Regel — Regel #4

Regler returns for their latest installment Regel #4; a full-length CD released by co-conspirators: At War With False Noise, Rapid Moment, Pilgrim Talk and Decimation Sociale. For the uninitiated, Regler is collaborative project featuring Mattin (Basque experimental musician known for his collaborations with Phillip Best, Junko, Bryan Eubanks, and others) and Anders Bryngelsson of Brainbombs fame. The concept of the project according to Mattin, is to “set up rules and try to do different genres of music with rock instruments.” In Regel #4, the duo set out to tackle Harsh Noise Wall.

Regel #4 offers a single long-form track that clocks in just shy of 30 minutes. As you can imagine, it’s a massive wall of noise, pummeling and unrelenting. Deep and muddy guitar spits out a caustic barrage of volcanic eruptions, while drums rattle a steady percussive assault at machine gun speeds. It achieves what I would expect from an instrumental take on the HNW genre and naturally the “wall” presented sounds much warmer and organic than those crafted by artists who mainly toil in electronic realms. The wall tends to stay on the lower end, focused on a constant juddering attack, however I can still distinctly hear those cymbals crash repeatedly. Despite the track’s overall relentlessness, there are moments of brief respite, where the wall of noise opens ever so slightly and I’m actually able to make out chords being played. It is a wall folks, yet throughout the chaos we never lose sight that this is in fact an instrumental album….just a really fucking chaotic instrumental album.

At the end of the day this is a rock solid slab of instrumental void worship. It’s perhaps slightly more wall of noise than purely HNW (yes there’s a fucking difference), but it satiates my sweet tooth for heavy focused sounds. Perhaps Romain Perrot (VOMIR) sums it up best in the liner notes, describing Regel #4 as Hardcore Wall. Hell, works for me!