v/a "Break Your Face" compilation CD
[Get the Bags]
Here's a brutal four-way split CD commemorating the 2004 European tour that these four acts embarked on together. You can't really go wrong when you get four of the biggest and best names in North American harsh noise/power electronics together like this, and sure enough this fucker delivers. Sickness blows shit up right away with about 10 minutes of obscenely loud and grating harsh noise through two tracks: "Your Daily Dose of Anti-Social" and "Home Surgery With Dull Knives". So expect the usual dose of searing high-end, chunky movement, shredding over the top distortion, quick changes and shifts, and not a whole lot of sitting around at all. Canada's SKM-ETR follows with the longest track herein ("Concrete Soldier"), complete with lots of samples, lots of raw distortion, vicious vocal shouts deep in the mix, and those undercurrents of eerie "melody" that I've been such a proponent of in his past work. Great stuff. "Ready for War" follows with lots of midrange and even more heavily obscured vocals, again keeping those twisted hints at musicality suffocated under intense layering and a really thick mix with no real breathing room (which I view as a positive in this work). Both of these tracks are a little looser than most of SKM-ETR's material, but that's fine by me. Next up is Control, opening with "Your Flesh", a sinister death industrial piece with a throbbing and repetitious rhythm and scorching vocals deep in the heart of the mix. "Depraved" follows with some twisted rising and falling textures amidst more pulsing distortion, and this is another track that's rather spacious, using that dark ambient undercurrent that makes some of Control's work so well rounded. The bulk of the piece refrains from vocal work, but even the vocals are so manipulated that they act more as additional noise texture than anything in such a droning and persistent framework. The one and only Slogun closes the disc with three tracks of his ruggedly patented material. "Watch and Wait" is the longest and harshest selection, with lots of thin distortion and chaotic movement right alongside those inimitable shouted attacks. "Me" is a little more minimal and pulse-like in character, with faint samples (I think?) underneath more prominent diatribes from the vocals; then "Maybe, Just Maybe" makes distorted samples a more prominent element, but the vocals still hold a lot of ground just out in front. The layout looks excellent with lots of bold high contrast imagery and red coloring against a predominantly black and white design. There are tons of layered text effects and some handwriting laid over top of the images, so it's all intentionally jumbled but still looks great to me. Good stuff. A damn fine release sure to please fans of any of these artists, though I imagine you'd be hard pressed to find a noise fan of this ilk who doesn't like all of these kingpins. Most everyone familiar with these artists knows what to expect from each of these cats and that's what you're in for with this collection. I'm all for it. SKM-ETR and Control definitely steal the show for me, but there's not one weak track on this thing. It's limited to 500 so I wouldn't sleep on it for too long, either. (7/10)
Running time - 41:21, Tracks: 9
[Notable tracks: Home Surgery With Dull Knives, Concrete Soldier, Depraved, Maybe, Just Maybe]
Get the Bags - john@slogun.com

This review has been displayed 1719 times.