Flagorne - Les Couleurs D'une Fièvre

The first time around that Kalteldur gets to review releases from this interesting French label called Cioran Records. The first label to have a focused dedication to pessimist writers, such as Emil Cloran. The same writer from whom the neo-folk band Of The Wand And The Moon had their cover-art idea, the choking arms photograph. One of the later releases by this label is with an act called Flagome. The people behind the act, are some guy doing black metal and another guy doing hardcore industrial techno. Interesting mixture? Could be.

This release is their debut, released as a limited 199 copies! The artwork is really nice. A nice digibook with matte and worn vanish,  lyrics booklet inside, and some ripped pages from books containing the writings of some pessimist writers who inspired the band. 5 tracks, almost 40 minutes in total. 

The first track called Salutations starts the album with high-pitched echoed space effects. A nicely done bass is added, and 2 kinds of vocals as well. One screams the lungs out, while the other has a kind of David Tibet sort of chanting. A thumbing heartbeat later, additional cosmic-horror moods and the screaming vocals turn into a ritualistic spoken-word death chant. Some really intense stuff is going on here! The drums also tune into a more hardcore techno feel. Never been much into hardcore techno, but so far it works like a charm!. The track suddenly turns into mysterious radio chatter (with voices) and some atmospheric and surreal ambient moods. Lovely experimental/fusion vibe going on here.    

The next track is called Addresses. Here you really get the idea of how black-metal vocals can be mixed into a rhythmic industrial soundscape. Thundering industrial rhythms quickly pulsate the track into being, melodic and distorted elements and with that lovely mixture of two chanting and screaming vocals. Imagine an aggressive technoid In Slaughter Natives with raw black metal vocals. The ceremonial (and epic) intensity is hard to ignore here! And yup, there is actually a nifty melody in there.  

The third track Dévore has the sound of a thousand small ringing bells, with the slowly rising sound of a machine-driven militant rhythm/beat. Additional metallic and electronic percussion are being added as well. With some mind-blowing layers of heavily reverbed screaming sounds, I'm feeling the sensation of being frightened of heights here! That thumbing rhythm is really a charmer! A haunting and strange fluting melody in the ending here gets me back to some classic 80s horror flick.

The fourth track De Rien De Bien contains the most torturous vocals on the album, in company with cosmic ritualistic soundscapes and an icy-cold bone-crushing death-industrial rhythm that could stomp an Ed-209 completely flat on the ground! I don´t know a word in French, but the nihilistic and apocalyptic feel is there for sure!  

The fifth (and last) track is called Comme Plusieurs starts in a gentle way. Spine-tingling synths and sounds, religious chants, and a slowly building ambient-driven melody. The singing vocal parts are really good here! Strangely soothing and disturbing. At this point, the listener will tell him/herself... these guys are actually serious! When the listener reaches the last track on the album, it gives the listener a feeling that all the madness we´ve heard actually makes sense... in some strange way.

Les Couleurs D'une Fièvre is an amazing thing, it's just a small debut!... but it bloody kicks like a strong mule! I tend to be a conservative bastard when it comes to industrial music, especially when it´s fusion stuff! But this thing happening between these two musicians is obviously.. quite magickal! The stuff works. It´s not just the mixture of two styles of music, but the presence of new thinking and experimentation being present in there as well! Could be a new sub-genre, a sound where black metal kids could meet up with power electronic kids maybe? Highly recommendable for anyone who has a need to hear something fresh and new!                     

Bandcamp (label):

https://cioranrecords.bandcamp.com/album/les-couleurs-dune-fi-vre-3

Discogs (band):

https://www.discogs.com/artist/14020270-Flagorne

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 fifth track is even more cut-up and broken; making it seem like an engine or some other machinery is breaking down, whereas the final track seems like a stylistic mixture of all the previous ones, but at a higher pace. Like the rest, it is cut up and broken, but maintains a rhythmic pattern throughout that is just recognizable enough to keep up the feeling that there is both structure and intent present.

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.

Bandcamp (label):

https://abhorrentcreationtapes.bandcamp.com/album/paradox-encounter-group-supersede

Discogs (band):

https://www.discogs.com/artist/6369979-Paradox-Encounter-Group

 Incanus - Chant To Life, Ode To Death

Last year we had the pleasure of reviewing the first album by the solo project Incanus. The second album is out now, called Chant To Life, Ode To Death. The last album was released as a cassette, and this one has come out as a limited advanced CD-R on a Japanese label called VLZ Produkt. The cover artwork is amazingly beautiful and simple! Lovely cardboard box with a sticker on it and the graphical inner sleeve has been glued to the box itself (inside), with a circular foam that secures the CD-R attached.    

It was made between 2020 and 2023, with binaural effects using the digital plugin Ambeo Orbit (Sounds technical right?). Some of the field recordings within have been sampled/used from the BBC Sound Bank, maybe it has been recorded by Chris Watson? (Cabaret Voltaire). It´s a single-track album, 40:20 in total.

