Really if you have even a passing interest in HNW/ walled noise, both Ramirez & Mckinlay will need little or no introduction. Mr Ramirez has been active in the US noise scene since the early 1990’s, releasing a truly huge body of work under a  myriad of solo projects, to name a few Werewolf Jerusalem, Fouke, Crash At Every Speed, and Shinning Sex. As well as a host of collaborative projects such as Black Leather Jesus, Last Rape, and the project featured here An Innocent Young Throat-Cutter( often shortened to AIYTC).

And Mr McKinlay is Canadian noisemaker, who has been active since the late 1990’s- releasing once again a fairly large body of work, mostly under The Rita project name- though also he’s part of a few collaborative projects too such as Vice Wears Black Hose( with Ramirez), Edwige,  and BT.HN.. And really it’s fair to say without either of these gentlemen HNW wouldn’t exist as it is today- in either its basic sound makeup, the way of its created, or many of its key themes.

And talking of themes this release has one of the classic & original themes of the HNW genre, Italian giallo films- with both the cover artwork & track titles here clearly influenced by that genre. With AIYTC offering up two tracks, and The Rita one track- all making a full release runtime of forty-seven minutes

First up we have An Innocent Young Throat-Cutter tracks- this project started back in 1994, and as mentioned early on it's always seen Ramirez collaborating with others. So the line-up for these two tracks is: Ramirez, Sean E Martzus(Black Leather Jesus, Last Rape, Thewhitehouse, etc), James Tallis, Monica Isabel Sanchez(Tissa Mawartyassari) and Sarada Holt.  First up we have “Red Cape Maniac”, and after a brief mood-setting introduction of female screams, creepy sounds, and music-box soundtracking- we’re into the ‘wall’. And it’s a very dense, extremely seared, yet layer active example of wall-craft. At the center of the track is fixed & fairly rapid roasting churn. Moving around this we have the following: long drags of thick chalky grain, spinning spoke like chugs, scrambling & watery revolving harmonics, and later buzzing/ muffled hazes of static. The whole ‘wall’ has a fairly flat, un-dynamic, and undefined layer feels to it; which certainly fits the feel of 1960/70’s Giallo movies, though at times the mix does sound a little muddled & unbalanced.

The second AIYTC comes under the title of “With Closed Eyes”- this dispenses with the introduction jumping straight into the ‘wall’. Once again it’s another very dense, thick & muffled ‘wall’- which to begin with brings together a tight weave of churning ‘n’ judder lows, with choppy & slurred hissings. As the minute's tick by we get shifting layers of thinner static bound cascades, sludgy hacks, and more grit bound grain sears.  Though through-out the ‘wall’ remains super-thick & muffled, with once again little or no clear definition or separation to the layers. Of the two AIYTC tracks, I’d say this is my favorite, as it has such an effectively feel of seared blunt-ness & constricting tension about it.

The final track is, of course, The Rita track, and this is entitled “French Sex Murders (Remix)”. This kick straight in with a full & rapid blend of sustain-yet-rapid billowing, which is layered with shifting selection of rushers, judders, and blunt rumbles. These sub-layers have a similar low-to-mid ranged feel to the central main texture- so the ‘wall’ has a fairly monotone/ searing grey feel about it. Though at times it does get quite active in its pattern sweeps & sears. The track certainly fits in with the muffled & undefined feel of the first two tracks, so it works well with them. But personally, I felt it seemed a little one dimensional, and indistinctive- not up to the normal Rita standard, but ok in the context of this release.

Both sonically & theme wise Wide-Eyed In The Dark very much pulls us back to early 2000’s, and the often crude & suffocating origins of the HNW scene. To be honest, I can’t say it’s the best work I’ve heard from either of these projects- but as a nasty throw-back, it’s effective enough.