Dead Body Collection / Raven — Split
The four C20 tapes come in a large see through plastic cassette case, and this features a single sided wrap around colour cover that takes in blurred & over laid images of a man sitting in a window,woodland pictures and fire. Each of the four tapes has a pro printed label on both sides- so all told it’s a nice looking & classy release from this Florida based underground noise label.
Each side of tape features a single ten minute ‘wall’, and first up on side A we have Dead Body Collection's track “She Smiled And Turned To Me”. This track is built around a rapidly roaring ‘n’ billowing low-end texture, which is surrounded by thinner & slightly scuttling static crust of juddering noise. The track is a raging & unforgiving slice of walled noise and an effective/ no-nonsense start to proceedings.
Moving onto side B, and we have Raven’s “Staring At A Blacked Sky”. This ‘wall’ finds a murky ‘n’ hazed backdrop of fixed( but seemingly intensifying) churning ‘n’ juddering, which is edged with smaller & uneven pops, crackles, and snaps of noise. The track nicely fits it’s title, and one can imagine staring out into a cold starless & bleak night sky- though I did find it felt a little too long for it’s own good, feeling it would have been much more effective at half it’s length.
Side C finds another DBC track in the form of “I Made Her A Promise I Could Not Deliver”. This brings together a fixed battering ‘n’ billowing low-end machine like churn; this is edged by a taut line of thinner jittering static. This track brings to mind some vast hellishly & pummelling machine, that just seems to continual pounding away at both your mind & body.
Side D finds us back with Raven again, and a track entitled “Time Is Running In Circles”. This ‘wall’ is built around a uneven, slightly smeared, and chalky churn/ judder which, is lined by muffled edges of thinner jittering tonality. I enjoyed this track a lot more than the first Raven track, and I really like the messy yet intense feeling of this ‘wall’.
Side E is another DBC track in the shape of “Great Tears Leaping From Her Eyes”. This track merges together a deep & intense billowing, with a semi crisp raging jitter- it’s a simple, unmoving, yet effective bit of head battering walled noise.
On Side F we have Raven’s “Seeking Utopia For A World Full Of Hate”. Here we find a pitch black & low-end rumble, which is seared by smaller scraps & jitters. The low-end tone is fixed & firm in its continual blacked descent, while the smaller noise elements nicely keeps one attention with thier moving pattern.
On Side G we’re back with DBC with the track “I Left Her To The Wind, Rain, And The Snow”. This brings together a deep down droning low-end, with a skittering mix of mid-to-semi higher ranged jittering. This ‘wall’ brought to mind been sucked into a huge road sweeper. This track was enjoyable enough, but I found it the least satisfying of the DBC walls here.
And lastly on side H we have Raven’s “Bleak Space Between Dead Earth And Poisoned Sky”. Here we find a muffled & faint mixture of roaring rush & hazed jittering. This track has a nice feeling of hollow stark-ness, through once again I felt it should have been half the length it was.
All told this was a consistent enough split release- sure both artists had their less effective moments, but on the whole they managed to mix wall noise brutality with rewarding textural details. As this was ltd to just 25 copies, it sold out long ago with the label, but maybe this will get a reissue (in one way or another) one day. You can check out the releases first three tracks at the labels bandcamp page here.