The first thing that pops into my mind is a cold and misty morning, with the warm rays of the sub slowly rising over the natural landscape. With the warmth comes the buzzing of insects, and then the chirping of various birds getting ready for another day. Getting a sort of Erik Satie vibe here with the distant piano sounds. 

Almost as we are moving through the picturesque soundscape, there is also the sound of a nearby stream... and something rustling in shrubs and bushes. An old mysterious and mechanical banging machine is also in the background, giving the overall mood a kind of shamanic element. Incredible stuff here, sounds amazing!. At this point, I am halfway through the album.

At 26:20, it gets a little bit weirder. The working machinery has a certain kind of ethereal sound to it, it actually slowly begins to sound... alien. Other sounds of spirits moving through my stereo at this point, or could it be faeries?... messing up with my mind. The machinery stops, and we´re closer to the stream. Also, the sound of a horse in there as well, making those snorting noise sounds. 

The album then ends with some dreamy vintage-sounding Boards of Canada ambient synths. Actually, I wouldn´t mind if I pressed the repeat button on my CD player, actually, I´m gonna press the play button just one more time!  

Chant To Life, Ode To Death is a modern ambient masterpiece from the underground. It deserves a re-issue on a real CD (not a CD-R), hell... vinyl? It´s incredibly beautiful, simple, and highly effective in getting your pulse down. Dynamic, and gives the listener the authentic feel of actually being there! Hell, I can almost smell the sounds. Everything is perfect here, I only have one minor complaint. Be sure to take 100% care of the physical media itself, a minor scruff on the CD-R will make the CD jump and skip. So if u intend on buying it, keep the CD-R safe (maybe even hidden!). 

Bandcamp (label):

https://vlzprodukt.bandcamp.com/album/chant-to-life-ode-to-death

Discogs (band):

https://www.discogs.com/artist/12444319-Incanus-2

 Devil´s Breath - Embrace Of The Serpent

The latest with an "unknown" act on Kalteldur from a Greek label called Zazen Sounds. Devil´s Breath has existed since 2015 and has (mainly) released digital albums, this one is a physical release. The physical album has been sold out on the label´s Bandcamp site, but it can be easily obtained via Discogs (link below). A nifty-looking slim (and shiny) digipack, with the CD inserted inside. A 4 track album,  almost 70 minutes in total. That´s what we call a proper full-length album! 

The band itself is a very conceptual-driven thing. Via their Discogs entry, it says :

"Rights and liberties of indigenous people, the mysticism and horror of the inevitable suffering and inexorable death, misanthropy, and the natural environment are the themes that inspire Devil’s Breath most."

Which is also the same theme to be heard on this album. The concept is about the Amazon tribes. Trying to defend the forest from our industrial de-forestation, the album is a tribute to them (Amazon Indians) trying to preserve the natural environment.

The first track Embrace Of The Serpent I, starts with sleek retro-futuristic synthy ambient drones and tribal-inspired beatings on metal sheets. A charming start! Blade-runner meets Steve Roach, Z´ev with a touch of the Belgian ritual-act Hybryds. Additional tam-tam drums are added, while an evolving, menacing dark-ambient background is rising. A fantastic and dynamic 34-minute soundtrack-driven piece/track that you will enjoy listening through! 

The second track Embrace Of The Serpent II continues (in a good way) where part I ended. Some crunchy industrial sounds are added, sounds like machinery splintering massive trees. Is that the sound of a blow torch?  Again, a fantastic soundscape with an inspiring way of using sounds instead of words in delivering the message/story. 

The third track part III is different than the 2 former tracks. The sound being more harsh and cold, the ambient/drone elements are replaced by harsh distorted sounds, technoid rhythms, and eerie altered sounds. The album so far, is getting darker and darker... no doubt about it. A lovely Test Dept vibe here as well! 

The fourth part IV sounds like the most experimental track on the album, also a very heavy machine-driven death-industrial/ambient sound as well. Elements of despair and the sound of something dying are present in the recording. Where the first track had a certain, warmth to it... this ending track has a kind of ... murky clinical feel to it. I guess we´re at that point where we are imagining a wasteland, instead of a thriving jungle. It then enters a beautiful percussive soundscape, a minor hope maybe?

There is no doubt that Devil´s Breath´s Embrace Of The Serpent is an epic and thorough masterpiece with a clear focus on their concept. The whole thing works from the start to the finish. It sounds fresh and dynamic, and you will NOT get bored a single moment. I also noticed that the album has been mastered by the great sound wizard Anatology Grinberg! Highly recommendable album for these proto-post-apocalyptic times we live in!

