Anonymous - Somme [Sweet Solitude - 2012]This DVDr offers up two very lengthy ‘n’ un-moving slices of HNW from this mysterious European project, which themes all of it’s releases around WWII/ WWI battles or atrocities. This new release is based on one of the most bleak/ hopeless battles of WWI- The Battle Of The Somme, and this DVDr offers up two three hour ‘walls’ of truly unrelenting/unchanging bleak walled noise. The release comes in a slim line dvd case, and it features on it’s outside a black ‘n’ white picture of the mud logged trenchers from the battle of the Somme. Inside the case is a grey card inlay that details the tracks names/ lengths, and a short write-up on the battle it's self. The battle of the Somme was a major offensive launched by the French/ British against the German army, during WWI. It took place alongside the river Somme in Picardy, northern France, and it lasted between July to November 1916. The battle saw great losses by the British army early-on, 20,000 British troops were killed on the first day and nearly another 40,000 were taken prisoner or badly wounded on the next day. The battle was a real hard & bitter slog, with conditions been worsened by deep muddy battle fields & exhausted solders. The two tracks here are named after the first two weeks or so of the battle- firstly we have “Battle of Albert 1st-13th July 1916”, and then we have “Battle of Bazentin Ridge 14th July 1916”. Both tracks come in at a whopping & truly battering three hours a piece, and each track is built around an unchanging, unrelenting & truly brutal mix of dense walled noise.
The first track offers up a ‘wall’ that weaves together a locked ‘n’ mid paced stucture of juddering/ galloping noise that takes in: billowing rumbles, muffled ‘n’ mixed ranged roasting, and crisp semi glitch rubbed static jittering. The ‘wall’ is certainly fixed in it’s feel, yet the layers of noise create a inviting & rewarding mesh of HNW that keeps ones attention through-out the tracks three hour run-time, as your brain first locks into one than another of the noise textures patterns. Also over the tracks three hour runtime you start to feel nicely locked-in to the wall's bleak yet creative mass. The second track is a bit more simple in it’s make-up- it’s built around a taut yet buffered ‘n’ muffled lower ranged judder that at times has quite a ‘alien sounding heard through water’ feel about it. The ‘wall’ seems to waver/ semi thin from time to time, yet it never fully thins down. Again this track is fairly hypnotic in its feel, through I did find by its end the it had overstayed its welcome by about an hour or so. To me this track feels like a hazed & woozy travel over the war torn trenchers/ battle field, with the wind is slowly billowing & battering around you. “Somme” presents the listener with two very lengthy submersions in hopeless yet often textural detailed unmoving walled noise. Track ones stands as my favourite of the two tracks, but the second track is effective enough too. This is another worthwhile release from this more serious/historic themed walled noise project. Roger Batty
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