Gruntsplatter "The Organ Harvest: Unreleased & Rare 1994 - 1999" CD
[Audio Savant]
Another nice little release collecting rare and unreleased material from one of the finest dark ambient/death industrial projects out there. As the title would suggest some of this work is quite old, and therefore definitely rawer and more rugged than what you'll here from Gruntsplatter these days, ranging from three-minute atmospheres to nearly 10-minute epics of persistent, hypnotic textures. Five of these compositions (scattered throughout the disc) were originally to be released as a split with Armenia, which may or may not have ever seen the light in limited form, two are from the "Two Minds of Murder" compilation, "2 Rote Reihe" is from the "Madness Incarnate I" compilation, and everything else is entirely unreleased. Much of the material is fairly minimal and largely revolves around murky low-end rumblings with very faint distortion cascading in and out with minimal movement, where there's evident layering, but nothing that feels too prominent or overtly involved. "With Sword, With Hunger, With Death" has more of a stripped down sort of bubbling flow, while "The Door Closed" is the first piece that truly gets much thicker and more resonant in its sound, also bringing in subtle wisps of feedback. "2 Rote Reihe" is one of the busier pieces, and among the few herein that use vocals, which are mixed deep in against the swirling sounds of crunchy bass - definitely creating a solid classic power electronics aesthetic on some level. "No. 8 Neue Strabe" is similar, though a bit more open with its distortion, also clashing against a very curious appearance of what sounds like a buried sort of melody. These more active pieces are a great change of pace from the fairly consistent sinister ambience otherwise, not overpowering or feeling out of place, just kicking up some dust and making a stir. The promo copies come in a standard plastic sleeve with color xeroxed artwork, and from what I understand the original release (limited to 100 copies) comes in a DVD case with the same package (only larger). Honestly I find the artwork to be a bit dull and muddy compared to the quality of most Gruntsplatter releases, which is unusual, but shit happens. The tracklist and some notes about the tracks are on the back, and that's about it. I wish more artists would do releases such as this one, because all too often quality tracks go unheard when reserved for obscure compilations ("2 Rote Reihe" is a fine example of that). It's a shame to see this running as such a small scale CD-R issue, but for those actively aware it's certainly better than nothing at all! (7/10)
Running time - 74:29, Tracks: 13
[Notable tracks: Stumbling Before Death, Formulating Intent, 2 Rote Reihe, No. 8 Neue Strabe]
Audio Savant - http://www.audiosavant.com

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