Reviews:

From Rose Selvaggia: (by Oflorenz)

  Un viaggio del 1990 a Calcutta fu un’esperienza che segnò indelebilmente l’australiano Watermann. La visita alle camere a gas costruite dal governo indiano già anni prima, e fortunatamente poi mai messe in funzione su larga scala, ha scatenato nell’autore il morboso desiderio di effettuare delle registrazioni direttamente in loco, con l’inattesa autorizzazione delle autorità locali (nessun turista aveva nemmeno mai avuto il permesso di scattare delle fotografie fino ad allora). I nastri lì registrati costituirono poi la base per le successive rielaborazioni compiute più tardi in Australia, per la precisione 2 anni dopo in una centrale elettrica dismessa a Brisbane. Le otto tracce portano tutte il nome di Shudder, in italiano “brivido”, e il loro ascolto è davvero un’esperienza da brivido! Anche le industrial-heads di più vecchia data troveranno pane per i loro denti, e per quanto mi riguarda ammetto di aver faticato a portare a termine l’ascolto dell’intero disco. Consigliato solo ad estremisti sonori minimal-intransigenti, oppure nel caso vogliate semplicemente approfondire la misconosciuta storia delle camere a gas indiane…

From Judas Kiss: (by SC)

  John Watermann was an Australian avant-garde composer, performer and filmmaker. Calcutta Gas Chamber was originally released in 1993 on American label ND, and Watermann was involved in preparing this re-release for Cold Spring Records at the time of his death in Brisbane, Australia in 2002. My researches for this review turned up the fact that John Watermann was born in Berlin in 1935 - in other words, he was a child of the Third Reich. It's tempting to conclude that this gave him a special interest in the subjects of genocide and gas chambers, and it'd be interesting to know more about his family background. The biographical information I've been able to unearth is sketchy at best, although Watermann evidently didn't leave Germany for Australia until the early 70s.

  The legend in circulation about this album is that Watermann visited a recently decommissioned gas chamber in Calcutta in 1990, and made field recordings there which formed the basis for his album, adding to them later with field recordings from a derelict power station in Brisbane. Some people assert that this Calcutta gas chamber was used for judicial executions, some say that it was used by the Indian government to control overpopulation, but personally I'm totally unconvinced that it ever existed at all. I'd never heard of gas chambers operating in India until I started reading online reviews of Watermann's album, and I'm pretty sure that had they really existed, this fact would be more widely known and discussed. I think we're dealing with an imaginative concept album here, not a documentary, in spite of the faux-authentic liner notes and photographs. This is a Blair Witch Project-style hoax.

  That said, what does Calcutta Gas Chamber sound like? The eight tracks of Calcutta Gas Chamber occupy 56 minutes, and are entitled "First Shudder Project" through to "Eighth Shudder Project", with each track also given a sinister and suggestive subtitle - "First Shudder Project: An Intellectual Challenge To Convert Victims Into Heart-Shaped Soap", "Second Shudder Project: Fitting The Gas Hose", "Sixth Shudder Project: The Shredding Of Human Tissue" etc. The tracks are (very) dark ambient based on field recordings and electronic manipulations, with no hint of conventional melody and very little in the way of rhythm. Instead, the listener is subjected to atmospheric drones, gaseous hissing and heavy respiration, overlaid with distorted mutterings and snufflings, crunching footsteps, cut-up fragments of speech, clanks and rattling sounds. The high-quality production of the recordings (remastered by Martin Bowes of Attrition for this Cold Spring release) achieves a claustrophobic intimacy.

   As a literal rendition of the experience of being inside a gas chamber, Calcutta Gas Chamber is far from convincing. Where are the sound of guards barking orders and doors clanging shut, the pounding of bare hands and feet on tiled walls and floors, the whispered prayers, the screaming? Calcutta Gas Chamber is more peaceful and insular than this - it's about an individual experience of annihilation, not a collective one. If you want an idea of the reality of gas chambers, you'd be better off watching Schindler's List or Triumph Of The Spirit. Also, I'm not sure that a concept album about gas chambers, fictional or otherwise, is, as Kenny Everett used to say, in the best possible taste. However, Calcutta Gas Chamber undoubtedly succeeds in delivering a deeply unsettling and absorbing sonic experience. Admirers of Atrium Carceri, Archon Satani, Necropolis and Predella Avant would do well to check this out.

