https://nopartofit.bandcamp.com/album/vault-30Two are three years ago, Michael Krause, who performs under the name DEATH FACTORY, released five individual tapes in honor of his 30th anniversary with the project, each with unique material in an edition of one copy. We here at NO PART OF IT HQ managed to procure one of those 90 minute cassettes, and we thought that it deserved a wider audience, despite the fact that it was touted as mainly unreleased source material and raw improvisations. This release is the first full-length from Death Factory since 2017.
Although his first live performances didn't really happen until 2005 or so, Michael Krause has been active since 1988. His first known appearance was on a track with Scott Marshall of the legendary (in some circles) Chicago noise outfit Burden of Friendship, for the 1990 compilation "What Is Truth? (Volume Three)" on Panic Records & Tapes. As Death Factory, Krause has releases on labels such as Crucial Blast, Prison Tatt, Smell The Stench, At War With False Noise, RRRecords, and No Visible Scars, as well as countless tapes and CDRs that are still yet to have any representation on the internet. In some cases, these releases can be heard only within the cavernous bowels of freeform radio station WZRD's library, where Krause was a music director some time throughout the 90s, and continues to remain on staff to this day.
Krause's main project has shared bills with Pharmakon, Illusion of Safety, Bloodyminded, and Burial Hex, among others. With a name taken from a 1979 Throbbing Gristle release that came to be known as "Live At Death Factory", this deeply rustic project ranges in style from ambient to harsh noise, but is always firmly rooted in true industrial culture. Over time, Death Factory's sound has developed into a peculiarly isolationist form of refined, yet still somewhat crude sonic revelry; rife with obscure samples, scrap metal, deathly synth patterns, and monstrous effects, all woven into a unique brand of concrete horrorscape that is as unpretentious as it is inimitable. Not just for fans of industrial noise, people who like genuinely intuitive experimental music, as well as kraut-rock inspired psychedelic electronic sounds would also find plenty to chew on with this release.
