Reviews 09/23/2020

 Here is another batch of fresh reviews.  With all the red hot noise action going on these days it is serious hard for me to keep up.  I assure you more is coming, including a serious heavy stack of tape reviews.  If anyone needs stuff reviewed drop me a line otherwise leave me alone.  Cheers, Gene Symptoms.

PS.  By the way YES I reviewed myself.  Read the explanation which accompanies the review. No one else is going to review my ass so I had to pick up the slack.  

Martyr of Sores / Terroriste Sonatas / 6xCDR / Room 2A

A 6-disc thesis statement on crispy and bleak harsh drones.  Richard Ramirez is taking the listener on an extended jaunt where textures are studied into oblivion.  While discs 4 and 5 did not play (technical glitches do happen) the remaining 4 discs consist of single tracks that run the expanse of whatever tone shape has been uncovered.  For some this may seem to be a tedious listen but if you like it monolithic then you can dive in here and find different grits of sandpaper to rub on your goddamned face. 

Let me be perfectly clear though, yes, the contents here are drone based but many of the pieces lean into the harsh side of things.  However, once each composition settles in you will not get a whole lot of variety.  For some this can be trying on one’s patience but for many this is where the challenge/reward concept comes into play.  I can be a maddeningly discerning listener at times so often I find myself listening for elements such as space and expansiveness.  What lies in the between the molecules of filth and the droplets of blood? This is where the magic is.

The back cover of this release therein contains a statement which may be used to guide the listener on this hellish ride or at least give clarity to motivation.  It reads as follows: “Hate and murder in the name of religion is vile.  Prejudice towards a person due to their race, religion, sex, orientation is vile.  Stop the ignorance.” I for one could not agree more.  So for all you Ramirez devotees out there, here is yet another release which proves that he is not stopping for you or anyone else.  Go check out martyrofsores.blogspot.com for more insights and information.  A frustratingly beautiful listen. 

Striations / Collection 2 / CD / Phage Tapes

This 20-track collection is the audio equivalent of trauma and tragedy.  This is one of the most intriguing listens I have had the pleasure of partaking in.  Sickened crumbles, screaming feedback, piano snippets, harsh walls are interspersed with plain spoken PSAs, screaming victims trapped in twisted rubble, panic stricken loved ones, unfazed newscasters, and the pure sound of death.  This album is unpredictable, tightly constructed, and has a clarity of vision that cannot be denied.  Much like the disorganized nature of a car accident, “Collection 2” is messy, violent, and monumentally depressing. 

For those of you who ordered the Striations “Trauma Code” collage zine, this is the sonic companion piece that really cements this as a thorough study about the fragility of life when man and machine collide.  Man never wins.  Man gets fucked up completely.  Man gets torn apart.  This album is a sound collage that will stand as the ultimate statement on smashed skulls, pulverized chest cavities, burning limbs, and ruined lives.  This comes with my highest recommendations, so do not just sit there with your thumb up your fucking ass. Hit up Phage Tapes for this epic piece of noisy gloom and doom.

Cracked Dome “Aggregate Monotheism” / CD / Nefarious Activities

Yes, I am reviewing myself but before you cry foul let me explain why.  This 3 track disc was recorded somewhere in 2015 at the request of the label Nefarious Activities.  I had sent the recordings over and after all this time they finally made it to a finished product.  I was stoked to finally have this piece in my hands as I had lost the original master a long time ago.  So even though I have had artist copies in my possession for well over a month I was waiting for an opportune time to give this the full listen.  So here I am giving this a listen in full for the first time since these tracks were recorded.  I feel there is enough distance between me and the material that I can be unbiased.

Track one “Help/Disarm” gets right down to business with a slowly shifting yet utterly violent wall.  Soon after, some blackened screams issue forth through the din.  The vocals are raspy as fuck and I do not remember what I was yelling about.  Most likely it was something about suicide or something along those lines.  This track is simple and effective, a good hearty fuck you to kick this ritual off in style.

Track two “Morphine Crucifixion” is a hearty dose of crumbly wall noise that seems to slowly increase in volume as it goes, and it seems as though some other mobbed up waves converge at the same time, giving this piece a frenetic feel.  The feedback starts pissing upwards in desperate arcs, coating your chest in warm goodness.  Despite the bleakness on display, there really is a lot going on, hard to quantify, hard to recall process-wise.  This is the sound your skull makes when it is pressed into concrete, for hours on end. 

