Macromenia — Segments Of Fractured Cranium

Here’s a pro-pressed CD from Karo Productions, with seven tracks of harsh noise from Joseph Roemer of Macronympha, and Leo Sabatto of Armenia. The album comes with a sticker declaring: ‘The concept here was an analysis of how extreme imagery in metal/noise/experimental album covers could affect the psyche of the individual and how it may manifest in their daily life. We live in a world where indifference and coldness manifests making us emotionless individuals. This will make your ears bleed!’ It’s very unclear how precisely this conceptual nature is meant to be perceived by the listener; Macromenia may well have pondered these ideas and incorporated them into the release but any ‘analysis’ remains imperceivable, since all we have are noise tracks and some xerox collaged artwork. I’d also dispute that we live in a world of ‘emotionless individuals’ and following the apparent logic of the sticker spiel, if we do live in such a world then noise releases packaged with extreme imagery must presumably accept part of the blame. Anyway, certainly at the right volumes the CD probably has the potential to make your ears bleed.

The first track, ‘Ripping Muliebrous Tissue,’ the longest at just over eight minutes, sets out Macromenia’s stall effectively enough: shrill static noise, low end churn, sheets of feedback, all layered into a thick morass; though, here there is a nice mid-section which has mangled loops that sound like bellowing animals. ‘No Vindication For Monstrous Nature’ is up next, and brings forth more crumbling mid-frequency noise textures, though they are initially at least accompanied by buried, dreamy keyboard explorations; these are cut short by effective bass rhythms that make good use of the stereo field. Again, there is a effective mid-section which has delicate noise crackles dancing over a reverberating or looping rhythm. The third piece, ‘Deserted Raucous Overture,’ begins by moving through several noise textures, cutting from a short, quiet, eerie section into more blown out, fast paced harsh noise, again constituting a thick wall of noise with elements buried and emerging from the mass. Identifiable elements include a clicking loop and possibly some junk noise near the end; as with most of the album its difficult to tell because everything is simply obliterated - and that’s not a criticism. ‘Voluminous Ineptness Blossoms Defectuous Personages’ - probably the best title on offer here - has more prominent ‘elements,’ namely small squalls of spitting electronic noise, which break out from the churning wall of sludge; it’s one of the shorter pieces on the album, just under four minutes, which gives it an effective conciseness. The shortest track, just past three minutes in length, is ‘Cockalorum Hindrance,’ the second best title on display; this combines blown-out bass textures with skittering washes of of treble crackle and electronic outbursts, but truth be told doesn’t really amount to much… ‘Habituated To Lascivious Idée Fixe’ comes next, and here there is more promise; some nice looped sounds, and some effectively strained/distressed moments that add atmosphere. There’s also a greater sense of narrative and structure, with distinct passages and dynamics. The final work, ‘Exasperated+Nauseated,’ again allows elements distinct from the churning wall greater prominence and play, with reverberating loops, ‘industrial’ sounding rhythms, and submerged electronic sounds.

Segments Of Fractured Cranium is solid enough, and hints at the potential for better things but overall it’s just somewhat underwhelming. It’s interesting that Macromenia have chosen short tracks - certainly much shorter than most efforts in this area, but I don’t feel they hit hard enough to work as short sharp shocks, nor do they really maximise the potential of colour or dynamics. It’t not a bad album at all, but didn’t really grab me, alas.