 |  | | John Carpenter - Assault on Precinct 13 (OST) | For many years this soundtrack was one of the great lost works of John Carpenter's early, edgy & influential synth soundtracks. It got it’s first release in 2003 as purely a vinyl edition on French label Record Matters, but then in 2013 it got a full & highly deserved multi format reissue on uk’s Death Waltz Recordings- appearing in two separate vinyl version, a cassette version, and a CD version( this is the one I’m reviewing).
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|  | | Tenebrious/Ascetic Hedonism - Split | This split release brings together two US underground acts that deal in darkly swirling & occult tinged ritual ambience, which is edged with (mostly) subtle blacked noise elements. The release comes in three different versions- a CDR & digital download (on Occult Supremacy Productions), and a C50 tape( on Worthless Recordings)- both the CDR & tape versions each come in a edition of 50 copies, and I’m reviewing the digital version of the release.
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|  | | Automating - Somnambulist | This is a nicely, diy packaged release; combining a stumptown cardboard wallet with collages and transparent sheets of text. The cdr contains eighteen tracks, forming a large collage just over an hour long. One of the transparent sheets has a long introductory text, which concerns itself with sleep, memory and “psychoacoustic techniques as a form of data delivery”; and indeed, there is a dream-like atmosphere to the recordings.
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|  | | Luie Luie - Touchy | Luie Luie is a buoyant, exuberant yet slightly wonky & bizarre one-man-band lounge act from the 1970’s. Touchy was he one & only full length album from 1974(though apparently he’s released a few 45’s), and truly this is a release that has to be heard to believed!.
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|  | | Ákos Garai - The Imagined River | This 3inc CDR finds Hungarian sound artist Ákos Garai creating a rather enthralling & moodily atmospheric track built around manipulated river/water recordings, & haunting electro texturing.
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|  | | Torn the Fuck Apart - Sexually Transmitted Torture | Normally, extreme metal and subtlety don't go hand in hand (save for some glorious acts like Gorguts), and Kansas City's Torn the Fuck Apart is no exception. If the name didn't tip you off, these guys are a 13 year old's dream. Well, a 13 year old that hasn't heard any other death metal before, that is. TTFA's follow up to 2012's The Dissection of Christ has the quartet moving from cliche'd Christianity hating lyrics/titles to cliche'd gore/murder/cannibalism lyrics/titles. Well, at least the band name is better than Deathchain.
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|  | | Eastern Front - Descent into Genocide | As an American, my education with regards to WWII’s eastern front has always been lacking, no doubt stemming from the fact that America’s involvement in the eastern front is negligible at best. It’s a shame, really, because Russia’s war with Germany is way, way more interesting. From the massive tank battles on the plains of Kursk to the bloody battle for Stalingrad, the eastern front was an awe inspiring theater, ultimately ending with over eleven million dead. Given that war, death, and destruction are favored themes of metal, the eastern front seems like a goldmine for metal band. Strangely enough, I can’t bring to mind a single band that has covered it extensively. Well, thankfully we have the UK’s Eastern Front to fill that gap for us.
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|  | | Abyzm - Pyre | Pyre offers up three slices of dense, suffocating and extremely heavy Ambient Walled Noise from this Kansas City based project. I’ve enjoy most of what this project has put out since it started in early 2013, but I must say this CDR is some of the best work I’ve heard the project release thus far.
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|  | | John Carpenter - Assault on Preci... | For many years this soundtrack was one of the great lost works of John Carpenter's early, edgy & influential synth soundtracks. It got it’s first release...
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| | | Julien Skrobek - Artful Static | Frenchman Julien Skrobek is one of the more interesting & thought-provoking figures to appear from the European HNW scene. Firstly the sound of his many ...
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