From Synthesis: (by Troy Southgate)

  THE late John Watermann, a German composer and film-maker who passed away in 2002 after a long illness, had been writing music since the 1960s but began his experimental career in 1988 with a series of outings on his own Nightshift Records label based in Australia. "Calcutta Gas Chamber", which was originally released on Daniel Plunkett's ND label back in 1993, has now been completely re-mastered and re-designed by Cold Spring, who had previously released the Watermann track "Whispering Walls" on their double-CD "Swarm" compilation in 2006. The gruesome theme behind this album is taken from a secret gas chamber that was used by the Indian government for the purposes of population control. The gas was administered through rubber tubing attached to the mouths of the unwitting victims and their corpses were then bundled into huge nets and carried off by a fleet of State helicopters. Photographs of these nefarious activities are included in the CD insert and Watermann himself visited the chamber in July 1990 to make extensive sound recordings that have now been incorporated within each of the eight tracks on the album. The opening track, "First Shudder Project: An Intellectual Challenge to Convert Victims into Heart-Shaped Soap", flows like streams of dripping water cascading into a flooded basement. There is an indeterminate rattling of chains and an inexplicable fumbling. Occasional squeaks resemble subterranean rodents scurrying back and forth across brick rubble and observing the final moments of the chamber‚s latest victim. Apart from the droning machinery that appears from time to time, this commotion is permanent and enduring. A title like "Second Shudder Project: Fitting the Gas Hose" leaves very little to the imagination. We can hear muffled gasps, desperate whispers and the sound of macabre breathing. Eventually, there is nothing more than this and the track fails to evolve from the purely minimalist stage. "Third Shudder Project: A Vague Demonstration of Trembling" is radically different and a repetitive humming is overlaid with stuttering vocals and a metallic shunting. This is one of the darker tracks on the album, one of those aural experiences that threaten to induce nausea but which also challenge you to stay the course. Don't be put off by the fact that "Fourth Shudder Project: The Black Milk Clasp (Clubbing, Tearing, Wrenching, Cutting, Spurting, Boiling, Processing)" sounds like a real fun-track. It's not. This one is full of electronic beeps, the sound of heavy dragging and tumultuous radio frequencies. It‚s very experimental, to say the least, with similarities to Steve Stapleton's Nurse With Wound and even later projects like Ean Frick's Casio Action Front. "Fifth Shudder Project: Breasts of the Naked Will" is very minimalist compared to the last track and apart from a gentle, sweeping ambience and an occasional tapping there's really not much going on at all. "Sixth Shudder Project: The Shredding of Human Tissue" is another quiet track, full of low-profile crackling and the kind of intermittent gargling you hear when you flush the lavatory. But there isn't a great deal in common between these sounds and the peeling of human skin - not that I speak from experience, of course. "Seventh Shudder Project: Power House Freeze" is presumably the next step in the Genocidal Maniac's Guide to Effective Corpse-Preparation and you can clearly hear the light clattering of tools and the rustling of plastic sheeting. One can also detect a scrunching noise similar to that made when you attempt to wrench a frozen chicken leg away from the rest of the carcass, but an afternoon stroll round your local supermarket it 'aint. The final track is "Eighth Shudder Project: Walking the Giant Corpse (Most of the Actors Already in Quick Lime)", which offers layer upon layer of samples, most of which have already appeared elsewhere in one form or another. But they are nicely assembled and give the impression that much activity is taking place, perhaps the removal of the bodies from the chamber or throwing them down the earthen sides of a mass grave. The track grinds to a halt with a deep growl. This album isn‚t a pleasant listen, but it‚s not intended to be and will chiefly appeal to those with a good imagination and a penchant for the experimental.

From Sound Is Audible Time: (by Paul Vancooten)

  In 2006, Cold Spring records has re-released a record from 1993. It only recently came to my attention, so I would not have written about it on this weblog (for it would be ‘old news’) - if it’s thematic content wouldn't be so shocking.

  John Watermann's album is called ‘Calcutta Gas Chamber’ - and that about says all. Story goes that the recording artist has visited India in the early 90’s and came across nightmare-ish giant gas chambers that the Indian government used for ‘population control’.

  “There had never been permission given to take pictures in the compounds of the gas chambers itself, despite the fact that tourists had been allowed to view the smallest details during the six years of operation”

  “Only a few photographs with hidden cameras have been smuggled out of the country (see the 19th of February report in Time magazine). But the constant arrival of truck loads and later the infamous daily helicopter parade , transporting the victims like game in huge nets hanging under the machines, was documented quite often”

  The Gas Chamber plant was shut down in 1989 because “commercial success could not be achieved”.

  This single statement is so shocking that I can hardly believe it. Why can’t I remember any serious discussion about this issue? I was alive and well in those days but I really cannot remember reading anything about this. Could it be possible that international media would simply neglect something so incomprehensible?