Bandcamp (label):

https://zazensoundspublishings.bandcamp.com/album/zzs-096-devils-breath-embrace-of-the-serpent-digi-format-sold-out-available-now-in-high-quality-digital-download

Bandcamp (band):

https://devilsbreath.bandcamp.com/

Discogs (band):

https://www.discogs.com/artist/5410980-Devils-Breath

    

 

 M.B. - Bacillusmetrai Entopathogen

M.B. (Maurizio Bianchi) shouldn´t be a stranger to anyone (if you ask me). Has been active since 1979, and hails from Italy. He is an absolute pioneer in industrial, noise, and electronic music, like the Italian´s answer to Merzbow, although having a broader sense of various styles of expressions incorporated in his numerous releases. You can also call him the godfather of the Italian industrial and noise scene, I can´t (really) think of anyone getting close to that! ( do read the Wikipedia link below about M.B.)

Bacillusmetrial Entopathogen is one of his latest releases, and it has been released on limited CD and cassette via Grubenwehr Freiburg, both encased in a 7-inch vinyl bag, with the CD in an informative cardboard sleeve. There are also some nice and nifty-looking collage graphics attached to this, which has become a sort of trademark for some of the newer M.B. releases. 3 long tracks, about 75 minutes in total.

First track Bacillus, a specific genus of bacteria that we encounter daily. Is an incredible sort of uplifting melancholic dreamy piece. Really gentle it starts with some spacious and distant drones, drones made by human breath, or the sound of watery waves in reverbed slow-motion? A mesmerizing ambient synth levitates the listener into another plane of existence, actually a slight trace of melody in there! Might just be the most mellow and pleasant M.B. I´ve ever heard, not that its approach makes it less efficient. A filtered human voice speaks slowly through the hypnotizing aural soundscape as well. It has a kind of ambient/techno-dub feel/sound, just without the rhythms offcourse. Amazing track, the depths of it are absolutely jaw-dropping! The thing is, you (and me) don´t really want this track to end!   

The second track Metrial (Uterus) gets slightly more depressing. It kind of gets back to that classic M.B. sound, the sound of utter doom and microscopic despair. A spacy Tangerine Dream in a Bad Trip, or an ambient version of the soundtrack for the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Lots of reverbed sounds, echo sounds, delayed sounds. Some organ there, human voices here, etc. Hard to put your finger on it (with words) easier to understand when you actually hear it. Even Genesis P. Orridge got depressed listening to M.B. which in my words is a good thing! If the first track represented a fresh apple, then this track shows how the first steps of decay are setting in!

The third track is Entopathogen (Fungoid parasitic microorganism), which turns slowly into a slow-driven sci-fi horror thing. Why I'm thinking of the first Alien film, I don´t know! I do know that certain ants can get infected with this fungoid organism, the result? The mushroom grows out of the body of the ant, just like the alien eats its way through the host. The track works in a very unpleasant way, totally opposite regarding the first track. It really is the sound of something, taking host inside a living being... and slowly killing it. First, u get sick ( like flu), then u get irritated by small things, next u succumb to a longer sleep and occasionally vomit at times. Everything from here leads only to your death. And that is how this track is, really murky stuff here! 

I can't help but think about when I get sick (regarding the last track). About the whole process of how I feel... certain things in motion (in my body) when I'm actually getting sick (in one way or another). The first stage of catching a cold, being strangely... pleasant? Maybe your body feels slightly heavier, but you feel more relaxed nonetheless! And then it just... creeps up on you. Getting worse and worse, like the whole body is going through a change. And that is how this latest M.B. album feels and sounds like! Although it makes you feel utterly unpleasant, you will (still) want to return for more. The experience hidden within this recording is quite amazing! Constant and repeating listening is recommendable! 

Bandcamp (label):

https://grubenwehrfreiburg.bandcamp.com/album/bacillusmetrial-entopathogen

Wikipedia (band):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurizio_Bianchi

  

 Tone Generator & Body Without Organs - Control

Been looking so much forward to doing a review of this one! Who is Tone Generator? He is ( or was ) a key member of the legendary pioneer industrial band called SPK, a band which (alongside) Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire started the whole industrial genre ( more or less ). In my world of industrial music, those 3 bands are the first and most important bands of the genre. From 1978 to 1983, SPK paved the way for power electronics, dark ambient, noise, and even ritual music. And still, to this day, no one has reached ( or even touched ) that insane sound that SPK has to been known for. Around 1984 SPK became a (rather boring) full-fledged pop act, delivering danceable electro-pop for the "masses". 

So here we are in... 2024? Tone Generator (Dom Guerrin) is out with his new act, and he has teamed up with Scott Barnes. This one came out last year, and it´s a live recording from Smith´s Alternative in Australia, Melbourne 2022. This is actually the second release by Tone Generator & Body Without Organs, I am also going to review the first one as well.      

The release comes out as a beautifully matt-laminate mini-LP sleeve, including manifestos by SPK and Tone Generator, limited to 100 copies. 8 tracks, bout 38 minutes in total.

