Botis — The Lesser Key Of Solomon
Botis brings together Richard Ramirez with fellow Texas based noise/ HNW artists Thomas Mortigan, who’s in Ramirez related projects such as Black Leather Jesus & Naked Girl Killed In The Park. He is also in noise projects such as RU-486, S.O.C.C., and Slaughter-Fetus, and black metal band Octagon. From the two tracks on offer here I guess it’s best to describe Botis sound as ritual themed smarting harsh noise, which is often made up of circular like noise textures, has the odd wall-ish like dwells, and buried vocal elements.
The release takes it’s name from a 17th century Grimoire/ magical text book, which is one of the most popular books on the subject of demonology. The projects name comes from name for the Great President & Earl of Hell….so there’s a lot of demonic connections here.
On offer here are two tracks “Ars Goetia” & “Ars Theurgia Goetia”. The first track comes in at the 9.50 mark, and this is built around ominous yet roasting layers of circular noise tones- we have mid-range judders, billows & drones; and these are weaved with smaller texturally noise tones & more higher pitched groove like repetitions. The track certainly has a very roasting & brutal ritual industrial type vibe, and this nicely feeds into the theme- one can almost picture a sorcery surrounded by endless & vibrating circles of flame as you listen to the track.
The second track come in at the 10.00 minute mark, and to start with it’s built around a mixture of brooding/ sustained synth tone, which is smarted ‘n’ bayed by mid to higher ranged noise textures. As the track progress the pair add in roasting ‘n’ billowing on/off wall textures, creepy buried guttural demon like vocal trails, juddering/circular machine like harsh noise tones, and battering/ pummelling overloaded ritual texture bashings. Again it's another effective track.
So this debut from this demonic themed Ramirez/ Mortigan project find's two roasting & prime evil slices of rewarding harsh noise. I look forward to hearing how this project develops in later releases- to sum up a neat theme & two very worthwhile tracks.