  The sleeve notes continue:

  “The Indian government has always been on the forefront of population control. Lower caste women, for instance, were constantly encouraged to bathe in or drink from the tailing ponds of Jaduguda, where the radioactive waste is dumped in (thorium is used as nuclear fuel).”
Watermann created this record using field recordings from an abandoned electrical power station in Brisbane in 1992. So what you hear is not the actual gas chamber sound, but an artist impression of the nightmare he could not shake loose.

  There are no ‘tracks’ on this cd, but ‘shudder projects’. In fact, any discussion about the musical quality of this project is totally irrelevant.

  One question remains: is this story really true, or is it just a nightmare?

From Aquarius: (By Jim)

   John Watermann's Calcutta Gas Chamber has long been hailed as one of the minor masterpieces of post-industrial sound art, yet it's one of those albums that has escaped my (Jim's) ears up until now, as it's been reissued both on CD through Cold Spring and on picture disc by Die Stadt. Back in 1990, this German born sound artist had traveled to Calcutta where he stumbled upon a gas chamber that had been closed down just a few years earlier. Watermann explains in the liner notes that the Indian government had numerous policies, both official and clandestine, aimed at population control; and the gas chamber was one method that had been employed for the expedient dispatch of those condemned to death. The Calcutta Gas Chamber was one that actually closed down for economic reasons (and not for human rights issues, I might add), and I'm not all that sure if the Indian government still uses such practices at this day and age. Needless to say, the experience of walking through this death factory had a huge impact upon Watermann. There had been some debate as to the validity of Watermann's claim that he had managed to get field recordings of the gas chamber itself (as he claims in the liner notes) or if he replicated what he heard from recordings he made from a power station in Australia. As Watermann died several years ago, the true nature of the recordings will remain something of a mystery. That said, Watermann's Calcutta Gas Chamber deserves its place as esoteric gem of the darkly avant-garde. His compositional style is a industrial take on musique concrete, as he roughly chops his field recordings of mechanical clatter, aerated hisses, and disembodied voices into a claustrophobic arena of turgid repetitions and blackened drones that reflect the automation of death haunting that space. Occasionally a thick drone of flanging ambience creeps forth from his mechanized collage; but even as these sounds reflect something like the nightmarish guitars of Maeror Tri, there is very little jubilation to found within these recordings. A powerful album that shudders at the potential for man to exact atrocities upon fellow man and the world at large.

From Feindesland: (By Raphael)

   In meiner Laufbahn als Rezensent für das Feindesland.de, wurde mir schon oft die Ehre zuteil, Dinge zu besprechen, die nur so vor Abgedrehtheit strotzten. Bisher blieb meiner Person die Situation erspart, eine Kritik zu einer CD zu erstellen, wo der Künstler, das irdische Dasein schon längst verlassen hat. Ein ungewöhnliche Begebenheit, zu wissen, dass der Erschaffer der Klangwelten sich zu meinen Ausführungen nicht mehr selbst äußern kann. Wo in der Realität, doch oft eine kleine Rückmeldung vom kreativen Kopf des Projektes auf der Tagesordnung steht, um Missverständnisse auszuräumen oder um Lob bzw. Kritik zu äußern.

  Um Euch einen besseren Einblick in diese Arbeit zu vermitteln, habe ich mich entschieden, einen kleinen Lebenslauf des Künstlers mit in diese Rezension aufzunehmen. Der Filmemacher und Photograph John Watermann wurde am 19. Februar 1935 in Berlin geboren, sehr schnell stelle er fest, dass zu Bildern und Filmen auch die passenden Soundtracks gehören und so begannen die Musikproduktionen in der Mitte der sechziger Jahre, viele Effekte wurden mit alten Musikgeräten erzeugte, die der Liebhaber sammelte. In den frühen siebziger Jahren wanderte John Watermann nach Australien aus, wo er auch am 04.April 2002 in Brisbane seiner langen Krankheit erlag. Sehr bedauerlich ist die Tatsache, dass der Soundpionier nicht mehr erlebt, wie sein Weg, den er seit den achtziger Jahren beschritt, sich weiterentwickelt bzw. erweitert. Die ersten Releases von ihm erschienen in den neunziger Jahren auf den Labels Walter Ulbricht, ND, Dark Vinyl und Raum312. Seine großen Arbeiten, eine Zusammenarbeit mit Merzbow und eine CDR mit dem Titel "A Rose Is A Rose", wo er seine Musik mit eigenen visuellen Elementen verknüpfte.

  Dieser Tonträger "Calcutta Gas Chamber" wurde 1993 auf ND Records veröffentlicht und im September 2006 von Martin Bowes in seinem Studio "The Cage" überarbeitet. Alle Kompositionen sind von John Watermann und entsprechen dem Original auf ND Records, ausschließlich der Sound bekam eine Anpassung an die heutigen Möglichkeiten. Das komplett neue Artwork wurde von Abby Helasdottir erstellt.

