PLAYLIST with COMMENTS/REVIEWS

[FreakAnimalFinland]

After Maria Zerfall box (commented on MZ topic), there was need for more raw european sound. Two double CD’s. GENOCIDE ORGAN civilization 2xCD box, I like a lot. Band has developed over the years, become more complex sonically and perhaps also thematically, but the early day rawness of GO is so great. Fierce live disc, great collection of all Amerika themed material on other disc. In its nastyness, I think this is among the best reissued GO live material, since it is so much less focused on "classic songs", even when having them, extra filthy recording.

Con-Dom "live Japan" double CD, is the special edition of the Japan live. Real CD is basically studio remake of live material recorded in Japan. Bonus disc as CDR, is full raw unedited live recording of Tokyo show. Very different from the other disc. Utmost rawness, often thin, lacking all crunchy bass, just painfully disturbing and challenging material by noise luddite doing it unlike anyone else. It is hard to say, but I could even be tempted to conclude that bonus disc, unedited live, with different tracks, is the better one?! Eternally worshipped here..

NIGHT SCIENCE VI magazine + CD.
Listened the comp CD and all interviews has been read, but still plenty of reviews wait. CD has stand out tracks by Torba. Hostage Pageant pretty much always delivers. No exception here. Also Mikawa track is nice except for the clicks/pops that probably belong to the original live recording. IFOTS is somehow unusual. Taeter nice too.

Magazine editorial briefly mentioned long delay and mentioned horrors of computer crash etc.
I guess that if you ask any ’zine editor, who made more than couple issues, they will have mostly horror stories to tell. It is almost miracle that issue of noise zine gets done. I am very glad to see Night Science, Noise Receptor, New Forces, Troubled Sleep etc happen. I think nowadays CD with zine might work as "tactical method". Now that so many dealers are selling via discogs, without CD inside the magazine, it would not be really possible to have it on distribution if it was "just a magazine". In this small genre, just having handful labels who switched to discogs store, may result quite a bit smaller number of distributors?


In this issue, many people I didn’t expect anything in particular, seem like really nice people. Mostly very positive and creative interviews.

Annihilvs is more label interview and doesn’t focus much of NTT or Theologian as creative works. There is more talk of miserable industrial business, postage rates, CDR’s, digital music or current USA politics. One of the most bitter and hopeless interviews in industrial music for some time.

Many years ago, I was playing couple shows in USA, and I recall it was Slogun, organizer, myself as passagner, coming from bar, and mr. Annihilvs as driver, stopped by police. Pulled on the side, and there was black cop, asking what’s up driving way way faster than one should… I was told to do as cops say, as I guess that’s they way to survive in USA. They looked our ID’s and asked questions. Lee told we’d have industrial music gig next day, and offered to play some samples to officer. Eventually this NYC cop concluded ”you guys are crazy. Back in the day, you’d be into hardcore”. And we were let go, despite pretty intense driving exceeding the speed limits.
Same trip, next day, the car was toed away, for wrong parking. My backback with all gear in the car. I got it all back, but show was shut down by police about 10 seconds after Grunt started. I was not disappointed at all. Already seen TAINT, BLOODYMINDED and several others….

[Zeno Marx]

Flooded Church of Asmodeus - Satan's Punishment: The Ultimatum 2012 - black metal.  noisecore.  noise.  doom.  sludge.  Brainbombs.  industrial.  I wasn't in the mood for anything the other day, and I ran into this name in a distro I sometimes check that wouldn't usually stock something like this.  They said positive things, so I had to give it a listen.  I think I listened to three FCoA albums in a row on youtube.  This reminds me of something I would have randomly gambled on in the Ax/ction//Fudgeworthy catalogs of the 90s.

[Soloman Tump]

NIGHT SCIENCE VI magazine + CD.[/b]
Listened the comp CD and all interviews has been read, but still plenty of reviews wait. CD has stand out tracks by Torba. Hostage Pageant pretty much always delivers. No exception here. Also Mikawa track is nice except for the clicks/pops that probably belong to the original live recording. IFOTS is somehow unusual. Taeter nice too.

I listened to the CD the other night and really enjoyed it.  A strong collection of tracks overall, 6-7 years in the making!  Makes me feel I need more compilations as they give me plenty of avenues of artists to explore.  Also need to dig out my CD for Issue V which will be somewhere around, its gotten separated from the zine somehow.

[ConcreteMascara]

Flooded Church of Asmodeus - Satan's Punishment: The Ultimatum 2012 - black metal.  noisecore.  noise.  doom.  sludge.  Brainbombs.  industrial.

