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Fairly straight down the line heavy rock album from Shizoey who hail from Austria. This is their first album and it immediately strikes you as a collection of songs by a band trying to work out what direction they want their music to go in.
Biosphere is one of those names you hear about and think they’d be something you’d like but never get around to investigating. This album is a good opportunity to correct that. It’s a live album (Biosphere’s first) recorded at the Arnolfini in Bristol as part of the Touch 25. (25 (back in 2007) referring to the number of years Touch had been in existence). Touch have been keen to keep everything about this release “in house.” The concert was recorded by Chris Watson and the album mastered by BJ Nilsen and as you’d expect the cover is by Jon Wozencroft (though not in my opinion one of his better designs).
“Dream Tracker” is an enjoyable & often trance inducing three way ethno ambient collaboration between well respected ethnic percussionist Byron Metcalf, Didgeridoo player Dashmesh Khalsa and ambient legend Steve Roach.
“Untitled” is a greyed, taut, insect buzzing and stark white florescent tube throbbing drone ‘n’ slow motion electro collaboration between the highly respected percussionist, & electro improviser Jason Kahn and New Zeland based sound artists and bleak electro sound-scaper Richard Francis.
The black and white picture of a decaying birds corpse on the cover of “Néant Gris”(means none grey in English)tells you this is not going to be a pleasant or pleasing experience. On the 3 inch mini cdr enclosed we find a single just under nineteen track of locked, crusty, muffled and death stinking HNW from the Serbian based Dead Body Collection(aka Dr Alex who’s also in the excellent Harsh Noise & HNW two piece C. T. D .)
'Totem 2' is the third album of ritual and world music tinged psychedelic ‘n’ doom rock meets 70’s sound tracking project that is Master Musicians Of Bukkake. The project is a down-played and seemingly revolving membership super-group that features members of Earth, Asda, Burning Witch, The Diminished Men, along with guest slots from Secret Chiefs 3.
Portal of Sorrow is to be the last we’ll hear of Xasthur, as the band’s sole instrumentalist Scott Connor AKA Malefic has decided to call it a day: “The motivation and inspiration used to be there full time and now it's not there at all… It is a role or persona that I have simply outgrown.” And it shows throughout the album where musical ideas are repeated without being extended or explored and the lo-fi production dilutes the dark drama one usually expects from stalwarts of the 21st century international black metal scene.
Natural phenomena are probably the most aptly to used metaphors in music, and history has indeed shown that musicians find clouds and rain and sunshine particularly appealing to translate their shallowest and/or deepest emotions into something digestible and universal. I’m walking on sunshine, you are the sunshine of my life, my thought are scattered and they’re cloudy; musicians both gifted and untalented have long since resorted to the cliché palette of flora, fauna, and weather forecasts. How can we blame them though? As attested, they are metaphors both digestible and universal, capable of capturing a wide range of complex emotions in a single compelling and comprehensible image.
With “Death Kiss” London based HNW project Unearthered (aka Robert Meldrum who’s also in corpse Candle & Ghoul). Offers up two lengthy, intense and horror fed tracks of near unmoving and brutal ‘wall making”.
“Fallen To Dust” finds this creative and respected canadian based HNW project offer up a single forty minute track of slowly morphing, progressing, darkly hued, storm and earth quake ripped ‘wall making’.
The band Clair Cassis is a three piece from Oregon; this is their debut LP (Limited to 500 vinyl copies)from Starlight Temple Society. While Clair Cassis is a new entity, 2 of the members (guitarist/vocalist Josh and bassist Angela) are from the now defunct Velvet Cacoon.
New Zealand’s Last Visible Dog has, over the years, seen fit to (re)release music by New Zealand experimental projects that otherwise would never have managed to reach an audience beyond New Zealand, so playing a vital role in the promotion of a brand of experimentalism decidedly unique. Just a couple months ago I reviewed Armpit’s Tron, which was, while unique, decent but not brilliant; The Terminals’ Little Things, however, is a different matter altogether.
I actually have a knack for knowing what origin most pieces of music come from. I can spot characteristics that come from places as exotic as India or Japan, or even not-so-exotic like Russia or Italy. And it also extends to cities as well...
Following the Dark path they had set for themselves a long time ago, Michael J.V.Hensley and Steven Hall who are better known together as Yen Pox, offer a new album in which they are moving onward inside the hostile realms of dark and black ambient.Yen Pox is, of course, no stranger to these disturbing sounds, and their statement is bold and brutal. 'Universal Emptiness' is dense and intense with two tracks, "Above" and "Below" which continue and complete each other while retaining a sense of dynamics and an emotional burden.
“Permanent Cavity” is the first proper cd & unlimited release from Swedish noise ‘n’ brood project Altar Of Flies- who’ve put out over thirty plus releases since they began in 2007.
"Spreading Center", among the more recent albums in an impressively large catalogue, is my first experience with this band Heavy Winged. This, like their other albums, is completely improvised noise rock - dark, noisy, psychedelic jamming with a more serious purpose than to trip you out or take you to space. It comes with two 26 minute tracks, which I'll discuss individually.
Terminal Erection is the more 'walled' harsh noise project of long term(well since 2003, which is long term for noise) Italian noise maker and pervert Nicola Vinciguerra(whose also in the creative yet perverse Power electronics project Fecalove & often more surreal/ horror filled noise collective of Splinter vs. Stalin). “Putrefaction” is the projects fourth release.
Live at Lava / PK365 casts a faltering light into the shadows occupied by Sweden’s Thomas Ekelund to reveal two contrasting sides of his Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words project.
Visions are Frederic Arbour from Canada and this release is the follow up his 2005 album Lapse. It’s put out by Canadian label Cyclic Law.
"I can see your breath" offers up a single thirty two minute track of deep, nasty & brooding HNW from this relativity new Iowa based project. The cdr comes in an oversized white folder with a very fitting dark and murky drawing of a male mouth breathing on a possible dead naked female torso.
“Self-Portrait” is the fourth album of twelve full length albums that are being released through-out 2010 by the highly creative & respected noise/general experimental project Jazkamer. This release sees the project focusing in more on grating drone matter and spaced out noisy improv with more active old school industrial percussive crash and extreme jazz tendencies.
Marcus Obst is a German sound artists, field recording manipulator and often playful sonic arranger who’s been active since 1997. “day in dwarfs capital” is his forth solo release, through he’s released twenty three releases under his most know project Dronæment- he’s also involved in the following projects Oscillator, D.Rhythm:O & Marcus Murkes.
This is a Black Metal band from San Francisco (of all places.) This rather short CD is their only release as far as I know, with all the usual BM packaging and some writing I can't really make out.
“Swamp Curse” is a C40’s worth of nasty, sometimes sludgy, but always horror ‘n’ bile soaked extreme noise matter and sickly caustic electro drone matter from London based Corpse Candle (aka Robert Meldrum who’s also in excellent HNW project Uneathered).