Praying For Oblivion - Station Grau

If you don´t know Praying For Oblivion, then I can reveal to you that this harsh-noise/power-electronics project has been around for some time now. And has been highly productive aswell. Been around 1999, and has had releases via cult labels like Smell the Stenth, Cranial Fracture, and Tourette Tapes. This one came out last year via Spanish Marbre Negre (30 copies) and U.S-based Imploding Sounds (25 copies). A-side contains a 17 minutes live recording called Zodiak, while the B-side contains two tracks called Station Grau I & II.

We start the A-side with Zodiak. A metallic, ritualistic and blistering wall of dynamic harshness greets the listener. Static radio noise and occasional painful human voices can be sensed in the vortex. There is a physical presence in the sound, the sound of a rumbling microphone-thingy inside a dryer-machine-thingy. A lovely and dynamic live-recording delivering harsh-noise statements with an industrial and ritualistic edge to it. Love the "one more time" from some guy at the concert, and offcourse the noise continues... into burning oblivion offcourse!. Would love to have experienced this live concert!. 

We continue with the B-side which soundwise goes into another direction. Station Grau I is not a harsh-noise action, but more of an abstract low-tech experiment with a sound-track´ish approach. Surreal, musique concrete, early Dr. Who-soundtracks made by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop... that sort of stuff! And it´s actually very good, and incredibly inventive and dynamic.

The last track Station Grau II moves away from the abstract and moves a little bit closer to an intense bad trip. Not as subtle and quiet as the first one, but more of a nerve grinding tale to smother your ears into pulp. Not as interesting and mind-bending as the first Station Grau-track though.

A release having a great diversity in sound and dynamics. Great live recording, and some great moments with the Station Grau tracks. The release works and feels like some sort of an outlet of tracks, like a compilation. Would be great if the track had a clearer conceptual idea behind it... but as you guys know... that is how noise-artists work! Overall I think it is a great and interesting release, give it a spin! You can also purchase the t-shirt which came with it, check out the link below!

Bandcamp (label):

https://marbrenegre.bandcamp.com/album/station-grau

Bandcamp (band):

https://prayingforoblivion.bandcamp.com/

Official website (band):

https://prayingforoblivion.webs.com/index.htm?fbclid=IwAR1_eDm92rF7hExa-dIRH3Tz2szkgXdjGTUOVSxf8uB24RWFMc9S4233Rvo

T-shirt:

https://my-store-a12ebd.creator-spring.com/listing/praying-for-oblivion?brk=fb70de5c7c&edit=1&fbclid=IwAR1pLckd-AGtoZo4U5SsaUGIurpCtMjlXlxJXMrevWEU1brm6mDE1Lf0UUc&product=2&variation=2397

 

            

 

Miasmata - Last Entrenchments 

Another thing out from the Copenhagen-based label Sektion 1. Another highly obscure act is called Miasmata with its debut called Last Entrenchments. 2 long tracks on each side of the cassette, about 20+ minutes in total. Again Sektion 1 nails the cover-artwork/design for the release, lovely cardboard paper, and excellent printing as well. Not sure what the artwork is trying to illustrate, but it thickens the mystery and heightens any abstract thoughts. The cassette is limited to 50 copies.

The album starts with something which sounds like a radio recording, some radio channel playing bombastic classical music of some sort. The pleasantness slowly grinds into the raw territory of industrial harsh noise. Very sort of the late 80s vibe here, early Grey Wolves/Macronymphia sort of sound. Very dynamic and chaotic with the classical radio-music going on in the background, could be a live performance? The whole thing sounds like something is being disintegrated, or something being grinds into absolute nothingness. 

The second track again has some interesting recordings going on. Very low-fi and very eerie vibe going on. It really does show how creative you can get with a primitive approach. A bewitching slice of industrial harshness, or just call it atmospheric/ritualistic harsh noise. If some soldier in the first world war was doing some sort of harsh noise in the trenches, it could sound like this!