While I've enjoyed all of the FCoA releases  this debut is still my easy favorite. My old roommate and I sound-tracked a lot of depravity with this one. I can still remember one particular night of potent chemical cocktails where we had title track absolutely blasting from his boombox, while howling and flinging furniture, The Toxic Avenger playing on the tv in the background. I feel like I'm loosing braincells just thinking about it...


不失者 / Fushitsusha ‎– Origin's Hesitation CD - PSF, 2001 - percussive free-fall into clipped and staggered drum pointillism, primal vocalizations, flickering bass notes. is this the sound of unravelling?

[ConcreteMascara]

Sick Seed - Beasts Among Men cassette - Freak Animal, 2010 - from 2009 through 2012 I feverishly picked up every SS release. After the projects absurdly good introduction on Hated Perversions, The Great Corrupter came out on F&V and I was hooked. That album is a masterpiece to my ears. But anyone expecting more of the same from the project wasn't going to get it. It's hard to say what more of the same would've sounded like since The Great Corrupter was so diverse, but it had that nice blend of raw and harsh F&V sound, clearly and powerful vocals, Skrewdriver cover, and tinge of psychedelia. Many of those elements come back in one way or another through the next SS releases, but the portions of each varied wildly.
All that leads to Beasts Among Men which a very thick and heavy sounding recording, in contrast to the wiry and almost brittle mix of TGC. I was certainly a little surprised when I first got it. It sounds like a Wolfman scientist, experimenting and ranting in equal turns. And when nothing goes like it should on the a-side, we get Luddite Aktion aka 20 minutes of junk metal abuse that sounds like said Wolfman tearing his laboratory apart. I must mention Rats Of Yaldabaoth. It's been stuck in my mind since I first heard it a decade ago. There's this thudding lurch to it, bass-y crumble but clear and concise vocals. It's a real highlight.

Government Alpha ‎– Defective Politics CD - Audio Dissection, IR, 2020 - turgid electricity. shuttering, juddering, slice off your finger tips, crush your toes, making your fillings fall out harsh noise. lick a live wire harsh noise. incredibly deserving of this reissue harsh noise.

[Bloated Slutbag]

Gomikawa Fumio - The Rise and Fall of Gomikawa Fumio CD Hello from the Gutter 2020
Completely unhinged Japanese noise from this monster of a super group. I legit started laughing as soon as the noise started it; it's so fucking heavy!!! Huge low end, dynamic feedback piercing through, shredding vocals, non stop madness for 25+ minutes sans a few brief "track" breaks. Catching this live would have split my wig A++ pure psycho

Yes! I've been quite surprised at the lack of attention/interest around this. It so rough and ridiculous, I love it.

Flying under the radar is part of the project's MO, even before the Fumio got in on the action.

[Ashmonger]

Matar Dolores - The Great Transformation (C20, Archivio Diafonico): I really like this kind of stuff, but what genre is it? Don't know what to call it. I guess it's comparable to Mercury Hall. Short, but very good.

Utøya ‎– Lay Down And Rot (C40, Cipher Productions): Hmm, I remember Preying Upon Your Youth as well and it hasn't been that long since I listened to that tape, but I can't really say how both compare to each other. Perhaps this one is less harsh. Especially the B-side goes more into moody, calmer but dreary territory. Well crafted tape, but I'm afraid it doesn't really manage to make a specific impression rather than "this is good".

[Into_The_Void]

Am Not "The developing world" doesn´t probably need introductions, but this is the Am Not´s work which really fulgurated me when I earlier came across it 1-2 years ago. Martial and abrasive industrial / power electronics with a relentless, constant aggression of distorted synths and slabs of noise, very good structured and with a sick atmosphere.

[Fistfuck Masonanie]

Zyklon SS - The Demoralising Effects Of Noise c70 (Der Bunker)
"Two longer tracks of noise material inspired by early Macronympha and Streicher." from the label release notes.

Bought this tape probably 7 months ago or so but only got around to spinning it now. This plays a very nice kind of cross-pollination of noise and PE. There exists a good playful nature of synth with a mix of Hal's metal work woven together. This isn't cold and clinically sterile as most ZSS work and it is definitely a more noise-y and exploratory release than focused album for the project. However, the alchemy of sounds works very well here and definitely recommend grabbing it if you can find it.

OVMN - Amerika: Die Ewige Senkgrube CD (Self Abuse and Input Error)

I once saw Neil DeGrasse Tyson speak and to quickly and crudely paraphrase an interesting point, he mentioned that space exploration and discovery greatly benefitted when two super powers competed against one another. I feel that has been happening with Rodger and Joe within the last decade in regards to re-issues. We have seen an accelerated pace of Macro and related material re-released which has been greatly exacerbated by these two powers competing against one another for whatever and unknown reason to myself.

