Interesting... Amusing, and interesting. One would have to assume that in a genre (power electronics) as historically laden with sketchy racial "politics", specifically of the white power variety, that an Israeli project tagging itself as "militant Jewish industrial", complete with a star of David emblem created out of bullets, would have to have at least a touch of subversive satire involved? The very notion of a "militant Jewish industrial" project conjures up a chuckle from me, if for no other reason than it's nice to experience something different from the obscure political realm of this style! But make no mistake, as there's no humor to the audio component whatsoever. According to the label, the thematic approach of this release is to express "views of Zionism as an aesthetic/political avant-garde", covering the "heroic journey of the exiled and persecuted from the Diaspora to their ancient homeland... based on the teachings of Vladimir Ze'ev Jabotinsky, the poetry of Uri Zvi Grinberg, and the historical events of the previous century". I'm quoting the label on that, as these are subjects that I can't imagine many experiencing this CD to be familiar with. Things start slowly (after an introductory sample) with the minimal, repetitive distorted rumble of "Betar Youth March No.1 (Strength & Honor)", which is fairly rugged and repeats the sample "We will live for honor, and we will die for honor... Jewish honor..." every few seconds throughout. That sets the tone for the entire release, which is very raw, and quite minimal in its noise, layering in various samples and textures, but still coming off as rather basic in construction. "By Blood and Fire" is the first slightly more involved track, a bit percussive and perhaps involving distorted vocals, though there's no way to be sure. The following "Mobilization (For Vladimir Ze'ev Jabotinsky)" is more of a classic power electronics piece, blending rhythmic pulses of distortion with dark ambient undercurrents and heavily garbled vocal lines - nice work, indeed. Similarly, a long, documentary-styled sample makes up the dark ambient core of "Resistance", which is also quite effective. The strongest and most consistent track is the rhythmic and hypnotically repetitive closer "A Shield of Defense and the Word of the Son of Blood (Ezor Magen U-ne'um Ben Ha-Dam)", however. The disc comes in a nice little cardboard sleeve with a foldover flap. Inside is just plain text, and the outer artwork follows the Jewish theme and does indeed have a bit of a power electronics type of aesthetic to its design. There are a few powerful quotes inside as well, such as, "The sword comes into the world because of justice delayed and because of justice perverted." It's actually quite interesting the way these unusual and surprising contents have been manipulated to perfectly match the type of aesthetics one would be accustomed to experiencing from a power electronics project. There are, of course, some pitfalls here. The overly raw recording, for one, which is simply too muddy without enough depth or detail. It's also a bit stripped down and simple for what it offers, with a number of sudden endings with abrupt fades that feel premature, and a slightly stuttered flow with a little too much space between certain tracks. Among the week links are compositions like the overly raw and borderline irritating "Milchemet Brera/Jewish Steel", but as a whole this is a promising release - certainly one that's thematically innovative. More good than bad, I'll give it that. I like most of it. I read something that hinted that this may the first in some sort of series from Barzel, so I'm curious that the next steps will yield.
[Topheth Prophet]
Running time - 48:23, Tracks: 10
[Notable tracks: Mobilization (For Vladimir Ze'ev Jabotinsky), Resistance, A Shield of Defense and the Word of the Son of Blood (Ezor Magen U-ne'um Ben Ha-Dam)]
Topheth Prophet - http://www.njstudio.co.il/tp/
