Various HNW Artists - Ursula [H Series/Deadline Recordings - 2010]“Ursula” is a compilation of Giallo themed HNW tracks, and it’s put out by Richard Ramirez's H Series label. The collection takes it’s name from 1978 giallo sleaze-fest The Sister of Ursula(La sorella di Ursula) which follows the killing spree of a black gloved killer who only preys on promiscuous women. The CDR comes in oversized white paper sleeve, which features colour stills taken from the film. On the front there's a still of the killer just about to attack a nude women, and on the back a till of a female stab victim laying on the stairs. The collection seems to concentrate mainly on acts from the Houston Texas HNW scene, and in all there are five tracks on offer here that run between just under the four minute mark to just under the twenty two minute mark a picec. Up first we have Sorority Row’s “The gun keeps me sound” which is seven minutes and twenty seconds worth of bleak, pummelling and doomed static down-pour, which nicely starts off the set in a downbeat and sleazed manner. Track three finds L'Occhio Nel Labirinto ( aka Geoff Markoff whose also in Wasp Honeymoon, Loudspeaker and solo work) offering up “Vacation Turned Nightmare” which is a brutal yet pleasing mixture of: purring ‘n’ fanning static, droning juddering and tolling/eerier synth tone. And finishing off the collection we have Woman Despiser’s “Getting Closer To You” which offers up near on eleven minutes of muffled, battering and lo-fi wall making that finds a rain lashing static grain moved over by very subtle and smaller vinyl like crackles. The track ends with a sample from a giallo movie of a male and female couple arguing in Italian with a church bell tolling in the background which makes for a nice bleack outro to the comp. So this is a nice, bloody and bleak collection of giallo themed HNW with each of the five tracks being worthwhile and rewarding in their own right. For more info and to buy direct pop over to Richards H Series/ Deadline Recordings site here. Roger Batty
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