First track is called Intro by Jack Sargeant ( don't know who he is, do yourself a favor and look him up! ). Someone presenting the act, and someone saying... ´We´ve heard that you were disturbed´. And then the track descends into a nightmarish and sludgly blended soundscape. Sounds of people screaming, warped spacy synth sounds, distorted sounds with an almost liquid vibe and the crowds in the background... cheering. It sounds absolutely incredible, considered it to be a live-recording of a experimental industrial band. 

The second track Drowning, slurred human voices and some intense high-pitched sounds. Lots of massive machines and lots of metallic things bangs together and breaks apart in the process. Sounds like a earth-quake in some old and rusty steel factory! Really like that the disturbing aesthetic from the old SPK albums and strongly present here! 

The third track Control, starts giving me that vibe of early Dr Who, city of the Daleks more like. Intense multilayered soundscapes, pulsating bass-sounds, torturous analog-synths whins and squeaks in some strange dimension. Cant remember last time I have heard something with that sort of powerful sound, the reverbed cave-like feel is enormous. Religious experience if you ask me. 

The fourth track Dugongs, glitch stuff on tons of adrenaline. Has a kind of Autechre sort of liquid-metal feel to it. Lots of bleeps, blops and underground explosions. Really out there, beyond description! Ends in a chanting sensation, being droned in pure ecstacy of acid-drenched sounds here!. Great with the industrial-sounding percussion elements here, something I have missed a lot in these days.

    

The fifth track Construction 23 1-1b, with it´s robotic voices talking and screaming, while a great and thumbing rhythm relentlessly thumbs on. Some eerie and weird acid-jazz elements creeps in, giving it all a really... well... William Burroughs sort of a feel. Kind of getting back to Ground Zero: Infinity Dose for some reason, although they don´t really sound alike. 

The sixth track Wastelands and the seventh track The Chosen One really gets back to that classic SPK Leichenshrei sound. There can be no mistake, the mixture of those sounds and samples... It´s still mad (and "evil") as fxxx and makes perfect sense that it can be enjoyed aswell! The vocal elements are so good here, again with that SPK aesthetic. Dosn´t sound old at all, or retro for that matter... sounds like SPK ( from the old days ) in 2023. Can´t help but thinking how much vocal parts Tone Generator have delivered in the early SPK days?

The last track Coronaring, delivers a punishing noisy soundscape. All the stuff which u have heard in the former tracks, can be found somewhere in these last two tracks! Not that far away from the style found on SPKs debut Information Overload Unit.

As a hardcore fan of SPK, I was absolutely amazed and surprised with this. Like I said earlier, the aesthetics of SPK are there but in a modern up-todate sort of way... makes sense. Maybee it´s just because that the sound SPK, still makes sense today? Im also surprised in how... relevant is actually sounds? Soundwise it´s pretty extreme and disturbing, but without the straightforward (and snappy) attitude. A mature vine if you please. And regarding the recording! The live recording is absolutely gobsmacking! Might just be the best live recording I have heard from this sort of music, in a long time!

Bandcamp (label):

https://ultramailprod.bandcamp.com/album/control-2

Discogs (band):

https://www.discogs.com/artist/9439921-Tone-Generator-The-Body-Without-Organs

  

           

 

An Interview With Sutcliffe Jügend 

by Per Najbjerg Odderskov

You probably know them as an old-school British industrial act who, together with Whitehouse, pioneered what is known today as power electronics. Some others may just know them as the act with that iconic name, which sounds evil when you say it and makes you remember. Finally, for the rest of you who think that Ministry and NIN are the only real industrial bands around, I say, "Sharpen your ears, and get ready to bleed".

Sutcliffe Jügend (Kevin Tompkins and Paul Taylor) began in 1982 with the now notorious and highly sought-after cassette, Campaign. They followed that with a 10x cassette boxset called, We Spit on Their Graves. The same year also came Seven Tortures. All three were released on the legendary pre-power electronics cult label, Come Organization.

After that, 14 years passed, and we would not hear from the project. Finally, they were born again in 1996. releasing material on established imprints like Death Factory (CMI side-label), Old Europe Cafe, Cold Spring, and Hospital Productions (to name a few). In total, 24 albums, which includes the 10x cassette box and a 6xCD album called S L A V E S.

To describe the sound of Sutcliffe Jügend in two words, I would say brutal avant-garde. A pure and skinless sound entity of sheer abstract human aggression. The most vile and filthy themes of human nature are being thoroughly dissected and examined, and exposed to the curiosities of extreme music. If you think you know EVERYTHING about power electronics and have not yet gotten into this act, then you are in for a treat. They mix various styles into the mix and are highly experimental in their sound. From musique concrete, glitch, noise, and even minimal ambient.
 
Ahead of their first-ever show in Los Angeles on February 9th, I asked them a few questions about their history, sound, and what to expect next. (see below)

Sutcliffe Jügend ("SJ") began in 1982. Talk about the formation of the project and what kind of stuff (music, literature, movies) inspired you back then?

