Asper — Ex Nihilo Ad Nihilum( CD & DVD set)
Ex Nihilo Ad Nihilum( translated From Nothing To Nothing) is a DVD and CD release from the Portuguese wall noise project Asper. The DVD features eight tracks with grim visualities, and CD eight tracks- both disc comes presented in a DVD case, featuring a selection of stills from the DVD, a small bag of white and grey sand, and inlay card/ stickers.
The release appears on Portugal noise label The Hills Are Dead- it comes in an ltd edition of twenty-five copies- and I must say it’s wonderful to see the time/ effort that both the artists and label have put into the release. To find out more/ buy direct drop by here.
As far as I gather Asper has been active since 2018- on the projects bandcamp there are seven physical releases, and a few grey/ nihilistic pictures for sale. As well as a few digital releases. This set came out last year, and as of writing copies are still available.
The DVD takes in eight tracks- these each run between three and nine minutes. Visually all of the imagery is in fittingly black and white- with it moving from mixing of black tar-like substance & its spreading. Split-screen of black and white static/ waves going in & out, human skulls on tapes/ set-up. A mix of different layers/ textures, and a noise set-up. Moving onto drifting film frames of landscapes, which are alive with sideway flickers. Onto kaleidoscopic & split landscape/cityscape footage. Sideway shifting high & low landscapes drifting together. Slowly lapping sea on a barren beach. Inversed & reversed footage of a ragged rock beach/ sea. Peacock feathers blurred and merged. Sonically the tracks here are fairly run-of-the-mill HNW/ textured noise- though they do get quite hypnotic- the most rewarding been those of the more stripped back, mixing repetitive snaps and clicks together. A few of the tracks here appear on the CD comp- so I’ll go more in-depth on the sonic side of things when I discuss the CD. All in all the DVD is a suitable stark, and grim affair.
Moving onto the CD- and this features eight tracks, and each of these has a runtime of spot on eight minutes and one second. We open with the cluttering murky rumble meets snaping to popping tones of “Vine Black Nihilism”. Onto the uneven, almost rhythmic knocking and ripping glitch of “Aleatoria /\”. We have the morbid rattling meets feasting scaping of “Solvm”, and to play out the disc we have “Viscera” which blends distant slightly roaming billow meets juddering gritty pop ‘n’ snap. On the whole, these are competent enough examples of walled/ textured noise fare- though there’s nothing terrible fresh or distinctive here.
It's great to see both Asper and The Hills Are Dead putting so much time and effort into a walled noise release- and I do wish we got more releases like this on the scene, as it’s certainly a nicely put together and bleakly arty affair. I’d say you’ll need to enjoy the shorter runtime focused side of walled noise to fully buy into the sonic side of Ex Nihilo Ad Nihilum, but all in all an impressively presented release, with some worthy enough wall craft on display.