Snuff - Eerika CD-R
This was advertised to come with a morbid odor. Luckily it was only dried blood between the jewel case covers. I feared that it's going to be shit, rotting meat or something...The otherwise clear case was also wrapped in black plastic, similar to the art edition of Cunt Animal. This is the kind of packaging that once opened, cannot be put together in the same way. But it's anyway better to open for listening purposes than to let just stand in the shelf, because it's top-tier F&V release.
The title refers to a particularly abhorrent crime in Finland, the murder of an 8-year-old Vilja Eerika by her parents. It happened in 2012 and got a big media coverage. I re-read the details and it's a genuinely sickening case. But Snuff wants to make everyone sick and disgusted, so the subject fits well. The promo text also mentioned a loose band member connection.
The first track opens up with a very low-volume sample describing the case. It's quickly drowned by piercing feedback Snuff is known for. The squeals are also contrasted with metal scraping and squeaky electronics that sound very tasty.
The second track uses interesting sampling. Before rumbling noise, scraping and disturbing voices begin, there's several minutes of snippets from what I think is a Finnish cover band's gig. All the actual songs are cut out and just the mumbled speaks between the tracks are left. The main perpetrator, Touko Tarkki, was apparently some sort of karaoke champion. The samples evoke a feeling of a miserable drunken night in a regular bar of his. No idea what the source actually is, but this is what comes to my mind. It continues the similar mystery as in Snuff II. That one had a very long recording from a swimming hall with sounds of children. In that context, it stirred up images of a predator watching children play at the pool.
The Cunt Animal art edition mentioned earlier came with and exclusive CD-R. That was also very good! No filler, or just weird field recordings, but tracks that keep up the steady quality or recent BU releases. CA is such a romantic album, that the triumphant atmosphere of the CD-R fit well as a companion piece.
