Olion / Whore's Breath — Split

Here’s a walled noise split that shifts between the murky ‘n’ brooding, to the pelting ‘n’ the wonkily winding down. It features Poland's Olion, and Cincinnati, Ohio's Whore’s Breath- the former offers up two fifteen-minute tracks, while the latter a single thirty-minute wall.

The release appears on the up-and-coming British label Untitled Records. It comes as a digital release. We get some neat artwork- a murky grey ‘n’ black oil painting of a three-eyed/large-headed humanoid figure- which appears to unrolling a parchment/ similar. The link can be found here.

Opening up the release we have the two Olion- these both hit in/ run around the fifteenth minute mark.  First of these is “I” here we find a mix of constantly tumbling judder, weaving hiss ‘n’ light rattle- with a stark ‘n’ steady droning rumbling at its base. This wall brings to mind images of rapidly rolling deeper and deeper into an eerier mine shaft on a rickety railway.  Next, we have “II” here we find a more stripped-back ANW wall- it’s built around a selection of hazed buffeting and billowing tones- with an undercarriage of murky roll ‘n’ knock.  It keeps feeling like the whole thing will grind to a full stop- but it never does. Again, another rewarding slice of creepily moody wall-making.

Finally of course we have the Whore’s Breath track “Untitled 71924”- and I must say this is one of the more distinctive walls I’ve heard in a while. It is a blend of showering bead/marble-type tones, with the off-kilter/ wavering winding-down tone. The track shifts between sounding sinisterly comical, and unblanchingly battering. The longer you play it you start to make out the reward full detail & shape of the track- and I could have easily played this for twice this length. The track nicely fits the tone of the cover artwork

All told a most rewarding split. I wanted to give this a three & a half mark, but as the Whore’s Breath track is so distinctive I just had to go for a four.