I turn the cassette to the B-side and jump into the third track. Obscure radio recording with some lovely analog industrial minimalism. It´s not all harsh noise and all that, highly experimental recordings going on in here. Again, sort of takes me back to a time when noise was more of an experimental nature rather than being noisier than your neighbor-approach. Fans of early MB/Sacher-Pelz would love this. Tons of diversity in this track!

The fourth track (and the last) returns to the classic sound of early harsh noise. Screaming feedbacks, rumbling sounds, looped soundscapes... Reminds me of early Con Dom (without vocals though) and the radio-recording of some opera going on in the background. Again, the whole thing has a lovely live feeling attached to it.

And that was the 4 tracks on the album. It´s harsh noise in the interesting section of the store. A lovely old-school early 90s/late 80s sound to this. Lots of mood and lots of dynamics/diversity going on, not a boring release at all. A lovely treat for the senses!. 

Official website (label):

https://sektion1.bigcartel.com/

Discogs:

https://www.discogs.com/label/1637277-Sektion1

      

Flow Control - Endless March 

Elm Records is at it again with one of their latest releases by a new and unknown act called Flow Control. I did a search on Discogs but couldn´t find any info regarding this new act, but what I did locate was a Bandcamp site that held 3 other only-digital releases. The act is described as something which lurks in the realms of ambient, lo-fi, classic IDM, and synth-wave music. The album endless March was released on Elm Records on cassette (30 copies) on the first of April 2021 and it isn´t available on Flow Control´s official Bandcamp site. Another thing that I can reveal about this album is that it works around a certain concept built on an experience... here goes:

This album is called "Endless March”. It’s an ambient exploration into alienation and anxiety, which I began composing near the onset of the pandemic but gained significant meaning as I watched the Bighorn Wildfire engulf my home wilderness in Tucson, AZ at the time of the riots. It became a contemplative journey into the sonic landscape of the fires that raged in my backyard and within our current social conditions. The work is 3 tracks in which I explore these using field recordings, tape loops, eurorack modular synths, and piano.

I like the concept. I like the idea when you have, stuff that crashes into another and then afterward creates another kind of view on things. Yes, a worldwide pandemic is a pretty big deal, but so is a wildfire (and the riots going on as well). Between the first and the second world war, people didn´t have time to worry about the Spanish flu... although it actually killed around 25-50 million people. Big things/stuff is happening all the time, and it usually happens so fast in our information-driven society that our minds cannot actually relate to it when it does happen. Enough of my philosophical mumbo-jumbo, let´s get it on!.

First track Normalcy. Gives the listener an idea of being somewhere where the land is flat, and the sky is huge! Not much is going on, the essence of quietness is there for sure. Somewhere along the line in this quiet and peaceful place, something is changing (going on). The sound of something burning? Melancholic ambient moods and a beautiful glass/crystal-like drone sound. There is also a piano-driven melody hiding in the vapors of the wasteland. and eerie tv-samples going on. A very good and mysterious ambient-drone piece with a good adventurous expression of sound.

We flip over the cassette and start the B-side with the second track, called Release. Backward recorded piano recordings going on at the same time as the normal piano recording, lovely slow-driven melodies going on as well. A really kind of sad sort of a track. Getting back to some of the drone/post-rock-related stuff made by The Swans here. Also, a kind of Angelo Badalamenti feel/mood going on. Really good ambient stuff going on here kids!. 

The last track Summer Fires works like a beautiful ending for a beautiful album. After the wildfire, things will grow (hopefully). There is hope/light beyond the tunnel. Might just be my favorite track on the album, certainly the most mysterious track on the alum.

And that ends the Endless March! A beautiful and relaxing trip through an unsettling apocalyptic setting! Fans of Steve Roach, Swans, and Brian Eno take notice. An album filled with contradictions, apocalyptic and sad, but also very peaceful.

