The Man Who Drove The Hearse — The Lethal Temple IX: "The Yellow Sign"

Here we have release number two from The Man Who Drove The Hearse- the darkly atmospheric walled noise project of Sweden’s Johan Strömvall Hammarstedt (Rien, Gamiani, J S H, J.S.H., Marsh Croft Coven, Ominous Recordings). This C20/ digital download takes in two side-long tracks.

The release appeared last April on Ominous Recordings- and has just resurfaced as it (somehow) got lost in our review system. Though fear not the label still has physical copies- which can be purchased directly from here. The yellow-shelled cassette comes presented in a yellow case- with a black & yellow sleeve- which looks so effective with its creepy church artwork, so if you can do pick up a copy of it- before they disappear. 

The Man Who Drove The Hearse is themed around one of the stories from The King in Yellow, an 1859 short story collection by Robert W. Chambers, which is seen as a classic in American supernatural horror. It started off as part of a collective of four projects with the subtitle of The Lethal Temple- we had A Woman’s Glove(from Scott Kindberg), Forests Of Brittany(from Thomas Pupolo), and Pallid Mask (from Sean .E.Matzus) with each been themed around a different story from The King in Yellow. With each putting out their debut releases within days of each other back in 2021- I’m not sure if these other projects are still active now.

The first side track is entitled "...as I passed the churchyard I saw a figure sitting on the stone steps...". This opens with a man talking about seeing something/someone in his dream. We then drop into a wall, which blends muffled & at points mangling low-end, rapid church bell-like tones, and a few hissing/ lightly stretched bound subtones. The ‘wall’  has a very volatile & windswept quality which is excellent. And the more you play it, the more subtle/ light eerie detail appears.

Flipping over & we have “Have You Found The Yello Sign?” here we find a blend of stumbling ‘n’ hacking mids, a slightly bumbling hiss, and a very faint constant churn bell- which drifts in & out. This ‘wall’ conjures up images of a grey shadow-lined church interior buffeted by wind, and alive with creepy unease/ eerier shifting’s.

I do hope we get some more releases from this project- as Hammarstedt has managed to craft two subtle uneasy/ chilling walls. And As I said earlier try & buy this in a physical form- to support the wall noise scene!,