  Die Idee zu dieser CD kam John Watermann, während seiner nächtlichen Alpträume, die er auf und nach einer kurzen Reise hatte, das Ziel damals war Kalkutta in Indien im Jahre 1990. Der Inhalt lässt sich in Kurzform so beschreiben: "Menschlicher Tod durch Maschinen oder der Horror vor Gaskammern!" John Watermann verfasste einen Text zu diesem Thema, welcher sich angeblich in Wirklichkeit abgespielt haben soll, mir scheint diese Geschichte ist ehr ein Phantasieprodukt von ihm gewesen. Wer sich mit dieser Thematik näher beschäftigen möchte, findet die niedergeschrieben Zeilen im Innenbereich der CD-Verpackung.
Musikalisch ist diese Arbeit bestimmt hocheindrucksvoll, der Soundtüftler hat einen überwiegenden Teil der verarbeiteten Klänge bei Feldaufnahmen in einem stillgelegten Kraftwerk in Brisbane aufgezeichnet. Für Geräuschfetischisten dürfte "Calcutta Gas Chamber" ein Meilenstein auf diesem Gebiet sein. Ich will ehrlich sein sehr geehrte Leserschaft, wo sich das Release das erste Mal in meinem CD-Player drehte, wusste meine Wenigkeit nicht, wie ich diese Tondokumente in Worte fassen sollte. Nach einigen Hördurchgängen erschloss sich mir die Intention und die Ausdruckskraft, zum nebenbei hören kann ich "Calcutta Gas Chamber" absolut nicht empfehlen, entweder volle Konzentration auf die CD oder sofort leichtere Kost zum Berieseln auswählen.

  Hier von einem Song eine detaillierte Beschreibung anzufertigen stößt an meine Grenzen, aber ein guter Rezensent wächst mit seinen Aufgaben und somit hier der ausführliche Bericht über das Tondokument 'Third Shudder Project: A Vague Demonstration Of Trembling'. Die Einleitung wirkt sehr getragen durch ein sehr droniges Signal im Hintergrund, welches mit Sprachsamples versetzt wurde, dazu erklingen unterschiedliche Geräusche, die sehr schleifend oder wabernd rüberkommen. Die Stimme bindet sich im Laufe des Stückes immer mehr ein, bis der Part beginnt, wo ein Frosch im Takt quakt. Zum Ausschleifen des Liedes nimmt die droneartige Sequenz ab und fast zwei Minuten vor dem Ende, spricht eine sehr industrielle Stimme ein paar verzehrte Wortfetzen. Ich möchte festhalten, dieses Fragment aus "Calcutta Gas Chamber" bietet viel Stringenz im Gegensatz zu den restlichen musikalischen Positionen.

  Der neue Sound von Martin Bowes gibt diesem Werk einen wunderbaren Anstrich und lässt es zu einem Hörerlebnis werden, wenn die geneigte Hörerin bzw. der geneigte Hörer bereitwillig Zeit investiert, um sich in die Welt von John Watermann zu begeben.

From Darkroom: (By Mauro Berchi)

   Il concept che sta dietro a questa ristampa è piuttosto malsano ed intrigante, vale a dire tentare di testimoniare e ricreare le atmosfere (rigorosamente claustrofobiche...) dell'interno di una camera a gas. John Watermann (artista polivalente e musicista apprezzato negli ambienti della musica concreta più 'concettuale', nato nel 1935 a Berlino e morto nel 2002 a Brisbane) produsse questo disco nel lontano 1993, quando le luci dei riflettori erano assai distanti dal 'baraccone mediatico' che si venne successivamente a creare attorno al lato oscuro dell'ambient. A distanza di quasi 15 anni Cold Spring lo riprende, lo rimasterizza e lo ributta nel calderone ribollente delle nuove uscite, e il disco ha fortunatamente le carte in regola per spiccare ancora al di sopra della media. Basato quasi integralmente su field-recordings registrati all'interno del complesso di camere a gas e crematori alla periferia di Calcutta (utilizzate per anni dal governo indiano per lo 'smaltimento' dei cadaveri), il disco si snoda attraverso otto brani piuttosto simili tra loro, in pregevole equilibrio tra musica concreta dallo scarso appeal 'acustico' e passaggi ambientali che nulla hanno a che vedere con il concetto di 'musicalità'. È un ascolto impegnativo, a tratti disturbante, a tratti scomodo, e comunque sempre in grado di mantenere viva l'attenzione, anche nei momenti più forzatamente ripetitivi. Ottimo il lavoro di remastering che porta la qualità sonora su livelli di eccellenza, permettendo di apprezzare appieno le minuscole sfaccettature di brani come "The Shredding Of Human Tissue" o "A Vague Demonstration Of Trembling". Importante notare come la musica di Watermann possegga un quid di follia (anche nel montaggio apparentemente casuale dei campioni) che la rende piuttosto riconoscibile, cosa oltremodo rara nel genere. Senza infamia e senza lode la grafica, ma ancora una volta mi sento di bollare questa mancanza come un piccolo peccatuccio veniale. Da sentire.

