Appearing in September of last year The Corpse Inside The Train is the fifth full-length release from Thin Mountain, which is one of the wall noise focused projects of American noisemaker Sean E. Matzus (theNIGHTproduct, Black Leather Jesus, last Rape, Thewhitehorse). The release appeared on Sean’s own label as either a C40(sadly now all sold out) or a digital download( which I’m reviewing).

The release takes in two tracks and these each hit at around the sixteen to seventeen-minute mark. The sound of both ‘walls’ is very full and fierce, though as with all of this project's work there is an atmospheric undercurrent here- may be not as pronounced as previous recordings I’ve heard from Thin Mountain, but it’s still there.

We kick off with “The Corpse Face Looks So Peaceful”- here we find a mixture of blunt churning and knocking low end, baying sheets of clamouring mids, and static rattle. The low end has a raggedly slurred industrial feel to its attack, but the way it’s distanced gives more a feeling of subtle unease- and of course, feeds into the train theme of the release. The clamouring mids feel rapid and at points, relative lose, though they never move too far from their original settings. The static bound rattle is key to the feeling of ragging eerie-ness, as this nicely bays and battering’s with a nicely atmospheric flair.

The second track here is “That Shook Us Up All Something Awful”. And this is built around a rapid and bone bouncing low end running rattle- topping this we have a focused galloping hiss. The whole track has a nice feeling of scared panic, and from time to time the low end seems to very slightly faltering and fraying- as if we’re moving on to a more worn train track. Also, there is some sensation of a general slowing pace, but I think this is just a sonic illusion. The whole track has a very stark- yet at the top of fear feel to its attack, and is a most interesting study in prolonged sonic tension and what it does.

It goes without saying that Mr Matzus is one of the most talented and expressive people working in the walled noise form, and if he wants to create a certain feeling or atmosphere, he can do this in a highly accomplished and skilful manner. The Corpse Inside the Train is another most worthy edition to Thin Mountain’s discography- with the focus much more been on searing, yet still deep-down atmospheric wall making. To pick-up the download, drop by here.