I Watched You Die — Morbid Beginnings

“Morbid Beginnings” is a two CDR set that offers up four slices of oppressive, dark, tense, yet extremely brutal walled noise. I Watched You Die is one of the projects Dubuque Iowa based noise artists Alex Nowacki(Boar, Phantom Rib, Centuries Behind A Gate, Polyester Pants), and this project has been in existence since 2011, releasing around six CDR & cassette releases thus far. The project has always focused in on low-end, crushing & bleak walled noise.

The two unlabeled CDRs come in white double DVD case, which features photo copied cover sleeve that takes in a very dark picture of the project performing live. There’s also a card inlay that features a picture of the projects equipment set-up. The first disc features two untitled tracks, and each track comes near the 35 minute mark. The second disc features two tracks again, but these are less evenly blanced with their run-time- the first track comes in at the fifty minute mark, and the second at the fifteen minute mark.  So all told there’s over two hours  worth of blacked & intense walled noise on offer here.

So first up on CDR one we have the first untitled track, and this ‘wall’ brings together a  meaty skull drilling bass juddering/purring, with a skipping ‘n’ circling crusty jitter. The track really feels like your head is in a vice, and the pressures is just getting more & more, as a drill buzzer 'n' sparks above you. The tracks pattern/structure remains fixed through-out, yet it keeps you fully locked in & entranced for it’s total running time.

The second untitled track brings together an endless descending & oppressive blunt worming bass tone. And this is joined by a fairly complex yet repetitive mass of crumbling ‘n’ crunching jittering textures. This track really seems  burrow deeply into your head in a most intense & taut yet satisfying manner. From time to time through-out the track you get the odd sudden haze or shunt of extra textural detail flitting across the intense mass of the ‘wall’, but mostly this is a fixed & firm bit of wall-making.

Over onto disc two, and the third untitled track. To start with his ‘wall’ is built around a slight more open mix of layered crumbling & juddering noise which has a descend & fairly rapid feel to it; as the track progresses the sonic picture seems to get more & more crowded as similar toned crumbling 'n' juddering textures build up & press in on you. After a time the building-up of more textures stop, but the track remains full & fixed in it’s feel. To me the track rather brought to mind the bizarre image of greyed clouds descend from the sky, and falling around your head & body in crusty & engulfing manner.

So last up we have untitled track four, and this is built around a very meaty & roasting thick bass judder ‘n’ drill, which has crisp & crunching jitters tightly wrapped around it. The tracks structure is fairly firm/ fixed, though as the track goes on more  intense juddering vibe is brought to the fore- yet the whole ‘wall’ never shifts to far from it’s structural foundations. This ‘wall’ has got such an brutal ‘n’ crushing feel to it, yet it’s damn entrancing too. The tracks a great end to this great release.

I’ll have to admit I was a bit disappointed when I heard Boar(Nowacki’s main project) was moving away from pure HNW, to a more PE/ harsh noise/ HNW/ moody experimental noise mix. So it’s great he’s keeping  I watched You Die as a pure HNW project.  Simply “Morbid Beginnings”offers up four masterful & brutal slices of walled noise, that clearly show that Nowacki is still able to create intense, creative yet entrancing walled noise. This release came in a edition of 12 copies, so you might get lucky & still snag a copy, as this really is a must have item for any self respecting ‘wall-head’.