Cannibal Ritual — Ritual Rapture

Ritual Rapture is a recent C40 from German thick ‘n’ crude wall noise project whom themes all of his work around cannibal films of the 1980’s. The release takes in two side-long slices of sonic battering, and really this is old school HNW of the most seared & unrelenting….so none of the slightly more creative stuff this project has dabbled in of late….this is straight-to-guts-&-rip-them-out wall matter.

The release appears on respected noise & unsettlement bound label Narcolepsia- it’s Portuguese based & while not the most prolific on noise labels you can always rely on well packaged & interesting release from the label. The clear shelled-yet bronze sheet laid tape features a blue stamp on print of a  smeared handprint on either side. This is presented in a pro-printed double-sided cover which features a blend of skull & tree colleague, skull drawings, a skull in drifting sand fold-out. The release has an edition of 60 copies- so as it’s not been out too long, you should be able to hook a copy up.

Both sides track is untitled, and both fill the side of tape. So first up on side A we have ragged ‘n’ ragging blend of rapid billowing and cluttering bound hacking- the ‘wall’ feels akin to been dragged along at speed by a horse over rocky and ridged ground- as one's head & ears get at first battered and bruised, then bloody and numb. The billowing is both blown-out & rushing in its attack, and the hacking has a nicely ripped ‘n’ raw static vibe to it- together these elements create a very, very intense wall that’s totally old-school wall-craft.

Flipping over and we have the second track- and this ‘wall’ is a little more taut 'n' tense in its attack. Here we find a mixture of rapidly dabbing & crunching low end, snaking earthy static grain, and constantly swirling crunch. Wherewith the first track things felt very rapid- here the speed has eased to a mid-paced drag, as if your still been pulled along by a horse over rough ground- but the animal has slowed as your bouncing 'n' bloody head is near to passing out. I really like the constricting and earthy feel of this ‘wall’, and the textures are laid out together in an extremely moorish manner. Of the two tracks here, I’d say this is my fav- as it mangers to be both crude, yet crisply nuanced in its attack.

Active on & off since 2007 Cannibal Ritual stands as one of the longer still active euro wall noise projects- and if you dig no-nonsense wall matter with brutal focus & themes, then you’ll enjoy Ritual Rapture. As mentioned early this had a fairly scene generous edition of sixty copies- so head here to score a copy