Dosis Letalis/Ropes - The Infernal Depths [Reason Art Records - 2016]The Infernal Depths is a suffocating yet atmospheric blend of lose, blunt & pummelling wall-craft, with bleak ambient industrial texturing. The release comes in the form of a C30 cassette on Russia Reason Art Records, featuring one track per side of tape, and as of writing this review the label still have copies available. The release brings together recent though prolific Serbian walled-noise project Dosis Letalis. And Ropes, an Italian project, whose sound has seemingly moved from dense ambience-to-tortured electronics. As the release title suggestions the theme here is seemingly purgatory/ hell/ & the firey abyss after life. The single sided monochrome cover takes in old & murky prints of gowned figures standing before subterranean lakes full of bodies, and a huge demon.
The two tracks are simply entitled “The Infernal Depths I & 2”- with both projects collaborating together on both tracks. So first up on side A we have “I”- this is a thick, muffled yet extremely eerier blend of constantly tumbling yet blunt wall matter, & this circling yet hazed higher pitched ambient loop. The ‘wall’ elements have quite are lo-fi clattering/juddering vibe about them, and really are fairly undefined in their detail. And the ambient elements really blend & haze into the background, to create this slow sinister almost pulsing repetition to the proceedings.
So of course on side B we “II”, and this feels a little more rapid & defined, though still relatively murky in it’s feel. We get a lose ‘n’ low juddering & jittering wall at the centre of the track, and added to this in a thinner skittering wall element, with a shift sweeps of hovering & slightly higher toned drone currents on top.
Oddly I felt rather split by this tape, as I really liked the dense yet dull glowing moodiness of the first side track. But felt slightly underwhelmed by the second side, as it just seemed a little predictable, and lacked the compelling eerier blunt-ness of the first track. I can certainly hear what the pair where attempting to creating in the sonic story arch with the two tracks- with “I” been the murky descent & “II” been the churning & seared arrival in hell it’s self- I just felt the second track didn’t feel as strong. So The Infernal Depths is certainly a interesting idea, & I like the concept of blending wall with ambient industrial elements, I just felt the second track let the whole thing down a little bit. I wanted to give this two & a half, but as we only do whole point I’ve gone for two instead. Roger Batty
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