Askell Groc’hen — Torche Blanche

“Torche Blanche”(White Torch) is the second slice of storm bound, raging & dense walled noise from the french two piece HNW project Askell Groc’hen. The project pairs up  skull, bone and crypt oppressed Bördel Noïr from western France. And wolf, haunted woodland and Heathen death obsessed Younx Grounioc'h from central France.

This CDR offers up a single self  titled seventy six minute track of pummelling, battering & lashing walled noise. The ‘wall’ kicks straight in with a mixture of battering, billowing and raging noise textures- it sounds like a collusion between a feasting and flying mass of locust, a pummelling machine gun like hail stone storm heard from inside a decrepit wooden shed, and a window shaking tornado battering. After the initial shock & sonic acclimatisation  one starts to make out almost rhythmic sways of battering noise, rushing & lashing rain storm wind like sears, and piled up almost tribal dwells deep with-in the walls guts.  The pair build a very effective & engulfing ‘wall’ that has some rewarding textural traits running through it- this is an fair fixed & unmoving example of the HNW, through at times there does seem some slight layer shifting going on here, but that of course could just be ones imagination & a trick of the ‘wall’ it’s self.

I enjoyed this projects first release “Chi”, and I must say this is just is as good that if not better. So if your after dense, battering & un-breaking walled noise “Torche Blanche” is well worth hunting down.