From Black: (By M.F.)

   Industrial-Musik und Gaskammern sind seit THROBBING GRISTLE untrennbar miteinander verbunden und insbesondere das Vorgänger-Projekt von PREDOMINANCE namens WOLVERINE sollte hier stellvertretend für die Faszination des Grauens bzw. als furchteinflößender Soundtrack genannt werden. Das Gaskammern nun aber nicht unbedingt immer mit KZ und Drittes Reich gleichzusetzen sind, bewies John Watermann 1993 mit seinem Album "Calcutta Gas Chamber", welches auf ND Records veröffentlicht wurde und nun digital geremastert und mit neuem Artwork versehen via Cold Spring neu aufgelegt wird. 1990 machte John Watermann bei einer Reise nach Calcutta Bekanntschaft mit den dortigen Gaskammern und der dabei erlebte imaginäre Horror lies ihn nicht mehr los, so das er 1992 in einer stillgelegten Trafostation in Brisbane Fieldrecordings aufnahm, mit deren Hilfe er die grauenhafte Atmosphäre in einer Gaskammer hörbar machten wollte. Das dieser Sound keine schöne Angelegenheit ist, dürfte allen klar sein und so ist "Calcutta Gas Chamber" Industrial pur, der aber weit davon entfernt ist, sinnloser und klischee-hafter Power Noise zu sein. Ein interesantes Album, welches durch Cold Spring wieder aus der Vergessenheit befreit wurde, wie schon zuvor das "Christ Knows"-Album von TOLL aus alten Broken Flag-Tagen.

From Filth Forge: (By Simon V)

   John Watermann was a composer, filmmaker and performer of German origin who lived most of his life in Australia. Several recordings of experimental, ambient and industrial music were published under his name as well as other pseudonyms, such as Spinal Machine and Total Disease. John passed away in 2002, but a few unreleased works and some reissues have been released during the last years, including the here present "Calcutta Gas Chamber", one of his most interesting and significative efforts.

  This CD, originally published by American label ND back in 1993, is to be ideally intended as the soundtrack to an hallucinatory documentary shot inside a large gas chambers complex located outside Calcutta. The atmosphere of such creepy and frightening place are perfectly evoked by the skilled combination of minimal dark ambient with authentic field recordings taken inside the place. You will listen to the sound of machineries, steel prison doors, chains, the echo of narrow underground corridors leading the condemned to death, voices weeping and murmuring in Hindi, guards commenting the executions or prisoners waiting for the fatal moment. The aim of this record doesn't seem to be stimulating reflections about death penalty, or denouncing the inhuman treatment of the condemned in India back at the time (recordings were done in 1990). This is a document, and must be therefore regarded as a mean of information.

  It's hard to remain indifferent to "Calcutta Gas Chamber", so frightening and unsettling is everything about it: the topic, the music, the sounds, the samples... you will be either morbidly attracted by it or keep distance. Probably, this CD goes beyond any dark ambient ever heard in terms of oppressing atmospheres and feelings. This is what, for example, Atrium Carceri has tried to do till now without successing at all. An appropriate way to remember John Watermann, even if of course not everyone will be brave enough to reach the end of the disc's running time.

From Judas Kiss: (By Lee Powell)

   With some releases it's difficult to know how to start a review. This could be for a number of different reasons but generally in my experience this falls into two categories. The first being the release is fundamentally flawed it's hard to try and make a logical explanting of the music it hold in structured sentences. The second has to do with the complex nature of the release and how the music it contains relates to the subject matter. Thankfully 'Calcutta Gas Chamber' falls in to the latter so I suppose it would make sense to start somewhere at the beginning.

   In 1990 avant-garde/industrial composer John Watermann visited the infamous and somewhat mysterious gas chamber used by the Indian government in Calcutta for what some believe as 'population control' and was permitted to take samples of audio tape recordings which become the foundation of the source material for this release. Two years later Watermann visited to an abandoned electrical power station in Brisbane Australia and took various other field recordings which together with the original set taken in Calcutta were amalgamated together to produce the source material for what was to become one of his most notorious and talked about releases.

