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Hive Mind, "Sand Beasts"
Greh, Chondritic Sound's founder, has gotten a lot of attention for hisown noise work, but until hearing this I had no idea why. Death Tone,an album whose name I couldn't even get right, failed to impress mebecause it felt like one continuous spin through the same material thatwas introduced in the first five minutes of its one and only track. Sand Beasts,on the other hand, is a devastating trip through the least flatteringof sounds and, in the end, feels like it could be a recording of theugliest animals on the planet mating.
Chondritic Sound/Pacrec
The entire album is a thunderous,38+ minute track that booms and wails with all manner of crisp,textured sounds and open, cavernous poundings that echo like a giantcome to feast on the flesh of the living. Greh's approach on thisearlier record is roughly the same as his approach on Death Tone,but the density of his sound selection and his ability to wieldpressure and release perfectly makes this a far better recording. Thehissing, crawling, concrete sounds that he pulls out of his machinerycrawl at a deadly pace, sneaking through the cracks in the floors andwalls, waiting and growing until the intensity is too great andeverything comes crashing down in a stupendous wave of noise andearth-shaking booms. Imagine a block of granite is being pulverizedslowly by the elements, then imagine that Greh's managed to capture theprocess of its complete disintegration; he's just sped the recording upa bit so that it can be witnessed in a decent amount of time. There'snot a single cheerful moment on this record; its doom-laden soul is onecontinuous march through every destructive tendency imaginable: aconstant grimace that crushes at every twist and turn until I'm leftslumped down in my chair and in need of a break from the bleakness ofit all.
Chondritic Sound/Pacrec
The entire album is a thunderous,38+ minute track that booms and wails with all manner of crisp,textured sounds and open, cavernous poundings that echo like a giantcome to feast on the flesh of the living. Greh's approach on thisearlier record is roughly the same as his approach on Death Tone,but the density of his sound selection and his ability to wieldpressure and release perfectly makes this a far better recording. Thehissing, crawling, concrete sounds that he pulls out of his machinerycrawl at a deadly pace, sneaking through the cracks in the floors andwalls, waiting and growing until the intensity is too great andeverything comes crashing down in a stupendous wave of noise andearth-shaking booms. Imagine a block of granite is being pulverizedslowly by the elements, then imagine that Greh's managed to capture theprocess of its complete disintegration; he's just sped the recording upa bit so that it can be witnessed in a decent amount of time. There'snot a single cheerful moment on this record; its doom-laden soul is onecontinuous march through every destructive tendency imaginable: aconstant grimace that crushes at every twist and turn until I'm leftslumped down in my chair and in need of a break from the bleakness ofit all.samples:
