SINK "the process" LP/CD
Rusty Crowbar / Kult of Nihilow / Kaos Kontrol
CD version has been out for long time, and I have it, but for reason or another never listened it. I guess main reason is, that it is just somewhere so deep in piles of cd's, that anytime looking for things to put on stereos, it just isn't the first thing your hand will reach. But when LP came out just now, and carried this slab of vinyl home, it was first thing I put on stereos. And I have to say, that I must regret not listening the CD earlier. We're talking about something exceptional. Could this be about first 100% successful results of crossover of ambient/experimental/drone/sludge? All the time you hear the most boring drone-doom bands, who can't reach anything within context of music, but neither have any real talent within experimental sound. Sad examples of metal watered down or experimentation being clumsy and artificial. Sink is nothing like this. I guess it was mistake to talk about "metal" here in first place, since there isn't any. What might might make some to do the reference, is the use of electric guitars, bass and drums in some songs. Opening piece "Weakness (The Process)" is like religious mass performed with massiverly reverbed echoing slow drums, droning guitars playing hardly any riffs, but floating around like the feedback guitars of Godflesh or such. Combined with vocals what are between monk choirs and simply non stop deep vocal drone. It lacks pretty much any musical element you can link to rock/punk/metal. Advantage of this, compared to more "traditional drone", is that material actually goes somewhere. It is based on conventional instruments, but it is purely experimental sound.
2nd track Ascension is perhaps even more obscure. Distorted guitars are pretty much abandoned and deep percussive rhythm created with stead beat of drum, acoustic guitar and layers of waving electronics and drones and howling voices create music unlike ever heard. Last and shortest on B-side "Deserted", goes down to dusty distant coarse drones, echoing subtle harmonies and overall dreamy atmosphere.
On 2nd side, "Receiving Silence" starts with audio collages of machines, deepest and bassiest electric singnals, disturbingly high synth noise, possibly reserved sounds of trains. "Resignation" goes to more ethereal soundscapes, not far from something you could expect to be on Drone Records. Simply very pleasant droning harmic sounds, which most likely is processed guitars. "Borderzone" goes down to more Cold Meat type of deep and colossal pitch black dark ambient. Perfectly drifting piece is not dominated by cheesy keyboards or such. It is simply phenomenal piece in its style, with slow deep waves, sinister distant choirs, in and out going sounds. And it naturally progresses into last final track "The Silence", which blends in the dark ambient into perfect closure reminding of beginning of album. Now sound is distant but heavy. Drums echo far far away, vocals are like monks in cathedral, instruments saturate into echo and droning feedback. You can hardly talk of "riffs", but song is formed out of few slow chords what makes it perfect.
So what exactly this is? Due little amount of "music" (if you want to call it that), this album is pretty unlikely to surface to many noise/experimental distros or hands of listeners, even if it should! With the little music it has, it might be too abstract for those who expect some heavy sludge-doom. Sink simply goes outside the genres to create something very unique, which is a miracle in days of failed crossovers and in other hand genre conscious products. I should have the CD listed in distro, for LP you may need to approach some others. I urge not to make same mistake as I did, just give it a chance and grab something what could potentially be the one of the cult recordings of our times as soon as dust settles and all the lame garbage that was now popular in related genres is being valued as they deserve.. heh..
