Ataraxy/Malevolent Alien Being — Martian Impressions

This split CDR on Germanys Vomit Bucket productions presents the listener with two twenty minute slabs of thick, fixed & battering walled noise, which is themed around the NASA's missions to Mars. The split takes in two Germany projects- fairly long running HNW/Harsh noise project Ataraxy, and more recent North Germany based UFO obsessed HNW/ambient  project Malevolent Alien Being.

The CDR comes in a slim line CD case that takes in black ink on orange paper sleeve, which takes in pictures of  the Mars surface. The release also takes in a orange inlay paper that features a short write-up about NASA's missions to Mars.

So lets move onto the sonics with-in, and first up we have a track from Ataraxy- this project started in summer 2009, and has so amassed around 20 full length alone releases, a  large amount of split releases, and 20 to 30 singles or EPs.  The track on offer here is entitled “Red Rocks”, and is an effective if fairly predictable slice of dense ‘n’ battering walled noise.  The ‘wall’ is built around a mixture of rumbling ‘n’ roasting low-end noise, which is tipped by thinner jittering ‘n’ cluttering mid-ranged noise.  The track rather brought to mind the sound of the taking off of space rocket, which I guess is fairly fitting for the theme. All told it’s an hypnotic enough piece of brutal & set walled noise, though just doesn’t really sound very original or distinct.

So secondly of course we have the track from Malevolent Alien Being- this project started at some point in 2013, but by all accounts is highly prolific as it has already put out nearing forty releases that take in download albums, CDR’s, and split CDRs. The track on offer here is entitled  “Eridania Lake”, and this ‘wall’ mixers together constantly churning thin /low-range noise texture, with a jittering & slightly scraping mid-range noise texture.  The low-range element sounds like the endless sound of churning moon buggy wheels, while mid range texture has a satisfying locked & moorish semi alien feel to it. To me the track brought to mind images of a roving robot buggy stuck in some sort of strange alien electro  buzzing force field on Mars’s surface.   All told it’s a rewarding, and fairly distinctive slice of fixed walled noise.

So in summing up Martian Impressions, is a rewarding enough Mars themed HNW split- sure the Ataraxy track isn’t particular original, though it’s rewarding enough, and it does fit into the space bound theme of the release. But I was rather taken by the Malevolent Alien Being track, and  look forward to hearing more of this projects work in future