Hour Of The Wolf/ Ptomain - Untitled [Hellville - 2010]This untitled spilt brings together two sharp and short HWN shocks from Norway’s Hour Of the Wolf which is Andreas Brandal(Flesh Coffin, Drevne Bolesti, solo work, ect) more static wall noise project. And the highly prolific German based HNW project Ptomain. The release comes in a cassette box, but features two business card mini CDR’s instead of the expected cassette, and each CDR feature a single short track from one of the two projects. The first disc features the Hour Of the Wolf’s untitled track. This ‘wall’ is built around a very persistent rolling and 'shaking table' like selection of static tones which Brandal fires at you in a thick, unrelenting and skull crush form. Later on the track seems to take on the sonic feel of huge steel tanks rolling over a terminator like landscape of skulls and bones. On the whole the track remains locked and unchanging though-out it’s just under six minute length, though there does seem to be the odd off pattern jitter or judder here and there, but that could just be my mind. Anyway it’s a great track, it’s just a pity it’s all over so quickly- I could really have dug this ‘wall’ in a longer thirty or forty form. The second disc of course features the Ptomain track which is entitled “He who survives writes the rules’ this track once again comes in at the six minute mark. This ‘wall’ is built around a cruder, more rolling and boiling selection of tones than the first track. It feels like your hung upside down over four or five nearly boiling over steel pans and their lids keep rapidly juddering and threatening to fly off all together. Again the ‘wall’ is very thick, unforgiving in it’s attack, through due to the at times quite loose juddering boil of the track; it does vary in texture a little bit, but there are no great structurally changes really. Again it’s a good track, but I think I prefer the Hour Of the Wolf track out of the two as it seem more entrancing in its feel. So this is a nice split between these two HNW forces- it’s just a pity that the whole things over and done with in just over twelve minutes, oh well I guess you could put it on loop to give the feeling of a longer ‘wall’. Roger Batty
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