ORDZ and Noise Cluster - From Chaos to Balance
From Chaos to Balance by two Italian acts, ORDZ and Noise Cluster (whom we have had the pleasure of reviewing on several occasions).
ORDZ is an artistic group focused on research and exploring new ways of expression. Each of their releases has also included different kinds of technology. One of the members of ORDZ is also being part of another great cult project called Sokushionbutso Project (read former reviews!).
Noise Cluster is the duo of Flavio Derbekannte and Arianna Dergni. They started this project in 2017 and had their debut released on Luce Sia. Even done a joint collaboration with Lyke Wake! Also a project that explores specific... cosmic stuff. From space-related to old archaic myths, stuff for curious ears and minds.
From Chaos to Balance has been released on Grubenwehr Freiburg. On limited cassette, 60 copies. Great-looking cassette cover, print on both the inside and outside... lots of info regarding the release.Sleek-looking transparent tape, by the way.
Concept of the album? The evolution of landmasses on planet Earth. You know... tectonic plates moving, formation of the continents, the ice age, etc. Inspired by the theories of a bloke named Alfred Wegener. Additional info is being provided, both on the inner sleeve and on the label's Bandcamp site as well. I suggest you give it a read, either while listening or before listening.
The first track is simply called Movement I. A strange sort of otherworldly trumpet-like instrument can be heard in the distance, and then the listener falls straight into a pool of cosmic goo. A deep sound of something... humming... and a shimmering sound of icy crystals. An altered sound of a human voice in there, further expanding the abstract cosmic sound. I also think there is a sound of a... I don't know... a foghorn?. Stuff for fans of early Tangerine Dream here.
The second track, Intermezzo I. Is a lot like the former track; it works like a space between the first track and the third. Icy winds and the sound of huge blocks of ice grinding into each other. And that strange and eerie trumpet is still there, reminding us all of that great cosmos!
We move further to Movement II. It feels like being on a different planet compared to the earlier tracks. Cold-sounding synth work being stretched and mixed together into a drone-sort-of paste. Sound of Yog-Sothoth there, trying to speak to humans the size of bacteria. Reversed sound of feet moving through sticky slime, and someone trying to grind through bones in a deep catacomb with a rusty saw. And again... those eerie trumpets. Thinking of Lovecraft´s aliens called the Mi-Go here... or the sound of the Shoggoth in the icy caverns of Antarctica.
Intermezzo II is the fourth track here. Great cracks on the icy surface, while the roaring winds are still there. And that distant trumpet. Haunting human voices in there as well. I kind of get back to some of the early Throbbing Gristle recordings, especially some of the more ambient-based stuff (like In the Shadow of the Sun and Journey Through a Body).
We drift straight into Movement III A. Something related to the theme... spoken in German (not really sharp on German). And then a huge hole in the ground emerges, and the distance to space gets even further. I don't know if that made any sense, trying to write while listening! Even a ceremoniously kind of death-metal vocal screams through the noise! The improvised guitar parts here get me back to Nurse With Wound´s Chance Meeting On A Dissecting Table Of A Sewing Machine And A Umbrella. Definitely the same kind of anarchic sound-vibe going on.
And further into Movement III B (of course!). Kind of getting more and more weird. The death-metal vocal parts are being faded away ( I think ), strange radio signals receiving recorded stuff from... gods know where! Arabic instruments, German spoken words (something about Iceland and Greenland). Improvised on the spot with a focused mind, and then the death-metal vocals pop up again. I might use this at a death-metal concert when I am DJing, introducing experimental ambient music to death-metal fans.
And that ends the review. There is one more track here, which I will leave to the curious few! From Chaos to Balance is a journey through things that are pleasant to stuff that are (obviously) incredibly painful in an abstract sort of way. I love the first half of the album, but I kind of... lost my concentration with the death-metal-ish vocals that got in there. In other words, the aesthetic at the beginning was challenged by the guy who loved growling vocals. But you get the impression of a thing that tries to explore new ways of expression, but... when u have Tangerine Dream in there, with David Vincent (Morbid Angel) doing the vocal parts... it does get slightly challenging in a strange way.
Bandcamp (label):
Official website (Noisecluster):
Official website (ODRZ):