Ahlzagailzehguh "Black Destination" 2xCS
[Truculent]
Jesus this thing is fucking loud! The levels are through the roof nonstop, it seems! "Staring at the Floor" plows straight into some consistent harsh noise that's massively thick and loud and only quiets down significantly towards the end as things drop to a flutter of faint distorted hums that make for an excellent break. Things gradually get more caustic and chaotic with fluttering layers of distortion, but it basically never thins out aside from that one quiet cut. "Catatonic Rigidity" is somewhat similar but more frantic in its constant fluctuations, throwing in more glitchiness to some of the distortion for a more electronic aesthetic. "Lockdown" closes part one of the series with a slightly more consistent piece of noise, a tad muddier (not a bad thing), etc. The final seconds are a quaint ambient throb that also ends very respectably. "Final Façade" is a bit rawer and shorter, more forgettable than the first set of songs. "Triangle Eye" begins similarly with a little more of a raw midrange presence, perhaps a little more percussive in nature, breaking down into a nice humming throb at times, but not for long. With a chirping sort of flutter towards the end of this selection a softer side takes more of a lead role, which is very cool. "Cornered Response" has a few more minimal harsh moments that thin out and let more detail shine through without losing all of the low-end (an effective trait that might be nice to hear more often), and then "Away From All Eyes Sight" is one of the most consistent and repetitious tracks - and that really does add a great atmospheric element. I think there may even be one or two quick samples mixed into the harshness? The cassettes come in a unique oversized case that's double the size of a normal cassette case. The cassettes are held horizontally one above the other and the cover is xeroxed onto thick as hell matte maroon paper. I really like the abstract imagery as well, because it's very suggestive of any number of bleak subjects. Quite nice, really. Another superb example of why Ahlzagailzehguh is one of the most promising harsh noise projects going these days. There's no nonsense to the sounds, the artwork is pleasing to the eye, the track titles seem to bear relevance to the tone of the visuals as well as the music, and so on. Good work. A proper full-length CD or vinyl release should certainly be in Ahlzagailzehguh's near future. (7/10)
Running time - 40:00 (approximately), Tracks: 7
[Notable tracks: Lockdown, Triangle Eye, Away From All Eyes Sight]
Truculent Recordings - http://www.truculentrecordings.net

This review has been displayed 1699 times.