Scatmother / Chaos Cascade "Sacrificial Rites of Devotion" (Dunkelheit Produktionen - 2019) - the first of two split CDs by these German lunatics!
Like many around these parts, Hagen Verkhaner's Scatmother has ended up one of my absolute favourite modern day power electronics acts. Opening proceedings with the junk metal thrashing and hair-raising mic screech of "Dauþuz", the remainder of his material then takes us on a brief but bruising hellride through mucho distorted synth madness, the random fizzing and wheedling of "Hyperborea Nasheed", the "space station distress signal" loops of "War Brothel" and the speaker-burning static gush of "Sri Krishna - The Metaphysics of Execution" reminding me of prime Merzbow no less, albeit topped off with Verkhaner's trademark guttural vocal brutality.
Excellent stuff, which paved the way nicely for 2020's "Sadotantra" album.
Chaos Cascade, on the other hand, I'm altogether less familiar with. Whilst I've picked up a handful of his full-lengths, in all honesty I need to come back to them and give them another spin, as on my initial listens I found them a bit much to digest. That said, the four tracks presented here clock in at under 20 minutes, so they go down pretty easily!
Across his discography, CC has been notable for mixing up extreme electronics with all manner of equally extreme metal styles, though on this split the latter influence is less apparent, with only the fella's harsh, rasping vocals giving us a taste of blackness. Otherwise, this is nasty, industrial-tinged PE all the way, Mr. Cascade assaulting our senses from all angles as assorted churning synth loops are violently dunked in and out of a blistering sonic acid bath of white noise fuckery and trippy, echoed screams. I guess the track entitled "Abattoir" is a touch less suffocatingly dense than its neighbours, aside from that, though, this is some relentlessly intense shit!
Scatmother / Chaos Cascade "The Insignificance of Human Life" (Dunkelheit Produktionen - 2023)
Yet again, Scatmother takes no prisoners here, the insane "Pixie Dust (Never Grow Old)" literally vomiting forth from the speakers in a toxic stream of processed mic feedback and more of that nutty synth mangling, around which Verkhaner delivers his crushing monologue about some tragic, washed-up female figure. "Your Own Funeral" slows the pace a bit, its simple synth riff and "angry Dalek" vocals giving the song more of an old skool PE feel, after which "Scraps of Demise" goes for the jugular, its Masami-on-acid electronics sounding like a field recording from inside Hell's own amusement arcade. Finally, "Female Suicide Sequence" takes elements from all of these approaches, just about finding a sweet spot between chaos and order.
Whilst I would imagine some might take issue with the oftentimes extremely busy, Japanoise-esque jumble that Scatmother favoured around this time, perhaps preferring the more straightforward thuggery of the project's Filth and Violence era, for my tastes these wild backings mostly work well, only occasionally cluttering up or drowning out the vocal delivery, or just sounding too goofy.
Chaos Cascade's stuff here plays out like a slightly more stripped back and (I use the term loosely) "refined" version of what he presented on the 2019 split, "BHIOXESZ" moving along on a bassy industrial pulse, all the while dialling back a bit on the corrosive static attack. After that, "YIXETHRILBH" concentrates mostly on nauseating waves of psychedelic demon vox, which wash over thick layers of droning machine noise. Closer "VHYCTA" is perhaps the most song-like piece of all, reminding me of fellow "black noise" outfit Reptile Womb, its super blown out synth riffing fighting to be heard over CC's customary char-grilled throat emissions!
So, no point in splitting hairs over which of these CDs "does the business" more. If you already happen to worship at the throne(s) of any of the acts from this mini-scene (also including Pissoir Rouge, Cervical Smear, RxAxPxE and probably some others that I've forgotten/am not aware of), then I'm not telling you anything you don't already know in these reviews- this is strong, potent stuff. If, however, all of this has somehow passed you by, then these two splits are as good a place to start as any, offering up just enough quality tracks from each act to get you hooked!
