Top Bar
Musique Machine Logo Home ButtonReviews ButtonArticles ButtonBand Specials ButtonAbout Us Button
SearchGo Down
Search for  
With search mode in section(s)
And sort the results by
show articles written by  
 Review archive:  # a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Wallmaster - You Exist For Nothing Vol 1 [Isis Tapes - 2014]

Wallmaster is a Montreal, Québec based HWN project that creates a dense & unforgiving take on walled–noise. The project came about in mid 2013, and has been highly prolific putting around twenty digital only releases, and nine or so cassette releases. This C90 tape appears on the projects own label in a edition of 10 copies, and was the first of the ‘You Exist For Nothing’ series which has now reached vol 6.

The unlabelled tape comes in a plastic cassette case, which features a single sided photo paper PC printed cover which takes in images of decaying flesh hung skulls & dead bodies. Visually the whole release has a very grim, gory & old school HNW feel to, and sonically the two side long ‘walls’ inside follow a similar path too.

Both of the two tracks here are untitled, and the first ‘wall’ jumps right in with a extremely muddy ‘n’ sludgy mixture of muffled billowing, juddering & cluttering noise matter- the  tones  here are focused towards a low-to-mid range.  All of the textures  & their patterns are extremely simplistic, and they really run into one another in a very crude, murky & undefined manner, giving the whole ‘wall’ a  extremely lo-fi & necro feel. The ‘wall’ remains full & fairly firm through-out its full forty five minute runtime- there are the odd subtle shifts with-in the layers of the ‘wall’, but these are really fairly minimal & all of the  noise textures have a fairly similar tonall range.  On the whole I was impressed with the really raw, crude & nasty sound of this track, but sadly the ‘wall’ textures themselves were a bit too simplistic for there own good, meaning my attention started to slip well before the mid-way point.

Flipping over the side B, and the ‘wall’ on offer here is a lot more rapid, enraged & battering. It’s built around several juddering & jittering static tones, which are under fed by a muffled & buried billowing. Once again the sound is very lo-fi & crude, but more intense due to the more angered & rapid textures/ focus. Also again the textures used are fairly simplistic & firm in their unfold, but due to the more raging feel the track certainly managers to keep my attention better.  As well  I do detect a few more interesting textural shifts along the tracks length too - for example around the 15 minute mark we get these off pattern jerks & darts of texture coming out of the main rapidly juddering ‘n’ jittering ‘wall’. On the whole I’d say this is definitely my favourite of the two sides here, and I can see myself playing this side again.


So in summing up the release- I enjoyed the great muddy & necro production through-out both tracks.  Sadly side ones track was a little too simplistic & unmemorable in it’s unfold to hold my attention, but the second side was much more effective in it’s intense & rapid continual raging. All in all this is passable  effort  from wallmaster, and if you enjoy old-school, simplistic, lo-fi & nasty walled noise that's in a similar vein to the likes of Cannibal Ritual this is worth a look.

Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5

Roger Batty
Latest Reviews

Wallmaster - You Exist For Nothin...
Wallmaster is a Montreal, Québec based HWN project that creates a dense & unforgiving take on walled–noise. The project came about in mid 2013, and has b...
290324   Piranha - Piranha(DVD)
280324   Typhoon Club - Typhoon Club(B...
270324   Jerzy Skolimowski Collection ...
260324   Latex Choker - Sealed
260324   Occlusion - 59: No Input Wall
260324   Nihil Impvlse - Anabasis
260324   Marta Forsberg - Sjunger För...
260324   The New Boy - The New Boy( Th...
250324   The Stargazer’s Assistant - ...
250324   Liza Lim - Annunciation Trip...
Latest Articles

The Music of Clay Ruby & Burial H...
Over the last couple of decades Wisconsin native, Clay Ruby has been creating some of the world’s finest dark electronic music under the Burial Hex mon...
280324   The Music of Clay Ruby & Buri...
290224   Sutcliffe No More - Normal Ev...
100124   Occlusion - The Operation Is...
181223   Best Of 2023 - Music, Sound &...
051223   Powerhouse Films - Of Magic, ...
181023   IO - Of Sound, Of Art, Of Exp...
210923   Lucky Cerruti - Of Not so Fri...
290823   The Residents - The Trouble W...
110723   Yotzeret Sheydim Interview - ...
250523   TenHornedBeast - Into The Dee...
Go Up
(c) Musique Machine 2001 -2023. Twenty two years of true independence!! Mail Us at questions=at=musiquemachine=dot=comBottom