Paranoid Time/Cannibal Ritual — Gruesome Mutilation Vol1
The two white labeled CDRs comes in a double DVD case- this feature black & white artwork taking in line drawings of a naked women been tied & whipped by a bold headed torturer- with white text on black background & a paper inlay- the release is ltd to 50 copies, which is nicely generous for a walled noise release.
The first disc takes in six tracks from Kalamazoo, Michigan Paranoid Time- this is walled noise/ harsh noise project of one Patrick Jon. It’s been active since around 2005- putting out around thirty plus releases- taking in splits, stand-alone releases, and comps. I was trying to recall the last time I’d heard something from this project- and must it be easily ten or so years back…I can’t for the life of me think what the release was, but I do recall the name…and enjoy what I’d heard. The four tracks here are evenly split between more length eight to fourteen minutes ones, and shorter more moody/ harsh noise focused tracks. Proceedings begin with “European Mutilation”- at first we find a slurred mix of chalky bound rustle and jitter- as the track processes we get a subtle speeding & crudely crisp walled of blend hiss ‘n’ chug, spin ‘n’ fest, and swirl & knock- it’s a nicely world muffling wall, which at times threatens to pull it’s self apart, but never does.
The longest track on this first disc is the just over fourteen minutes of "Gruesome Mutilation"- here, after some bombardments of loose roaring 'n' searing harsh noise, we get a fiery brew of slightly rumbling bound roasting low-end, blunt rattle & clutter- all hazed by sweeps of muffled grainy feast & grind. This ‘wall’ feels very unpredictable & lose in its attack, yet it (mostly) remains firm in its attack- save for a few thin backs- this stands as my favorite moment on this first disc.
The shorter tracks are ok, though at times feel a little aimless & lacking in focus-and the final longer wall track here is the eight-minute worth of "Cattle Mutilation"- which finds a blend of muffled & hazed rush, buried bass churn, choppy hiss with latter band of scorching rip. On the whole, I enjoyed this first disc, and it’s great to hear some work from Paranoid Time again.
Moving onto the second disc & we have an hours worth of new material from German-based Cannibal Ritual- the infamous & often extremely crude wall noise project, that bases most of its work around cannibal films of the late 70’s/ early 80’s. It started its life in 2006- initially releasing work between the years 2006 and 2010- then the project went on hiatus, popping up every few years to release small flurries of new material. Featured on this disc are four tracks- and each of these has runtimes between eleven & seventeen minutes- all of the four walls here are pretty good & effective in their bone crushing & flesh ripping flow- but my stand out moment is the second track “Raped and Tortured” – here we find a tightly looped roasting roll, blended with hissing & crisp jitter- in one minds eye you can almost see bodies been drag along dusty & pockmarked roads- as limbs are skinned down to first muscle, then bone. The final track "Vile" is pretty damn crushing too- as we find as constant descend pelt of thick lashing showers, all backed by a rabid almost rhythmic rumble- bringing to mind racks of roasting & spiting carcasses with muffled ceremonial cannibal drums in the deep background.
I’ve always liked the idea of split releases that feature stand alone discs, or even multi-disc compilations with-in the wall noise genre, and Gruesome Mutilation Vol1 is certainly a great start to this new series of walled noise splits- and I very much look forward to hearing what’s coming down the line in the series...head here to snag a copy