Bandcamp (label):

https://elmrecords.bandcamp.com/album/endless-march

Bandcamp (Band):

https://flow-ctrl.bandcamp.com/

  

    

 Hiroyuki Chiva & K2

Interesting (and new) release from Spanish Marbgre Negre. A japanoise split cassette release between Hiroyuki Chiva and K2. As far as I can see, there might be a type error here. It´s Hiroyuki Chiba (not Chiva). And we´re talking about a re-release, originally from Chiba´s own label called Eerie Noise Records which was then re-released on Marbre Negre. A quick introduction, Chiba has been active since 2018 as a highly productive Japanese noise artist and label-owner (Bandcamp link below), K2...on the other hand, is one of the Japanoise-veterans (and pioneers) who has been around 1983 (check him out on Discogs/Bandcamp). So let us brace ourselves for a trip to the noisy landscapes of Japan!.

The first track on the A-side (which is with Hiroyuki Chiva) is called Drum Processing II is all about... organized humming and hissing high-frequency sounds. Sort of an ear-opener/introduction. Not much to go at, but strangely likable if you ask me.

The second track Two Oscillators head jumps into action-driven noise. Therapeutic noise, the sound of something that drives really fast and stops really quickly too. In the process, it rams into several objects on the way. Could also be the sound of a modified digital blender? I like the honest sound brutality here so far. 

The third track Sirenhead II (as the Internet monster Sirenhead?) continues the brutal roar which was started by the former track. A more of a bass-rumbling treat with some squeals and cuts here and there. Lots of stuff actually going on here! I love the speed/tempo of this.

The fourth track Improvisation of Voice and Oscillators turns the mad tension even higher. A high-pitched vocal sound gets smashed into absolute noisy oblivion. Imagining splintering pieces of metallic shrapnel here for some reason... I can almost smell it!

The fifth track Siren Head I sounds a bit like Siren Head II, with some extra gritty sound effects on it. Some of the sounds almost had a kind of retro 8-bit sort of sound?

The last track on the A-side is Drum Processing I, which sounds a lot like Drum Processing II. Although the track is a bit shorter. 

WE flip the cassette and continue with the B-side in the company of K2. A 13+ minute long track called Raijiun-Fujin. If you ask me what that means, then I can tell you that Raijiun Fujin being two gods who are guards at some Sanjusangendo temple in Japan. God/Gods of lightning, storms in Japanese Mythology. The track starts with cleaning your ears (and mind) with a numbing and hypnotizing drilling sound with reverbed atmospheric/ritualistic undercurrents. Mind fucking and epic noise/sound-scapes with lots of interesting psychedelic effects, the sounds kinda remind me of Maurizio Bianchi/MB in a way. There is lots of meat on this bone and lots of reason to re-listen the track a couple of times. It´s quite spacy in a brutal way, but also gentle in a slow-progressive sort of fashion. 

And that ends the tape! I did like the minimalistic work by Hiroyuki Chiva, but it wasn´t as groundbreaking and mind-fucking as K2. K2 is really a noisy space trip to the other side of the galaxy, while Hiroyuki stays behind on the solid ground. Not a bad thing really, I think that the two artists have successfully created a great split and both acts are delivering their own expression on each side of the tape. A great japanoise treat here kids!.       

Bandcamp (label):

https://marbrenegre.bandcamp.com/album/split-14

Bandcamp (artist+label):

https://hiroyukichiba.bandcamp.com/music

Bandcamp (artist):

https://k2music3.bandcamp.com/

 Ideal Father - Paradice Death

I am a huge fanboy I am of this incredible obscure act, the second album out with Swedish-based Ideal Father. For those who haven´t yet read or checked out the former review of the debut, I would strongly suggest that you do so. Limited tape release of 45 copies released by Exebyss Records. It comes in a beautiful and thick cardboard cassette slipcase, with completely black tape inside. All there is to say about Ideal Father is that they are one of the few acts around who does what you would call death ambient. A term loosely connected with the death-industrial term. Some of the early Cold Meat Industry releases were coined either as black ambient or death ambient, in other words, a more ambient orientated version of death industrial. Not that we should forget the sound of Slaughter Productions' excellent compilation Death Odors! 

