but it does open a tiny peek hole into... well, another place. There is a great nostalgic touch here and there, about how analog shit being recorded in Vancouver just works! The album is really tense and dark, but the seducing sound just keeps on inviting the listener further inside... until you are pleasantly lost. Is there ash in the room below? ... There is, we just don´t know where the ash comes from... we really don´t!. 

Bandcamp (label):

https://encroaching.bandcamp.com/album/ash-in-the-room-below-demo

         

 Circuit Corruptor - Synthesizing the Absence of Your Soul

More mayhem and destruction from Circuit Corrupter! The second album is out on Phage Tapes, with the nerve-wracking title Synthesizing the Abscene of Your Soul. Released as a limited, nifty-looking CD Digipack with some terrific (and terrifying) graphics attached. 

First of all, you have the front cover with a strange-looking human body, photo/picture has been cut into various small pieces. Notice the small wires hanging from the body...and the bloody area where the sexual organs are. Open the digipack are more beautiful gruesome graphics are revealed, mostly black and white with the color of blood here and there. There is also the inner sleeve, showing a mutant rat with wires attached to it, and more mind-bending collages. Horror fans will love the artwork! I know I do. Let´s get it on with the recorded material within! 

The first track is called Prelude: Judgement and Verdict of the Fallen. Sample/recording from a courtroom, the judge/attorney asking about why he killed his own mother (among others). He goes on about a satanic view of things, why good is evil and evil is good. He is then asked if he feels responsible for his actions, and then the noise hits you like a brick wall. It screams, burns, drills, and moves the ears around a brutal soundscape like a digital hurricane. And then it ends with an eerie burial/funeral-rites soundscape.

It starts again with the second track The Descent where the listener is being led right back again into the torturous machine of sound! Everything is raw and brutal, with a touch of digital chopped-out mayhem. Heavy thunderous sounds here, wet and slippering sounds there... everything just sounds soo damn sharp! 

The third track Lethargy and Vigil drills and riås everything in an explosion of cosmic terror. Eerie ambient intermission kicks in there as well, and ends when the torture begins again. Lots of high-energetic harsh noise with complex industrial elements here and there.

We jump further into track 7 Your Face Is Fading Away. A piano part starts the track, well well-known classical melancholic piano piece here... bugs me that I can´t remember who did it... Chopin? Lizst? Mozart?... Whatever. Noise-treated vocal parts jump in and out of focus while a buzzsaw churns everything into dust. 

At this point, I am out of words to describe it further. Or should I say, I need to catch my breath. Everything is beyond, pretty extreme, and very much out there. It´s harsh noise, but not the boring kind. Tons of action and dynamics within, worthy to any fans of classic Japanoise. A pretty rare thing when someone makes true energetic harsh noise, and this one is a very.... exciting one. Not a single boring moment!.    

Bandcamp (label):

https://phagetapes.bandcamp.com/album/synthesizing-the-absence-of-your-soul