Reviews:

From Side-Line: (by DP)

  H. MacFarlane strikes back with a new chapter in the growing discography from his Sistrenatus project. Having released his official debut-cd “Division One” in 2006 on Cold Spring Records he experienced a few other labels and now finally comes back to the Cold Spring stable. “Sensitive Disturbance” sounds like a dark ambient puzzle full anguishing noises and tormenting atmospheres. I especially like the way MacFarlane elaborated his tracks. This is not just about finding the right chilling atmosphere, but all tracks are like a collection of sounds and effects. “Sensitive Disturbance” features an impressive arsenal of noises and sounds resulting in a kind of sonic collage. The listener feels as if he has been dropped in a labyrinth of cellars where the Sistrenatus sound tries to help him find the exit. The exit could be possibly a threshold to hell! Some of the tracks like “Rusted Earth” and “Lost Transmission” are real pearls in the dark ambient style. A few spoken words (probably samplings) here and there inject an extra spooky dimension. Darker than the night “Sensitive Disturbance” will lead its listeners into pure turmoil. This is for sure a reference and monumental release in its genre! (8/10)

From Musique Machine: (by Roger Batty)

  After an impressive & promising debut a few years back Canadian noise/ dark ambient project Sisternatus return here with a very effective, at times devastating  but always atmospheric follow-up.
Sensitive Disturbance finds the mixture of noise matter & ambience more keenly defined, focused & melded together in a much more slick & controlled manner than Division One(their début ). It also sees the rise of new elements with-in the tracks such as industrial soundscaping, militant beat patterns, slowed electronica beat ‘n’ atmospheric bass lines & more cinematic learning’s. The whole albums has quite a darkened & grimy military like Sci-fi vibe about it all with the use of military type dialogue samples & the murky sort of sci-fi blips & bops that edge the connors of the tracks. Maybe like an alternative soundtrack to Aliens or a more gritty & bleak version of Starship Troopers.

  So Sensitive Disturbance is a highly focussed, rewarding & original blending & mixing of dark ambience, noise, industrial tone, bleak electronica & greyed cinematic tone. Simply put its leaps & bounds ahead of the projects debut album in it’s scope, depth & execution of sound – so if you enjoy mixed dark genre music that’s both atmospheric & at times devastating this is a must have item.

From Vital Weekly: (by NM)

  A couple of years ago I had the pleasure of reviewing the debut release of Canadian project Sistrenatus. The overall expression on the album titled "Division one" was tense spheres of harsh industrial-noise and orchestral black ambient. The same unsettling expression saturates this third shot from Sistrenatus, where the atmospheres of eeriness are intact, but this time accompanied by distorted guitar drones and brutal swarms of power electronics, as on the piece titled "Slow wave". On the lengthy track titled "Echoes from the past" a distorted male voice assists to create the feeling of hostility. The listener won't leave this album in tranquility, the feeling of darkness and depravity saturating the album, keeps the listener in constant awareness of what will come next. Dark and great work!

From Gothtronic: (by Remco)

  Dark industrial landscapes of old ruined factories with a labyrinth of rusted tubes hanging in the air. Some are broken and are hanging from the sky. There are blast furnace plants with ore mines in close distant. Harsh sounds of a rolling mill are piercing the thick smoky air. Crackling sounds of short circuits seems the foundation of this disturbing soundtrack in which you can feel deep roaring basses shaking the bowels. Shrieking sounds of a goods train that seems to collapse. This is industrial disaster too far for a turn back. Sirens for a melt down.

  Sensitive Disturbance is a very disturbing ambient experience with abstract industrial sounds similar to real factory sounds. The atmosphere is dark and oppressing like the history of industrialization. Sistrenatus does not make lay back ambient and Sensitive Disturbance is no easy listening but gives a very uncomfortable feeling with striking noises and feedback with only sometimes a hold on the distortion. Rhythmic structures are accompanied with shrieking metal sounds and low rumbling drones shaking the underbelly. Slow rolling and pulsing sound structures with eruptive intermezzos from metal or other factory sounds making Sensitive Disturbance to a tens full album.

