Maurizio Bianchi - Telmegiddo

A new CD reissue of Maurizio Bianchi´s tape release. This was the last tape he did before his long hiatus from the experamental/industrial scene in 1983. From 1979 to 1983/1984, he released almost 40 tapes! It has been released on CD via the Danish label Mercium; I had the pleasure of reviewing one of their previous releases last year (P.G.R./I.U. split). 

The album contains two long tracks, simply called Part I and Part II. Cover artwork shows... think it is clouds with the low sun on the horizon, or is it sunbeams? Tel Megiddo is an ancient, historically significant archaeological mound located in northern Israel. The name itself is linked to the Greek word Armageddon, and the location is believed to be the gathering place for the final, apocalyptic battle between good and evil at the end of time! Early M.B with an apocalyptic theme, bound to be interesting!

There's a throbbing underground pulse, like a volcano slowly getting ready to erupt. Real sound of decay, sludgy ambient electronics, and slimy ectoplasmic goo. You always get intrigued when listening to M.B. The recorded sound of the other side, pure spiritual and primal sounds. U get sucked in, getting hypnotized or doing time cleansing your soul while exploring it. Very deep and very dense stuff, pure proto dark-ambient or just pure early industrial without the drama!

The second track starts like an underground explosion, and then it slowly drags you further down into the sludge. A hint of some sort of angelic choir/synth in there, with some incredible haunting-sounding tape loops going on. Just try to imagine this: Armageddon in slow motion! Or the movie Begotten in slow motion, while someone has zoomed so much into the movie that it looks like huge grainy pixels. Could be one of the ideas or images that could pop up in your mind when listening to this track; incredible stuff if u ask me.  

Telmegiddo is an M.B album, and an album by M.B sounds like an M.B album. There is absolutely nothing that sounds and feels like an M.B album. It´s incredibly hard to describe, although it´s very primitive and minimalistic. It´s soothing and moody like ambient music. It´s harsh and grinding like an ambient-noise-wall album. And it´s built on a focused sound aesthetic like early industrial music. Whatever your need is, this album will serve you just right! 

Bandcamp (label):

https://merciumrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/maurizio-bianchi-telmegiddo

Official Site (band):

http://www.menstrualrecordings.org/maurizio_bianchi.htm

    

 

Nerthus - Jonastal

 

Yup, there is a new Nerthus album out! Called Jonastal. A self-released limited tape, which can only be bought via the official Nerthus Bandcamp site. Comes in a plastic envelope, with the tape inside a thick and folded A4 piece of paper. The graphics clearly show some kind of murky industrial factory inside a forest; turn around, and you´ll see some kind of mineshaft. The following statement regarding the chosen concept of the release is from the release page itself: 

  Born and raised next to this place, where atrocities took place, and rumors are whispered, it had long been clear that I would create a thematic album about it. Jonastal is the result of many years of work on a subject that has fascinated me since my youth.

Jonastal - a sinister place in the heart of Germany!

So what kind of place is Jonastal anyway? Of course I had to do a bit of research on the World Wide Web. Jonastal was a place where a lot of prisoners from Buchenwald concentration camp were forced to dig 25 underground tunnels into the surrounding mountains in the area. Done in complete secrecy. It was believed that it was to be the main headquarters for the Führer, and a place to do research on weapons like the V2 rocket. It is also believed that it was going to be a place to research electromagnetic and nuclear technology as well. Other strange rumours from 1962 were that some even had witnessed nuclear bombing tests. The area is still today strictly forbidden for trespassers! Very scary and very murky indeed. 

The first track on the A-side (all the tracks are just called 1,2,3,4 etc.) starts with a deep drone-ish hum, distant metallic sounds of something on railroads. Eerie and haunting analog ghost sounds here and there. This kind of feeling here, that if walls could talk... they sure do here. Is there a sound in here that reminds me of human voices? I'm not sure. This intro really sets the mood. 

The second track has that thumping and ritualistic death-industrial sound to it, closer to soundtrack-ambient than noise here. A Recording/sample from a radio recording goes in the background, something about concentration camps and prisoners. Underground bunker feeling is present, with the hollow and empty sound of clattering machinery above ground. 

