The two discs come in a double black DVD case, and it’s cover takes on two old 'n' morbid  prints- on the front cover we have bird legged demon pushing people into the month of a  creature whose mouth is full of flames. And on the back have a naked skull face & diseased ghoul holding an unruffled paper banner. Each of the two disc feature a picture of a young Crowley, and you also get a fold  white out paper inlay that takes in an occult drawing of a winged goat man, and the tracks details/ project links/etc

So on disc one we have The Ebony Tower track- this Greeley Colorado project started in summer of 2014, and has so far amassed quite a large discography. Taking in coming on for 30 releases, which feature a lot of multi disc CDR sets, cassette releases, a few split releases, and  one or two digital only releases. The project takes it’s name  from 1974 John Fowles book of the same name-  which is  a collection of five novellas and short stories with interlacing themes, each of which is  based around a medieval myth. Most (if not all) of the projects releases our themed around works of literature- which is a rather unique idea for HNW.

The subject of the first disc is Crowley’s 1922 novel Diary of a Drug Fiend- this was his first published work & it told of drug fuelled relationship between Sir Peter Pendragon- a noble, aristocratic World War I veteran pilot, and Louise Laleham, a devotee of occultist Basil King Lamus. It also featured the first mentions of Abbey of Thelema(a small house in Sicily which was used by Crowley as  temple and spiritual centre).

This first track comes in at the one hour & twelve minute mark- and it’s  some what of a dense & thick slice of walled noise, and though it’s based around a mesh of key textural patterns, I do detect some subtle changes along the tracks lengthy & punishing unfold.  The ‘walls’ built around the following key elements- a rushing & raging billow( this has quite a muffled yet searing waterfall feel to it), and several layers of thinner jittering ‘n’ snapping textures( these rather brought to mind the amassed sound of loads of staple machines going off).  And around these main elements you get the odd other  textural element appearing ever so often out of the all engulfing rush of sound, as well as subtle shifts in both key elements.  The whole thing  is most satisfying in both its intensity, and rewarding textural detail, and really each time I’ve played I’ve found myself getting so engrossed by the track that the running time seems to speed by.

Moving onto disc two, and we have a track from D.S.W.A.C.V (Distorted Souls Within A Corrupt Vision)- this is UK project from Newcastle Upon Tyne.  It seemingly started off in late summer 2013, and has so far put out around 25 releases- taking in digital releases, splits & compilation tracks.

D.S.W.A.C.V track is themed around Moonchild, which was written by Crowley in 1917, but wasn’t published until 1929. The plot revolved around the waging of a magical war between a group of white magicians, led by Simon Iff, and a group of black magicians over an unborn child.  This book has had  more than a few sonic work’s themed around it, including a  whole album from John Zorn, but as you can imagine the track on offer here is a very different (& brutally intense) kettle of fish from anything Mr Zorn could summon up.

The seventy six minute track opens as a dense weave of  churning ‘n’ rumbling lower-to-mid ranged noise texture- it  rather brought to mind tumbling over & over down & down into some huge constantly churning subterranean pit. Pace wise this feels fairly rapid, and that gives one the sensation that you are speeding up slowly but surely as you descend. Around the 4th minute I can detect this low end shunting & juddering tone, which is slowly edgy it’s way under the main mat of constant tones, and this either suggests steady slowing or the sounding of objects sticking out from the endless pit as you descend past them. By the 7th minute the whole ‘wall’ feels like the textures are slowing & starting to merge more & more- this creates a descending & thickening  weighty sludge like feel, yet the whole thing is still fairly rapid in it’s feel. By around the 12th minute another dragging & muffled judder has appeared, and this rather feels like you garments are getting snagged & stretched as you descend  down father. By around the 15th minute a thinner billowing texture has appeared, and really the remainder of the track sees D.S.W.A.C.V subtle shift the layers & depth of the ‘wall’ to create this almost story like narrative, so I will leave you to discover the rest yourself- though that said it never travels too far from it’s original textural template, and it always keeps some sort of pace to it. All in all it’s a worthy slice of subtle shifting & altering walled noise.

All told this is a nicely presented split that has a fairly original & distinctive theme. And both ‘walls’ here are rewarding in their own rights- but I’d say of the two The Ebony Tower is my favourite as I really felt the textures & the way their presented were so compelling, and as I mentioned above I really got sucked into the track- so it’s lengthy running time  just seemed to whizz by.  This release is my first taster of both projects, and what I’ve heard here I’m egger to hear more from both projects.