Necessary Intercourses by Amplexus comes on a pro-pressed CD in a plastic-wrapped jewel case, so it’s a professional-looking release from Karo Productions; there’s eight tracks making up over 70 minutes of harsh noise, and it barely lets up.

To be brutally honest the first track, ‘Plexumakrorgan’, doesn’t start off promisingly: combining nice, rough, low-mid-frequency noise textures with somewhat dulled junk noises, and noise-synth type electronic screech - not my favourite sound. However, around halfway the piece takes off with added layers of barrage, perhaps thickened by reverb, and genuinely becomes a effective maelstrom. ‘Dysphoplexiaorganhand’, the next piece, is a short - three and a half minutes long - stab of effective noise, pitched at the point where harsh noise becomes HNW, and again there is effective use of layers here. After this, ‘Icorplexusmenia’ erupts into feedback, with several lines of shrill spree jostling and competing, before cutting to one roomy trail of noise; it then builds and cut several times, chucking out large blocks of scathing noise textures before returning to feedback explorations - a really great track that never outlays its welcome. The fourth work, ‘Makroamplexesus’, changes pace, pitching a melodic synth line against roomy sounds of junk being manipulated and bashed about. The synth becomes increasingly distressed in tone, and the junk noise starts exploding into reverb, but fundamentally it’s quite a static track. ‘Organmakroplexus’, the fifth track, returns to the style of the first track, combining synthy noises and reverberations with low drones, spitting noise textures, and white-out noise skree - with some ear-splitting moments. Near the end, manipulated vocals - or vocal samples - appear, adding a more colourful element to a thus far restrained palette. ‘Arplekphokianeenympha’ - no, I have no idea what any of these titles mean or refer to - is more fast-paced noise, whilst ‘Amplhenrydyspnurmpakrosystem’ is, well, faster, bludgeoning noise, nothing new in the context of the album but still a solid piece of harsh noise. The final track, ‘Amplekneempha’, closes Necessary Intercourses with a scathing assault of saturated noise, stuttering to a halt with electronic squiggles and jolts.

Despite the shaky start, this is a solid album of harsh noise. Necessary Intercourses is largely a no-frills assault of skree, with a few passages where you can catch a breath; there are a few elements that stand out: synth lines, recognisable junk sounds, mangled vocals/samples - perhaps even a submerged choir on one track? - but the album is fundamentally built on and around old-fashioned noise textures and feedback. This gives it a concentrated, immersive feel, and makes it a recommended album for fans of old-school noise and those who like to sit in that sweet point between harsh noise and harsh noise wall.