HNW Essentials ?

[sportfan]

good idea is to make a buddha machine with the static noise.  take care of all your HNW needs

[bitewerksMTB]

I'm pretty sure I have that H.FETUS LP but didn't think it was anything special or maybe I'm thinking of something else by him and never played the LP. Should dig it out. The problem w/HNW is I'm rarely int he mood to listen to something that is a wall that only has very mild changes. I've never considered Incapacitants HWN. Yeah, it's a wall but lots of stuff going on (I don't like the lack of low-end or all the 'squiggly' sounds). I don't like "Total Slitting..." either but at that time, I liked the fanaticism before it became a subgenre. Short doses is all I can take nowadays. I think "Total Slitting" is a love/hate deal: it's completely unlistenable for me so it's PURE NOISE which is great & it seems like should have been the  be-all/end-all for its kind.

[Zeno Marx]

I find it odd that these wall fanatics aren't more interested in drone and minimalist ambient.  The deep exploration of a texture, tonality, and harmonics would seemingly be right up their alley.  Guess it isn't "metal" enough for them or something.  MACHO.  Like I said before, I think it has a lot more to do with the proliferation of something that you can collect and consume.  The sound(s) is secondary, or maybe not even that high of a priority.

[RyanWreck]

I can't think of any HNW "essentials". Nothing that I would say someone must have in their collection. Besides a few Black Leather Jesus cassettes the only releases I actually like are:

Order Of Nine Angels - Self Titled
Order Of Nine Angels - Possession
Order Of Nine Angels - The Abyss Is The Gate
Werewolf Jerusalem - Static Storm
Meat Shop Rapist - Distracted By The Actual Meat Of Her Complaint

[Andrew McIntosh]

good idea is to make a buddha machine with the static noise.  take care of all your HNW needs

If one assumes most Noise fans are also Noise makers, all anyone has to do is set up their rig and let it buzz. That's the only way I can understand it; if someone does it for themselves alone.

[Niko]

It has become too fucking easy for people to toss off. Find a tone you like, record it for an hour, stick it on a tape, there's your release. It's too easy to do, that's why there's so much of it.

Couldn't someone who listens to "normal" music, say exactly the same thing about all Noise(and Grindcore, Industrial, Punk, Ambient, Freejazz, Raw metal, whatever...) music?

It is true, that there is not much "artistic merit" in most HNW projects, but there are moments when I just need to listen to completely in your face, one-dimensional crumbling or static wall noise. And HNW is perfect for those kind of moments.

[Andrew McIntosh]

It has become too fucking easy for people to toss off. Find a tone you like, record it for an hour, stick it on a tape, there's your release. It's too easy to do, that's why there's so much of it.

Couldn't someone who listens to "normal" music, say exactly the same thing about all Noise(and Grindcore, Industrial, Punk, Ambient, Freejazz, Raw metal, whatever...) music?

Probably, but if they did they wouldn't know what they where talking about. As someone who listens to Noise I like to think I do.

It is true, that there is not much "artistic merit" in most HNW projects, but there are moments when I just need to listen to completely in your face, one-dimensional crumbling or static wall noise. And HNW is perfect for those kind of moments.

Valid point. It's very much a mood thing and there is, I hope, an audience that take HWN as it is without having to justify it to anyone.

[THE RITA HN]

I did up a pretty solid 'selected playlist' for the end of my HNW article in AS LOUD AS POSSIBLE which is out this weekend if you want to check that out.
two separate top ten lists:
classic/1990s
contemporary/2000+

[RyanWreck]

As for the rest, don't even piss on them. It has become too fucking easy for people to toss off "HNW". Find a tone you like, record it for an hour, stick it on a tape, there's your release. I've noticed nearly every second Noise release these days is classified as "HNW" and it's shitting me. It's too easy to do, that's why there's so much of it. There is PLENTY of Noise that is so built up and layered it could be passed off as "HNW" and that's usually the more interesting material.

But my advice is, anything labelled as HNW these days is best ignored. The world does not need another fucking box set of variations on a bit of static crackle.

