Obscure Heaven - Cold Spring [Fatal Noise Action - 2022]Cold Spring features two around twenty minutes examples of rapidly hacking and constricting walled noise from this Russian project- with each track being equally taut and tense in its attack. The release appears as a digital download on Russia's Fatal Noise Action. The cover is a black & white Rorschach inkblot shape, which I guess gives the whole thing a fairly mysterious/ unknown vibe- this is really added to by the title which can be read in a few different ways. The release can be found here
Obscure Heaven has been active since 2017- the Crimea, Russia based project has eighty-eight releases listed to its name on discogs, with many of these being digital- so I’d say that the real number of releases is in the region of a hundred plus, as not all digital label list themselves on the site. As far as I can recall, Cold Spring is my first sampling of the project's work- and I must say it’s not bad at tall, and if you are in the mood for taut and nervy wall craft- this will most certainly do.
The release features two untitled tracks- and the first track rolls in at the 21.16 mark. It brings together a rapidly juddering low-end, and a selection of manic skipping ‘n’ jumping static grains. At points, the low end has an almost dragging ‘n’ pulling bass quality to its attack which is both playful and bothersome. The static elements remain very active in their attack- and at it, times feel like there are shards of smaller static tone coming off them. This is most certainly a track that grabs you firmly yet from the start, never letting up until its manic-ness until the track ends.
The remaining untitled track comes in at the 20.27 mark. And here we find a rapidly ripping ‘n’ droning low end, which is topped with smaller snapping, spinning and popping tones. The low end of this track feels a lot more pulled and stretched in its attack, though once again we are getting some nice bass grating touches coming into play. The feel of this track is still nervy, though the low end gives a murkier and dragged out feel to the proceedings.
Cold Spring presents us with two twenty-minute walls, which both share a busy/ manic air- but each possesses its own edge/ identity. I’ll certainly be up for checking out some more of Obscure Heaven output, and apparently, it has a long line of sub-projects too! Roger Batty
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