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

White Static Demon - Apparitions [Utech Records - 2010]

This foreboding, uncompromisingly violent and harsh disk, the second by Justin Broadrick's new noise project, White Static Demon, is well titled.  Cosmic, cryptic, oppressive, and obsidian black as space, "Apparitions" erodes your hearing unforgivingly as tumultuous waves bashing away at a rocky shore.  Removed from the familiarity of the guitar, Broadrick's musical persona changes focus from riffs to complex abstract orchestrations.  The chronic melancholy of his music no longer seems to emanate from a relatable human spirit but from a vast hungry void of senseless destruction.

Though there are actually numerous subdued ambient passages which mimic such sounds as cold winds through craggy mountain passes or nebulous free-floating expanses, the blade-sharp squall of the louder sections should be intense enough to weed out all but the most resilient noise listeners.  Fascinated by the austere, dissonant eddies and deviations present in the shrill  headache of sustained high frequency feedback, Broadrick is unafraid to brood and dwell in the most uncomfortable zones of sound imaginable.

In the style of many space ambient recordings, the sound fades and billows over long stretches of time.  Divided into two 23 minute tracks, one might as well consider the album as a single longform flow, as there is no significant pause or stylistic switch between the opening "Endless Vacuum" (which would also make a fitting title for the album as a whole) and the following "Unforgiving Eidolon". 

This is not, however, an exercise in minimalism, and Broadrick's presence is always actively felt within or above the vibrating mass of noise, shaping the sounds and occasionally adding a snarl of discernable vocal.  The sounds themselves are warm, resonant, analog and often broken beyond repair, loaded with crackling and artifacts that distort the purity of the reverbs and tones, but pleasantly fade the sonic color palette, and somehow expand the soundspace to astronomical proportions.

For the first time since Godflesh, Justin Broadrick has delivered something thrillingly edgy and unrelentingly powerful.  A perfect union of chaotic harsh noise and gracefully undulating space ambience, this album should appeal equally to fans of Merzbow and Lustmord

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

Josh Landry
Latest Reviews

White Static Demon - Apparitions
This foreboding, uncompromisingly violent and harsh disk, the second by Justin Broadrick's new noise project, White Static Demon, is well titled.  Cosmi...
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