House Of Bats — Self Titled

House Of Bats is a collaboration between two dependable figures on the noise scene: Andreas Brandal (Flesh Coffin, Hour of the Wolf) and Robert Meldrum (Unearthed, Spider Tapes); and this first release, on the equally dependable Lighten Up Sounds label, is a c40 cassette of slurring, creepy horror music. Horror music in the sense of taking its cues from horror soundtrack devices and sounds, and horror music in the more literal sense of being full of dread, unease and approaching violence. Its packaged in the usual, colourful Lighten Up Sounds style; with a cover possibly taken from some old, trashy horror novel - very reminiscent of the Men Of Science lathe cut I reviewed recently, on the same label. The tape has four tracks of slow-burning, lo-fi, horror drones.

Slow-burning and lo-fi are key terms here: the album is dominated by slurred and slurring drones - often fashioned from abused and decayed tapes. These create an uneasy, foreboding atmosphere; performing the difficult balancing act of referencing horror soundtrack staples without becoming either kitsch or camp. Sometimes Brandal and Meldrum appear to be fleshing out chase scenes, through thick, overgrown woodland; sometimes its those moments where the hunted hides from the hunter - often, there’s just that sense of over-saturated horror; bringing to mind the prom scene in Carrie, or moments from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Amidst the murky layers of slowed-down tape spew, there are also other rotting debris: muddied voices, lurching synth lines, clattering junk, field recordings - as well as a subtle dose of HNW-esque textures (most noticeable on the title track). These are deployed to make a rather thick soup of a sound, with few real dynamic outbursts or breaks. However, a violence lurks; and at moments on “For The Flies” and “Tunneling”, for example, more savage passages break out. For all the wobbling tapes and very “organic” noise on the release, there are also a lot of very wonderfully detailed, acoustic sounds. The start of “The House Of Bats” has a fantastic crusty, scraping sound; decrepit metals being dragged around. Whilst the first few minutes of “Tunneling” see Brandal and Meldrum cracking and tearing bones and joints, before burning them in spitting flames. These elements are nicely spaced around the album, creating effective pacing and structure - there’s a definite sense of crafted construction and attention to detail, here.

This is a very enjoyable collaboration, indeed. To quote directly from the label’s spiel: “This is one of those recordings that might make you think that your tape deck is dying. Strangled and deeply bruised magnetic sound, twisted into tortured new shapes and thickly coated in poisonous bile.” “House Of Bats” has a very deftly handled darkness to it; no histrionic displays of “horror”, just an overbearing atmosphere of suffocating dread. Alas, this is already sold out from Lighten Up Sounds; but you will find this in download form on their Bandcamp website. I hope this is the first of many releases...