Sacro E Profano - III [Ominous Recordings - 2019]III is the latest release from the anonymous US noise act Sacro E Profano- the project brings together elements moody walled noise, ANW, DNW, and an often sleazed/ subtle unsettling atmosphere. This release from May of this year came in form of a physical release, or digital download- the psychical release had an edition of sixteen copies- but these are all sold out now…so ones only option now is the digital download. The physical version of the release came in the form of C30- which was presented in a monochrome cover, this took in a photo of older man & a younger women- the women is sucking his finger, and her other hand is down her pants- so sleazy stuff.
The release takes in just two tracks, each of these coming at the fifteen-minute mark- and each track is simply numbered. So starting off we have “I”- this begins with a crashing strike of thunder, that’s panned & reverbed out into a brewing 'n' hovering bass drone. At around the minute & a half mark, a galloping/raging jittering & crisscrossing static feast starts to find it as the bass continue to rumble & hover- this all creates a wonderful feeling of dense dread & growing-to-enclosing wall noise tension. As we move into the fifth minute the once tight mesh of static feast has started to open up, shifting to longer more buffeting & lightly raging sways of tone- as time moves on these become a lot more choppy & overlaying, which nicely builds the feeling of tension & enclose-ment once more. By the 11th minute, the bass reverb has seemingly drifted in slowed & ominous swoops, as the top layer seemingly become less uninformed in it’s now cluttering & hack sweeps. “I” really is a great example of crafted & clever wall-noise that nicely builds & shifts in a most worthy & atmospheric manner
Next up we have “II”- this starts with an unsettling blend of hovering drone gallop, drifting creepy music box melody, and layers of female moans & mouth sucking sounds. By around the two-minute mark, as the moans build, a pared-back cymbal, tinkling organ & guitar element appears- with all the while the murky & washed-out bass drift tunneling deep into your head. The layers of moans end at around the five & a half minute mark with some rapid female dialogue in Italian, the stripped bass simmers unsettle for a moment- before this layer of roughshod crackling 'n' rattling static mesh comes into place- and this gives one a feeling of unpredictably & swarming storm taut-ness. As we move passed the eleventh minute there seems to be a little more structure & shape to the dense mesh of the top layers- and these take on a mixture of descending bangs, crisp gallops, and cascading knocks. Once again “II” is another very skillful built & crafted example of mood-setting walled-noise.
I must say I was extremely impressed by III- as each wall is skillful in both it’s use & layering of creative wall textures, added to this the often fairly keen feeling of sleaze & uneasy atmosphere is wonderfully realized in each track. It’s such a pity this release couldn’t have had a larger pressing- as it’s most certainly one of the wall-noise highlights of 2019. Head here to pick-up a digital copy of the release Roger Batty
|