I pretty much agree with everything said here. It is funny to me to think that someone could, for example, run a long drawn out sawtooth wave put through a handful of effects and record it and people will buy it up until it is sold out. Of course there are a few releases that do the wall thing well, they give off the vibe of nothingness to the extreme (if that makes any sense at all), static nihilism maybe sounds better. Even still these projects are only bearable to me for a few quick spins and I usually don't even take them off the shelf for a long while after. On paper HNW seems like it would sound better than it does and the live shows I have witnessed are entertaining, but that doesn't necessarily cross over into a "studio" recording. "Walls" are not something I actively search out with the exception of Order of Nine Angels who conveys that "nothingness to the extreme" in the most malevolent way I have yet heard and all of it ties up perfectly with his aesthetic, the formula simply just works together very well. I also enjoy the first 2 Silence of Vacuum cassettes. One other thing I like about both projects is that they don't delve into the Roughie/Horror Movie/Giallo stuff which is becoming somewhat banal and routine.

To my original list I would add Bachir Gemayel - "Assassination" and Bachir Gemayel - "Blitzkrieg" as well (it is a huge shame that the "St. Charbel" set was limited to only 15) and some of The Rita material, my favorite being the split with Bone Awl. I know people either hate BA or love them but if you like lo-fi walls than I suggest you listen to this release and it has very little Black Metal influence in there. On it The Rita is doing some of his best crumbling and buzzing walls and then Bone Awl will step in (they alternate tracks for the entire tape) and pretty much do the same thing but with instruments; blown out static walls with some barely audible lyrics, Guitars riffs that sound more like pulsating crunches, and faint movement (the drums I assume) that you can barely hear snapping away in the background like a loop. Both projects created great tracks for that split. But if you are just getting into HNW it may not be to your liking.

[Mattias G]

The Rita/Bone Owl tape is a favorite here also but i must admit that i can´t agree at all the music you describe on Bone Awl. I haven´t played it for awhile but the last time i listened to it the Bone Owl songs were songs and very punk and straightforward like they use to sound. Their recordings are rough sounding for sure but on my copy you can hear actual songs that is easy to head banging to, like a good hardcore song not "blown out static walls with some barely audible lyrics, Guitars riffs that sound more like pulsating crunches, and faint movement (the drums I assume) that you can barely hear snapping away in the background like a loop".
So i just wonder if maybe my your copy is sounding wrong? Wierd!

[JoeTheStache]

Vomir was mentioned and he's damn good.

Richard Ramirez releases under shitloads of project names, most of it HNW, and he does a damn fine job at HNW.  Besides his actual name, he is also in projects such as:
The Blackmoor Strangler
Werewolf Jerusalem
An Innocent Young Throatcutter
Last Rape
Fouke
and more i can't think of.

[RyanWreck]

The Rita/Bone Owl tape is a favorite here also but i must admit that i can´t agree at all the music you describe on Bone Awl. I haven´t played it for awhile but the last time i listened to it the Bone Owl songs were songs and very punk and straightforward like they use to sound. Their recordings are rough sounding for sure but on my copy you can hear actual songs that is easy to head banging to, like a good hardcore song not "blown out static walls with some barely audible lyrics, Guitars riffs that sound more like pulsating crunches, and faint movement (the drums I assume) that you can barely hear snapping away in the background like a loop".
So i just wonder if maybe my your copy is sounding wrong? Wierd!

You know I actually thought of this when I received my cassette a few years ago but I don't know, a lot of people on my forums ( http://philiastench.freeforums.org/ ) have always agreed with me and the reviews I have read like those on Metal-Archives, Outerspace Game LAN, NWN!, etc. say the exact same thing, i.e.:

"The artists alternate tracks on this split but that hardly makes a difference because one sound and one sound only dominates the duration of the record: harsh, fairly low-frequency white noise with a slight rhythmic modulation that's barely perceptible."

You can hear the songs perfectly on this years release, "Sunless Xyggos" which is all of those songs re-done instrumentally so you can actually hear them. Or maybe you just got really lucky and got a clearer version of the cassette. But I'm listening to my copy right now and it is definitely static walls with the occasional buried cymbal crash or quick lead, rarely, peaking through the static.

[MagiaNuda]

Cherry Point/Dried Up Corpse Split Tape
Blue Sabbath Black Cheer/Sixes Split Tape

[ConcreteMascara]

Bone Awl songs are distinct and audible on my cassette so maybe some of the dubbing was just poorly dubbed. Definitely recommended though if it can still be found. I used to cook to that tape a lot.

[Zeno Marx]

Bone Awl songs are distinct and audible on my cassette

Same here.  No question about which is which or when one ends and the other begins.  I wish it was a true split and not alternating.