Stimbox/A.U.M./Death Squad "Enjoy Happiness" CD
[Hebi Like a Snake]
Stimbox kicks off this three-way split with 15+ minutes of fucking loud fucking harsh noise in "Love and Truth". As someone who is hard to please when it comes to the truly harsh side of experimental noise, it should come as little surprise that 15 minutes of brutal distortion, piercing feedback, intense reverberations, wispy high-end, crunching, crackling, and general chaos is a bit much for my weak ears. I will say that there's a hell of a lot of movement involved and things tend to stray from staying in one place for too long, but more of the same continues through the seven-and-a-half minutes of "Electronic Chattering" - though thankfully smoothing out in some ways to make for a more consistent listen (though no reprieve for the eardrums). I like this track more, not because it's shorter, but because it feels more violent and intentional to me. It creates a mood, somehow, that the first piece lacks. There are some thicker low-end tones tucked away in there, as well as some painful stereo effects that could more than likely erode your hearing. A.U.M.'s sole track, "AM 1476 kHz", runs an insane 22 minutes of thin veils of distortion over samples of spoken voices (in Japanese), dense rumbles that have a sinister sort of ambient vibe, and, of course, plenty of harsh noise. However, the structure is simpler and more minimal here, using fewer layers and giving the tones more breathing room. There's a lot of delay and a fairly good range of tones covered, but it's got an eeriness to it at times due to the stripped down nature of the track. Things do thicken up towards the end, but it still never comes close to the sheer ferocity of the Stimbox material that precedes it. Next up are three songs from Death Squad, the first of which is the minimal, feedback driven "Communique Shoko". It's loud, it cuts straight through your ears, and it keeps on going for eight minutes, pretty much just like that... "Theological Genocide" is the shortest composition on the disc (less than four minutes), and also the quietest, with a well placed sample amidst some sparse atmospheric sounds and windy high-end layers. "Electro-Staticsphere" closes in a similar manner, using a good deal of repetition and lots of thinner distortion, but brings more of a crunch to the midrange and adds in some twisted feedback as well. The layout's 50/50. I really like the front cover somehow, and most of the imagery is associated with Shoko Asahara and the Aum Shinrikyo cult, but then the back cover is sort of pastel colored and has this childlike image that looks like a boombox and floating musical notes or some shit, and that just doesn't fit. This is pretty good pound for pound. I'm not blown away, and there are things that I dislike, but as a whole I see no reason why this wouldn't appeal to fans of nuts and bolts harsh noise that has hints of diversity. Death Squad's material seems to have more of a thought process involved thematically, but Stimbox's " Electronic Chattering" is probably the best complete piece herein. (6/10)
Running time - 68:14, Tracks: 6
[Notable tracks: Electronic Chattering, AM 1476 kHz, Theological Genocide]
Stimbox - http://stimbox.harshnoise.com

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