A Mind In Evil Ruin is the first track on the A-side of the tape. A sinister hissing sound, human screams can be heard (far away) via a long hallway, bone-crushing bass, metallic distortions... just about everything inhuman you can think of. A perfect sound that should be heard by every horror-movie soundtrack lover! True death-ambient for sure!. 

The second track called In Paradice Death offers psychedelic and flanged sounds and ritualistic and distorted black-metal vocals. A very chilled, sadistic, creepy, and clinical dark-ambient track. 

The third track Blood Torrent moves back to the sound of the first track, more in the classic death-industrial sound. Heavy and guitar/bass-based distortions give it all a lovely analog sound, whispering, and reverbed vocals, with drone-based dark-ambient undertones to go with it. Sounds like someone is being possessed here!

The fourth track Crepuscular Soul gets way deeper into repetitive morbid psychedelics. Looped and echoed samples, a religious-sounding noise wall (A bit like NON), excellent and sinister synth-work as well!. A rare thing indeed, and a thing we need more in death-industrial/ambient. Synth-keys folks!. A beautiful and haunting track indeed!.

The fifth track Tongue Mosaic is where it gets... weird and genuinely scary. How one can make a distorted squealing noise sound like someone actually weeping. All of that is going on in the background while a hypnotizing feeling sucks you right in. Like falling through an endless pit of sounds. The sensation of feeling weightless, in a rather unpleasant way if you ask me. A really wow sort of a track, it also offers something new to the sound as well. 

Crosshair Mantra is the sixth track on the album. A flesh scraping ambient piece with ritualistic undercurrents. Love the bits of human-like sounds/voices to be heard here and there... almost hidden. 

The seventh track Wall of Crying Eyes screams for attention. Bone-narrowing sinisterness all packed nicely in a psychedelic Wunder Baum. Elements of cosmic horror are added to the mix here, fans of early Lyke Wake take notice. 

There are two more tracks left on the B-side, but I will leave the curious listener to explore them themselves. A thorough and well-thought death-ambient/industrial-focused album. It has all the right ingredients, and the atmosphere is there as well. And it will/can leave you quite speechless! For fans of BDN´s Necrose Evangelicum and early CMI!.  

Bandcamp (label):

https://exabyssrecords.bandcamp.com/album/paradice-death?fbclid=IwAR1aYime0LMSFXQT_86eh5BWOGzPUR4qCz4LlwMJ3KfcKYmNb84fhZNXsko

          

Thee Secrete Society - Thee First Secrete 

A mysterious and highly esoteric themed act that has been in existence since 2014 has finally released its debut! Containing members from well well-known acts like B°Tong, 1000Schoen, and Feine Trinkers Bei Pinkels Dahiem. A 75 released tape copies from Marbre Negre, lovely grey and silvery tape with text and a sexy occult-looking cover-artwork. Already curious?... Good!.

The first track Invocation starts the album in a ritualistic and dark-ambient lowkey manner. Not that far away from the early recordings by Ain Soph. Cold, deep, and hypnotizing ritualistic electronics submerge the listener into another world. Something strange going on in the background though. Strange reversed vocals and a strange sound of someone... messing with something. A lovely ear-opener if you ask me!

The second track Curse introduces a sound that sounds like a recorded toy piano in echoed reversed, distorted, and warped ritualistic vocals, icy electronic sounds with a techno-ambient Biosphere sort-of-a-feel, and the clattering of metallic bells. Interesting mixture of minds and ideas getting together here.

The third track (You Spoil The) Atmosphere is not a track that spoils the atmosphere! Quite the contrary! Cosmic ambient with a Lovecraftian twitch/Cosmic-horror if you ask me. A horrific and cold/cool track that offers a feeling you get... when you are experiencing a nasty lucid dream! Swirling murkiness, rumbling and infernal background noises (which sounds like a stomach!), icy and precise electronics, whispering voices from the shadows. Everything is nasty here, but incredibly pleased to hear at the same time. Lots of brains here people!