Kevin Tompkins: Initially it was pure music. At the time I was into post-punk, Joy Division, Birthday Party, Suicide, ATV, The Pop Group, Slits, PIL, Dub Reggae also featured, of course, stuff like that. It was a great era, informed by the likes of The Stooges, Can, and the Velvet Underground, all bands I liked. Then I discovered Throbbing Gristle, Crass, Nurse With Wound, and of course Whitehouse, which changed everything. I had already started doing something between TG and Whitehouse but then started experimenting with music that was more informed by what Whitehouse did. The sound soon evolved to be more visceral and more explosive than anything else at the time. To shock one's own senses for the most profound effect, that kind of thing. We fitted right in with what the Come Org. label was releasing. The Jügend in the name was always Sutcliffe’s Children rather than Youth. It was very much of the time. I wasn’t a misogynist or anything like that, I don’t remember anyone being that way, our discussions were always quite the opposite, pro-equal rights. Nor were there any political connotations. I know Joy Division, New Order and Sonic Youth have all had issues because of their names, it’s unfortunate, but ultimately it’s just a label or brand at the end of the day. I’ve never been into any extreme politics, to be honest, certainly nothing right wing but on the contrary. I kind of like things as they are, somewhere down the middle. Boring but convenient. Although lately, things have become a little too authoritarian in a 1984 kind of way for my taste. It’s fucking up free speech and discussion, not to say art. So-called progress, eh.

Believe it or not, there’s always been an element of humor and irony in what we do, I think that was missed in the early days because it was so fucking dark. What you have to remember and it still surprises me to think back, initially, SJ only existed for about six to eight months, so there’s not a lot to say about it, I stopped SJ to join Whitehouse of course. I remember that time we did an SJ interview we constructed it to be as extreme as possible. What answers would a complete psychopath give(?), that kind of thing. It was dark humor in a Derek and Clive kind of way. Nothing could be further from my own personality. Again it was pure art, as was the music.

There was a long break up until about 1994. Why the hiatus and why the decision to start back up again?

KT: I’d left the scene for a normal life. I hated the whole thing. It just wasn’t me and still isn’t in some ways. That’s why we don’t tour and only do three or four shows a year. I love the creative process, and recording. I love doing live shows, but not touring.

After a fairly long period, Paul Taylor and I formed Bodychoke with Gary Kean. Paul and I knew each other from college and the punk scene and he plays on some early SJ material also of course. Bodychoke was a noise rock band I guess. Listening back, Swans, Joy Division, and power noise guitar would best describe what we did. When Bodychoke split up in the nineties, Paul and I started doing more improvisation and some SJ material, more influenced by the Japanese noise scene, but still routed in the eighties. For the last fifteen years, musically we swing from extremely harsh expressive cathartic noise on one album to electro-acoustic experimentation on the next. Screaming vocals to spoken word. Lyrically we’ve covered a huge amount of ground as well - tracks about the shaming and the loss of shame in the modern world, the cheapening of art by politics, the horrors of abuse, the futility of revenge, personal loss, etc. It kind of amounts to the slow process of understanding our place in the world and the universe, I guess. On our next album, we even deal with aging, although we’re not planning on going anywhere just yet, just a couple of close shaves and timely reminders.

Why the decision to finally add the live element in 2005?

PT: That is thanks to Gaya Donaldo of Hagshadow and Anti-Child League’s persistence in wanting us to play live. We always were concerned that the intensity of Sutcliffe Jügend could not be achieved live. Bodychoke always had an intensity at live shows. so we thought we’d try it. Over the years SJ has taken that intensity up many levels and then some. Dominic Fernow (Prurient) who was also performing at the gig, offered to put an SJ album out. That album was, This Is The Truth. We found a new voice with that, and we’ve been evolving ever since. I don’t consider us a power electronics band at all. It’s much more complex.

TB: Talk about playing L.A. for the first time and what can people expect at the Resident show?

PT: A relentless, full-on performance. It will include some new tracks and some old ones. The show does not end until we have given absolutely everything. Expect an intensity the audience would not have witnessed before. Our intensity and passion have not mellowed with age, on the contrary.

KT: The shows become quite ecstatic and almost trance-like, so I guess there will be some of that in there as well.

Power electronics continues to see a lot of growth. Are there any new acts of today that you enjoy and can recommend?

PT: Personally, I am not a PE fan as such. That said, Puce Mary and Anti-Child League are producing some excellent material although I would not necessarily classify them as PE, or ourselves for that matter. It is great to see two strong women make such an impact in what is generally perceived to be a 'Misogynistic' scene. Most PE leaves me cold, to be honest.

KT: I’d agree with that. I’m more into Classical, Jazz, Rock and Experimental music for sure. I like Ben Frost, Tim Hecker and William Basinski, which is kind of ambient noise at times. I think the likes of Scott Walker, Penderecki or John Coltrane can be more intense and difficult than any PE. I probably listen to our own recordings more than anything else though. Pretty uncool, eh?

