Various Wall Noise Projects — Immured Vol 1
The release appeared on 8EMINS a noise label from near Barcelona-Spain, it came in an edition of twenty copies, but it’s unclear if any still remain in stock with the label. The set is presented in a thick cased six-CD case, this features monochrome artwork of brick walls- and each CDR features a slightly different black & dull silver spray-painted faces. The set features no details of what project appears on each disc- so I’ll be using both the discog listing & research with a few of the projects directly to figure out what I think is the running order of the release, which I hope is correct. Oh one more thing each track is untitled too, to add another layer of difficulty to identification the whole thing
So kicking things off on disc one we have 58.19 track from German project Cannibal Ritual- and this is very old school, no-nonsense & unforgiving HNW. Here we find a nasty & crude blend of choppy & hacking lows, a constantly rolling & muffled mid- all edge with a selection of smaller hacking ‘n’ wacking static focused tones. Together these elements create a rushing, yet bluntly hazed ‘wall’- which engulfs one in its intense maelstrom of sound- which is both unrelenting & bluntly cruel in its attack.
Moving onto the second disc and we have a track from the French, sometimes black bag wearing master of crude & unrelenting walled noise Vomir. The ‘wall’ here comes in at the 44.10 mark- and here we find an often blurring & rapidly cluttering blend of tumbling & hacking lows, fixed rushing & seared drone, and caustically jittering static play. When describing Vomir work in the past I’ve often used spurting sewerage pipes, or rushing yet rancid water sounds to describe his take on wall-craft as he often uses these type of textures, and once again I’ll be using these to describe this wall- but with a sadistic twist. The ‘wall’ sounds akin to be held down with one's limbs lashing in a rapid rushing mass of lumpy brown & greywater, but added to this there’s a constant line of darting & arching electricity added in the torture…making the whole thing feels very nervy & at times blurring in its attack. As with all of Vomir’s work this is once again staunchly fixed in its attack/ feel- though you do get some subtle-yet-effective sonic illusion going on along the way, and these largely occur with the thinner more flesh whipping electro tones.
Disc three takes in a single track by the wonderfully named 6 Corpses And A Rusted Saw- there’s not much info on-line about this project, but going on the projects listing on Discogs, I’m guessing it’s something to do with the minds behind the 8EMINS label, as all of it’s seven releases appeared on the label. The ‘wall’ here rolls it at dead on the forty-five-minute mark, and it’s another very rapid & face dragging, then ripping example of the walled noise form. It brings together a thick & droning low end that sounds akin to a slightly catching mass steel roll spinning, around this we get this much smaller mixture of gritty fizzing & scrubbing static. Together these elements create a simple yet compelling feeling of dense sonic encasement, with the slight catching play of the drone & trying to figure out the exact detail of the smaller thinner textures really pulling one in & keep you held. So I’d be certainly interested in hearing more of this project in the future.
Moving onto disc number four and we have a track from Sloth, the doom band turned wall noise project from Florida- this ‘wall’ comes in at thirty-five seconds over the forty-minute mark. Here we find a taut, tense, and very nervy mixture of rolling & billow static focused low-end, jittering & juddering smaller/ thinner static texturing, and another layer of fuzzed-out sustained droning. When brought together these textures create an extremely tight & constricting ‘wall’, that feels like you are literally been crushed between tow rollers of pure static. Early on we get a nicely jarring stop then momentarily cartoon-like chattering, but this doesn’t happen again.
Disc five features a track from Croatia based Placenta Lyposuction. The ‘wall’ features a rapid rolling rumble which sounds like flesh been repeatedly pummeled by a rubber truncheon, on top of this we find of a rattling-yet-static sear, and just at the edge of the track one can make out blunt rushing white-out noise feast, and slight cluttering sub-tones. Together these elements create an extremely intense & punishing wall, as there are no clever textured patterns or imagined noise patterns to be found here- this is just the sonic equivalent of been tied down & relentless beaten from all angles.
Topping off the release we have a three-track affair from A Lizard In A Woman's Skin- this is the Giallo influenced project of US noise legend & wall noise genre creator Richard Ramirez, and this stands as a real treat & highlight of the set- as this project is not the most active of Mr Ramirez projects, and he offers up three greatly sadistic-yet- fairly creative walls here. With two of the tracks featuring a brief sample from a Giallo film which nicely sets the mood before we kick into the noise- so first up we have "Untitled I"- here we find a blend of moody droning & muffled low end, and hacking ’n’ jumping static topping, which at times has this great metal aginst metal clattering feel, which very much brings to mind a knife hit something…maybe steel or bone, as it’s rapidly stabbed- this is the longest track here rolling in at 19.25. Next we have "Untitled II"- this slides in at just shy of the eleven & a half minute mark. Here we have a thumbed & muffled mid-ranged judder, and this is surrounded by a even spit & spotting of static drops, like cold rain or cooling sweat lightly raining down in big droplets- this ‘wall’ is one of the more strangely comforting & encasing walls on offer on this set. So lastly we of course have "Untitled III"- this is shortest of the three walls on this disc, as it comes in at just a few seconds over the ten-minute mark. And what get here in a slightly wavering & wonky blend of fairly closely toned lows & mids, these are all set in a mid-paced hacking ‘n’ chopping feel, and together they create a brutally woozy ‘wall’ that fits well the ranting killer talking about stabbing & guts sample that starts the whole thing off.
Back in the golden early years of the wall noise scene- between 2008 & 2010, there was a big spate of wall-noise compilations that were either multiple tape or CDR sets- and many of these were highly consistent & worthy ventures. So it's great to see 8EMINS putting this set, and I must say pretty much all of what’s on offer here is good-to-great. With a comp title like Immured Vol 1, I’m taking that the label plans this to be series, let's hope so- as the scene really does need more multi set compilation again.