The material collected here is excellent. The Schwülstig Politik track is an exemplary showcase of Rodger and Joe's diversity of sound and complexity of layered density. I would assume by the level of editing that Rodger had the final say in the mix but that's just an assumption. Regardless, the attention to detail of sound is fantastic and somewhat comparable with the recently re-issued Grind and maybe more closely with the expansive palette of One Dark Eye.

The second and well titled track, "Corrupt Third Party Power Lights-Out Plug In Standing On The Border With Two Guns" is a masterful meeting of Macro, Incapacitants, and source material from guests including Mhlest and Tim Oliveira. Not sure how to divulge further other than saying you just need to hear it.

OVMN ‎– You Will Never Escape This CD (Self Abuse and Input Error)
And while there has been some fantastic material re-issued in the great Macronympha power struggle that is Rodger and Joe, there are also the space shuttle Challenger explosions. This release collects six unreleased 90's era tracks from Rodger and Joe and three new "OVMN" tracks composed by Joe and Leo. While the 90's material offers some highlights and I will always welcome unearthed Macro material, these tracks do feel like left over works overall. This is not helped by the new tracks, by Joe and Leo, as I feel this later duo has had issues with quality control.

[ConcreteMascara]

友川かずき [Tomokawa Kazuki] ‎– まぼろしと遊ぶ [Playing with Phantoms] CD - PSF, 1993 - I first became aware of/heard Tomokawa Kazuki in high school when I watched Takashi Miike's film Izo. Not only does he provide part of the soundtrack but he actually shows up to perform it in little vignettes. It was so unlike anything I'd ever heard before. I eventually figured out who he was but his music seemed impossible to get a hold of in the US. Or at least it was out of my reach. Now 17 years later I only have one greatest hits CD, which is very good, and this album, which is excellent. Sometimes its playful, sometimes despairing or spooky, but Kazuki singular voice connects it all. And what a voice, whether quiet and controlled or in full screaming poet mode, it's a total pleasure. This one also has some weird electronics that are jarring at first listen but eventually make sense. He also has other musicians backing him to various degrees. Track 5 is especially somber and beautiful, reminding me of Amber Asylum.  My biggest complaint with Kazuki is that his music is still brutally expensive, at least if you go the discogs route and I haven't really figured out another way to get it. Many of the albums are $50 or more for a single CD. Fuck. I leave this review here because while Kazuki music certainly isn't noise, it definitely isn't like anything else. A special interest you might call it.

Rotat / Kristityt / Unclean / Will Over Matter ‎– Kolari III CD - El Armua, 2020 - each one of the these Kolari comps is like swift kick the in the balls. immediately brutal with lingering pain. Rotat starts it off right with a cascade of shattering glass, feedback and metal before settling into a trudge through a dumpster. The whole track is good but that first minute and a half or so is really fucking strong. the glass sounds so damn good. Kristityt exists in some pocket dimension of weird. Guitar, bizarre vocalizations, spacey synths and delayed metal clunks. It reminds me of early SSRI mixed with something I can't quite place. a nice Yang to Rotat's Yin. And then there's Unclean delivering refined and effective power electronics. Limited but effective sample work, clear and decipherable vocals, slow and surging synths. All with a bit of grit on top. I feel a bit biased but I'd say great stuff as usual! And Will Over Matter finishes things off with those primitive surging electronics. Not quite as alien sounding as the earliest stuff but reminding me more of it than the material from last few years. To my ears there's not a dud on here and the comp is 40 minutes which is a great length. Absolutely recommended!

[Into_The_Void]

Dagda Mors "The border of the light" great compilation with some of the best tracks of this project. I discovered it pretty recently but I´m totally obsessed with it, the combination of cold and super simple (yet aggressive and martial) electronics and the heathen topics, together with the fact that he comes from the ex DDR (the image of the ex-socialist country and national-romantic-fueled music always has a big appeal to me), definitely grabbed my attention from the day one. I still hope that a repress of their works on tape comes at a point, and I would be totally thankful if someone would be up to dub me a copy with xeroxed cover.

Dead Body Love "Low-Fi Power Carnage" I´ve been to dumb to sleep over the repress on CD when it came out, stunning work, still looking for a copy of said CD if someone has one spare / still in distro. One of the best things ever came out in the harsh noise scene, still wondering how he managed to shape the distortion layers and to manipulate the source in that way.

Iugula-Thor "Opera" stimulated by the album above, I played this masterpiece as well. Creepy harsh noise with powerful vocals (I´ve seen Chiaravalli performing live once as featuring for Cronaca Nera, and he´s  been amazing), crackling manipulated distortion and spooky eerie sound sources.

