Reptilian Sexual Predator - Hymns - The Birth Year [Human Ignorance - 2011]Besides finding it a great monicker, I had the pleasure to listen to some Reptilian Sexual Predator excerpts on Bandcamp before, but this "Hymns: The Birth Years" is the first tangible release I own by this American power electronics act. First of all the presentation is quite good. "Hymns.." consists of two lengthy tapes housed in a black poly vhs-style case, with disturbed color tv screen artwork on the outside and classic p.e. black and white xerox collages on the inside and on the tapes.
The first tape is a fairly good mix of all good old power electronics standard sounds: true crime television samples, ear-piercing high frequency feedback, distorted vocals and muddy synth tones. It's nothing original or groundbreaking, but why should it be? All I care about is that it's well executed and effective. The structures are quite simple and seemingly improvised, their flow reserves no surprises. The vocals sometimes are astoundingly "catchy" and anthemic, like in the "Anti-Communist" track. Fun fact: the second track on side B is untitled in the tape version, while on Bandcamp it is listed as "Wake Up, White People". It's not like the rest of the set is less "controversial", so I found this pretty peculiar. The second tape offers more of the same old school power electronics. "Kicks" and "Prostitution" are some of the best bits of the whole release.
Reptilian Sexual Predator's vocals are what I like most about this release. They're always fierce, well paced and well delivered. While generally spot-on, the sounds sometimes feel dull, effortless and primitive but with a release of this magnitude some weaker moments are bound to happen.
The overly evident misanthropy and misogyny of this act (after all it's a box-set where "Prostitution" and "Prostitute" are two separate tracks) will put off those who are bored of the same old shit, and the despicable people who're easily offended.
On the other hand I found this release quite good. It's simple American power electronics, with all its pros and cons. It's not "classic" material, but it's a good introduction to a project that probably will haunt our hearing with more nasty power electronics for years to come. I don't know if the tape version is still available, but the material is all downloadable from the band's Bandcamp.    Nicola Vinciguerra
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