Vomir / Valvan / Dosis Letalis / Train C — Split
The five CDRs come in a clear DVD case- on the cover we get nicely moody monochrome artwork of what looks like an overhead shot of a small barren island. Each disc features similar art on its labels, as well, of course, each artist’s name & track title. There is a sixth disc in the set- this DVDr, which is unplayable & purely for art's sake- as it’s been purposively cracked. All in all a nicely sleek-yet-darkly moody bit of presentation.
First up on CD one we have one of the crude master of the wall-form Vomir- with a typically Untitled track. This French artist is really one of influential, prolific & unforgiving in the wall scene- starting in 2005- the project has released a truly huge body of work- which at present stands at around 11 pages on discogs. The track here comes in at just shy of the fifty four-minute mark- and it’s a great no-nonsense start to the set. The ‘walls’ a very rapid & ranging affair- it’s built around a worming & buffeting under drone, which is wrapped in a crude-yet meaty descending judder- around this, we get constantly flowing streams of seared static. The layers are set together in a firm & unmoving manner- and it’s the type of ‘wall’ that pins you down & batters the hell out of you. Sure it’s no great departure from what you’ll have heard from Vomir in the past, but really if you're after ultra crude & unrelenting walled-noise there is no one like this Frenchman.
Moving onto CD two and we have an hour track from Ohio based project Valvan entitled “Menticide”. Valvan appeared on the scene in the last year or so- releasing to date around thirty releases- these have taken in a fair few digital releases, and one or two physical splits. I’d heard good things about Valvan, but this hour-long track is my first taste of the projects- and I must say I was most impressed with what I heard here. The ‘wall’ brings together a constantly tumbling rumble, with a selection smaller rattling & scratching patterns, and an undercarriage of subtle feasting static. The whole thing is a great blend of earthy & grim persistency and worthy insect-like detail. At times it seems like possibly the low-end is shifting in tone, and the patternation of the thinner elements are fluctuating- but in reality, I think the whole thing is wholly set & firm in its structure.
Disc three is taken up by a track from Serbian's Dosis Letalis- this project began in 2015, has so far racked up four pages worth of releases on Discogs, and has gone on becoming one of the more respected of the new acts on the scene. The tracks entitled “Unknown”- it comes in at a just over hour-long- what we have here is a very densely packed & detailed example of the genre. To start with we get a very tightly fed blend of choppy ’n’ rapid bass churn, with a series of hacking static descents. As the track continues your mind starts to pick out shifting-yet subtle detail with-in the highly compacted mass- such as snapping cascades of static spirals, showers of pops & snaps, off-pattern mid ranged tumbles and sudden scaping swirls. I’m undecided whether these elements are present from the very start of proceedings, or they slowly make their way into the mass- but really I guess it doesn’t matter. All in all, it’s a great ‘wall’ that really hooks you in from the outset with its dense mesh of texture, then keeps you held there with its worthy detail.
On disc four we have Cemetery Trains “Mental Cancer”. This project & its creator Sergey Pakhomov is one of the most creative & skillful acts/ artists to come out of the wall-noise/ static noise scene in the last few years. Based in Elektrostal Russian- the project started in 2016- releasing a slow, steady but very quality bound body of work- which often sees a focuses in on detailed & complex texturing. The track here comes in at just over the hour work- and really it’s a master-class in slowly building, moody & extremely cleverly balanced wall-craft. The track opens very sparse with spaced-out banging texture, then slowly but surely Pakhomov adds in first crude cable rip & rumble. Then over time, he builds a complex & Kaleidoscopic mesh of knockings, scraps, rattles, and micro rips & drags. To me the ‘wall’ has an almost ethnic ritual quality to some of its textures, with an almost organic quality to the whole the ‘wall’- yet at the same times its still very much walled-noise, never becoming in anyway new age, or ritual ambient in it’s unfolding. Through-out Pakhomov builds & shifts the layers of texture with the skill of the sonic craftsman he is, and really the track is completely spell-biding.
On the firth & final disc, we get a track from Richard Ramirez entitled “Bullet Down The Highway”.If you have any knowledge of HNW or American noise, in general, you’ll be aware of Mr. Ramirez- as well as being one of the key originators of the HNW sound, he’s created a truly huge body of work under numerous names such as Werewolf Jerusalem, Fouke, Black Leather Jesus, Last Rape, etc- where his sound craft has really touched down in many other sub-genres of noise & more extreme experimental sonic art. The track on offer here comes in at the thirty six minute mark- and it opens with a very upfront weave of tight, juddering & jittering static- which blends lows & mid in a most constricting worthy manner. At around the minute mark, this layer of constantly feasting noise is added on top- and this felt very akin to the sound of a mass of buzzing flies. These two elements start to nicely meld together into a wonderfully impenetrable mass of sound, which feels as if it’s both roastings & pressing to your head in a vice-like grip. At around the fourth minute we get another layer added to the ‘wall’, and this is sample of gay porn- with all manner breathing, slapping & swearing- this element nicely unbalances one, yet at the same time intensifies the whole thing even more- the sample is gone fairly soon, but it does what it needs to do- then throws you back into the searing yet skillful controlled wall-mass. In conclusion, it’s a great end to a great boxset.
The set came in an edition of twenty-three copies, and most surprisingly, considering the names involved, there are still copies available from Reason Art Records- this really is a buy now or regret later situation- as this set really is up there with the classic HNW CD box set comps based release like 2009’s Brick By Brick or 2010’s In Grim Imus Nocte Et Consumimur Igni.