Phantom Cadaver/Inanition — Split
The release comes in the form of a CDR, in double sided colour PC printed & folded sleeve. And first up we have the Inanition track-it’s entitled “Splinters”, and comes in at 26.18 mark. After a selection of textural stop start’s, hissings & muffled vocal sampling, the ‘wall’ rolls into a fairly fixed & constant flow. It’s built around a muffled & rather hazy blend of the following elements: a tumbling & juddering rumble, a thinner weaving ‘n’ jittering, a lose buffeting & battering swirl, and a few grainy sub-tones. I’d say this ‘wall’ was on the cusp between HNW & ANW, and on the whole it had quite a soothing yet detailed feeling about it. As ‘walls’ go it’s competently put together, with a well tooled collection of textures, but I’m afraid it just didn’t do a lot for me….not sure why, but it just didn’t do much for me.
The second track is of course from Phantom Cadaver, it’s entitled bluntly “Slag”, and is the longer of the two ‘walls’ at just over the thirty minute mark. Once again this track has a few textural stop ‘n’ starts in it’s first few minute, but fairly soon it drops into a more set state. And this brings together: two layers of constantly rolling semi-industrial droning, a taut & slightly crisp circular judder, and a slight haze of muffled crackle. The rolling elements sit between lower-to-mid range, with the rest of the elements nicely wrapping the whole thing in starkly enchasing vibe. I’d certainly say this track follows on with a similar air/ vibe to the first track, so that in it’s self is quite interesting. The whole thing remains fairly firm for its first sixteen or so minutes, then the layers seem to become more uniformed & less defined in their textural range/ detail - though it’s nothing major. The only other shift happens around the last minute or so, when this more ripped & searing churning comes into play, before the track fades. I certainly found this track a bit more satisfying in it’s feel of continual circular starkness… though I can’t say it’s the best work I’ve heard from this project.
In summing-up… the pros: both tracks are well tooled and executed, with a nice feeling of continuity in the atmosphere & vibe of both ‘walls’. The cons: the Inanition track left me rather underwhelmed, and the Phantom Cadaver track was just ok.