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 Review archive:  # a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Nar/Ch - (untitled) [self release - 2015]

Here’s a humanity hating HNW split release that brings together a disc a piece worth of material from the following: highly secretive & brutally intense  US walled noise project Nar, and often progressive, but always creative British wall noise artists Clive Henry (here listed as Ch)

The split appeared in May 2015, as a private release by Mr Henry, and as with any release  put out by Clive the packaging here has a nicely pro & arty look to it. It comes in the form a stapled A5 booklet- this features a grey/ slightly dull silver card cover & white paper inner pages, & these take in texts & very stark/ grim pictures relating to the releases humanity hating theme.

The two discs appear in the middle of the booklet in clear plastic sleeves, and each disc features another grim picture on it non-play face.  First up we have the Nar disc, and this features four tracks in all, & these each come in around the eleven to twenty one minute mark.  First of these is "What They Deserve"- the track brings together a roasting & searing deep/taut judder, with a agitated & chalky jitter into a fairly firm wall- I guess this tracks ok, but for me it just didn’t seem to hold my attention for it’s nearing 19 minute runtime.  Next we have "In The Ground, Out Of Mind", and I found this much more satisfying- it brings together a line of muffled, murky, & brooding droning, with a more wintry, stark yet spiteful jittering. This track is a great mix of brooding & suffocating underbelly, and a nastier top layer.

Track three comes in the form of "Tortured Beyond Recognition", & this brings together a tunnelling, constantly descending & earthy like  rapid rolling rumble with a particular nasty, sharpe & cold  jittering/ snapping texture. Again it’s another effective bit of ‘wall-making’.  And lastly we have the longest track on this disc  "Human Ornaments"- this ‘wall’ brings together a stretched & taut buffeting/ billowing background drone, with a taut ridge of crusty yet fairly muffled textural jittering.   Again it’s another worthy & nasty bit of ‘wall-craft’, and except for the first track this whole first disc is great.


So moving onto the second disc, and we of course have the Ch disc. This once again takes in another four tracks, and these run between six & twenty six minutes a piece. This disc opens with the "Filth, Scum"- this track brings together a thick ‘n’ dense fixed spraying texture, with a tense/taut layers of dense jittering patterning( which are all set to a similar mid range). The track brings to mind been constant hosed by a stream of thick & suffocating foam, as you drift in a endless sea of grey ‘n’ white static seer.  The tracks an effective opener to this disc, and is a surprisingly straight bit of HNW from Mr Henry. Next up we have "Humans Are Not Special, You're Not Special"- and this track brings together a ear searing & sustained high pitched hiss, with a back drop of  thinner continually cracking ‘n’ rolling jitter. I’m not normally a great fan of higher pitched elements in walled noise, or noise in general- but I find this track quite effectively intense & searing in it’s sustained attack on ones hearing. 

Track three comes in the form of  "You're Human Like The Rest Of Them", and this offers up just over six & a half minutes of trapped & deep 'buzzing-bee' like drone, which is surrounded a thinner mesh  of  jittering ‘n’ juddering patterning. I really like the mix of the meaty buzzing, & the more detailed / weaving textures on top that this track offers up.
Lastly with track four we have the last & the longest  track of this disc, and this comes in the form of "The Great Silence". This just over twenty six minute track rather brought to mind a recording from with in a small aircraft- with it’s fixed & fairly firm layered mixture of distant droning billowing, thick rumbling droning, and layers of dense juddering.  Like all of the other tracks here this is a much more fixed & straight take of wall-making from the normally progressive Mr Henry; but like the other tracks it brings together creative, rewarding & often original textures to create a highly rewarding bit of ‘wall-craft’.

So in summing up this is a nicely present split, which brings together tow( mostly) very rewarding CDR’s with some great disturbing imagery & texts to create a very worthy yet nasty wall noise split. This is well worth tracking down, & stands as one of this years ‘wall’ highlights.

Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5

Roger Batty
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