PT: Me too, We do it for ourselves ultimately. It’s a bonus that anyone else takes any notice.

TB: What's next for Sutcliffe Jügend?

KT: We have a double album called, The Hunger, coming out soon on Death Continues Records out of Europe. It was a hard album to write and has lots of musical elements to it. It’s the most varied SJ album and certainly the most wordy. We’ve also just finished recording the most relentless sessions we’ve ever had. We’ve been going into the studio and recording pretty much an album a day. Going in with maybe one or two ideas, maybe one or two lyrics, and just improvising. The results have been amazing. It is what it is, warts and all. Really brutal electronics and vocals at times.

PT: We’ll be playing three tracks from the ‘Relentless Sessions' at the show. Keeping that feel while they’re fresh. Up and coming, we have several gigs in the planning stage across Europe and hopefully something on the East Coast of America sometime in the future.

Discogs:

https://www.discogs.com/artist/285947-Sutcliffe-Jugend

 Absolute Key - Imploding Harmony

An unknown label (new to Kalteldur), with a release with an act I don´t know. The label Bent Window hails from Vancouver, British Colombia and the act Absolute Key hails from the land of a thousand lakes... yes Finland! The label has existed since 2021, with over 70 releases so far! With some known acts on, like Praying For Oblivion and Kadaver. The act Absolute Key has existed since 2019 and has had over 20 releases so far. The label and the act both deal with extreme music, mostly industrial, noise, ritual, etc.

The physical release has come out as a limited CD, nicely done as a soft digipack. This means, a CD tray glued onto thick cardboard paper. I like the painted blue colored graphics, with some nifty collage work. Lovely esoteric vibe within the graphical content. 5 tracks, about 32 minutes in total. Let´s dig right into it.

The first track is called Destructive Axiom, it starts with a hiss, the sort of hiss that comes from hidden microphones... recording microscopic disturbances in a buried coffin. Primitive shamanistic sounds of bells, scrap metal, and glass further intensify a paranormal and spiritual force within. It evolves further into a blend of ritual-ambient and warped harsh noise. I like the sound of it, harsh, fresh, expressive, and moody. Choactic stuff yes, but with a strong sense of aesthetic purpose. 

The second track Cracks In the Sky starts being a rhythmic thumbing beast on some sort of percussive set of drums. The rhythm is, not a tight one... but kind of mechanical and clumsy at the same time and has a kind of frightening and effective effect. Layers and waves of razor-sharp noise add extra points to the psychedelic experience.

The third track Chant To the Other God, is a real acid-drenched mind-bender. Starts really subtly and quietly, then some weird... kind of chanting electronic/analog sound kicks in, not actually sure if it is a human voice! Thick and dense layers of ritualistic noise work nicely here, feels like getting the soul completely cleansed! I wonder who that... Other God is?... I really do. Yog-sothoth?

The fourth track Wayfarer a subtle horrific wall of reverbed noise, punctuating sounds of noise moving in and out... and up and down as well. The thrashing of metallic scrap gets back into the mix, while some really warped distorted industrial sounds work their way through to the listener. The end is really interesting here as well, a nice touch that tells us that our creator of this release, is there with the listener the whole way through.  

The fifth (and last) track Reclusion throbs and spits the minute u start the track. Kind of a death-industrial feel here, BDN-era with Innerwar? A thick and dense layered distorted industrial sound (with a rhythmic vibe) is looped while additional (and sick) layers of mind-bending brutal effects are added. And then it all ends!

It´s the kind of... album that u listen to a couple of times and then ( all of a sudden) it explodes and it will impress you. There is a kind of... honest sincerity with it. As I mentioned earlier, u feel that you are with the creator through the entire listening process! Which gives the album an effective adventurous feel. The decent diversity is also worth noticing, a lot of different moods and thoughts are rampaging through the whole thing. And again, chaotic yes... but highly effective, highly focused on the other hand. 

           

Bandcamp (label):

https://bentwindowrecords.bandcamp.com/album/imploding-harmony

Bandcamp (band):

https://absolutekey.bandcamp.com/

Facebook (band):

https://www.facebook.com/absolutekey111/

 Megaptera - Beyond The Massive Darkness

We have all seen it, one of the big classic releases on Cold Meat Industry (R.I.P) has just been re-issued on Old Captain. Beyond The Massive Darkness is... (hold onto your glasses!)... two albums that have been put together as a double CD/vinyl, the bonus being 2 new versions of 2 tracks from the Curse of the Scarecrow album plus the Deep Inside EP on CD2. Released as a limited 8-panel matte-laminated digipack, with a cool poster as well. You can also get the monster CD-tree box set, with lots of goodies inside (T-shirt, pins, poster, etc, etc). 

For those who don´t know Megaptera, let me give you youngsters a quick intro for why anyone wanna revive this old death-industrial dinosaur in the first place!

