Kapustin Yar – Dirge (Land Of Decay)
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GodDAMN this is some heavy shit. Antonio Gallucci coming from every genre out there and conjuring up something wholly new & awesome. Trithemius takes industrial to a new level, incorporating black ambient, metalgaze, noise, darkwave, and anything else that’s bleak & destructive, tossing in some twisted spaciness because obviously. Ear bleeding bass that hits harder than your speakers can handle, huge walls of heavenly nightmarish static, a massive lumbering nightwalker lost in an urban wasteland, tearing down skyscrapers and generators, a cacophony born from a decayed post-nuclear Earth, faulty machinery humming in the distance with vocals buried in the chaos or hissed & distorted beyond recognition, black hole terrors, drifting in space drugged out of your fucking mind, feeling your every atom warp the fabric of spacetime, your body swallowed by the heaviness. 100% amazing record. Then again, I expect nothing less from the untouchable Land Of Decay.
Gates – Forest Passageway, Hallway To The Void (Land Of Decay)
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I can’t even handle this one, you guys. It’s too much. Absolutely brutal, the best black noise I’ve heard in a long time. Harsh wall of sound that’s dark as fuck, a solid mass of devil drone, furious feedback & blown out riffage that’s caustic and pulverizing. Three tracks, each one with a slightly different vibe. The first is a frenzy, pure Skullflowery chaos, like the black noise version of Love Is A Stream, and buried way down is a Mick Barr style shredding and the occasional blast beat. Then there’s an atmospheric black metal track that takes the most destructive riffs and cranks everything way up, distortion and effects turned into a badass nightmare. The final track is some Sunn O))) blackened doom drone worship, pure fucking evil and depressive beyond belief, massive slabs of static rising up from the depths, apocalyptic feedback crumbling in on itself. This whole thing has an end of days feel to it and it’s the fucking best. Eintraum is definitely one of my favorites this year by a long shot. There’s not enough black/drone right now but Gates are sitting right on top and fucking delivered.
Number None – Vile Gnarl (Land Of Decay)
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Such a shame, this Chicago duo continues to be one of the most under-appreciated bands around. And you may say, “If they’re so under-appreciated, how come you haven’t written about them before?” Well, I have, but for some inexplicable reason, I can’t find the review I did for Urmerica a few years back. I dunno. Blame Google? It’s a strange world. Anyway, Strategies Against Agriculture (yes, it’s a Neubauten reference) is their latest, a tape courtesy of Land Of Decay. Apparently this one’s been sitting in the vaults for a number of years, which is another goddamn shame because this shit is brilliant. Absolute destruction on here, Skullflowery apocalyptic feedback with brief and deeply buried moments of bliss. This is Satan’s tinnitus, a white hot static drone, caustic and penetrating, boring deep into your brain until your vision turns black & red, a maelstrom of electronics, harsh putrid noise without the powerfully violent bursts, a monotonous skullfuck that will make your eyes roll back and see Truth. No reason to skip out on this, and if it’s your first foray into the Number None fold, you’ve got a helluva back catalog to work through.
Sun Splitter – Earth Burner
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There’s been a bit too many pleasantries lately as I ran through those Peasant Magik tapes, so it’s time to switch gears and drop this bomb of a tape on Land Of Decay. Sun Splitter put out this album a while ago on a super limited CD-R. Obviously it’s long gone, but the finest folks at Land Of Decay did what anyone in their right mind would do when they heard II, decided it needed to see the light of day again.
Just like their Locrian brethren, Sun Splitter are a metal hydra, many different heads all connected to one beast. They play some insanely heavy black doom psych that just fucking SLAYS. This shit is extreme in every way. The blackest, the bleakeast, the sludgiest, the riffiest. SO MANY RIFFS. Monster riffs pounding your bones, pure fucking evil riffs coming straight from the depths of the underworld. Blast beats that only feel at home when they’re destroying mountains. The hounds of hell growling filthy vocals while the song lurches and stumbles. It’s 100% monster, baked in the black sun of Satan’s desert and given the power to demolish everything in its path with aural chaos. Once it gets in a groove and that killer solo sets in, you’re fucking done for.
Everything about II is the fucking BEST. It’s got a blackened doom heart pumping dusty buzzing sun psych. Sun Splitter somehow manage to sway back and forth between a dozen genres & sub-genres in one song, all while keeping it cohesive, singleminded, and brutal as fuck. I don’t think there’s any medium capable of handling the onslaught of devastation they bring, but a limited tape is as good as anything else I suppose. Just make sure if Sun Splitter ever makes it out of Chicago, you make it your #1 priority to have your face melted at one of their shows.
