First up we have Hungary’s Necrotik Fissure. This is my first brush with NF, but according to their biography this solo HNW project formed in 2012 and then went into deep sleep until 2016. Franz Kafka once wrote that, “first impressions are always unreliable” and I hope that is the case because I wasn’t that impressed with their offering. NF’s track entitled “Stargazer Fish” is a 20 minute block of static nihilism. It’s a fairly competent slice of wall-riding; the high-speed battering ram approach. No doubt there is plenty of caustic crackle and crunch to latch on to. The issue I have with this track is all the good characteristics are overshadowed by a persistent high-end hiss. Mind you, I am listening to the digital version of this release so it’s not the by-product of a bad dub job, but something inherent in the track. If you could remove that layer and bump up the other sounds in the track I might find something to blissfully annihilate my consciousness with. Unfortunately, no dice.

The Rita needs no introduction. One of the true masters of the genre, The Rita returns to a familiar topic...sharks. I can’t say I have a huge collection of Sam Mckinlay’s work; the voluminous breadth of his output just made me give up trying to be a completist, however he’s an artist I’ve always kept an eye on. “Oceanic Whitetip Shark (and Women)” begins with a clip from the International Shark Attack Files discussing whitetip sharks attacking humans after ship and plane crashes. The brief soundbite segues into a barreling juggernaut of crunch and static. It almost sounds like underneath all of the sonic destruction you can faintly still make out a continuance of the dialogue from the beginning sound clip. Perhaps Mckinlay is using it as the soundscource or perhaps it’s phantom sounds. It’s hard to tell.

One thing this track is not is a completely static blast of sound. There are several sharp stabs and low end stresses found throughout the track. Crunchier organic sounds ebb and flow, coming to a standstill in some parts. I once had the opportunity to catch The Rita live. During his set he utilized, what looked like, a small pouch of rocks amplified by a contact mic. Perhaps he used something similar on this recording. At 20 minutes in length, it’s a shorter statement in the universe of HNW, however it’s about my sweet spot for enjoying this type of hyper focused harsh noise. It hits all the right tones for me and is a real beast of a track from beginning to end.

Certainly a mixed split in my estimation with The Rita doing the heavy-lifting. That said, The Rita track is quite good and worth the price of admission alone.