V/A – Untitled C60
Tapes of a Neon God
At four different artists on a release I am making a judgement call and labeling this a compilation. Especially when it’s only a C60. What is presented here is some violent shit. A layout featuring cut-up and bloody arms and a group of depraved artists creating heavy-as-all-fuck noise this is some serious shit. The only issue I have with the layout is that the text is really hard to read.
Shattered Hymen is up first with a wall of junk noise. They cover a …
GRKZGL/Flatgrey – Split C23
Brise-Cul Records
Strait out of the Brise-Cul camp here and it’s been awhile since I’ve reviewed anything but the label keeps on churning out releases. This is a great one with two sides of unparallelled harsh noise attacks.
Side A features GRKZGL’s contribution. Although I’ve witnessed the project do harsh noise live numerous times it’s a change since his early days which were in the drone world. Luckily this insane barrage of crusty junk is intense and unrelenting with excellent moments, buildups, and climaxes that shows that GRKZGL really …
Death Factory – Machinen Untter Kontrolle CD
No Visible Scars
I couldn’t think of a more appropriate name for a death industrial project as Death Factory. Luckily they represent the genre well and Machinen Untter Kontrolle follows up the excellent Chilling Impressions tape perfectly.
The album kicks off with the title track which is a throbbing attack not unlike something offered up by Brighter Death Now. The following track Manifestation of Fear (3rd Version) is a continuation on a track that appeared in previous tape and it features a great combination of …
Josh Lay/Crown of Bone – This is a Tourniquet of the Light, The Black Obituary CD
Obfuscated Records
High contrast abstract artwork adorns the face of this release and it’s a good indication of the bleak sounds that lurk within. This is a split release with one long track from each artist.
Josh Lay is an artist hailing from the American mid-west and he creates organic black ambient/drone. His track here entitled Shroud of Ice and Bird Feathers lives up to his reputation quite well. Understated quiet textures of sewer drains, broken electronics, …
Hostage Pageant – Manipulated Memories C47
Rainbow Bridge
Based on the artwork I thought this was a 905 Tapes release which means I like it. This is in fact coming out of the Rainbow Bridge camp and is limited to 22 copies. I’d be surprised if there’s any left at this point.
Hostage Pageant presents several tracks on each side all titled Memory parts 1 through 6. Side A is harsh pedal noise, spastic and changing with thick squalls of synthesizer attacks, low bass howls and squirmy layers. Some muddled samples seem to …