Megaptera is one of the real classics when it comes to death- industrial, also being a classic act regarding the label Cold Meat Industry and even Slaughter Productions. Started in 1991 with the Near Death album on the proto-CMI tape label Sound Source, and then from 1992 to 1994 they recorded the two albums which would be re-issued on CMI and now Old Captain. One of the great things about Megaptera is their... recognizable sound. At times they use entire dialogues from classic occult-themed horror films, and then they mix that together with their otherworldly-heavy industrial sounds. At times we sink into swampy ambient-industrial territory, horror soundtracks, and other times they remind us a bit of the early Test Dept... just a lot slower! 

Whatever they did... they managed to release about 14 albums, some eps and several compilations. We also know Megaptera from one other thing, from being on some of the best compilations in the realm of death industrial! Megaptera was ALWAYS on the best compilations, and their tracks were ALSO some of the best on those compilations as well. Up there with the likes of Brighter Death Now, MZ-412, In Slaughter Natives, and Archon Satani. Essential Nordic death-industrial. If you need more info about Megaptera, then you can always check up on the interview I did with them (link below). Well, Let us start checking up on some of the tracks within now!

First track Human Sacrifice on CD 1 ( Beyond the Shadow ). Starts instantly with a huge hum of... voices or gas slipping out of 100 small holes in a huge cathedral. Think I can hear... airplanes in there, diving through the clouds... or is it a bomber airplane?! Some rhythmic vibrations resonate in the hypnotic gas hum while mysterious human voices are talking beyond. And then some really excellent ritualistic beats set the mood, really dark stuff now! Imagine prisoners walking up some steps to meet some hooded guy with a huge axe, there really isn´t much hope here people!

The second track Distinct Killing is a pure rhythmic industrial treat, not that far away from Memorandum ( if you remember that act ). Heavy tribal industrial, really barbaric moods going on. Occasional noisy elements here and there, and some cool-sounding (and horrific) sounds following the beat tightly.

The third track The Offering works as a lovely tribute to one of the Exorcist films, something about the coming of the antichrist and exorcism. An epic and thunderous industrial soundtrack works perfectly in the "background". If I were the movie director, I would feel proud listening to this. 

  

We jump unto CD-2 (Songs From the Massive Darkness) with the charming title of a track Sludgy Heads Found In A Handbag. Weird police-like sirens scream through the night, reverbed wet moods from a deep sewer, a deep humming machine, screaming distorted electronics ... and some kind of vibrating brush cleaning a rusty metal pipe. Everything is... weird and exciting to listen to.

Track 5 Dysentery is another great tribute to a classic horror flick, John Carpenter´s sci-fi horror The Thing. Menacing dark industrial-ambient collides with the stressed-out discussions between the characters in the movie. If you haven´t seen it yet... I suggest you do! 

Track 7 from the Deep Inside EP, might just be one of the most memorable and iconic Megaptera tracks ever. A very long adventurous soundtrack-driven track containing all the elements that Megaptera can bestow upon the listener! Hypnotizing ambiance, ritualistic atmospheres, mind-boggling vibes, waves of eldritch moments, a breathtaking synth melody, and the memorable sample of a mad preacher! A truly epic journey into the sound of gothic horror!

Everything is good here, every good reason to invest in this re-issue. Why? Might just be for the sole reason, that u get the Deep Inside EP with this one. The Deep Inside EP might just be one of their best works, and this EP is not included in the CMI release. But, I do tend to cherish my CMI edition. The Old Captain version looks great (without a doubt), but feels slightly cheaper compared to the CMI one. A digipack with a thicker, textured feel could give that reissue that certain vintage feel that (again) gives that feeling that you are holding a classic in your hands. And some kind of informative booklet would also be nice, a written document about the making, the importance of this release, etc.        

Bandcamp (label)):

https://oldcaptain.bandcamp.com/album/megaptera-beyond-the-massive-darkness

Bandcamp (band):

https://megaptera.bandcamp.com/

Interview with Megaptera:

https://kalteldur.blogspot.com/2019/12/megaptera-interview-with-peter-nystrom.html

         

 Dug Up By Dogs - The Supreme Hunt

Dug Up By Dogs, is a highly obscure and enigmatic ritual-industrial/ambient act from the UK. So far this one is their third album, and this one (The Supreme Hunt) is their first label release, and the first physical one as well. Digitally self-released on the act´s official Bandcamp site in 2023, and re-issued as a limited and numbered 25 copies CD-R version on the Greek label E.C.T Recordings. 

It comes in the recognizable E.C.T CD-R design: A blackened inner sleeve, CD-R wrapped in rice paper all inside a plastic sleeve. The cover-artwork? Looks like something from one of those exploitation 70s flicks, I'm thinking Spitting On Your Grave kind of thing. It´s a short one here, 5 tracks about 27 minutes in total.   

