Within — Self Titled
This release seems to be themed around ghosts, as the tapes front cover takes in the picture of a line of creepy church pews, and in one corner of the black & white photograph there’s a ghostly face hoovering over the pews.
The first side of tape is taken up by a track entitled “Damned By The Living”, and this ‘wall’ starts out with a taut ‘n’ dense weave of three or four rapidly crackling static textures. These elements surround you in effectively intense & enclose manner, and from time to time it almost feels like there are shapes & forms shifting in & out of the ‘wall’ in an almost three dimensional manner- whether this is actually occurring or it’s a trick of the ‘wall’ I’m unsure, but which ever it is, it’s damn effective. Also as the track progresses Landgraf nicely seems to subtle thin back first one crackle, then another before replacing them with another crackling texture; and over time this really starts to mess with you head if you try & focus in on one single texture as they seemingly worm ‘n’ shift with-in the ‘wall’ before disappearing or morphing. By around the 8th minute the ‘wall’ seems to keep alternating (every minute or so ) between wintery stark yet dense crackling, and more rapid to aggravated bunches of amassed crackling. All told it’s a most effective track, that really makes you wonder if what you are hearing is really there or not , which of course perfectly fits the ghost theme.
Flipping over to the second side we have the track “As I Seal My Tomb”, and this ‘wall’ starts off with a wonderful enveloping, and almost overwhelming rush of amassed crackling ‘n’ taut juddering tones, which seem to crowding in & build upon each other in a most intense manner. I guess you could say it’s the sonic equivalent of an avalanche, or the sound of been buried alive. At the 2.40 mark I can make out more angular & awkward crackling ‘n’ juddering tones been added into the mix, and these create a feeling of shred & rapid almost shunting feel with-in the ‘wall’. As the track moves towards the 8th & 9th mintue the track seems to be once more effectively shifting between dense build-ups, and more rapid yet wintery crackle unfolds.
This C30 release is a great opening shot from this new project, and it shows that Landgraf has the ability to create detailed, taut, yet chilling atmospheric & intense slices of wall-making.