  Seven thrilling pieces of music with dark disturbing atmospheres where unexpected things are happening holding you in a tight grip for over fifty minutes. Music filled with a sense of panic and claustrophobia like in opening track “Disrepair” or restless “Rusted Earth”. Others are threatening like percussive “Echoes from the Past” with paralyzing interruptive static sounds and low end roaring bass. Some melodies can be traced but are often scorched by brutal noise. Destructive rumbling bass drones in “Slow Wave” will shorten the life time of your speakers and make your bones resonate. “Lost Transmission” is the ritual dance of the churning factory and is one of the most melodic and rhythmic pieces, and again I feel the basses growing into mine spine.

  Sensitive Disturbance is the fourth album by Canadian act Sistrenatus but the third album released by Cold Spring. I am impressed and going to check their earlier albums. First I would like to recommend this one to those who like unsound and threatening dark ambient noise.

From Obliveon: (by MK)

  Bereits mit „Division One“ hat Harlow MacFarlane mit seinem Gemisch aus Dark Ambient, Industrial und Noise alle Untiefen menschlicher Leidensfähigkeit ausgelotet. Wer nun aufgrund des Albumtitels glaubt, „Sensitive Disturbance“ wären rein musikalisch gesehen ein leichter zu verdauendes Album geworden, der sieht sich schnell vom Gegenteil überzeugt. Gestaltet sich der Beginn noch verhältnismässig ruhig, brechen schon Augenblicke später heftigste Noise-Attacken über den unvorbereiteten Rezipienten herein. Von Einfühlungsvermögen also keine Spur, eher von Aufruhr und Unruhe. Faszinierend dabei allerdings, dass sich MacFarlane nicht in diesen musikalischen Gewaltausbrüchen verliert, sondern durchaus in der Lage ist, diese auch wieder geschickt zurückzufahren. So entsteht ein Album voller Dynamikwechsel und voller Sounds, die undefinierbaren Ursprungs sind und glücklicherweise genug Abwechslung für den Hörer bereithalten, um das Ganze nicht in eine Geräuschkulisse überwältigenden Ausmasses ausarten zu lassen. Wenn man im Bereich von Industrial und Noise von songschreiberischer Intelligenz sprechen mag, so ist „Sensitive Disturbance“ sicherlich eins der überzeugendsten Werke.

From Synthesis: (by Troy Southgate)

  TO say that I enjoyed the first two Sistrenatus albums - 'Division One' (2007) and 'Wrought Iron Railings' (2007) - would be an understatement and I gave them very favourable reviews elsewhere. Scratch the surface of the Sistrenatus project and you will find Canada's Harlow MacFarlane who, between 1996 and 2006, issued a sequence of great releases under the name Funerary Call. In fact I've even collaborated with MacFarlane myself and will appear on the next Funerary Call album, something that will mark the well-overdue return of his original undertaking. Like its counterparts, the artwork on this new Sistrenatus CD is dark and gloomy, with infra-brown hues that offer a mere glimpse into the twilight world of factories and furnaces that make up MacFarlane's obsession with all things industrial. These images are juxtaposed with skeletal branches and darkened woodlands that indicate the transient border that lies between nature and civilisation. The first of seven tracks on this album, 'Disrepair', less than one minute in length, serves to blow away the proverbial cobwebs like a new broom and then off we go into the comparatively louder realms of 'Frequency Contamination'. It arrives with a thud and the sound of a tingling fire alarm, the background full of clumsy metallic clattering as though a man with no fingers was attempting to slice a joint of roast beef in record time. There's plenty going on here and the imagination is left to conjure up lurid images of various ghastly goings-on at long-forgotten shipyards in undisclosed locations. 'Rusted Earth' starts off with a muffled voice sample and a legion of watery effects drip away like molten torrents of liquid steel. There is a sense of immense power in this track, as the semi-percussive beat evolves into a wild blend of disjointed hammering, remorseless drones and electronic squeals. 'Echoes From The Past' approaches slowly, like a funeral march on the plains of Waterloo, its steady drumbeat assailed on all sides by mumbled groans, bursts of feedback and the purring of machinery. Another voice sample, clearer this time, describes the graphic horrors of warfare and the calculated disdain for human life. The next track, 'Slow-Wave', hums with a brutal energy and offers more samples - indistinguishable at first - which are soon buried under piles of screeching electric rubble before they are replaced by 'Lost Transmission'. This is by far the longest track on the album and it clicks, stutters and elbows its way into the recesses of your brain. Four minutes in and things begin to assume some kind of pattern and it stops and starts occasionally as the industrial noise is replaced by a calm ambience. The second half of the track is fairly restrained, although we are treated to twenty seconds of harshness towards the end. 'Forgotten' emerges from its dusty tomb in a lilting fashion, the light chiming adding a pleasant gloss to the tonal clangs and grumpy drones that dominate the foreground. The rasping, croaking frequencies sound like someone trying to drink a glass of water and cutting their own throat at the same time, which adds a darker tinge to what is essentially a rather thoughtful and melancholic ending. Another great album from Harlow MacFarlane.

