Ruine — Along Walls

Along Walls is the first full length release in about two years, from this brutal & hopeless walled noise project. Ruine is one of the many projects of French HNW artists Julien Skrobek (The Killer Came From The Bronx ,Ghost, The Sandman Wears A Mask, Ruine, Butch Bag, Gasp)- the project started in late 2011, and has so far put out seven releases.

This release appears in the form of two track CDR, with each of the track falling between the twenty to twenty five minute mark.  The unlabeled CDR comes in a plastic slip sleeve, which features a colour cover taking in a wall of skull & bones, and a brown paper back sheet listing the tracks & their lengths.

First up we have the track “Ghostly Painted”, and this is shorter of the two tracks at 19.56 mark. This track is built around several layers of rumbling & billowing textures-these are knitted together to create a barren & stark ugency.  I guess you’d say the ‘wall’ brings to mind a mix of the sound of a van on rough ground, and a battering winter storm heard from inside a old shack.  The whole thing remains set & unforgiving through-out, and for me this is the most rewarding of the two tracks here, as I really like the mixture of urgency & starkness.

Second & lastly we have “My Glance Drinks The Shadows”, and this comes in at the 25.11 mark.  The ‘wall’ is built around a murky & hazed subterranean rumble, and a coarse ‘n’ searing static judder- the rumble has a distant boring or earth churning blunt-ness to it, while the judder has a thick electricity like buzzing about it. Both elements here remain firm & fixed through-out, and as a whole the ‘wall’ summons up a very bleak & grimly hopeless feeling.

All in all this is a satisfying  enough two walled release, and if your after total hopeless & brutal fixed walled noise this is worthy of your time. Sadly, as this appeared in early 2014,  I think the physical version of this is long sold out now, but you can check out the digital version at the labels bandcamp here