It appears I got this CD before I got John Wall's Alterstill, but I can't remember when, where or quite why. A review in The Wire is the most likely candidate for the last of these questions, but this was the mid-1990s, before you could just order anything you fancied online. I must have seen this in a record shop somewhere. There's a sticker on the back: "These Records, 112 Brook Drive, London SE11 4TQ, 0171 587 5349". That's only a short bus ride from here, but I'm sure I've never been there — certainly not thirteen years ago when I was living in Sheffield.
No matter the provenance, the presence of this album is tangible. It's not an easy listen, but — you know me — I quite like a bit of hairshirt listening if it has its rewards and keeps the [whisper it] plebs away. I had a listen to a couple of tracks from Alterstill again, to refresh my memory and make comparisons. What I said of that album — brooding and ominous, with repetitive mechanical sounds of unknown origin, an unsettling hum, which is occasionally punctuated by unexpected and violent blasts of energy — applies to this one too. The death metal samples (is it death metal, or extreme metal, or black metal? search me) are more liberally used, particularly in the middle of the album, and for me that diminishes the rewards/hairshirt ratio to the point where it's approaching my personal threshold. Is there such a thing as hairshirt metal? I think there should be.
 MusicBrainz entry for this albumRate Your Music entry for this album |
Comments