Ur/ Iron Molar — Split
Most of Ur's output on this disk is generic, though certainly a somewhat competent example of a fusion between dark ambient, drone and noise. It is a cloud of murky sound out of which few surprising or engaging sounds arise, whether due to murky production, lack of inspiration, or both.
A bubbling, phased noise texture closes "King Lizard Bring Me Home". I like the title but I can find little in common between it and the song. The first 6 minutes or so are (Lustmord's) "Heresy" styled trance inducing subterranean collage, with atonal, forboding horn calls echoing out of the... deep? Actually, this mix has little spacial depth, and the looping of atmospheric sounds is painfully obvious, which is a problem considering the overall feel of both parts of this disk is organic and improvisatory. The second half of the track is better, though sometimes the adding of new sounds seems to muddle the mix and dilute the atmosphere rather than making the piece more complete. I do like the chant-like melodic vocals that crop up now and then, but they are scarcely audible in back of the mix.
In "The Invisible Curse of What Feeds On Time", a two minute, pleasantly harmonic feedback intro gives way to blankly depressed, minimalist guitar musings (as found in numerous modern doom and black metal bands) followed by more feedback and atonal horn calls. The guitar meshes adequately with the noise and electronic sound, but they never really combine to form a single soundspace. Some sounds, such as the guitar, again feel rigid and looped. A mostly forgettable, though successfully haunting track.
"Creeping Inside Out", I am happy to say, is actually eerily beautiful and immersive, a gem of a soundscape broadcasting from the beyond. Thinly veiled angelic female voices and mutilated voice samples shimmer and drift above a delay-ridden river of grey static textures that burn in a slow, wavelike rhythm. A great track that uses its lo-fi sound its advantage, the only real gem of this whole disk.
"You've Been So Kind To Me" is a good, aggressive power electronics track that starts with a subharmonic hum and washes of warm, mid frequency noise that aren't at all harsh. When the wailing vocals enter, they remain in the watery, indecipherable background. The performance feels rather inhibited for tortured moaning and it ends right as it's getting going. This is the shortest track on the album at 4:29.
Iron Molar's lone epic, the 27 minute "La Caduta Di Lucifero" immediately catches my attention with a cryptic, hypnotically rhythmic sample of a voice intoning chant-like phrases in a foreign language and a warm, undulating drone. The crackling high end sounds wonderful after the muffled sound of the Ur tracks. After 3 minutes, we're treated to black metal vocals, an exceptionally cold and dry but rather whiny rasp. This same palette of sounds continues without noticeable change for the rest of the track. This would have worked quite well as a shorter piece, let's say 10 minutes or less, but at this length, it seems Iron Molar cannot sustain the required intensity. The dense sound starts to thin out, and seems to actually LOSE momentum gradually as it goes. Whatever pagan spell this was meant to be, it must to have failed in the opening minutes, though a certain atmosphere is maintained - by the 15 or 20 minute mark, if the listener is still paying attention, likely they will no longer expect the track to be the transformative, visceral experience the beginning hinted at, and will hopefully be able to enjoy the track in a more ambient manner, a mildly rewarding experience. It contains little darkness or true forboding or threatening qualities, but at least it slows time quite nicely. At the end of the day it's a very nice sounding drone, but it's a shame, I hear in the start of this track the seeds of a powerful journey into delirium.
Neither band really impressed me on this disk, but Ur at least has relative diversity on their side. This split strikes me as the kind of music that is certainly fun to perform and create, but much less enjoyable to listen to after the fact. This album has few distinguishing qualities from other dark ambient and noise releases, excepting perhaps that it so neatly straddles the line between the aforementioned genres. One could easily listen to this whole album and not remember a thing about it. In the end, it's unessential and a little hard to sit through, though not really unpleasant - it's more like you just keep waiting for it to really get going, and it never does. I'd suggest having a long, cathartic, noisy jam with some effects pedals and mics yourself instead of bothering with this disk unless you're a big fan of this genre.