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Bleak Existence/ Cannibal Ritual - Vol 3: Gruesome Sickness [Meat Hook Butchery - 2019]Here we have the third in the series of ‘Gruesome’ releases from Germanys Meat Hook Butchery. And as with the other releases in the series this is a double CDR affair offering up two full-length walled noise release- we have one disc from long-running Quebec based Bleak Existence, and one from German-based Cannibal Ritual- the first disc features two searing-yet-lulling examples of the genre, while the second offer up four shorter, brutal at times fairly experimental takes on wall-making. Once again the release finds the two white-labeled CDRs comes in a double DVD case, with a one-side inlay sheet. For the artwork, we get a monochrome picture of two white-suited men around an unwell tube up figure on a bed. The release is ltd to 50 copies, which is nicely generous for a walled noise release- so you should be able to score a copy of this.
If you’ve been a fan of the walled noise genre for a while now, I’m sure you’ll be aware of Bleak Existence. This project has been around since 2007, and while it’s not the most prolific in the scene- it’s slowly but surely released around twenty releases, and for the most part, all that’s been released has been of high quality. Featured on this first disc are two around thirty minutes ‘walls’- and first of these is “Hell To Live”- this is a simplistic, yet effective example of the genre which finds a continually churning blend of blunt droning rumble and muffled industrial-like hacking- this is topped with a selection of tiny grains of popping, snapping & flitting static. The whole thing feels like your been run over again & again by some huge road roller- it’s certainly a very unrelenting track, that if you're in the right mood you can nicely drift off into its persistently crushing sonic weight.
The second track is “Hell To Die”- and once again we get a fairly simply, yet grinding selection of tones- we have a rapid & locked judder & blunt tumbling drone sustain- over this we have an sustained hissing tone. This ‘wall’ feels a bit more stripped back, lo-fi and rough in its presentation/ flow- the whole thing has a fairly appealing numbness about it, though personally, I felt it might have been a bit more effective at maybe a twenty-minute runtime.
Moving onto the second disc and we, of course, have a CDR worth of tracks from German-based Cannibal Ritual- and once again, if you are familiar with the walled noise scene this knows this project. This also started in 2007- and has been sporadically been releasing work ever since- much of this project work is often very crude/ nasty- though in recent years there’s have been elements of experimentation going on in it’s release- though these never see the ‘walls’ moving too far away from the traditional/ old school wall noise sound. Featured on the sixty one minute disc are four tracks- and these run between nine and twenty-one minutes a piece. The first track is “Syphillis”- here we find a very forceful and persistent ‘wall’ that brings together a speeding low-to-mid tone pummeling rumble, this is surrounded by small scraping/ rattling textures. Next is “Slow Death” here we find a mixture of buzzing ‘n’ slicing bass purr, this is edged by a crisp ‘n’ crude scraping texture- I really dig the nervy & nicely malevolence atmosphere to this track- with the teeth scratching scrape added a nice urgency/ focus to proceedings.
The third track is “Slow Death Cruel Death pt II” here we get a very speeding and blurred blend of rattling- slight- skittering static, with a undercarriage of blunt bass rattle and rumble. Much of this projects work is themed around extreme cannibal films- and this is exactly what this brings to mind- if you close your eyes you can almost imagine
been drag along the jungle ground by a group of natives- as the ritual eating drums pummeling away in the distant, as you are taken to be eaten.
The final is “Mortuary Rituals” and this is longest of the four tracks at just over twenty-one minutes- here we find a fairly lose & almost jam-like ‘wall’ that brings together restless buffeting, gritty rumble ‘n’ judder, with a beaded gain type vibe- compared with the other tracks on disc this feels less urgent/ compressed in its attack, and at times you feel like it could sudden pare back to more ANW feel- yet it never does, always keeping its shape/ flow.
So once this is another worthy addition to the ‘Gruesome’ series of double-disc walled noise releases from Meat Hook Butchery- I enjoy both of the discs, but if pushed I’d say the second disc is the more worthy/ rewarding of the pair. Head here to snag a copy   Roger Batty
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|  | | Bleak Existence/ Cannibal Ritual ... | Here we have the third in the series of ‘Gruesome’ releases from Germanys Meat Hook Butchery. And as with the other releases in the series this is a doub...
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| | | Crude ‘n’ Hope-corroding Wall... | Back in 2024, I got my first taste of Absurd Reality, and I was so impressed by how crude and nasty its take on walled noise was. Behind the project is South...
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