From Blow Up: (by Paolo Bertoni)

  Terzo atto per Harlow MacFarlane, titolare della sigla Sistrenatus. Più di quanto non si percepisse in “Division One” (BU#108), “Sensitive Disturbance” sempre sottintende misantropia power electonics e afferra forse il suo momento più alto nella suite dark ambient sospesa e variegata di claustrofobiche atmosfere da thriller - di un’apparente eredità cosmica comune peraltro a Forgotten, Frequency Contamination - con esuberanze e battiti industriali che incrementano un senso d’angoscia che persiste elevato anche nel tetro, prima ruminante poi pulsante, rumore di Rusted Earth, nel conflitto tra spossanti droni e rovesci noise di Echoes From The Past, nei labirinti che conducono all’iperspazio di Lost Transmission, dove alla cloche sono cadenze rituali. (7/8)

From Ritual: (by Paolo Bertazzoni)

  Ispirato al decadimento del concetto di dimora e all'esplorazione di paesaggi rurali, in cui l'uomo ha lasciato solo l'ombra di una presenza, 'Sensitive Disturbance' mette in scena un perfetto sodalizio di dark ambient, noise ed industrial. Un lavoro la cui potenza espressiva è già palesata dal secondo brano, 'Frequency Contamination', in cui drone, cicalecci, esplosioni e martellate vanno a constituire le continue e stranianti variazioni sul tema di un cupo bolreo industriale. Emerge una particolare attenzione al frammento parlato, all'intervento sporadico della voce, sottratta a comunicati radio, il cui carettere didascalico, distaccato, rende le atmosfere ancora più inquietanti. Un lavoro pervaso da una tensione crescente, scandita da beat che sembrano cortei militari, marce inesorabili, attraversate da distorsioni e rapide detonazioni noise. Interesante esperimento, 'Slow Wave' delinea un brano di rumore bianco su cui germogliano escrescenze di... rumore bianco!

From Chain D.L.K.: (by Maurizio Pustianaz)

  SENSITIVE DISTURBANCE is the third album of the Canadian combo called Sistrenatus and it sounds damn good. The seven tracks of the album tear down the barriers of industrial/noise/dark ambient music by mixing elements of each one of them with the only aim to create a tense soundtrack. For example, "Frequency Contamination" with its mix of synth waves, analog noises and metallic percussions is able to catch your attention immediately thanks also to its constant grew that brings in sudden power noise blasts here and there. "Rusted Earth" sounds like old good 80s industrial music but with improved sounds and at the end it turns into a death march thanks to distorted guitars and percussions just to fade into "Echoes From The Past" which expands this theme some more with the add of recitative vocals. "Lost Transmission" is another track where concrete noises are mixed with industrial sounds and dark ambient patterns but on "Forgotten" we reach the peak thanks to a perfect mix of melody, tension and crisp sounds. On this one, but generally on all the tracks of the album, Sistrenatus show their ability of balancing all the sounds creating a mix where everything is in the right place and for this reason their music sounds so effective.

From Hierophant Nox: (by Satanic Muttley)

  Damn, this is a viciously oppressive and powerful release! I can honestly say this sounds like the stuff of nightmares, a vicious and chilling fusion of noise, blackened ambience, and crushing grim industrial violence. In short, this is an absolutely classic Coldspring release! This album has ‘grabbed’ me, and sucked me into its shadow-strewn blackened intestines, ensnaring me in its filthy void… and you know what? I’m happy here! Seek to escape? Why? I’m completely ‘at home’ here!