With the next (and fourth) track, you´ll have to turn over the tape cause now we are at the B-side of the album! Stars Right Be Wrong goes further into the cosmic-horror-sound. Metallic drones and rumbling spaceship ambient sounds blast the listener into deep space! The spoken-word vocals are soo well made here, talking about using the right effects at the right moment here people! The ambient and the atmosphere are just amazing here, very sincere and very convincing! Love the slow-flanged sound effect at the end, makes me think back to Throbbing Gristle´s live recording of Discipline.

The fifth track is called Cleansening Ceremony. A mesmerizing piece with psychedelic undertones. The listener will get slightly confused and hypnotized here, a lovely intermission for the last track!

The last track is called The Key To Annihilation. Starts in the same low-key ambient ritual mood as the first track. Might just be the most relaxing and most (slightly) melancholic piece on the album. It´s here where the listener might just feel that sensation of levitation! Whoever said that annihilation is a thing of ugliness, this track is a piece of sheer minimalistic loveliness.  

A masterpiece of an album, a way of just saying... ´if you are going out to create a dark-ambient album, make sure it is an interesting one!´. Thee First Secrete is interesting and is bound to end up as a classic album that pushes the dark-ambient style into new cosmic-horror territories!

Bandcamp (label):

https://marbrenegre.bandcamp.com/album/thee-first-secrete

Facebook (band):

https://www.facebook.com/theesecretesociety

    

     

    

 Cordes - Quatre-Vingt-Onze Dojens

Cordes means Strings and the album title is translated to Ninty One Deans. And a dean is someone in authority with a Christian/religious background or just someone with authority in some eduacational establishment. Or are we talking about all-time actor Harry Dean Stanton, he died at the age of 91?! Hard to say really. Maybe we should try to dissect this limited 4-track mini-album/cassette release from Sektion 1, and then try to get to the bottom of this!

The first track called Témoins (Witnesses) starts with an eerie sort of warped radio clatter and the sound of a flatline. Heavy, cold, and distorted bass drones are added while an interesting metallic dripping noise can be heard in the background (When fluid hits a metallic surface like a sink). So far we are dealing with a classic old-school death-industrial sound, in the same vein as Atrax Morgue, Maurizio Bianchi, or even early Cluster!. A very cold and depressive sound indeed. 

The second track Quatre-Vingt-Onze Donjons (Ninty-One Deans) enters into cold ritualistic electronics. Humming sounds from an abandoned mine/cellar factory, completely devoid of any kind of human activity. You can imagine the sort of sounds you get when you record something in total silence in an abandoned and haunted site and then turn up the volume to actually hear how silence really sounds. Someone actually did that in Chernobyl! A beautiful track here!

 

The third track L'æil Dans Le Næud De La Corde (Eye in the knot of the robe) being one of the most harshest and hypnotic tracks on the album. A lowkey and low-tech analog-driven throbbing piece of depressive delight. 

The fourth and last track Manipulé Par La Fosse (Manipulated by the pit) ends the delightful album in a sacrificial ritual of morbid fascination. Lovely sort of after-the-bomb sort of mood going on in here, very post-apocalyptic and very gritty and dark. Fans of Slaughter Productions would dig this, I am 100% sure!     

Is it a tribute to that cool actor (Harry Dean Stanton) or are we dealing with 91 religious-teacher deans caught in some post-apocalyptic nightmare? I don't know. All I know is that if the person behind this act has focussed on creating a very dense and dark low-tech sounding album of ritualistic intent, then he/she has succeeded perfectly! The sound is as dark, mysterious, and obscure as the act itself. If you want to hear more, then you can hear more on Cordes's official Soundcloud site (see link below!).  

Official website (label):

https://sektion1.bigcartel.com/

Soundcloud (band):

https://soundcloud.com/cordes-91

 Cities In Ruins - Athanor Of Souls

I have been around this label that has released this interesting new cassette with a new project called... Cities In Ruins. I am talking about the same label (Machine Tribe Recordings) which released that excellent album with Bonechurch, which I reviewed offcourse (see former review, google search Bonechurch + Kalteldur!). 25 copies and hand-numbered gun-metal cassettes (Be quick!). With this release, we are only dealing with about...23 minutes,3 tracks. But as you all know, a mini-ep could be as potent and good as a full-length.

