Sadistic Fall - The Ruined Castle [Ink Runs Records - 2014]Sadistic Fall is another one of the more recent projects from prolific ‘n’ creative French HNW/ANW artists Julien Skrobek(The Killer Came From The Bronx ,Ghost, The Sandman Wears A Mask, Ruine, Butch Bag, Gasp). This CDR is the project first stand alone debut release (not sure if you’d call it a full length debut as it only features a single just over twenty minute track- so I guess you’d say it’s a debut ep), after an early split with Russian wall noise project Shifgrethor. The projects sound focuses in on filthy ‘n’ crackling walled noise, that has some quite atmospheric & moody edges to it. And this particular release is themed around/ meant-to-evoke the ruined state of Château de in Lacoste, Vaucluse in south eastern France- were Marquis de Sade famously stayed between 1769 to 1772. The unlabeled CDR comes in a clear plastic slip sleeve, which features black, red & yellow collage work/texts on a white piece of paper. And on top of this we get a layer of thin metal mesh that gives the whole thing quite a distinctive look. The CDR features just one self titled ‘wall’ that comes in at the 20.02 mark. The track is built around a mix of: a low-down ‘n’ distant continual rumble, & a layer of crumbling ‘n’ crackling static. The whole thing has quite a stripped eerier feel about it, yet there is an urgency to the crumbling ‘n’ crackling textures- meaning this is more HNW then ANW. The ‘wall’ brought to mind the sounds you might hear if some one had taken a speed-up recording of a decay building over a few decades, and then condensed it in to twenty mintues. Movement wise I guess the low down rumble remains fairly fixed through-out, though the crumble ‘n’ crackle layer has some subtle shifts in it. And also as the track progresses you seem to get slightly reverb lined sub-textures here & there, which gives the whole track an almost three dimensional feel, as if your sitting in the middle of the Château watching the building rapidly age & decay around you. All told this is an effectively moody & quite eerier slice of filthy ‘n’ crackling walled noise, and I look forward to hearing what Mr Skrobek does on future releases. Certainly of interest to fans of more atmospheric walled noise, but I could also see this appealing to those who enjoy more rapid yet eerier field recording work too. Roger Batty
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