   No one can confirm or deny whether or not Watermann actually managed to take source maternal from the Calcutta Gas Chamber and if it was used on this release or not as he passed away in 2002 and took the facts of the source material to the grave with him. So we can only surmise that it was used as this is what we're led to believe.

   Originally released in 1993 in somewhat limited numbers 'Calcutta Gas Chamber' hasn't been available for a number of years; however the ever impressive Cold Spring records took the initiative to have the recordings painstakingly re-mastered by Martin Bowes (of the UK industrial electro/darkwave band Attrition) and make the album finally available to a wider audience.

   Musically 'Calcutta Gas Chamber' is a cold and dark yet compellingly listenable amalgamation of the treated field recordings, fragments of noise, electronic manipulations and sporadic harsh waves of sound which all combine together to create a wonderfully dense and stimulating set of recordings which reflect the nauseating horror that the gas chamber conveys.

   However even with such hard-edged subject matter and the harshness of its musical backing, there is still something distinctly endearing about this set of recordings. It's almost as if the music itself separates itself from its inspiration, and instead stands a lone as a dark and majestic dark ambient score with wave after wave of manipulated electronic drones and noises amalgamating into a disturbingly still and calm dark ambient like set of recordings. And if you were to look solely at these compositions themselves they are superbly constructed and presented and as such produce a haunting and exhilarating ambience that is captured perfectly. However when you submerge yourself in these recordings and think about where their inspirations were drawn then they become all the more horrifying and poignant.

   With 'Calcutta Gas Chamber' Watermann has produced a truly spectacular dark ambient release with a real depth and presence and one that isn't easily forgotten once you've immersed yourself in the true darkness of its being. Yet again another spectacular release shows why Cold Spring records are at the very forefront of the post-industrial scene labels and have held this position for many years already. With releases of this calibre it looks as if they continue this strong hold for many more years to come.

From Blow Up: (by Paolo Bertoni)

  Berlinese di nascita, riparante nell’accogliente Australia per una trentina d’anni, regista e fotografo, John Watermann, scomparso nel 2002 all’età di sessantasette anni, era solito comporre da solo i soundtrack dei suoi lavori anche se solo alla fine degli anni ’80, con “Warmth Is The Fifth Room”, cominciò anche a pubblicare dischi. Le cronache ci raccontano che dopo un viaggio in India in cui poté visitare le camere a gas smantellate cui venne precluso l’accesso solo successivamente concepì “Calcutta Gas Chamber”, pubblicato da ND nel 1993, allo scopo di tradurre in suoni un’esperienza difficilmente rimovibile nella memoria. Sin dall’apertura An Intellectual Challenge To Convert Victims Into Heart-Shaped Soap l’eccellente elaborazione di field recordings colti in loco ed in una stazione elettrica di Brisbane abbandonata, descrive, con clinica crudezza ed un rigore encomiabile degno di un maestro del genere, ambientazioni e stati d’animo, in un tetro impasto di rassegnazione e disperazione, preferendo moduli espressivi tra il concreto e l’industrial storico piuttosto che una dark ambient confinata a A Vague Demonstration Of Trembling e The Shredding Of Human Tissue, dunque realizzando un lavoro più assimilabile a Nurse With Wound che a Lustmord. Nuova la veste grafica, decisamente di qualità superiore rispetto all’originale.

From Elegy Iberica: (by José de Almeida)

  Tem-se tornado um hábito da editora britânica Cold Spring reeditar algumas jóias quase esquecidas
do grande público que no momento do seu lançamento tiveram a devida importância. Assim, ressuscitando um desses tesouros, a Cold Spring tornou novamente disponível no mercado discográfico “Calcutta Gas Chamber”, um trabalho intenso e apocalíptico da autoria de John Watermann. Inicialmente lançado em 1993, “Calcutta Gas Chamber” relata através da manipulação sonora uma viagem marcante realizada por este compositor à Índia, onde contactou com a terrível realidade das câmaras de gás existentes nos arredores de Calcutá, nas quais o governo indiano, na sequência das suas políticas de controlo de natalidade, executava, essencialmente, mulheres das castas mais baixas. Para a captura dos sons utilizados e manipulados electronicamente neste aterrorizador trabalho conceptual, John Watermann fez um árduo trabalho de campo numa estação eléctrica abandonada, localizada na periferia de Brisbane. “Calcutta Gas Chamber” é mais do que um simples álbum de exploração sonora, tratando-se provavelmente de um dos principais documentos denunciadores desta página de terror da história do século XX. Apesar de ter trabalhado nesta reedição, a morte de John Watermann em 2002 fez com que nunca pudesse testemunhar este lançamento, agora apresentado com uma nova produção e layout gráfico.

