Wall Riders — Documents 1, 2

Originally released in 2007 on Sweden’s Harsh Head Ritual Documents 1, 2 is an important release in the development of the harsh wall noise form, as well a fine example of wallish harsh noise. The Wall Riders project had somewhat of a shifting/mysterious membership- with each recording featuring different players- though it’s confirmed that likes of The Rita, Richard Ramirez, and Taskmaster were involved. Here from Ominous Recordings is a CD reissue of the album.

The CD comes presented in a simple black and white four-panel digipak. On its front cover, we get the original cover artwork-which is a murky illustration of a group of wolfmen standing by a long wall. Inside & on the back with minimal texts- with no indication of who created the noise. The release is ltd to just two hundred copies, which can be purchased directly here 

The Wall Riders project had just three releases to its name- Documents 1,2. Document III (2008), and Document IV (2010). And as it’s been now thirteen years since its last release- the project is probably over, but who knows as Ramirez has resurrected other projects from the past he’s been involved with from many years back.

The release features two tracks- the first of these is “Document 1”- which comes in at 20.21. It opens with a tight blend of rapidly skipping mid-ranged static grain- which is weaved with a second layer of similar textures. As the track progresses, we get this subtle shifting weave of cluttering, spitting, and pelting static grain. At points, we get very brief piles up/ breaks but mostly it’s a rapidly cascading mesh of noise textures.  

Next, we have “Document 2” which slides in at the twenty-minute & eighteen-second mark- and this is way more shifting/ textural varied than the first track. We open with a rather brain-scambling blend of pelting & cluttering grain layering. As we move on sudden lines of tense gritty static grain appear, darting shifts in the skating ‘n’ dragging grain get mixed in. We can make in rapid cascading descents, weathered ‘n’ skittering grain dwells. Both tracks are rewarding- but I’d say this one stands as the most compelling/ impressive due to its detailed & shifting static texturing.     

It's certainly nice to have this back in print once again. And it would be great to see a release of the other two  Wall Riders releases down the line too. If you enjoy where wall and harsh noise meet this is most certainly for you!