Vomir — Untitled( Boxset)
The release appears on Italian noise label Urashima- who started off by in 2009, releasing mainly HNW, but in recent years has gone over to more old school harsh noise/ experimental noise output in its discography- so it’s great to see the label going back to their roots. The box set comes in an edition of 200 copies- and is presented in a black wooden box- it’s features on it’s outside the stenciled word ‘ Vomir’ and on it’s back an oriental character. On it’s inside lid there is the head of a sinister looking greek, or roman type face- underneath this is the releases credits. Each disc is features a roman numeral and packaged in it's own black paper sleeves. There’s also a numbered inlay, and an A4 fold-out glossy poster of Vomir in his (un) live setting & a nihilistic poem both in English & French.
If there’s one thing you can depend on with a Vomir release- it’s unmoving, extremely dense, and crudely presented wall craft- which has none of the subtle, detail or experimental/ progressive sides of some within the wall noise scene. When ones listening to Vomir it’s all about complete sonic immersion, not arty or creative noise making- this is the sonic equivalent of staring into the abyss.
Each of the six discs takes in a single untitled track- and the first discs ‘wall’ slides in at just under the seventy eight minute mark. It’s built around a noose tight mesh of a slight knocking churn, speeding grit feast, & descending-yet- thin static hack. The whole thing has a nicely lopsided & unbalancing feel to it, which of course creates those typical Vomir sonic tricks- where the deeper you progress in the walls mass & length, the more you think it’s creating subtle pattern/ shift- but in reality, the whole thing is firm & unmoving. I’d say this ‘wall’ has an almost choppy subterranean feel about it- as if you are rapidly shifting through an underground landscape of thick clods of earth, veiny black roots, and the drifting whiff of decay & dampness.
Moving onto the second disc's wall- and here we find a decidedly murky blend of blunt bass churn ‘n’ drone, constantly crawling & growing webs of static feast, and distant slurred buffeting. From time-to-time, I'm sure I make out a sudden off pattern darting scratch of static scrap- but I think in reality this isn’t there. Where the first track felt like we where moving along at rapid enough pace underground, this track feels like we are aimless roaming in a dank & damp cobwebbed cave network- and far, far off in the distance there’s the blunt thump of some sort of mechanical heartbeat- it’s very subtle but it’s just there. This track comes in at the one hour & fourteen mark, and I think the blend of constantly weaving static & buried pulsing brood is most effective.
Onto the third disc's track- and here we find a constant rushing & pouring drone, which is surrounded by bubbling, surging & rumbling sub-tones. This ‘wall’ certainly feels a lot more aquatic, unbalancing, and at times muddled in it feels- as the layers seem to often clash & run into each other- this works well in the almost rushing putrid sewage like waterfall feel of the track, as if you keep been ducked under & spun around a descending river of liquid filth- coming up for air every so often, trying to figure out where you are. This track hits at just sly of these seventy eight minute mark- and is often most disorientating when you get your mind linked into the blurring layers of texture.
Disc number four finds us with a particularly seared & intense ‘wall’- it brings together a breakneck blend of low-end billowing, manic rattling, and skittering static. This literal feels like you are trapped in a rickety & rotten house in the eye of a hurricane, as the elements rip, bay, and tear at the structure around you- the whole thing is just so battering & unforgiving with its rapid attack, that at times almost leave you feeling breathless. This track runs at just shy of the one-hour seventeen-minute mark, and while I enjoyed the track, for the most part, my attention & the wall’s impact did wane a little in the last twenty minutes …so maybe this would have be been more effective as fifty-minute 'wall'.
With the firth disc & it’s ‘wall’, we find a simplistic-yet- decidedly hypnotic blend of deep tunneling bass drone, which is surrounded by smaller & thinner whipping/ feasting tones. The low end has quite a deep aquatic trench like quality to it, while the smaller textures feel like constantly lash tentacles, or at other times like pressurized water hissing through cracks in glass. So naturally one brings to mind something deep sea bound- be it peering into a black as night whirlpool that’s lashing with thousand of tentacles, or been inside a glass dome drifting slowly but surely to the bottom of the sea, as first one crack then another appears- the ‘walls’ hour & a quarter runtime seems to pass quickly, making this one of my favorite walls on this six-disc set.
The sixth & final disc presents us with a seventy-three-minute wall- and here we find a mixture of worming ‘n’ tunneling like drone, which is surrounded layers of thinner chop, judder & clutter. On this ‘wall’ I found the illusion of sonic shift/ action felt very prevalent- and from the tracks very beginning it feels like the whole thing is careful slowing & drifting down in it’s clamoring rush- but of course as with pretty much all Vomir work this is extremely fixed, set, and stubbornly unmoving. This feeling of movement remains throughout the track, and it feels is quite entrancing in its feel & flow.
With a nearing eight-plus hour release like this boxset- you may think that Vomir would possible experimental a bit more, or loosen the searing & fixed pace somewhat- but this never occurs, as he keeps stanchly focused on the projects mantra/ origins of ‘No remorse, No Compromise, No entertainment’- it’s great to see Vomir remain so very set in his intensity, and while I didn’t wholly enjoy everything here- each wall is subtly different in its attack, and each is as intense as each other. To hear a sample, and buy direct head here….as knowing Vomir releases this won’t hang around long.