From Orkus: (By Thomas Sonder)

   Als der vor fünf Jahren verstorbene australische Klangpoet John Watermann 1990 die ein Jahr zuvor geschlossene Gaskammer in Kalkutta besichtigte, schlug ihm das derart aufs Gemüt, dass er kurz danach diese Vorstellungen und Gefühlszustände, die in ihm aufkamen, vertonte. Hierzu besuchte er ein verlassenes E-Kraftwerk in Brisbane und erstellte dort Field Recordings, die an Fiesheit und Extremen kaum gehässiger sein könnten. Fiepen, Kratzen, Schaben, Klappern, Klopfen, Schleifen... All dies legte er in acht "Shudder Projects", welche das "Leben" in der Nähe und das Sterben in einer Gaskammer deutlich intonieren. Mit welch Grausamkeiten vor dem inneren Auge ein Inhaftierter in tagelanger Dunkelheit sein Dasein fristen muss ˆ jedes noch so kleine, normale Geräusch wird auch aufgrund der großen Furcht vor dem Kommenden als Martyrium empfunden, es gibt kein Entrinnen vor der grässlichen Folter, dem schleichenden Tod. Calcutta Gas Chamber ist nichts für schwache Nerven, sollte ausschließlich im Dunkeln und ohne störende Einflüsse von außen "genossen" werden, um das ganze Ausmaß des Grauens in sich aufnehmen zu können.

From Heathen Harvest: (by ANM)

  There are some records that attain near mythical status. This is normally down to the fact the recording in question was released in very limited numbers. Or the recording was deleted very quickly and became unobtainable and thus highly sought after. Or the subject matter of the recording made it slightly notorious. Or the artist involved was a cult figure admired by only those in the know. 'Calcutta Gas Chamber' is one such recording. A release steeped in mystery and myth. Originally released way back in 1993 I first heard about it years later. These things happen when you are too busy pursuing other genres of music. Of course I tried tracking down a copy with absolutely no luck. It seemed to have vanished into the ether. People spoke in hushed reverential tones about it yet didn’t have a copy themselves. Which was slightly strange. I watched the auction sights and scoured the online second hand record stores to no avail. Then, out of the blue, in 2005 Cold Spring Records announced it would be re-releasing it. I waited…and waited…and waited but still it wasn’t forthcoming. Two copies even turned up on E-Bay… but I trusted the label to come good, as they always have, so never placed bids on them. It turns out that certain problems, which only record label bosses can kick out in frustration at, had kept dogging its release date. Until now. For at last 'Calcutta Gas Chamber' has arrived. And I can only wonder at whether it was worth the wait and deserving of its status.

  The Man: John Watermann was born in Germany in 1935. Starting off as a filmmaker and photographer he graduated into music in the early 60’s by creating soundtracks for his own movies. He moved to Australia in the 70’s where he took a vested interest in field recording and electronic sound manipulations and cut-ups. His first recorded releases didn’t surface until much later and when illness struck in the 90’s his output became very limited. Sadly he died in 2002.…but his past works are now being re-discovered by a new generation of admirers and his important legacy lives on.

  The Background: John Watermann took a short trip to Calcutta in 1990...or thereabouts. During his visit he went to a Gas Chamber that had closed down in the late 1980’s. What he saw there had an immediate and profound effect on him. A debate arises over what he did next. Some say he did field recordings at that location. Others that he went back to Australia and did his recordings in an abandoned power station. Whilst another has him mixing both locations together to create the music to be found on ‘Calcutta Gas Chamber’. The significance of the words ‘Gas Chamber’ cannot be emphasised enough. These two words, when brought together, are symbolic of death by poisoning or asphyxiation. Or a mixture of both depending on the gases used for the process of decimation. We think of the American Penal system and the attempted eradication of the Jewish population during WW2 when confronted with those words. What is easy to forget is that there are / were other countries who used Gas Chambers as a form of ultimate punishment / deterrent for their populous. India was one such country. And John Watermann saw first hand the remnants of a once working Death Factory first hand. ‘Calcutta Gas Chamber’ is his re-imagining of that personal experience.

