Album Review By Tracy (Jul 26, 2013) on Heathen Harvest:Here we have a collaboration between Junko (vocalist for Japanese harsh noise project Hijokaidan) and English power electronics/noise duo Sutcliffe Jugend. What to expect out of this record? To be brief but not so brief; 44 minutes and 57 seconds of raw, carnal noise which audibly pierces through your ears and sharply personifies that of a torture chamber recording. Sutcliffe Jugend continue to keep the ongoing tradition of agony and malevolent musical distortion very much alive while combined with the static waves of suffering within Junko's high-pitched despair.
The opening of the album starts off with "Mouth Ripping" and gets right in your face with high volumes of immense energy and perpetual chaos from both collaborators. Its highly impactive force of maddening screams and deranged industrial fluctuations sound their way off through to the next few songs, each of which lasts no longer than 4 minutes as they begin to grow on the brink of abrasion, when suddenly you will find yourself halfway through this carnal creation moving onwards but falling deeper into the abyss. Track 5, "Lip Splitter," takes a spin from the first half of the record (which did not leave as strong of an impact on me, personally) with a hint of more borderline "bubbly'" elements mixed with Junko's loud, hellish shrieks; almost in equivalence to the sound of death itself. This is where the album begins to take a turn into more dark ambient aspects as Track 6, "Sans Larynx," which is synonymous to that of a train ride in a dark tunnel leading into a carnival of horrors in pitch-black darkness. Upon the first listen of "Sans Larynx", the eerie, spine-chilling ambiance did not require me to close my eyes in order to envision the my own nightmarish, demonizing agonies unfolding before me in crystal clear visions – it is malevolent in its own darkness whilst being filled with samples of industrialized echoes and raw harshness. Wails of despair soon follow throughout the latter portion of this track, which will both drag on as well as lure you in; it is both hypnotizing and haunting. At times, even Junko's shrieks become so unbearable that it leaves me with a love-hate feeling towards the record itself... it is inescapable and so animalistic that, at times, I become so lost in her voice that it begins to morph into that of an animal or wild, carnal being.There are no watered-down elements or pleasant rhythmic melodies that will grab your attention in a manner that is comfortably centered within one's own comfort zone on this record. Everything is harsh yet pure, in a void of hollow frequencies which bear resemblance to the creaking of a crank-wheel or tightening of ropes on torture boards. Track 9, "Sans Falatine" opens up with what sounds like an introduction into a wilderness that is vast and hidden within an underworld of darkness... the call of the beast echoes his cries throughout the song as Junko's cries blend in together with the sounds of this primitive, masochistic hell. This record is far from any sort of condensed, upbeat/post-whatevers. Given the notoriety of Sutcliffe Jugend being one of the first few pioneers of the power electronics genre, the duo continue to deliver with this split of demented sounds, minutes of mental strain, and utter depravity. The walls of repression remain sustained as the veils of sanity inevitably crumble. Carefully tread with caution.
http://heathenharvest.org/2013/07/26/sutcliffe-jugend-junko-sans-palatine-uvula/More Info at:
www.4ibrecords.com
