Sunday, August 16, 2009

Concrete Violin - "eyegouge" (Deadline)



from aversionline:


13 tracks and well over an hour's worth of rugged, lo-fi harsh noise with a little bit of a death industrial/power electronics feel in some tracks thanks in part to the relatively frequent use of samples deep within the thick walls of distortion. In my opinion many of these tracks sound very similar to one another. Sure, there are some tracks that have their own distinctions, but most of the distortion rests in the muddy lower midrange, there are a lot of vibrating/windy sorts of textures, some crunching loops, indecipherable samples that add some well needed texture, etc. It's not that bad, but it doesn't really interest me or grab my attention so much. I tend to enjoy the shorter tracks far more than those that drag on for up to 8+ minutes. "Blonde on a Stick Part Two" for instance is a bit more sinister and stands out with what I assume to be some twisted vocal manipulations, but at more than eight minutes it becomes tedious early on because there's no real variety. A few of the longer tracks, such as "Circle of Blood Part One" and "Circle of Blood Part Five", do hold their own, but only because the samples add an extra bit of atmosphere that makes the pieces a bit curious, whereas without that dimension the songs would simply be more of the same repetitive harsh noise. The recording doesn't bother me. I certainly think it could use something a bit more full, but it's warm enough so that were this material a bit more thought out or intriguing to me I wouldn't be the least bit displeased. I can't say I'm at all a fan of this artwork, though. The imagery all consists of pixilated and obscenely colorful designs that have been fucked with any number of times in Photoshop. I'm pretty sure the pixilation is intentional, but it doesn't look that hot, especially on the text of the front cover. I don't know, it's just too colorful for me to handle, and the chaotic nature of the graphics doesn't match up with the typefaces used, etc. There are bits and pieces that look cool, there's just no consistency, and it looks unprofessional in my opinion. Aside from the tracklist and some brief recording information and such, all you'll find is a de Sade quote: "Religions are the cradles of despotism." All in all though, the visuals just don't fit the sounds being offered on the CD. I don't know... the bottom line here is that this release is just boring to me. Were it 30 minutes shorter and focused more on the tracks that use samples I think it would be more effective, but it would still need development. Working with a slight bit of diversity and samples that are either applicable to the concepts or at least more discernible would be a step in the right direction. I just can't particularly get into this. (4/10)
Running time - 69:27, Tracks: 13
[Notable tracks: Circle of Blood Part Two, Circle of Blood Part Five]

Concrete Violin -
kk33deg@hotmail.com "

1 Circle Of Blood Part One (7:22)
2 What The Fossils Say (4:31)
3 Circle Of Blood Part Two (1:48)
4 Blonde On A Stick Part One (5:02)
5 Euronymous Dust (3:51)
6 Blonde On A Stick Part Two (8:16)
7 Circle Of Blood Part Three (8:38)
8 Oroborous (3:47)
9 Circle Of Blood Part Four (0:38)
10 Corpsebox (7:08)
11 Circle Of Blood Part Five (7:43)
12 Ragnarok Now (3:13)
13 Circle Of Blood Part Six (7:31)

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