Seplophobia "City of the Dead" CD
[Snip-Snip]
After a painfully obnoxious two-minute intro of synths and samples (all of which seems to have been clipped from an old movie or TV show or something), this project, who takes its name from the fear of decaying matter, finally cranks into some abrasive harsh noise that actually has a lot of strange depth to it for taking such a standard road. So not only do I like it, but this form of distorted noise has never been such a welcomed visitor to my ears! Seriously, that intro is horrendous and severely mars this otherwise strong outing when looking at the big picture. The second track is acerbic as hell: A two-minute assault of total mayhem with lots of biting high-end and a few bass-y surges. But then the next composition is a great dark ambient track, filled with low-end drones and machinated textures in the distance behind winding feedback, creating a much more sinister atmosphere that acts as a great breather from all of the caustic distortion and overloaded volumes. Next up is a middleground sort of approach that fuses more of an ambient throb with crispy midrange wisps and a quick shot of distorted spoken vocals, all of which transitions nicely into the longer and again louder/harsher piece that follows. I'm definitely digging that the aggressive noise here has some feeling to it, and I'm glad that the opening track is the only one that's more towards a true harsh noise style, whereas bits and pieces of death industrial atmospheres are definitely peeking through the cracks in the other harsher compositions. This one ends with another sample, and a pretty long one at that, so... I'm definitely thinking that's not the way to go for this project, as both such instances of that approach herein aren't beneficial to the work at all. Closing things out is another sparse dark ambient piece, this one nearly eight minutes long and feeling slightly more abstract in its use of wavering motion and shuffling back and forth surges. As usual with Snip-Snip, the CD-R comes in a slim jewel case with simple xeroxed artwork wrapped around each other on colored paper, so the use of text and imagery is minimal, and the presentation could use some stepping up. I don't care for the fact that all of these tracks are untitled, but thankfully the music actually possesses a lot of intrigue and character, so that makes up for it. This is also a well timed release that makes its mark and moves right along, which is something that I tend to appreciate when it comes to experimental noise. The intro is terrible, and not every track is as consistently powerful as the finer moments, but this is definitely a project that I'll be curious about in the future, because at its best this disc has some great material to offer. (6/10)
Running time - 32:15, Tracks: 6
[Notable tracks: they're all untitled]
Snip-Snip - http://www.iheartnoise.com/snipsnip/

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