Sloth/Cannibal Ritual — Gruesome Implement
As with the other releases in this series the two white-labeled CDRs comes in a double DVD case. Artwork wise we get black & white drawings of lots of people been impaled on spikes, with man stood at a food covered table in the middle- it looks like this is some sort of old medieval drawing. 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.
The first disc takes in a spot on the hour long untitled track from Florida’s Sloth- this projects origins go all the way back to 1994 when in Cleveland, Ohio they peddled a blend of sludge/ doom. Since moving to Florida they focused more on a harsh noise sound, and for a few releases, on the noise sub-genre of walled noise. The track here is extremely crushing & bleak drone bound example of wall-craft, which you could say rather relates to the projects doom origins. The 'wall' sees a slurred & weighty blend of industrial tipped rumble and churn, & taught jittering static grain- together these elements are set into a bass-heavy mass of crushing sound. Sonically the wall brings to mind a mixture of muffled & stinking drain type drone, and very constricting static webbing- as if one's been slowly suffocated under the slow pressing of a stale urine-soaked pillow, as an aged sewage system rumbles away below you. The textures & makeup of the wall are decidedly simplistic and mostly fixed, yet it’s a most appealing example of drone bound wall-matter- which equal crushes & statically flays one's head.
Onto the second disc, and here we have sixty-two minutes of new material from German-based Cannibal Ritual- the infamous & often extremely crude wall noise project, that bases most of its work around cannibal films of the late 70’s/ early ’80s. This crude ‘n’ seared project started 2006- initially releasing work between the years 2006 and 2010; then the project went on hiatus, popping up every few years to release small flurries of new material. On this disc we get a selection of four tracks recorded between March and April of this year- things begin with one of my favorite moments here, the wonderfully entitled “Acts of outrageous and evisceration”- here we have a fourteen and a half minute track that brings together a grainy line of bass grind, with a slightly off pattern juddering ‘n’ jittering tone, as well as some nice crisp ‘n’ slightly cluttering subtone detail. The 'wall' perfect grabs-then-holds you in it’s constricting grip. Other stand out moments here are "Sadistic Massare"- which starts with extremely crude reverberating machine purr and looped sub-tone action, before tipping into grainy & grinding bass thick-ness. Or the muffled droning motor like drone-meets-nasty feasting static attack of the final track "Cannibalstic Feast"- which really does fit it’s title perfectly. A few of the other track here felt a little less worthy, but most of what's here is of a good standard, and shows a nice bit of subtle experimentation from the project.
So all in all this is another successful double split release in this new series- with both Sloth’s suffocating bass drone focused wall, and Cannibal Ritual crude brutalizing selections working well together. Drop in here to get your hands on a copy