Vidinè Ramybè/Vomir — untitled split
The cover of this untitled tape shows a very good old school black and white collage design with no monickers. Its protagonists are revealed just by the initials V.R. in the top right corner and by Vomir's trademark black polygon on the opposite side just like on a boxing ring.
Vidinè Ramybè side of the tape is a slow dive in a bath of unpleasant noise and power electronics, and it is probably some of the best stuff I’ve heard from this Lithuanian guy. First track "Vèl Nupulti" is a mass of crumbling and wallish noise with a nasty power electronics feeling. Sometimes it's hard to describe the border between harsh noise and power electronics besides the simple assumption that "you'll know it when you hear it", and in this case the culprits are microphone feedback that's lurking away all track long and a cloak of northern discomfort reigning supreme over all the junk metal bashing. It reminds me a bit of my personal "Reign In Blood" of harsh noise, Macronympha's monolithic "Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania" LP and that obviously can't be a bad thing.
The Second track "Pasitikèjimas" is straight and minimal Mauthausen Orchestra-style nasty power electronics complete with very fitting screaming and crying samples. I can't tell if the main sound carrying the weight of the track is simple microphone feedback or distorted synth, but it's very effective either way. It's nothing new of course, but Vidinè Ramybè does it very well. Third track "Sesuo Galimybè" follows the same unsettling pattern as its predecessor, this time with a clear and menacing Atrax Morgue-sque synthesizer sound. The vocal samples on this track feature a girl struggling and screaming like a trapped animal. Probably it's from some BDSM clip, but I would be curious to learn their proper source. Final track on Vidinè Ramybè's side is a short, disquieting and subtle piece of dark ambient that feels totally right as ending of the A side and shows that this man can do a lot of different stuff.
And what can you expect from Vomir? His untitled track is a block of extra crunchy and unchanging harsh noise wall, with a good balance of mid, high and brooding low frequencies. Our beloved King of Static doesn't derail from his purpose, delivering us his annihilating noise with strength and ease. Even if lately Vomir has been experimenting the HNW a bit more audaciously than usual, like with his electro-acoustic guitar wall track on "Application A Aphistemi" CD, I think the kind of material featured on this split tape is what he does best. It's straight, simple, unrelenting and well made harsh noise wall. It's something Vomir always manages to get right, but that's not as easy as it seems, as there are tons of failures in the countless harsh noise wall records being released every day. I'd say that HNW is a bit like one of my favourite Italian dishes: carbonara (pasta with bacon, eggs and cheese). Its ingredients and method are extremely poor and simple, but to get the timing, proportions and feeling right it takes the work of a skilled master.This track's typical "ghost in the machine" effect tricks the ear into perceiving more changes and layers than there actually are, when I'm sure Vomir willingly kept the knob-tweaking at a necessary minimum.
Last but not least, I must compliment the Terror label for doing such a good job on the artwork. The cover and the booklet look great and ooze old school noise tape worship. I'm looking forward to what they'll release next! In conclusion this is a great tape and I recommend it to all lovers of good harsh noise. It's limited to a hundred copies so I think it will not be a problem tracking it down for some time.