Dead Body Collection - Blackstar [Vagary Records - 2012]“Blackstar” is a C20 release from this highly prolific Serbian HNW project. The tape offers up two rather progressive slices of walled noise, which are somewhat of a departure from this project normal bass bound brutal take on HNW. The tapes sleeve is a rather classy pro-printed affair, and it takes in on it’s front cover a black, red & yellow silhouette picture of one half of a females face. Inside the sleeve is a red text on black background love poem….so clearly the tape theme is about a love lost, which is a real departure from DBC normally bloody or macabre themes.
Side one is taken up by the just under ten minutes of “Every Inch Of Her”, and this track moves from a tight mix of descending, juddering & roaring walled noise. Onto bursts of cold robot like male talking over a catch/ billowing low-end walled noise, which has smaller 'n' thinner skipping tonalities weaved into it. Finishing on a revolving & urgent mix of caught thinner static dwells, which seem to grow in it's slowly interlocking thickness as the track winds up . Side two is taken up by the just under eight minutes of “Stardoom”, and this track is built around a ragged billowing ’n’ galloping low-end wall, which has in it’s background a mixture of what sounds like slopping synth texturing, slicing rail car or rollercoaster like textures, and what could be amassed drifts of dammed wails/moans. As the track progresses the distant elements seem to have periods when they get closer & more near by, giving one the feeling of been stuck on some high-wire & hellish ride; as you dip & dart alone. Through the original noise tones seem to stay fairly fixed save for a few subtle shifts.
Both tracks here are imaginative & rewarding slices of progressive HNW- it just felt to me they were both over & gone too quickly. All told this is a nice/pro looking release with two creative bits of wall-making, it's not my favourite of DBC more progressive/ experimental works purely due to the tracks length…but if you after two short examples of rewarding progressive walled noise “Blackstar” is well worth a look. Roger Batty
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