Bete Lumineuse — Murmure du Charnier

Québécois designer and artist Joce not only creates vicious visual art, but also dark and heavy aural art as well. After a handful of splits, Joce's Bete Lumineuse project gets a cassette release of his own. Coming from Crucial Blast's Infernal Machine Series, Murmure du Charnier is limited to 200 copies on a professionally manufactured cassette. While it's a very cool looking cassette, it's still a cassette, and I'll judge you for buying it! My hatred of the medium aside, how does the darkness of Bete Lumineuse stack up against the darkness of Joce's artwork?

The tortured synth drone that kicks off the album on "Entree" gives a glimpse at the level of darkness that's ahead. Short and sweet, the warbling drone is accompanied by a deeply obscured sample. "Ectoplasme I" ups the ante by raising the crunch level along with a few extra layers thrown in. The highs play in contrast to chant-like lows and create solid depth. Cavernous, haunting drones continue with "Voix Dans Les Murs." After a slow, steady build, cracks in the thickness appear and give us a glimpse at the churchy organ living in the back. The diabolical spelunking expedition doesn't stop here, though. "Possession Hypnotique" works the cavernous depths while light, squiggly highs echolocate their way around. "Cosmos I: Pulsar Mourant" slows the modulation of the low wave down a bit and oddly feels more hypnotic than the previous song. "Vision Trouble" begins like a familiar death industrial track. The quick, thick oscillations quickly get obscured by muddy (in a good way!) reverb and cannibalizing sound. Spacey, active synths are on display in "Combustion Spontanee," along with the reverbed lows and distorted, hidden screams. "Purge de Cervelles"is the most active track yet. Synths spin, rise, and fall over an overlong sample. Back to the crunch with "412 Yeux Qui Hurlent," though. There's also a rudimentary, almost reversed tribal drum chilling about midway in the mix. Closing the album on a solid note, "Sortie" revisits the same synths as the opener. This book end approach helps to wrap up the album and reinforce the sounds you heard previously.

Murmur du Charnier is a short and pretty simple album, and that's not a criticism. Songs never overstay their welcome and other than picking apart a couple of layers, you're not taxing yourself. Song to song, it's pretty consistent if not a bit samey samey. I was joking above about not buying the cassette, 'cause you should totally check this out. It nothing groundbreaking, but it's entertaining and well done.