[Eigen Bast]

Last Days of Humanity - "Horrifc Compositions of Decomposition" CD - Rotten Roll Rex -2021
Vocals sound like a fork stuck in a garbage disposal, killer samples, catchy anthemic riffs, crispy blasts. EFFORTLESS grind sickness spread across 33 tracks in a little under 30 minutes.

Joe Colley - "Trance Tapes" 2xC40 - No Rent - 2021
Ice cold electronic minimalism. It was barely audible on my tape deck, but through a pair of headphones the tones revealed themselves nicely. Somewhere between minimal techno (at points) and test tones. It feels like a continuation of some of the pieces from the Disasters of Self box. Rhythmic/arrythmic, music by and for machines. Beautiful layout too, very strong release!

[host body]

Last Days of Humanity - "Horrifc Compositions of Decomposition" CD - Rotten Roll Rex -2021
Vocals sound like a fork stuck in a garbage disposal, killer samples, catchy anthemic riffs, crispy blasts. EFFORTLESS grind sickness spread across 33 tracks in a little under 30 minutes.

Joe Colley - "Trance Tapes" 2xC40 - No Rent - 2021
Ice cold electronic minimalism. It was barely audible on my tape deck, but through a pair of headphones the tones revealed themselves nicely. Somewhere between minimal techno (at points) and test tones. It feels like a continuation of some of the pieces from the Disasters of Self box. Rhythmic/arrythmic, music by and for machines. Beautiful layout too, very strong release!

Yooo check out these two, Last days was aight but maybe not as fucked up as I like? Cool but sounds more like straight up death metal than proper goregrind madness.

https://youtu.be/4GA_Dy55PrM

https://blastaddict.bandcamp.com/album/demo

[FreakAnimalFinland]

Was catching up Noisextra, listened both, Seed mouth and Anenzephalia episodes. Seed Mouth is great. I probably have mentioned that I even managed to see it live once. There was gig in Japan. I was not on tour or gig, but just visiting. Utterly difficult venue to find, and Seed Mouth and Yama-akago (Fumio Kosakai’s wife drone-noise project) amongst others was there. Seed Mouth had CD walkman and some rather primitive gear.

Anenzephalia "live karlsruhe" CDR
I have Live karlsruhe tape box, this 2nd edition CDR remaster, and the later LP edition with 2 bonus tracks. All good. Booklet with this CDR, very neat. I don’t known how many times I have seen him play live. I would suspect at least 3?
None of the gigs were as VIOLENT as this Karlsruhe gig. All has been great, though. I don’t know if I still have, but I used to have unreleased live recording on the live in Finland. It happened just before New European Disorder came, and in this gig I heard Final Pulse for the first time. I had to ask B. Moloch how was the beat done. He just said something like ”I have synthesized that can do it”. No idea how that thing was programmed, and with what exactly. I should maybe try to find the mini-disc master of anenzephalia set.

DEPTHER "Altar state" CDR
Nihil Market
This is disc that would demand re-issue. 2001 recordings of Depther (a.k.a. J.Vanhala) on Kaos Kontrol’s sub-label Nihil Market. Under same label came out equally limited Sshe Retina Stimulants CDr and CDR of obscure Finnish noise project Hinageshi Bondage. That one too is actually pretty good and interesting noise from guy who still after all these years is involved in noise!
Depther has been described sort of pre- Zoat-Aon, and from outside perspective, that is pretty much what it sound like. Back in the day, I.Corax was duo of couple of these Oulu guys, and among very first things that was publicly heard, was their track on ”Degenerating Finland” compilation CD back in late 90’s! Even if most of that CD, was like who-is-who of Finn PE at the time (Bizarre Uproar, Grunt, Order, Pain Nail, Strom.ec and so on..) way more darker and obscure I.Corax was included on CD as their track blew me away. This good ”ambient” in Finland!?
All the artists related to Helixes (helixes.org) are pretty much appreciated kult bands these days, but curious thing is, that starting from this very first Depther CDR, despite being 20 years old recordings, project displays such a superior skill of sound craftmanship, that it has not aged at all. If this would come out now, I would still conclude it is absolute top quality, in technical skills and taste. In genre like this, where a lot of CD’s has not aged so well, I think it is quite achievement! Only thing that somehow sets it to the more "90's" spirit, is perhaps the way spoken samples are being used!
Multiple plays this week…

[FallOfNature]

Vigilantism - Fistborn
Strong stuff and really caught my attention right away. This one grabbed me much quicker than the previous releases on Freak Animal and that's saying something because those releases were superb.

Cefaris - discography
Canadian black ambient that rides the same winds as LLN Black Ambient acts, Darkness Enshroud etc etc. Pianos, percussion, synth and a voice rasping away behind it all. Works well however.