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

Zenith - Chain [Slow Death Records - 2011]

Zenith is a Wisconsin, USA  based HNW act who makes hypnotic and brutal walled noise from VCR recordings, which are fed through several tape recorders to create layered feedback loops. “Chain” offers up two rather different versions of the near on forty minute title track- one master and one unmastered.

Up first we have the mastered version of the track which comes in at thirty eight minutes, and it finds Zenith creating this very meaty, purring and high-end screeching lined 'wall' of very moorish and original sounding HNW. The  ‘wall’ is built around a thick and impenetrable mixture of  juddering, crude and motor purring bass bound noise textures, and high pitched screeching/revolving wheel like textures. Over the tracks near on forty minute run time the listener gets pulled deeper and deeper into the ‘wall’, with Zenith creating some great and addictive maps of low ‘n’ high pitched walled matter.

The second unmastered track really is a lot more lo-fi, blown-out and nasty then the first track, it also seems slightly slower too. The bass judder/motor brutal purr is much more mono-tone and crusty. The high end screeching element is still present in the 'wall' from the start, but it’s seemingly compacted and thinned out to a wispy whine. As the track moves towards the ten minute mark the high-end screech seems to get more pronounced and grating in its feel, and by the fifteen minute mark it’s really grating and wheel like, as the bass judder part of the ‘wall’ seems to get really down ‘n’ dirty in it’s sludge brutal wonder.


“Chain” my first taster of Zenith’s work, and I must say I'm very impressed by both ‘walls’ here, with each ‘wall’ here presenting quite a different and brutal take on the original source material. So yet another HNW act I now want to hear more of, and another great releases on the excellent French HNW label Slow Death Records.

Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5

Roger Batty
Latest Reviews

Zenith - Chain
Zenith is a Wisconsin, USA  based HNW act who makes hypnotic and brutal walled noise from VCR recordings, which are fed through several tape r...
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...
220324   Patrick - Patrick( UHD/ Blu Ray)
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