The first track is called Dark Soul Of The Night, which is also the longest track (11.25 minutes). The track takes the whole of the first A-side of the cassette, while the other two tracks are on the B-side. The first thing that pops into your mind (or imagination) is that the intro sound/feel of the first track fits the mood which the cover artwork actually shows. Think about how time affects the modern achievements of man, how great buildings and great monuments will eventually crumple to... well rubble. Think about the emotions swirling inside you when you enter some grand building that once has been a thriving place for people, and all you can sense and feel are the leftovers/fingerprints of the people who once have been there. That's the exact feeling I get when I am hearing this track. Strangely haunting dark-ambient with a touch of neoclassical aesthetics. In the realm of acts like Raison d´être and Desiderii Marginis if you please. Although I would say that this track has a bit more edge to the sound than Desiderii Marginis, and more atmosphere than how Raison D´être sounds today.  

The next two tracks on the B-side are called Athanor of Souls, while the last one is an alternate version. The track starts with the sound of rusty machines in a great hall, this gets replaced by an icy, lovely, and lush synth-ambient sound. A technoid pulse is also being added, but not the dancy kind ( don't worry! ). A lovely mesmerizing, and psychedelic piece of grandiose melancholy. Very much back to the days when Peter Andersson (Raison D´être) worked around his side-project called Atomine Elektrine, with some Tangerine Dream in there as well!. Isn't that much difference between the two versions, although I do think that the alternate version has a slightly more psychedelic, beatless, and slower feel to it. Both versions are good and offer two sides of the same coin/story. Depends on which mood you are in offcourse!. 

I like it. Pretty much. Would love a full-length. I have missed that early sound which was forgotten back in the 90s, dark ambient/industrial-ambient with that berlin-school/neo-classical vibe to it. A project to keep your eye and ears on, let us hope for a full-length ok?!. 

Bandcamp (label):

https://mtrecdistro.bandcamp.com/album/athanor-of-souls

 

 Grodock - Fluchtimpuls

Fluchtimpuls by Grodock, solo-act which hides a David Leutkart. Is an artist which has worked in experimental drone/ambient music since 2012. Most of his releases have been released via his own label called Grubenwehr Freiburg (Bandcamp link below). They describe their interesting label like this:

DIY-Label for Audio Recordings in the field of Noise, Fringe, Core, Musique d'ameublement, and musikalische Lebenshilfe. We are concerned about taste.

This one is the latest release with his project Grodock, and it´s called Fluchtimpuls (Escape Impulse in English). Released on Marbre Negre as a limited 20 copies cassette. 

The first track is called Wehrhaft, a track that features a Felix Mayer. The whole track is very... musique concrete´ish. It sounds like a recorded art performance in some cellar room. Wet sounds dripping, echoed microphone scratchings, the sound of someone putting on latex gloves, metallic rumblings. The sound acoustics are incredible here! Superb recorded if you ask me, my room was transported somewhere else! 

The second track Wechselbad is an incredible jaw-dropping piece of melancholic ritualistic drone-ambiance. Ever heard Italian I Burn? Kind of like that. Dreamy, mesmerizing, swirling, weightless stuff. Giving room for deep and aesthetic thoughts here. 

With the Third track Exekution, it gets a bit noisier. A distorted windy drone and ritualistic beatings. Excellent cruel and evil-sounding track. Getting back to that classic sound of MZ.412!

The track stops and enters the fourth track Offenes Fenster Bei Nacht II. A track that reminds you a bit of the first haunted-cellar-of-factory-sound. Love the adventurous sound diversity so far!

The fifth track Äuglein Zu (Close your eyes) heads straight into pure ritual cult music. Strange and looped chanting voices, someone singing something eerie in German, mechanized droning noises and throbbing distortions. Wonderfull when noise and ritual music can go hand in hand!

