Tortured Screams In The Walls/Light Coll — Split

Here’s a three-way split on Torga Amun, which arrives in a folded, glossy, card inlay; it’s covered in a colourful, scratchy collage of textures and photographs. The CDR has three tracks, one from each participant, and amounts to about an hours worth of wall noise.

Tortured Screams In The Walls presents the first track, Noire Tortvre, and it’s just shy of 24 minutes in length. From the off, the piece is notably fast and relentless. It founds itself on a speeding, rumbling bass, which lurches, often moving forward jerkily. Carried on the back of this, the rest of the wall is dominated by an attack of nervy treble - a fast, fizzing stutter. Around the ten minute mark, the track really seems to nail things down, becoming more concentrated, and harder. It’s hypnotic, and scathing, with many layers of kineticism - a good wall.
Rvanina is up next, the work of Light Collapse. This takes quite a different tack to Noire Tortvre. It’s also the shortest piece on the split, nearly 12 minutes in duration - half the length of its companions. The work begins with a muffled, hard, crusty murk of a wall, all subterranean scraping. As it develops, the track reveals a knottiness - tight and compressed. It unfolds at a much slower pace than its predecessor, with an atmosphere that’s more stealthy and organic - relaxed, even.

The last third of the split, Enfermer, comes from Å; a welcome return from a project that I assumed had disappeared. (I say ‘return’, but in fact this release is from 2015 - however, I thought Å had been dormant for the last few years…) As well as being the longest track on the CDR - it’s over 30 minutes - it’s probably also my favourite. A fast, twitching bass drone pushes the wall along, notably high in the mix. Over this we have two highly contrasting sets of textures: a foregrounded, delicate treble crackle, articulate and insistent, and heavily reverbed elements, that create a pulsing background drone. These sheets of reverberation are slightly buried in volume terms, and following them, whilst aware of the surrounding bass drone and treble crackles, is an enthralling experience. There’s a distinct clarity to Enfermer, that feels unusual.

This is a great split, with the three tracks all staking out different territories, and complimenting each other well. Å’s piece is perhaps the most accomplished and interesting, not being afraid to develop and shift the sound. However, Tortured Screams In The Walls and Light Collapse are equally engaging partners in the trio, with both pursuing contrasting directions and tones. I’ve always thought that splits and compilations are good ways to listen to noise, and this release only confirms that for me.