For me, I am also a firm believer in discovering a tone or a set of sounds and trying to see what can be done within the parameters.  Take the sounds to the edge before they go off into bullshit.  I work slowly yet steadily on making pieces evolve and because of this my work sometimes gets overly lengthy which I have tried to scale back over the last 10 years or so.  The conclusion of this track leads to a 2 note drone that is over driven and anguished.  It feels like the aural equivalent of the onset of withdrawals.  I do not recall how I generated these sounds, but I think that it was done on a keyboard, not certain though.  What is clear is that the further it goes the filthier it gets, the nausea sets in, the wishing for death gets more plaintive. 

The final track “Knife Trance” creeps in with a glassy high-pitched whine, accompanied by a barrage of static garbage lurking just beneath.  Tension is building very slowly as the torrential monsoon of hatred rushes towards you with deliberate intent.  I am really enjoying the build up here, it is steady yet gets to the point quickly, which is always been a goal of mine.  This track puzzles me though, because even though the explosion is coming your way, it never quite gets to you.  Then it all just mysteriously fades out, you did not cum.  You went to the edge and you failed to attain the finality you were aching for.  You fail at dying.  You fail at everything.  Could this track be my equivalent to Wagner’s “Tristan and Isolde,” where there are no chord resolutions until everyone is dead?  Probably not but it is the thought that counts right?

All in all I would say that this is one of my best compositions because it encapsulates so much of what I have been working towards for years, control and knowing when to say when.  When the artist copies arrived in the mail, I was immediately thrust back into a world that I had not been paying enough attention to.  The pandemic has made it possible to get back to doing what I love it has made it a mandatory act of self-preservation.  Not sure if this is still available anywhere and my artist copies are all spoken for, but if I could recommend any of my work to anyone, “Aggregate Monotheism” would be the one.  Thanks to Mike Finklea of Nefarious Activities for putting this one out. 

 Incapacitants / Operorue / CD / Helicopter + Troniks

I could be wrong but the Helicopter and Troniks co-releases have been nothing short of a deep dive into the past glories of noise.  Not for the sake of relishing in nostalgia but a reminder of how much great noise has been released over the years.  With all of these recent collections and reissues is an opportunity to get a taste of the past which can then point the way forward for anyone who is making noise during these plague-ridden times. 

“Operorue” was originally issued in 1995 and personally speaking this could not come at a better time.  3 tracks of Japanese harsh mastery.  Formed in 1981, Incapacitants have been showing everyone who to do hard noise and this release is no exception.  Glitchy, cutting, busted up tones radiate from the speakers the minute you hit play. 

Track one “Postal Savings & Postal Life Insurance” is high pitched drillings into the ear holes which takes on different shapes depending on where you stand in the room.  Believe me, I took note of this as I was looking for something on my shelves.  The high tones are present no matter what, but the positioning of the listener determines how those tones hit the listener and envelop them.    

Track two “Appointment With My Friend” is when things really get cooking.  Here is where the passenger jet takes a fat nosedive and breaks apart.  Thick bubbling low frequencies hold up a teetering fortress of mids and highs that whistle, vibrate, and get tied up in knots.  Vocalizations issue forth amongst the sizzling wreckage that edges ever closer to a molten panicked hiss. 

The final track “A Walk In the Evening” follows the same theme as its predecessor but cranks the darkness up considerably.  This time, the mids are bullying their way up to the front and the chirping and feedback squeals are struggling to stay in the mix.  The tension builds dramatically and periodically gags on itself and then continues to spew more shredded whistles and white-hot rage.   This track feels like it is the sum result of the previous 2 where the tension finally breaks and you become the recipient of an extended sonic haranguing. 

I have long said that when it comes to harsh noise, Japan pretty much runs the goddamned table.  “Operorue” is stacked up nicely from the teeth drilling of track one to the fiery finale on track 3.  Here again, the Helicopter + Troniks alliance is dishing up another classic from way back when.  Another ass kicking session from a legendary unit, get this and learn.  Get this and burn.