Life In The Dark- Hushed Bloom (Sunyata)
This is a cassette of two sides. One, dream inducing in a pleasant and almost beautiful manner; the other side is more nightmarish and disturbing without getting loud or over the top directly frightening (it is a subtle nightmare). A completely logical step for Life In The Dark falling the Sunyata Rising / Limbs In Gloom release that further solidifies the growing niche that this project is starting to build and fill with moody pieces of sonic manipulation. Hushed Bloom is further evidence of the approaching essential listening quality from Life In The Dark; get lost in the dreamy sounds.
Cremation Lily- Untitled (Strange Rules)
Bar none, I have never heard a more wondrous take on the violence of Power Electronics than the Untitled debut from Cremation Lily. Shards of noise, pounding industrial sounds, screeching, et al lay one of the most droning and hypnotically infectious just under ten minutes that you may ever hear. If I were you, I would kill to hear this.
Everlovely Lightningheart (Dead Accents)
There are not many outfits that leave off their legacy with a release that contains both their first performance and their last performance, but Everlovely Lightningheart does just that with this cassette. Hearing the whole where they started to where they ended (plus two other tracks) makes for an intriguing document; throw in the handmade packaging, and you will probably be hard pressed to find a more striking overall release than this one from Dead Accents.
Chapels- Call It Killing You Off (Imminent Frequencies)
Possibly, all of this noise is making me insane because Call It Killing You Off is one hell of a creeped out listening experience that I would not recommend listening to in the dark if you are faint of heart. Chapels makes some tense atmospheric pieces on both sides of this tape that make a wholly engrossing just about a half hour.
Ash Borer – Discography (Land of Decay)
When you see a double cassette from any group or project, it looks massive (almost like a brick that you would throw through some jerk’s window); Ash Borer’s Discography (so far) double cassette was intense looking right from the start, and listening to the whole thing took me quite a bit as just doing so seemed a rather daunting prospect. When I finally put this in my tape deck and pressed play, the soul crushing songs that tumbled through the speakers only further cemented the previous daunting first impression that I had upon seeing the release the first time. Well-constructed and long songs that bring to mind a weird melodic black metal influenced mélange of heaviness are what you can expect to hear on this release. Now, Ash Borer seems to get lumped into that whole “Cascadian atmospheric Black Metal”, and while that might not be completely inaccurate, these guys seem more raw and crushing and less overwrought to me than other outfits that get lumped in that group. If you can get this, it is well worth it.
(Words: Bob)
