CULVER / SEPPUKU - 'Dedicated To Soledad Miranda' CD (At War With False Noise)
First time on CD for both these bands: Culver is the awe-inspiring drone / noise project of Lee Stokoe (Marzuraan, Skullflower). Here he gives us a 30 min+ deluge of harrowing, bassy drone, purveying a sense of crawling dread at what is to come. Soon things get more desperate before being crushed into oblivion by a wall of crushing amplifier noise, which slowly develops into a more sedative shifting tone. Seppuku give two tracks in very different styles... the first is an unbearably heavy doom piece, giving way to some Throbbing Gristle-esque hydraulic pumping before the guitars kick in and everything is laid to waste... heavy duty! The second track sounds very post-industrial power electronics, with walls of bleak static forming the backbone of the track, interspersed with what sounds like post-apocalyptic winds of death, and some distorted lines of screeched vocal. Unpleasant. Ltd x 500 copies.