On the sixth track, Absatz gets into something else. Echoed clicks and looped hissing noise. Sounds like the sort of noise you get the minute you press play on your cassette player, only this time the artist has managed to create a rhythm out of it. Fxxxxxx love it, a lovely thing after the former track.

We turn the tape and continue on the B-side with the track called Keim. A track that returns to the chanting ritual sound-setting, chanting drones from a deep subterranean cavern. Lovely effects and lovely distortions. Lots of these tracks have a live-recorded sort of feel.

The next track on the B-side Fütterung adds more noise into the cavern. Almost entering into a death-industrial sound here. Throbbing, flesh-grinding distortions and distant ritualistic moods in the background. Painful delight!  

And that is all I will reveal to you, there are 3 more tracks on the album... and they are worth it, just like the rest. Very unique sound/release with tons of diversity, love the feel that the artist behind this act isn't afraid of trying something new while at the same time maintaining the mood as well. There is ALOT of depth and personality encased in this one, it´s a world in itself. Very sincere and very real!

Bandcamp (label):

https://marbrenegre.bandcamp.com/album/fluchtimpuls

Bandcamp (label):

https://grubenwehrfreiburg.bandcamp.com/

    

     

  

 Brandon Wald - Teuthis Galore - S/T

Not a new release from Black Ring, but a release nonetheless that I received with the post to review. It was released last summer, and offcourse... the cassette is offcourse sold out. It came out as 50 copies. Only one thing you can do, either purchase the digital version (Link below) or add it to your want list on your buyer's profile on Discogs, and then wait for someone to sell it. Apart from that, I love the cover artwork. It is always a good thing to see when power-electronics/noise acts try something else/new when it comes to the cover artwork. A circular framed picture showing someone wearing a priest collar, while having a piece of bone sticking out of the left eye socket. A very surreal and good illustration that u can look at while listening to whatever... is recorded on the tape. So let´s get on with it!. By the way, the A-side is with Brandon Wald and the B-side is with Teuthis Galore. 

The first track on the A-side called Pull the Rope Tight starts with a quick heart-beat pulse thumping, echoed-whispering, and cold spoken words/vocals, creepy reverbed metallic scratchings with a cool and subtle background in the background. More of an industrial track than a power-electronics one. Great first track so far, reminds me a bit of Illusion of Safety.

The second track called Cell Black D moves a bit closer to the power-electronics sound while maintaining the industrial aesthetic. Sound pitched drilling noises and metal-scrap bangings. Sounds like a harsh wake-up call for the sleeping prisoner-inmates.

The third track I Am A Cop moves straight into old-school power electronics (Whitehouse, Sutcliffe Jugend, Slogun). High pitched distortion and brutal and heavily reverbed vocals. A minimal and atmospheric piece of direct brutalism. There is more depth to this than I can describe here kids. Lovely live-recording feel here.  

The last and fourth track with Brandon Wald on the A-side is called Uniform Fetish. Think we might be dealing with power-hungry cops here! Starts with a rumbling sort of sound. The sort of sound u get when you put a mic inside a running washing machine... containing broken glass while someone is banging it at the same time! Aggressive soundscape with a harsh and chaotic approach.

We turn the tape to the B-side with Teuthis Galore. Only one and long track here (22:38), called Don´t You Want to Become a Cult Leader? The sound of a warped and scratchy vinyl player, bone narrowing distortions, sampled spoken words (Doctor/hospital something), and a hypnotizing sewer-like reverb noise in the background. Interesting sort of... clicking sounds going on as if someone is doing something close by. Industrial/ambient elements also being present as well. Halfway through a vacuum kind of sound sucks you in, drowns out the ambient elements. And then it dissolves into the sound of crispy bacon on a frying pan. At about 14:23, a kind of interesting and informative spoken word sample about being a cult leader goes on. It ends suddenly and dissolves into psychedelic aural noise. It throbs, it crawls, it jumps and vomits all the harsh noise obscenities at you until the very end. 

And the album ends. A split mini-cassette album that offers industrial sounds, harsh noise chaos, bewitching ambient textures, and pure power electronics brutalism. Lovely diversity of different moods. Not a groundbreaking piece, but an honest and lovely split between two diverse artists.   

