Cannibal Ritual - La Montagna Del Dio Cannibale Part 2 [Needle and Knife Records - 2018]This C30/ digital release severs up two fifteen minute slabs of crude, crushing & particularly nasty walled noise from long-running German HNW project Cannibal Ritual. La Montagna Del Dio Cannibale Part 2, appeared in September of last year on Australian wall label Needle And Knife Records- and as of writing this review, there are still copies of the tape left in stock with the label. The plan black shelled cassette features a stuck on label featuring the projects logo on one side- this comes in monochrome skull & bone collage cover- which of course nicely fits the cannibalistic focus & themes of the project. I’m not sure how many copies were made of this, but as I mentioned in my intro the label still have copies.
German-based Cannibal Ritual began life in 2006, initially releasing work between 2006 & 2010- then the project went on hiatus popping up briefly every few years since to release small flurries of new material. This C30/ digital release is one of the three releases the project has put out since it re-emerging last year- and really it’s what we've come to expect from the project- nastily seared, terminal brutal, and unforgiving wall matter- though maybe a touch better produced & slight more nuanced, then the projects early work.
As the title suggests this is the second La Montagna Del Dio Cannibale(The Mountain of the Cannibal God)- the first appeared as a single-sided self released C60 cassette from 2008. Both sides here are influenced by the 1978 Cannibal film of the same name- which saw Ursula Andress getting caught by a group of cannibals- with Stacy Keach trying to save her- Personally, I can’t say it’s my fav of the genre, but it’s campy enough fun.
This two-track affair dispenses with all the funny & campy elements of the film, to focuses in on the stomach ripping & intestine shedding violence of the picture. The two tracks are simply titled La Montagna Del Dio Cannibale prt 2 A & B. After a sustained cable buzz the first sides track kicks in, and it’s dense – yet effectively separated blend of rough feasting churn, which is edged by a smaller constantly jittering ‘n’ juddering textures- under these is a distant yet fixedly bitter drone. The blend of the active/ feasting elements and more set-to- taut textures work very nicely together- to creating a focus grabbing wall, that sucks you in from the outset keeping you held through-out.
Moving onto the second track- this is a bit more urgent & violent in its feel. As we get a constant tearing ‘n’ jumping upper- level, this is underfed a seared haze of rapid feasting static grain. At times, when the tears & jumps feel more rapid, you wonder if the whole thing will tear it’s self apart- but it never does with CR keeping both urgency & crushing sear in place throughout. The wall works as a nice contrast to the first side, making this a great little release.
In finishing it’s great to see classic wall acts like Cannibal Ritual reappearing once more again, and is La Montagna Del Dio Cannibale Part 2 is a worthy addition to the projects back catalogue- I’d advise acting on this sooner than later to make sure you get a copy of the tape. Roger Batty
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