  This might sound ‘odd’ or ‘funny’, but if you have ever played the much-censured computer game "Manhunt" – this could be its perfect and harrowing accompaniment. It is totally disturbing, harrowing, and genuinely makes you (well, me anyway) want to look over your shoulder, in order to see what bloodied horror stalks your soul. Now let me tell you – albums this disturbing are VERY few and far between! Only Schloss Tegal’s "Black Staitic Transmission" comes to mind.

  You may feel I’m exaggerating, but "Sensitive Disturbance" has truly nightmare-esque atmospheric and aural qualities to it. It is the unrelenting undercurrent of violence and menace, and the stark, cloying, dense claustrophobia evoked by its fetid and feral sound and feel that makes it feel so dizzying and dankly terrifying. This seven ‘song’ miasma of pain and misery clocks in at around 50 minutes, but feels like it lasts hours – NOT because it is boring, but because once you are lured into its unholy dead-world, you will feel that it is totally inescapable. A work of twisted sadistic genius! This is NOT for the faint-hearted! Enter at your own peril!

From Filth Forge: (by Simon V.)

  Third full-length release for Canada's Sistrenatus, presented in a very dark and blurred artwork that perfectly reflects the sceneries evoked by the music. Indeed, it's almost like the old rusty fences, barbed wire, smelly chimneys and empty tanks portrayed on the cover and inlay were the source of sound used to assemble the CD. Metal thuds, steel sputtering, bits of voice transmissions and distant machinery cacophonies are the elements mixed and assembled to create the disquieting atmospheres of these seven new tracks. The achievement is not less intriguing than the previous chapters, maybe only the eleven minutes of "Lost Transmission" could have used some compression, while final "Forgotten" has a minimal hypnotic and melodic hint that positively changes the CD's sound palette for once.

  On the whole, Sistrenatus delivers another effective post-nuclear soundtrack.

From Mentenebre: (by Roberto G)

  Sistrenatus vuelve a la carga de manos de Cold Spring Records con su nuevo y esperadísimo álbum "Sensitive Disturbance" tras una espera de dos años desde su anterior trabajo "Division One". Sistrenatus con este lanzamiento suma el total detres discos,dos de ellos editados con Cold Spring Records(aparte de una aparición en un álbum de varios artistas) y otro con el sello Hermetique.

  La pieza maestra de este puzzle musical se llama Harlow MacFarlane, al cual quizá algunos conozcan de su anterior proyecto Funerary Call. La gran maestria de este señor con los faders, samples y sintes vuelve a someterse a examen de critica y público. Veamos que os podemos contar.

  Como ya consiguiera con su anterior trabajo "División One", Harlow vuelve a sorprender a los amantes de la música mas underground, industrial, dark-ambient y noise con un disco exquisito que te enganchará desde los primeros segundos de su audición. Incluso para aquellos no muy duchos en estas oscuras artes me atrevería a decir que podrían correr serio riesgo de ser atrapados por sus redes. La música de Harlow es especial y cautivadora, pues mezcla de manera concisa y creativa varios estilos que no siempre son fáciles de digerir, pero en esta ocasión más que nunca queda demostrada la gran habilidad de este músico canadiense. Es increíble la manera de fundir ruido y samples para recrear todo un ambiente de opresión, muerte y destrucción. Sistrenatus podría asimilarse con cualquier banda característica del sello Cold Meat Industry en sus ramificaciones más industriales, como por ejemplo Brighter Death Now, pero incluso superándolas. Lejos de este sello, me ha recordado en algunas ocasiones al magnifico proyecto Phragments igualmente por el equilibrio de luces y sombras. La calidad del sonido es envidiable, y se nota un gran trabajo de post-producción.

