Centuries Behind A Gate — Part One- "Nervousness"
This is also one of the first releases on the very promising new HNW label Breaching Static which is ran by Nowacki himself, and all the releases feature the distinctive oversized white double folder packaging which he used on his first two self released Boar releases : 'I Can See Your Breath' and 'Fucking Disgusting' both from last year.
The release features on it’s cover quite an eerier black and white picture of either an bamboo or metal bar gate set over a cave entrance. Which brings to mind legends/ superstitions of monster or evil entity’s that are locked away from mankind in cave networks. The track titles nicely follow this monster or evil entity tone/theme with the first track being entitled “The First Sighting of Empty Skulls” and the second “Sleepless Nights are awaiting”- yet these titles also leave it open to your own nightmarish interpretation too.
The first and longest track “The First Sighting of Empty Skulls” finds Nowacki unfolding a mixture of roaring storm type drone/ judder with brutal yet creepy skipping static tonalities on top. These two tones run along side each other mainly in a fairly consistent and locked manner for the tracks full length; yet from time to time there seems off pattern variations- but of course this may just be a trick of the ‘walls’ hypnotic entrancement. The track gives one the feeling of struggling through a bone chilling winter storm, and having the feeling that someone or something is constantly watching your every move. The track comes in at just over the forty six minute mark, and it finds Nowacki weaving a great moorish mix of seared noise and chilling atmospherics.
Lastly we have “Sleepless Nights are awaiting” which comes in just shy of the fourteen minute mark. This ‘wall’ is built around a fairly rapid ‘n’ rolling roar meets constantly battering noise tone, which at times has almost a sped-up tribal drum feeling to it’s make-up. The ‘wall’ has a great grey, battering and monotone feel to it, and it feels like ones in a semi drug tinged state constantly on the run from some unseen yet highly malevolent force. Once more the ‘walls’ nicely locked down for most of it’s running time, through at times it does seem to get more harrowing and battering; through I think this is just mainly a sign of what a great ‘wall-maker’ Nowacki is , and not great structural departures.
So a “Part one – Nervousness” is a great start to this new, highly brutal 'n' battering yet chillingly atmospheric HNW project. I very much look forward to hearing what Nowacki does next with the project. To find out more about this and the other great releases on the new Breaching static label drop in here