Bandcamp (label):

https://blackringrituals.com/album/brandon-wald-teuthis-galore

Discogs (label):

https://www.discogs.com/Brandon-Wald-Teuthis-Galore-Brandon-Wald-Teuthis-Galore/release/15508517

   

 

Sokushinbutsu Project ‎– 即身仏

Industrial Ölocaust Recordings is out with a new and mysterious release+project called the Sokushinbutsu Project. The idea was born from an idea of Massimo Mascheroni and Enrico Ponzoni, and both members come from another highly productive and obscure industrial-noise act called ORDZ. The release is out on cassette and pro-CD-R, lovely textured paper being used here! 

So this idea/concept thing... what is it about then?. The booklet tells you the entire story/idea. Here goes : 

The term Sokushinbutsu refers to a Buddhist religious ritual practiced from the 12th century until the early 1990s by various Japanese monks who, through a long and painful mental, physical, and food preparation, culminated in death voluntarily predisposed their body to a process of self-mummification. The path of self-mummification in life through asceticism follows precise phases, lasting a thousand or more days each.

There you go! The process itself has 4 stages, and each track on this album represents those 4 stages. 

The first phase/track called Holy Mountains is about how the monk practices a series of mortifications on himself over a period of several years. He also progressively eliminates the basic foods of the Japanese diet. The track itself is built around some heavy distorted ceremoniously-looped sounds, various echoed sound effects randomly builts up a certain tension, waterdrops from a cave, ritualistic electronic rhythms. Interesting ritualistic noise with an esoteric psychedelic twist. So far so good, really good!

The second phase is called Tree-eating. Here the monk begins to eat, but not normal food. It involves the intake of bark, chestnuts, acorns, pine needles, and sometimes crystals or stones. At the end of this, the participant will take a toxic tea based on a poisonous plant, making him vomit pretty much. All this will eliminate all fat in the body while dehydrating the body and shrinking the organs. This track moves further into ritual music and away from the noise of the former track. A sampled and looped human voice can be heard here, at the same time a metallic-bell sound adds more mystery to the track. Windy and flanged sound effects move through your stomach while an eerie almost breathing sound can be felt...and heard. While you are trying to catch your breath, throbbing and torturous effects are added later on while intense and painful screaming makes your skin crawl. Again, another great track!

The third phase is simply called Deep Meditation. Which involves the monk returning to the temple of worship to meditate in the crypt below the temple. He is locked tight inside a dark room, where he will take his last breath through a tube that is inserted into a wall, he will do this while meditating in a lotus position. While this is happening, the monk will sound a bell to tell the other monks that he is not dead yet. When the bell is silenced, he will offcourse... be dead. Eerie and spooky noise-ambient music, which reminds me slightly of the early recordings with Ain Soph and Lyke Wake. Love the way distorted noise is being treated here, somehow they have managed to capture the mood and sound of someone literally trying to catch and hold their breath. Death is imminent and expressed in this track, there is no question about that!

The fourth and last phase is called Self-mummification. Which is after another 1000 days, the disciples of the temple will open the crypt. If the body is intact, the ascetic has become a mummy. He will then be perfumed and dressed in rich sacred vestments and enclosed in a tabernacle. HE is a sokushinbutsu, an Enlightened one in one´s living body. Or in other words, a higher being/living mummy existing somewhere between the realm of the living and the dead. This track involves a distorted sound that sounds like someone screaming in water, looped noises, psychedelic and metallic sound-textures, and a humming bass drone. Horrifying and seductive at the same time here! 

I am intaking a LOONG inhale of air here... while I scoop my hair back, and stretching my backside. That was a seriously heavy and deep treatment of the senses, and what an adventurous journey it was! There is no doubt that these guys knew which sounds to use to clearly illustrate the pain of performing this ancient ritual. It´s a scary album without a doubt, as scary as SPK´s classic Leichenshrei album! Intense beyond reason!...

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