With the third track, you are getting convinced of getting deeper inside the mountain tunnels. A paranormal presence/intensity hides, while a slivering cold wind makes your hair stand up. A surreal soundscape, giving the listener a kind of dizzy feel. Might just be an eerie looped tape going on in there, getting those extra layers of sound effects. Sounds bloody marvelous.

The fourth track turns up on the distant voices of the moaning dead! There is a kind of spacy, roomy feel with this track, being inside a huge underground room. Interesting kind of rhythm here, which really isn't a rhythm... just a sound being repeated, an automated machine-sound if you like. Fans of early Inanna/Archon Satani would love this. 

We flip the cassette and continue with the B-side. The fifth track continues where the A-side ended. Clattering bits of eerie radio noise. Sound of someone working on metal in a tunnel, and with that thumping bass-drone working straight into your ear. There is also another sound, not sure if it is the sound of someone moaning... or the sound of a distant aeroplane.   

A vibrating and heavy-manipulated ghostly radio voice speaks over the sixth track, with a razor-sharp but smooth ambient soundscape lurking over the listener. Really getting into that feeling, when you're in a place where it just... feels wrong.

Jonastal is an incredible and adventurous journey into the heart of darkness! Concerning a place where something has been, but whatever happened back then... still lingers in the very air. And this release absolutely proves it, hell! ... I even feel like finding the place and doing a bit of dark tourism. It´s a perfect and horrific dark-ambient experience, with bits of sound-experamentalism and a nod or two to the early CMI sound (BDN, Archon Satani, Inanna). For some reason, I would love to have this one on vinyl! 

Bandcamp (band):

https://nerthus.bandcamp.com/album/jonastal

 Fallen Sun, Sacher Pelz, 

Thomas Bey William Bailey - Acousmatomisation

A collab between 3 artists. One from Malaysia, Milano in Italy, and South Carolina in the United States. Malaysia-based Fallen Sun is the solo industrial/noise outfit of Y'ng-Yin Siew, which has been active since 2023. Fallen Sun is also known as Reverse Image. Sacher Pelz is the first project by Maurizio Bianchi, which he started before MB. He started Salcher Pelz back in 1979. Thomas Bey William Bailey has been an active experimental noise artist since 2006, and also works as The Domestic Front and Thomas Transparent. 

These 3 people have joined together to create something called Acousmatomisation. It´s described as a coined term. Acousmatic means a sound without a physical source. And Atomization, the breaking of something into very fine particles. The album contains 6 tracks, with a total of almost 63 minutes. This one is a joint release between Attenuation Circuit and Grubenwehr Freiburg. 

The first track is called Atomizing Spectrocopy. A high-pitched tone and some fluttering digital electronic sounds smother into glitchy and liquid-based static from a short-wave radio... get it? That´s just the first few seconds! Sounding like aliens sending something through a radio. The sound of haywire AI making harsh noise, or just the sound of information running through the wires beneath our great oceans. 

The second track, Fluid Molecules, offers crystal-clear shimmering sounds and chopped-up human speech with a rising soundscape intensity in the background. The sound of electronic molecules smashing into each other, and it gets rebuilt again and again. Blistering laser-thin sounds smash into the TV screen from some old Atari game. Very intense material here. It does remind me (sound-wise) of a Third Organ release I once reviewed. 

The third track is called Chemical Oxidation. Something drags itself from some cellar while whispering voices crawl over you, sounding like a digital nightmare. A spray of wet-static, a sensation of aural cleansing. Surreal material, just like the scene where the girl in Poltergeist gets contact through the TV. 

Concrete Absorption is the fourth track. Splintered rotating shards of digitalized steel whirl around while several hard drives and old-school modems simply burn out due to overheating... a complete overload of high-pitched metallic 16-bit noise.  

The fifth track is called Particle Deterioration. More with ambient moods, with some short-wave radio recordings. The spacy walls of noise get denser the further we get into the track itself, and more brutal layers of soundscapes are added as well. Interesting field recordings can also be heard.

The last track can be heard by the curious who have read this review. Acousmatomisation is definitely not an easy-listening experience, even for the ears of harsh noise or power electronics. Filled with high tones and has an eerie and very abstract kind of spaciness to the sound. Something new, and not your traditional kind of noise. 

Bandcamp (label):

https://emerge.bandcamp.com/album/acousmatomisation