Climax Denial — Blackout Suite
In March 2019, American label No Rent Records released the projects latest release, Blackout Suite. The album was released as either a C30 audio tape or digital download. At the time of writing this review, the entire edition, with a total of 100 copies, has already sold out. But the digital version is available for listening and ordering on the label's Bandcamp page. It should also be said that on the Discogs this album is located on the Miscellaneous link, which suggests that this album does not apply to the full-length work of the project. However, having more carefully studied the Climax Denial's Discogs page, I realized that there is a slight confusion in the releases. So, I'm sure that "Blackout Suite" can be regarded as a full-fledged album.
The album cover is made in the form of Tape J-card, respectively, it is divided into three panels. The right panel is the largest and, in fact, is the cover of the album. It is an abstract image as if it's generated by a neural network of fragments of photos. It is difficult to determine exactly what is shown on the cover. It’s made in solid and white colours, with a slight addition of grey and black colouring. At first glance, it seemed to me that I was seeing a woman sitting, but, looking closer, I realized that this was just an illusion. At the top of the cover is a horizontal bar, divided vertically in half. The left part of this bar is white and half of the project name Climax is written in black in a simple font. The right side of the bar is black; Denial is written on it in white. At the bottom of the cover is the same bar, but with mirrored colours. The release name is set in a similar manner on the upper band. Spine panel is the same, divided in half black and white stripe. The name of the project is written on the black part, the album name and the logo of the label are written on the white. The left panel contains brief contact information, track names and the logo of the No Rent Records label. The background for the left panel is part of the main cover. At first, the cover seemed to me too abstract and devoid of any meaning. I can not say that I initially understood the idea of the cover, but after listening to the album, I can say that the cover works very well with sonics with-in.
The album, with a total duration of just under thirty minutes, consists of two tracks, each approximately fifteen minutes long. Each composition occupies one side of the cassette. The first track is called “Night Sweats I & II”, the second track is “Blood on the Rim / Panicked and Joyless”. However, in essence, these are four different tracks.
"Night Sweats I & II" begins with a rather atmospheric intro, in which melodic keyboard passages are combined with a slight rustling noise. This is followed by a most effective moment based on field recordings- we hear the chaotic noise of the crowd. People around talk, shouting and swearing. It seems that the listener is in the epicentre of a huge crowd, where everyone is talking. A sharp pulsating synth sound, characteristic of Power Electronics, comes in, which, as the composition develops, slightly loses its intensity and turns into a more monotonous pulsating buzz, more characteristic of Death Industrial. Against this background, comes in slightly distorted vocals. I wouldn't call Alex Kmet's vocal style typical of PE. His vocals are quite melodic and have a high timbre. Alex precisely sings, but does not use recitative or shouts, as the majority of vocalists in PE genre. In Alex's vocals, I can hear hints of both Marilyn Manson and Rob Halford.
The second track "Blood on the Rim / Panicked and Joyless" has approximately the same compositional structure as the first track. It begins with a pulsating atmospheric entry, the amplitude of which pulsation changes as it progresses. Alex uses more typical PE vocals here. This is followed by another part based on human voices, but this time it is less intense. The album closes a rather slow, painful and gloomy part of the composition. It is practically a pulsating drone with atmospheric effects.
If we refer Climax Denial with-in the Power Electronics genre, then, undoubtedly, this project has its own interesting style and approach to writing compositions. But I would not call it PE. For me, this is more Death Industrial with elements of Dark Ambient and Drone. There is clearly Kmet take on these genres- with a desire to bring something new into the sound and atmosphere. The album turned out to be very atmospheric, even a little scary. There’s none of the aggression inherent in Power Electronics, but also there is none of the excessive monotony of Death Industrial. Alex Kmet has certainly found a middle ground somewhere between these genres, adding his own ideas.
Before this album, I was not familiar with the work of Climax Denial. But now I’ll definitely be checking out more of the discography of this project.