The Killer Came From The Bronx — Purgatoried Torso

Purgatoried Torso is the 4th release from this old school sounding HNW & homicidally themed project from Frenchman Julien Skrobek(Ghost, The Sandman Wears A Mask, Ruine, Butch Bag, Gasp). The release comes in the form of a CDR on Julien’s on label Ink Runs Records, and it features two ‘walls’ which each last between the twenty to twenty five minute mark.

First up we have “Kill Again”, and this track comes in at the 25.10 mark. The ‘walls’ built around a locked ‘n’ murky subterranean rumble, and a rapid ‘n’ slightly chalky sounding descending static crackle- Skrobek feeds these two textures in a suitable bleak yet brutal wall. I guess while the ‘wall’ is fairly persistent & unforgiving, thickness wise the whole thing has quite a stark dusty feel about it- yet it’s more lo-fi & bleak, than ambient & thin. As the track progresses it feels like the whole thing is slowly but surely getting more & more rapid, but in reality I think this is just a sonic illusion of the ‘wall’ it’s self.

Track number two is entitled “Static On The Line”, and this track comes in at the 20.02. This ‘wall’ is built around a really meaty ‘n’ rapidly buzzing low-end tone, which is tautly wrapped by these urgent ‘n’ tense juddering static texture. Both elements here remain fairly fixed in there feeling, yet  Skrobek mangers to create a feeling of growing tighter & tighter tension. This track feels a lot more tensely atmospheric, homicidally themed, and attention grabbing (& keeping) than the first track.

So in summing up this is another fairly rewarding release from Skrobek- of the two tracks I’d say I enjoyed the second more, as there was more textural reward on display here, and at times the first track rather lacked a more entrancing feel.