Selfish Implosions – Radical C23
Brise-cul Records
Selfish Implosions is an anonymous power electronics project which focuses on the concept of underground skateboarding culture in an extreme form. Hailing from Montreal you can be sure that this is going to have a rough edge as they deal with a good 5 months of snow year round so it’s gotta be tough to be a skater up there.
Side A contains 3 tracks each very aggressive with some impressive vocal convulsions. Very impressive are the vocals which remind me of Atrax Morgue in the …

2673 – In Dreams 3″CDR
Dokuro
On In Dreams 2673 presents a minimalist journey much reminding me of the sounds of Francisco Lopez and Pulse Emitter, drones from modular synthesizers and slowly evolving compositions.
The bulk of the 20 minute track is a low hum which is joined by other tones about 8 minutes into the piece. Eventually the sound works up into an all-out ambient bed with reverberation and low wind tunnel elements. it’s just when it seems things are getting exciting that we are immediately cut off and the piece has …

Revival Lake – Brothers Without Arms 3″CDR
Self Released
Here’s a real shorty that is a collab between two Connecticut based projects Reviver and the now defunct Medicine Lake. Knowing their respective styles one can speculate on how this would sound and they probably wouldn’t be far off.
Electric buzz hums, distorted vocals moans and various layering together forms a deep drone track with ritual elements. There is a lot of space and quite an organic feel mainly being a result of the vocals but this could also be coming from Reviver’s use …

Sanctimonious – Hypocritical Sages C24
Nil By Mouth
Here’s a quick tape of very lo-fi and primitive power electronics. Housed in a cardboard box with a fold-out poster inside and a sticker on the front the packaging is as simple as the music.
The first thing I notice is that the sounds are not very creative at all. Standard pedal feedback, delay, some metal banging here and there. There’s a lot of boring feedback drones, things that sound like they might be the result of homemade instruments or circuit bent pedals. Always …

Steel Hook Prostheses – Cut off the Nose to Spite the Mouth 2xCD
Syzmic Records
Here is a mighty 2 disc set of reissued material from the ever bleak Syzmic Records camp. Delivering 100% dark and hopeless sounds here Steel Hook Prostheses is as unforgiving as ever in their apocalyptic vision. Coming housed in a pro digipak with simple artwork the packaging comes off with a succinct retrospective feel.
Disc one contains the releases Sadistic Surgery, Cold Embrace of an Iron Lung, Controlled Sense of Decay all released in 2003 and 2004. …

Klit – Sodomy is Birth Control C10
Danvers State Recordings
I think most people would expect searing power electronics and blistering noise when confronted with the art and concepts that this tape presents but instead what we have here is 2 quick tracks of spaced-out experimental weirdness with a very creepy vibe.
It sounds like there’s a lot of manipulated vocal or animal sounds in each of the tracks with soft yet swelling noise loops lurking in the background. Synth drones also tend to pervade things to form thick, cohesive walls of noisy …

Luasa Raelon – Vampyr: Light of the Beast CD
Fatal Beliefs
It’s always good to hear a new Luasa Raelon CD if even the release itself is older. You know what to expect and you can be sure David Reed – with his very specific multiple projects – will deliver exactly that. Vampyr: Light of the Beast follows the Luasa Raelon formula by the book delivering over 40 minutes of glistening drone and subtle industrial.
This is dark ambient with plenty of harmonic movement. Slowly played synthesizers layered with alternating pitched pads and …

Aghori – Light Circles 3″CDR
Existential Cloth Recordings
Something tells me this is not the Aghori who’s 3″CDR Light Circles has found its way into my hands. Not that I have anything against emo/tribal metalcore but this is clearly a different beast!
What Aghori delivers here is a good 20 minutes of organic ambient/noise seemingly created from the sound of bowed cymbals, manipulated distortion and perhaps vocal moans. Both tracks are untitled yet the first is more intense on the noise factor drenching the ritual ambient layers with a light layer of distortion. …

Vehement Caress – Cachexia C20
Apicult Recordings
Here’s another really great tape from Boston’s own Vehement Caress. Represented here is a great convergence of throbbing industrial, lo-fi harsh noise, and heavy drone.
Side A features several tracks, the first of which is a pummelling industrial anthem very much reminding me of older Brighter Death Now. There are no vocals, so it doesn’t meander into the realm of power electronics – it remains pure death industrial. The following tracks are shorter outings wandering in the grungy noise realm, reminding me of some of Wolf …

Corephallism/Gnaw Their Tongues – Split 10″EP
Lascivious Aesthetics
This is easily one of my favorite releases of 2012 and it’s great to know that before the halfway point. Two underrated acts team up for this obsessive industrial slab of vinyl to form a formidable sonic force. Their respective styles differing so much yet at the same time complimenting each other gracefully. Right off the bat I noticed the absolutely gorgeous artwork with sparse yet well placed text which helps make this release an instant classic.
Corephallism is up first with two tracks of …