Regler, the Swedish combo lead by noise artist Mattin and Anders Bryngelsson (Brainbombs) is anything but subtle in their approach to music. On this double CD set, they lay out exactly what to expect from the disc titles: Noise Core is the group (featuring Henrik Andersson on bass) doing an hour of noisy, almost grindcore chaos, while Free Jazz is the trio plus Yoann Durant on sax, making an hour of vaguely jazz tinged racket. It’s not for everyone, but it is an impressive work no matter what.
The artwork for each disc clearly shows what I assume to be the score for each piece:"play as hard and fast as possible for an hour," which is exactly what the artists do.On the Nose Core disc, Mattin's guitar and Andersson's bass melt into an amorphous surge of overdrive and fuzz.Bryngelsson's rapid fire drumming is intense to put it lightly, with only a few brief pauses that result in even more dissonant, less structured moments.
At times Mattin takes the lead with some intentionally overt guitar noodling before falling back into the murk from which it came.The pace is relentless, and is at times exhausting to listen to.The second half of the piece sees Bryngelsson shifting his playing to focus on some heavy cymbal use to result in a harsher, more metallic and sharp sound before the performance abruptly ends in silence.
Free Jazz, on the other hand, starts out faster and looser than the other disc, almost thrash metal like at first before the sax cuts through.The sound is reminiscent of John Zorn's work as Pain Killer or Naked City in its most brutal forms.Comparably, this disc is more varied and intense than its Noise Core counterpart, with a throbbing heaviness that makes it stay fresher throughout its hour length.
Even though there is conventional instrumentation being used here, Regel #3 has far more in common with a harsh noise record than any of the genres referenced in the pieces.Moments of Noise Core, when the guitar and bass are at their most dissonant and the rapid fire drumming is pummeling away, reminded me of some of the best live Hijokaidan recordings.Just like that legendary band, however, the music here is definitely challenging to listen to.While those who like their music ugly and dissonant will likely dig this set as much as I do, anyone else should at least be able to appreciate the endurance and intensity of the players and performance that were involved in recording this material.
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