The Hair Police side of this split c30 (apparently it's out on CD too) release sounds like it was recorded at the demolition of a shipyard. The clank of anchor chains barely heard over the almost identifiable charred runs up and down feedback scales. The thing is, the Hair Police Halloween show never happened.

 

Aryan Asshole

This is spliced and stuck together effort from several Hair Police modes of assault and mayhem, and it's better than 95% of the live noise show documentary output. Could any real gig be as fragmentary, heavy and unruly?

This leaves Redrot, even with their very capable violent industrial breakdown style, sounding pristine in comparison. Their three live songs still sound like they were made in a wind tunnel, beats hammered on rusty steel. There are splurges of sound starving the compositions as everything that comes out of the PA is spotted with dried blood. Barked vocals burst out from the music like some old school Prurient release, black venom dripping on the stage.

The real tape mangled intro (and outro) of the Hair Police side gives hints that this is an aggressive salvage job, and not just another show. Smashed pitches, defiant loner drums and feedback overlap fuse into a clawing at the speakers, like rats against bars being slowly roasted. These shows sound a lot less lonely and reflective/ugly than the majority of their studio work. The Aryan Asshole label claims that there could even be some Graveyards action rammed in there too; the section of reed abuse would certain support this theory. The Hair Police side falls apart in uncoupling tape, leaving a brief tagged on piece of acoustic rock. The only lyrics that make it out before the rough edit are ‘and it was a dark night in the city’. An ominous ending for a piece that sounds like some spilled soundtrack of a garden of burnt hives, the music flitting between styles in a ragged panic.


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