
Whore's Breath/ Utterblight - Split [Untitled Records - 2024]Here we have a walled noise split bringing together Cincinnati’s Whore's Breath, and Uk’s Utterblight. Both sever up a twenty-minute wall, which offered up fairly different- brutalising takes on the genre. This release appears on UK’s Untitled Records- been presented as a digital download. For the cover artwork, we get a black and white picture of an eerie-looking snowbound house- this rather reminded me of the house at the start of the serial killer-come-satanic horror film Long Legs. The release can be found here.
First up we have Whore’s Breath Track “Need The Lights On”. This is built around a constantly churning/ stabbing tone- which sounds like it might originate from a slowly moving/ lightly jerking bit of machinery- maybe a metal weaving wheel, or a steady rolling steam press. The whole thing is semi-hazed/ reverbed- with the ‘wall’ being made of muffled rolling low-end, a light juddering mid with rolling 'n' clunking wheel subtone. There is a feeling of space in the wall, yet of course, persistence too- the textures used are fairly original sounding- with a nicely murky feel to the production.
Next we of course have the Utterblight track “Becoming”. Here we find a mixture of thick dense bass churn & cluttering mids. Together these elements create a wonderful thickly oppressive, yet rip-rolling manic ride of a wheel. At points, I’m sure I’m making out very buried and statically scratch-up vocal baying- though I’m not sure it’s not my imagination. The textures here are not as original/ distinctive as the first track, but it’s an engaging enough wall.
So, in finishing this split offers up just over forty minutes of engaging & intense walled noise ride- so you’ll know if this is for you or not.      Roger Batty
|