Chier/Gamiani — Snake Goddess

Snake Goddess is a C60 split bringing together two Euro walled-noise acts. We have Toulouse based Chier, and Stockholm based Gamiani- both acts are fairly new additions to the scene with Chier starting in 2015, and Gamiani starting last year. The tape features a single track per side, and each are dense/ layered examples of HNW.

For those who have been following the euro walled-noise for the last two years or so, the name Chier will certainly be familiar, as it's  put out around 60 plus releases. Also it's been getting praise for it’s blend of creative, yet often necro focused wall-craft. 

Gamiani is way less prolific, releasing around five cassette releases thus far, and these take in a lot of splits & two stand alone releases. I reviewed the projects first tape Obsession last year, and sadly found it both clichéd in it’s use of textures & wall constructions. I was also under whelmed by the tapes rather predictable & over used women’s legs/ tights feministic theme/ imagery.

So taking into account the above- Snake Goddess could well have been a very mixed bag- with greatness sitting alone side blandness. Thankfully I’m happy to report that both sides are satisfying here, with Chier offering up an expectedly great ‘wall’. And Gamiani  really upping its game to give the listener a worthy bit of wall-craft, that’s both hellish & fairly creative in its dense spitting 'n' spluttering attack.

So first up on side A we have Chier’s wall, and this is entitled “Cold Skin”. The ‘wall’ is another great & layer defined example of masterfully  wall-matter from this project. We get a blend of  taut billowing & droning, which is weaved by a selection of smaller snapping, popping, and jittering patter-nation. In the first few minutes we get surprising & effective breaks in the ‘walls’ detailed & complex flow,  and nicely breaking ones concentration, leaving you unsure what to expect next. But as the track progresses  these breaks fade, as Chier pulls you deeper & deeper into his complex textural structure.  The layers seemingly stay fairly true to their original patterns, though at times I’m sure there are more  smaller sub-tones added to the mix, yet it’s difficult to be truly be sure as the whole thing is so taut & tight in it’s weave. That said I do definitely make out a more tumbling & rolling feel to the deeper drone  tone in the tracks last ten minutes.  In conclusion another very captivating ‘wall’ from Chier, who is continually putting out great work at present.

So flipping over to side B, and we have Gamiani’s track, and this is entitled "Manasã". The ‘wall’ is an extremely thick, caustic & ear smarting blend of seared layers- we have a galloping, though slurred and slightly wonky spattering pattern. A tight, descending & tinny snap weaved hissing & spitting pattern. And these are weaved by a thinner haze of caustically snapping sub-tones. Together these elements create a particularly nasty & totally overwhelming ‘wall’ that has quite a crude & airless flow to its entire length. The layers remain fairly similar in their patterns, though at times both of the two central layers seem to get more prominent & seared- but this of course just be a sonic trick of the ‘wall’. All in all this is a huge improvement from what I’d heard before from this project, and lets hope it carries on down this crude & caustically spluttering ‘n’ spitting take on HNW.

All in all Snake Goddess is a most satisfying split- presenting the listener with two well tooled & constructed examples of dense & detailed HNW.