Herukrat – Darkness over Najaf (Total Black, 2020)
Gun noises, artillery sounds, ominous chants, brooding atmosphere – the sound of shooting machinery builds up beneath droning slithering notes. Menacing vocals deliver rage unparalled. Islamic anger codified in a monolithic power electronics endeavor. Even blacker than Koufar, Herukrat holds high the banner of religious noise with this one. Track #2 comes up with that repetitive, dissonant synth notes upon which maniacal screams appear. The whole album has a military aesthetic which is familiar to fans of war metal, even though they sound a lot more serious and obviously familiar on this one – Damaar comes to mind, not least because of its sheer brutality and burdened sound, one crafted from the members proximity to the actual geographic landscapes being sonically represented on their music. Fans of such project will certainly understand what I mean. Being somewhat monotonous in its texture handling, it's easy to see where Herukrat's affinity with The Rita might come from, even though I'm yet to listen to their split album. This approach is one that is, however, less artistic than in the aforementioned project, and more of a savage, relentless one. The whole album has a very serious, down-to-earth tone, which clearly stems from its personal religious worldview. Safe to say I don't experience the same dread wrought from having a harsh theistic mindset nor living in such places which would render any first world problematic futile exercises on privileged futility. Although I live in the so-called third world. Not knowing about this project background, it definitively sounds to me as a work from someone who carries a true spiritual and emotional burden, which manages to further straighten my belief in discipline and strength through personal experiences of the sacred.
From the bandcamp description my point is confirmed. This album was conceived as an aestheticized extension of the conversion of the man behind it, and was based on the anguish brought up from USA's 2003 invasion of Iraq. Samples of military radio communications and religious leaders create an omniscient sense of fear, hatred and bereavement sliding from pulsating electronic beats and haunting sirens. Overall, this is the true power electronics. If you hate weaklings, softies, and falsely sustained nonchalance, this album is for you.
Freak Animal international Compilation #7 (2025)
Finally got the time to listen to this nice compilation brought to me randomly in my last batch of the NHFA store. Energy Gradient starts off with a really nice assembly of metal and wood junk orchestra, as objects clattering and collide with each other, at first randomly, then atmospherically structured with quiet-to-loud dynamics. Blissful experimentation. Then, Decondition applies waves of weird passages of slurping noises that extend little until different reverbed sounds of objects hitting (something) make their way. The sound dynamic is very well structured around here. Invagination continues with this method of abstract assemblage of different sounds, albeit all make room for enough to silence to conceive less of a wall than a window of Noise. At last, Sonic Abuse abuses the listener with three tracks of screeching feedback giving way to low-frequency passages, clattering of metals, and brutal surges of harsh white noise. All in all, pretty nice!
