brutum fulmen idle threats volume 1 (DAM cd from mp3.com)
i'd almost forgotten how much i liked brutum fulmen, so i almost didn't get this. i was going to get mspiz? by themoonstealingproject, but he isn't selling that anymore, so... yes thats right, brutum fulmen was my second choice. and i don't think i need to justify that so i won't. that said, this cd is basically a sampler of various tracks from their three albums with some extra comp tracks thrown in, and all by one of the most creative noise acts out there. it opens with the first brutum fulmen track i ever heard, 'the egg,' a metal/tape/feedback manipulation track in three parts, divided by big thunder-rumble percussive sounds, which is mirrored by the fifth track 'grubs,' the explosive take on the same source material. everytime i play it for someone the first time they jump out of their skin. the second track 'slough' also shares sound sources, with the track 'oblivion,' the sound of a squeaky merry-go-round being turned reeeeaaaaallllllyy slowly. 'oblivion' is mostly just the untreated [i believe] recording, sounding sort of like an impossibly long scream, the equivalent of scraping your fingernails across a blackboard. in 'slough' the sound is slower and deeper, i think with some reverb added, so it sounds more like the song of a giant mechanical whale, very atmospheric and nice. 'don't go to sleep with the radio on' is the most different sounding, probably cos it is a pre-brutum fulmen track [off stipes & patibulum, surprisingly good] and has very little of the metal friction sounds they often use. opens with a muffled radio [i'm assuming] broadcast but quickly moves into shifting sounds, violent starts and stops and fuzzy white noise. near the end a spacey swirling static takes over, until closing with what sounds like a sick person watching tv, coughing and blowing their nose. which serves as a perfect introduction for 'quartet for plastic toy horns,' which is just that, squeaky toy horns squeaking away for fifty-nine seconds. kind of silly. next after 'grubs' and before 'oblivion' is 'death of the will' using sounds recorded in a dog kennel, shutting gates and whining, slowed down barking that sounds like the cry of some sort of monster. a really haunting piece. 'avatar' is another stipes & patibulum track, kind of simple stereophonic clunks and scrapes, followed by 'symphony' a six and a half minute edit of a twenty minute piece, rhythmic metal/machinery sounds that build into a long abrasive ear destroying blast. the cd closes with 'the exterminator and the centipedes,' an incredibly harsh manipulated feedback/connection noise piece. i played this for my humanities class as part of a presentation on noise [back when i just had the mp3 on my computer] and within thirty seconds of starting it the teacher made me shut it off [actually they didn't let me play even one abrasive track all the way through, even when i did one myself]. i would recommend you go buy the albums rather than this, although it does have some cool stuff about it, including all the information about the tracks encoded with the mp3s [which is mostly where i found out about the sources and all that] plus a bonus track with mr wrench talking about the sampler over cool atmospheric sounds. also if you send in the receipt for this you get some cash off of ordering the albums [stipes & patibulum, collapsing orchestra and spork], which i intend on taking advantage of as soon as i have the means. whew, this was a long review.