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 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

Dissecting Table - Chaos Attractor(full lenght) [R.O.N.F. Records - 2011]

One long track here, from Dissecting Table; packaged in a simple card slipcase. The graphics which adorn the case are of the “computer-graphics-design-and-processing-program-gone-amok” type - forms and colours bent and slurred, swirled into abstract patterns. It looks curiously outdated. The colours remind me slightly of the kind of graphics I sometimes used to see in the more psychedelic end of dance music; but here they are processed to the nth degree. Which brings us nicely to the sounds within…

The cd starts with some nice queasy electronics, with reverberating synths squalling and groaning against one another; this initial surge slowly picks itself apart until it’s reduced to an eerie, breathing soundscape. Its a very compelling beginning, with small elements  and small gestures combining to make a very dark, organic and, yes, breathing bed of sound. After just over two minutes, this passage ends; and at that point, alas, you may as well take the cd back to the beginning of the track and listen to those two minutes again: the rest of “Chaos Attractor” really isn’t a lot of fun…

The opening passage is very clean, very digital; and with its sombre sound, this all works to its advantage. The rest of the piece, heralded by a blast of noise at two minutes twelve seconds, is a mass of garish, effects-ridden, digital noise - with any qualities it may have had negated by this garish, digital quality. If it had been pushed further, it might well have become a very demented piece of furious psychedelia - like some of Masonna’s work, or, from a different direction, Shitmat’s; but instead it comes across as shallow and rather ill-judged. The cleanliness of the sound, with no scuzz or rust, leaves the lack of imagination that has gone into the sound construction nowhere to hide - putting some dirt into the recording would have worked wonders on “Chaos Attractor”. A more measured approach to effects would also have improved things; computers and effects give us incredible options for sound-mangling, so its a bit disheartening to listen to Dissecting Table and go, “Ooh, its a phaser; oh, its some chorus” etc. The effects used are heavily signposted -  I can’t remember any moments where I was intrigued as to how Dissecting Table was making his sounds.

I’m wondering if I’m being too critical of the cd, but to be fair I haven’t got to the worst yet… About thirteen minutes in, a very odd doom metal section appears. I suspect that shorn of its processing it would be dismal, but in its full glory it’s practically comical. It couples a mundane guitar riff with a drum machine, and then layers some electronics over the top along with a frankly staggering vocal. It’s all distorted and processed to ill avail, but its the vocal that most confuses my ears - really the worst kind of vocal distortion, all muffled and undefined. Put together, it all sounds like a comedy tribute to Toadliquor - but I suspect it isn’t.

It’s not all doom and gloom - there are a few nice sounds buried in the album. Halfway through there are some very resonant tones in the background, obscured by synthesizer blather and bleat; and around the twenty-seven minute mark there are some processed vocals which sound suitably “wrong” - but these are meagre pickings from a forty-eight minute long track. It shows that Dissecting Table had the tools at his disposal to construct something interesting; but, basically, he didn’t.

Computers, effects and heavy processing give great scope for sounds and noise; but they remain tools, which need to be used with imagination and thought. “Chaos Attractor”, unfortunately, really does sound devoid of either. If a friend gave me this cd as their first release, I think I’d recognise it as a start but wait for them to dig deeper. But, of course, this isn’t a first release for Dissecting Table, who has been going for over twenty-five years and has a somewhat mammoth discography; so…

The cd ends with one more metal guitar “chug”, which raises the hope, somewhat forlornly, that the album might be some kind of joke…

Rating: 1 out of 5Rating: 1 out of 5Rating: 1 out of 5Rating: 1 out of 5Rating: 1 out of 5

Martin P
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