Werewolf Jerusalem — Nightmare Park

Of late Texas based noise supremo and HNW originator/innovator Richard Ramirez has been very, very busy releasing more material than his usually highly prolific out-put. Over the last few months we’ve had a three tape c90 box set from his & Sean Matzus Last Rape project, a three c20 box set of work from his bigfoot obsessed project Fouke, along with all manner of stand alone tape releases and splits from his many and growing list of projects. With “Nightmare Park” Ramirez offers up a new three tape box set of from one of his most popular and know projects Werewolf Jerusalem- with this boxset been the 70th release under the Werewolf Jerusalem banner since it was first used back in 2001.

The box set appears on the New Forces label which also put out the excellent Fouke 3 tape box set "Batutut "just a month or so back, and like that boxset this is a very colourful & glossy looking HNW release with the three tapes  coming in a vinyl case that features full color artwork and inserts of sinister and creepy looking night time parks. As well each tape featuring pro-printed labels that have more creepy pictures  of parkland- all making this another great and classy looking set, here’s hoping they have more HNW boxes planed.

Anyway onto the sonics on offer with-in, each tape offers up two side long tracks so in total we have six ten minute tracks and hours worth of playing time. Each track/ side here shows Ramirez in fine caustic yet atmospheric form with the tracks offering up a mixture of: tense and dark HNW construction, jagged and dense static texturing, and the odd traces of more eerier dark ambient underbelly on a few tracks too. Really there’s not a duff or unrewarding track son offer here, as all six tracks nicely bring to mind  either a killer stalking their victim through dank, dark and misty park, or creepy/ ghostly occurrence in  flicking street lit park pathways that are surrounding by brooding tree shadows

Starting off the set in a mighty fine form we have “It’s Dark Out” which finds Ramirez building this great two layered static tone “wall” which takes in this great eerier dragging judder, and grating static fog like seared muffle. Ramirez skilful moves both elements together in a highly caustic, tense yet unnerving & creepy manner.  On the second tape there's “Dedicated To The Rita” which finds a  galloping, brutal and  thick roaring noise 'wall' that’s underfeed by this melancholic and slightly harmonic tunnel like drone & slight smarts of pained dark ambient higher pitched tones. The set ends with “Witness To Madness (Shadows Gather)” which starts with a great crude and jagged material ripping like tight and interlocking mid-paced judder, which over time adds in more smaller tearing sub-tones and almost has a caustic groove to it in place. Then at just before the  tracks mid-way point Ramirez drops into 30 or so seconds of murky/creepy striped static grain which has a really un-nerving feel to it. Then for the last just under half of the track  it jumps back into a thicker 'wall' setting once more.

“Nightmare Park” stands as a highly consistent, brutal yet often eerier hazed collection of walled matter and creative static texturing. Added to this the very classy and creepy packaging makes this is a must have item for any 'wall' lovers, atmospheric static texture fans, or even for  those who like their dark ambience or drone matter with a more caustic edge.