Paul Chain — Satan's Future - Dying Edition
The release brings together around thirty five minute of material, taking in five unreleased( as far as I’m aware) tracks from between 1980 & 1989. And what we have here is Mr Chain at his more experimental, jam-based & creative- blending together church organ, experimental guitar texturing, electro textures, and fairly sparse vocals. As this items ltd (50 copies) you can imagine this isn’t for the newbie/ passing interest, but as I very much have a taste for Mr Chain at his more ‘out-there’ this release is like sonic nectar to my ears.
I’m reviewing just the CD from the package- so I can only really personal comment on the sonic side of things. But apparently the full edition comes in a made hard cardboard box, which features: printed cotton fabric, 7 inch folder, CD, Inserts, Hand printed b/w Photos, & Ceramic record. This came in an edition of just 50 copies, and it’s unclear if any of these are still available or not.
The five tracks have running times between four & fourteen minutes, and really they a nice & wholly consistent snapshot of Paul Chain as it’s more edgy & ‘out-there’. Opening up the proceedings we have the track “Satan’s Future”- this starts with a darting & shadowy blend strutting/ wiry guitar textures & Mr Chain’s vocals- these have quite a stark semi- spoken word punk feel to them. Everything is ribbed by eerier reverb, which at times start to trail-out of shape, but the taut-ness is always just kept in place. Also at times Chain’s vocals get slightly more impassioned, but fairly soon they return to their original state. All told it’s a great & moody opener to the release.
Sandwiched right in the middle of the release we have "Ghosts Of The Past (Spettri Del Passato)"- which is the longest track on offer here. It’s from 1981, and is built around a blend of synth & effects( from Mr Chain), violin(Milena Lanciaprima), and drum machine and percussion.(Giuseppe Cardone). The track is a slowly snaking & decidedly woozy affair built around mid-period( & sleazy) Throbbing Gristle like drum machine textures, swirling & psychedelic shimmering blend of electronics, synth, and violin. From time-to-time you get the odd hint at muffled vocal wails & moans, but mainly it’s a purely instrumental affair. All told it’s a great tripped-out, rather sleazy & devilish jam of a track, and certainly the centre piece of this release.
The other three tracks are still of a high standard too, going from more dowse & bent blends of slapping percussion & church organ drone, though mangled blends of scuttling & seared guitar improv & synth freak-out. Onto more moody & slowly developing church & synth blends, that are best described as gothic ambience.
Sadly this release is now full sold-out…so I’m guess you might get lucky and find a copy of discogs, or maybe at some point this material will get a reissue. On the plus side apparently they are similar limited Paul Chain release are planed- so keep an eye on Minotauro records site here .