Askell Groc’hen - Froid Et Sang [Grotto X Records - 2011]"Froid Et Sang”( Cold & bloody) is a very apt title for this third release from this French HNW two piece, as the lengthy & brutal walled noise battering with-in feels like the audio equivalent of been stuck half dressed in a freezing ‘n’ skin battering winter hail/rain storm. The Askell Groc’hen project brings together skull, bone and crypt oppressed Bördel Noïr from western France. And wolf, haunted woodland and Heathen death obsessed Younx Grounioc'h from central France. The project specializes in very lengthy, dense, and mostly storm bound submersion in cruel walled noise. This CDR offers up a single seventy minute track. The self title track on offer here is a truly unrelenting & unbreakable mixture of rapid paced juddering, pummelling, battering, and billowing noise- these textures are fed together to create this rushing mass of noise where it's difficult to define any shapes, textures or patterns with-in. The track does literal feel like been lost in a winter storm, and the landscape around you is all whited-out & mostly shapeless. From time to time you get the odd hint at the shape of one of the amassed noise tones, but these are fleeting & really the track is all about the battering rush of amassed bone chilling noise. All told the track mangers to rush ‘n’ rage against your sonic senses in an appealing numbing manner, and it’s 70 minutes seem to whizz past quickly. It’s certainly not my favourite of this projects work(that would be "Torche Blanche"), but it’s an effective & battering enough slice of unrelenting walled noise. Roger Batty
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