The first track simply called Intro, has the sound of angry dogs in various layers and effects. Takes me back to some recordings with Vagina Dentata Organ I once heard. A deafening and heavy death-industrial sound explodes, heightening the listening experience. And then we move further into the next track.

The next track is called Ritual Device, which starts with a choir of beautiful religious chanting. The huge cathedral-like sound here. Deafening and highly effect-drenched spoken words are added, excellent sounding metallic bass-sound thumbs like a machine in the background. A lot like the early recordings by Maschinenzimmer 412. Very well done.

The third track The Supreme Hunt has a more rhythmic tribal post-industrial sound to it. Lovely distorted rhythms here, with someone occasionally hitting an empty and spacious-sounding metal container with a steel bar. Creepy-ass and horrific soundscapes roam in the distance, with some excellent vocal parts and cool effects. Love the glitches and choppered raw sound here, absolutely perfection here! 

The fourth track Crucify Them Upon the Pylons... starts with a creepy slowed-down circus-like organ theme, not an organ but ... this box usually has one wheel where you pull this lever and music comes out of it! Pleasant and disturbing at the same time. There is also a metal-banging sound here, which transports me to some old harbor. The nice synth work here, and the spoken-word part here really heighten the mysterious and eerie atmosphere. 

The fifth (and last) track is called Assume A Human Form But With the Teeth of a Dog being the most noisy track on the album. Bone-crushing noise if you ask me, with some surreal movie samples in the background. And then we are back in the huge cathedral with some decadent and sickening ritual going on, with someone shouting ´Stop it!´... ´Stop it!´...´Everyone must die!´...  Intense ending for an intense album!     

Marvelous short and effective beast this one is. Concentrated and to the point! Horrific raw industrial-ritual music at its best. Surely a nod or two to the classic Cold Meat Industry sound. I will for sure check this other album, and I hope there will be more from this act!

Bandcamp (band):

https://dugupbydogs.bandcamp.com/album/the-supreme-hunt

Discogs (label):

https://www.discogs.com/release/26660366-Dug-Up-By-Dogs-The-Supreme-Hunt

 Resgestae - État D´urgence

Another release from the French label Force Majeure (sub-label of Nuit Et Brouillard). Resgestae is (was) a project based in Greece, nowadays it´s based in Spain. The project was started in early 2011 by Nicholas P, who also was responsible for another project called [distopia]. Both projects dealt in the space between dark-ambient/death-industrial and power-electronics. His idea for this project is a reaction to the aggressive and upfront sound of traditional power electronics. His idea would be to work with extreme frequency samples and drones to form a sub-sonic landscape. Something that could give the listener a cinematic experience with the album while incorporating true political, social, and economic elements.

This once came out in 2015, as a cool-looking digipack. So far, this is (still) the only release/album with this obscure and enigmatic project. 9 tracks, over 60 minutes in total! 

The first track on the album is called Alerte! L´état Profond (Alert! The Deep States). It starts with a heartbeat, reverbed and echoed spine-tingling sound effects, and a deep and heavy distorted drone. High-frequency human sounds almost resample the sound of bats, and then the sound of something getting electrocuted. I'm not sure, some of the sounds in the mix sound a bit like... distant gun firing? Could also be sounds that have been recorded underwater. Quite special this stuff is, moody power-electronics with a surreal element to it. An effective ear-opener this first track is. 

The second track The Network starts with a mind-numbing heavy drone-wall, with some wet and slippery sounds in the background. Some high-frequency sounds move back in forth, like some robotic drones surveing an underground sewer. Or is it those robotic killing machines they make to hunt the rats? Kind of terrifying that (if u listen closely through the dense sound) there is a distant trace of human voices, deep within the labyrinth sewer. Later on, mind-bubbling sound effects add something extra to the bad trip. I think a sample of George Bush is here as well. Quite something, lots of conceptual meat on this bone!

The third track Terrain D´Essai has this reverbed and reversed sound of... a drop of water which is then followed by a slow and heavy drum machine-pattern. Additional creepy industrial sounds are added, and some highly agitated French guy is talking over it. I like the highly atmospheric horror feel of it so far.

The fourth track R&D: Research & Development has a sample of some gangsta-hood trying to sell his secret stash of various weapons. A looped and atmospheric power-electronics distorted pulse pushes its way through the recording, certain Grey Wolves feel here! There are also a lot of aggressive glitchy sounds here as well! 

The fifth track From Repression To Management delivers a heavy underwater sound experience, primitive rhythmic electronics, and high-frequency endorsed sound effects. Definitely more of a death-industrial vibe here. 

The rest of the album (last 4 tracks) keeps the aesthetic conceptual theme alive, and I can highly recommend listening to this album in its absolute wholesomeness. https://www.facebook.com/resgestae0

Bandcamp (label):

https://forcemajeure.bandcamp.com/album/tat-durgence

Facebook (band):

https://www.facebook.com/resgestae0