  "Sensitive Disturbance" presenta una apuesta de música principalmente oscura y siniestra, con ambientaciones tétricas y cercanas a un mundo de locura, con una acertada y experimentada habilidad para jugar y exprimir los efectos de distorsión o ruido (de ahí su cercanía a la música noise) y con el aporte sublime de secuencias rítmicas, percusivas muy rituales e hipnóticas. Música minimalista en ocasiones, que consigue sin embargo captar toda nuestra atención pues para nada estamos hablando de la típica banda dark-ambient que ni experimenta ni evoluciona y tan sólo se preocupa de colocardos instrumentos siempre iguales o pocas variaciones durante un largo track desiete minutos. Sistrenatus juega con todos los elementos a su alcance para recrear ese mundo onírico y de terror del que antes hablábamos, apoyándose en ocasionesen oscuras voces ligeramente distorsionadas y hablando, lo cual le transmiteuntoque añadido de intensidad. En algunos momentos del disco reina el caos total, los ruidos distorsionados fluyendopor aquí ypor allá,mientras queen otros asistiremos a una calma relativa, con unos magníficos pasajes ambientales y experimentales.Sistrenatus - "Sensitive Disturbance"

  Prácticamente todos los tracks se alimentan de la misma esencia sonora con lo que disfrutando de uno saldrás encantado con el resto. Personalmente me gustan más los tracks con un fondo mas ritual y percusivo que aquellos más ambientales. Por citar algunos, me quedaría con 'Frequency Contamination' (bastante noise), 'Rusted Earth' (lento, ritual, muy industrial y una ambientación fuera de toda lógica), y 'Echoes From The Past' (muy sencillo, con un ritmo y una voz dominando durante todo el track, pero me encanta lo envolvente e hipnotizante que llega a ser).

  El cd se presenta en caja de plástico con un libreto expandible en su interior pero sin textos y sin nada, tan sólo fotografías en un color marrón oscuro. De hecho la única pega que le podría poner al formato (aparte de no ser digipack, pero al menos tampoco es la funda de cartón que se esta poniendo tan de moda) es que todo está demasiado oscuro e incluso cuesta ver el titulo o el dibujo del artwork de la portada.

  Me ha sorprendido, me ha gustado y me ha enganchado lo que he oído. No puedo por menos que recomendar encarecidamente este trabajo.

From Darkroom: (by Michele Viali)

  Il progetto del canadese Harlow MacFarlane giunge al terzo lavoro, il secondo pubblicato per Cold Spring. Rispetto al passato i suoni piegano verso l'ambient noise, con virate alquanto nette nella dark ambient più classica, ciò a discapito delle mitragliate power-electro e dei duri momenti black industrial che segnavano il più personale e meglio riuscito "Division One" del 2007. I momenti più ruvidi permangono in minima parte e trovano vita in alcuni passaggi di tracce come "Frequency Contamination" e "Rusted Earth"; proprio quest'ultima si presenta come una sorta di apocalisse metallica, basata su rigurgiti meccanici, macchinari in movimento e atmosfere iper-sature. Il resto è piuttosto prevedibile, incentrato su clangori e scricchiolii misti a sibili e suoni analogici ("Disrepair"), insistenti basi abrasive unite a misteriosi spoken-word ("Slow-Wave"), tetri tappeti audio rimpolpati da rumori di varia provenienza, scanditi da ritmiche tanto marziali ("Echoes From The Past") quanto ritualistiche ("Lost Transmission"). Fanno capolino alcuni 'nonsense' elettronici d'atmosfera, in quanto tali non perfettamente riusciti, e qualche nenia anonima ripetuta all'infinito ("Forgotten"), utile a dare colore al disco, ma in fin dei conti poco incisiva. Ne risulta un album meno furioso dei precedenti, sebbene valido per un'eventuale colonna sonora. L'impianto complessivo viene ridotto a pura musica d'atmosfera generata da rumori, ben gestiti ma incapaci di andare al di là di un compitino svolto bene: ovvio che ci si attendeva qualcosa in più di un ambient noise da mestieranti. La resa audio è comunque ottimale, in grado di valorizzare i mille frammenti di rumore usati da Harlow. Ancora una volta è illeggibile la tracklist in quarta di copertina a causa di un pesante artwork color ruggine, di certo affascinante e in linea coi suoni, ma anche d'ostacolo per leggere qualsivoglia messaggio. La confezione è estremamente scarna, con inserto di quattro pagine in cui risulta quasi impossibile riconoscere le immagini; stesso dicasi per la copertina, in cui riusciamo a malapena a scorgere il nome del progetto. Un po' più di attenzione per la parte grafica (basata su buone idee, ma su una discutibile realizzazione) gioverebbe di sicuro a tutta l'opera.