V/A - Frozen In Time II

Massive three tape, six artist compilation, Frozen In Time II from the incredible Black Horizons label. Artists on offer include, L’Acephale, Spettro Family, German Army, Sindre Bjerga, Micromelancolié, Night Worship, and Head Dress, and all the music was composed in order to be played in time with the films of Swedish director Ingmar Bergman. Such an intense concept. Dark, bleak, black ambient and noise. Admittedly, I'm not even halfway through the entire 120 minutes of this massive heap of magnetic tape, but first instinct was to get this posted proper quick before it's sold out.

Rather than describe the physical edition on offer, I'll let the photos do the talking. Stunning edition of 200, the absolute apex of cassette fetishism. Grab directly from Black Horizons.

Rather than include a sound sample, I thought it best to provide a visual that more appropriately captures the audio/video transference. Recent Horror Fiction artist Ted Butler (Head Dress) behind the board in late 2014.

Astro / Fear Konstrucktor - Hollow Earth

I feel like my ears are getting lazy. A side effect derived from a lack of exposure to caustic ear drum boiling noise. This split on Black Horizons, Hollow Earth, shared by Astro and Fear Konstrucktor is a nightmarish trip into a galaxy of fierce machinery and reverberating extraterrestrial torture. Equal parts noise, and pulsating atmospherics. Like feeding a Korg N5 into a garbage disposal and shooting it into space. A release in this vein suffers from a certain amount of indescribability, and really does need to be heard, and yes, felt to be appreciated. And both halves of this one deserve that from those interested in heavy sound. If our alien masters really do bleed acid, I'll bet it sounds like this.

Available from Discriminate in an edition of 100. Incredible booklet style pro printed artwork. I really can't say enough about the presentation of these tapes from Black Horizons.

Trepaneringsritualen - Deathward, To The Womb

Bleak, mechanical, death industrial from Trepaneringsritualen, with Deathward, To the Womb. Joint release between Black Horizons and Merz Tapes. Distorted feral growling, twisted and compressed until unintelligible. Pulsating synth grinding to the sound of a thousand unrelenting gears. These are visceral, aggressive sounds, drenched in a concept I won't even attempt to interpret. And that's how I prefer it, ears beaten to a pulp, and not quite sure what I just heard. Disgustingly ugly, and perhaps exactly what you've been waiting for. Can't recommend highly enough.

The absolutely best presentation I've seen from a cassette release this year. Incredible booklet style liner notes printed on black with reflective silver ink. Sold out at Discriminate, still available via Black Horizons and Merz.