  The Music: The eight sonic pieces, appropriately numerically titled ‘Shudder Project’, is a journey deep into the actual building and machines of death realised through electronic and voice manipulations, field recordings and other additional effects and instruments. Although steeped with the dark stain of black ambience there is a more terrifying and nightmarish experimental glow to the whole recording. The sources of the sounds are difficult to identify making this recording one of exploration for the listener. You start to question what is real and what is fabricated as the music builds on a foundation formed from Industrial notions and musique concrete strategies. Within these tracks machines throb and hum, water drips from ceilings, chains rattle and are thrown together, feet crunch on floors, white noise cuts through the air and the claustrophobic atmospheres of a foreboding place of death are thrown open for examination through a myriad of horrific aural textures. There are no tunes to speak of. No melodies to enjoy. The soundscape of a place you would never want to visit is your only pleasure to be gained from this recording. Whether you can cope with such a powerful statement of mans inhumanity to man is a question only you can answer. For although this is in essence a dark ambient recording with experimental leanings it goes so much deeper than that. It is a highly complex and quite harrowing sonic extravaganza that once heard will never be forgotten.

  The Conclusion: The mythical status that this recording achieved upon its first release has been proven totally correct. In many ways ‘Calcutta Gas Chamber’ was ahead of its time and more relevant now than way back then. As such it is a recording you owe it to yourself to experience first hand.

From Obliveon: (by MK)

  Ursprünglich bereits 1993 veröffentlicht, ist „Calcutta Gas Chamber“ von der konzeptionellen Idee sicher eins der kontroversesten Alben aller Zeiten, denn den Horror, den jemand empfindet, wenn er sich in einer Gaskammer befindet und auf seinen sicheren Tod wartet, in ein musikalisches Gewand zu kleiden, bedarf aufgrund der leidvollen Geschichte der Judenvernichtung in den KZs des Dritten Reiches sicher einer erheblichen Überwindung und einer gehörigen Portion Mut von Seiten des Künstlers. So bietet John Waterman auf diesem Album dann auch ein düsteres Sammelsurium an Furcht einflössenden Klängen und beängstigenden Geräuschen, deren ganze beklemmende Intensität sich erst über einen Kopfhörer offenbart und die zum Teil auf Feldaufnahmen basieren, die in Australien in einem alten Elektrizitätswerk entstanden. Vor allem die Tatsache, dass diese Feldaufnahmen nicht eindeutig bestimmbar sind und zum Teil elektronisch verfremdet oder verzerrt wurden, macht „Calcutta Gas Chambers“ dann noch unwirklicher, als die eigene Vorstellung, die den Rezipienten beim Hören dieser CD ohnehin schon befällt, es bereits zu bewirken im Stande ist. Wer den realen Horror solch eines beklemmenden Erlebens zumindest ansatzweise nachempfinden möchte, dem sei dieses Werk empfohlen, doch vorher prüfe sich jeder, ob er der Brutalität eines solchen Konzeptes gewachsen ist.

From Necroweb: (by Deathbringer)

  Bei dem vorliegenden Album "Calcutta Gas Chamber" handelt es sich um ein Re-Release des ursprünglich 1993 veröffentlichten Album von John Watermann. Der mittlerweile verstorbene John Watermann unternahm 1990 eine Reise zu der titelgebenden Gaskammer nahe Kalkutta, die ihn zu diesem Album inspirierte.

  Entsprechend dem thematischen Hintergrund klingt "Calcutta Gas Chamber" sehr düster und trostlos, Melodien sucht man hier vergebens, dafür bekommt man immer wieder das Zischen von einströmendem Gas zu hören, sowie klopfende und zerrende Geräusche. Dementsprechend schwierig fällt es einem auch einen Zugang zu "Calcutta Gas Chamber" zu finden, denn wirklich markante Konstrukte gibt es nicht in den einzelnen Songs. Und so rauschen die Titel mehr oder weniger unbehelligt an einem vorbei. Nur wer sich fantasievoll ein thematisch passendes Szenario ausmalt und dann von den Geräuschen inspirieren lässt, wird etwas von "Calcutta Gas Chamber" haben, ob das einem dann aber gefällt, steht auf einem anderen Blatt.

  Das Album tut sich schwer, die gewünschte Atmosphäre aufzubauen, wobei es durchweg seinem sehr ungreifbaren Klangkonstrukt treu bleibt. Ein schwieriges Album mit einem schwierigen Thema, das wohl nur Dark Ambient Fans gefallen wird, die sich mit all ihrer Aufmerksamkeit und Fantasie dem Dargebotenen widmen wollen.

From Lunar Hypnosis: (by Ginnie Moon)

  After several fruitless searches on the internet and down at the town library, I am convinced that Watermann's "Calcutta Gas Chamber" is based on a location of artistic artifice. That there have been massacres in Calcutta and even an infamous "Black Hole" is true, but I find no evidence of a gas chamber so I go forward with the notion that the intensity of the darkness, frustration and sorrow articulated here is purely a reflection of the genius of the artist.

  What's fascinating though, is that Watermann claimed the sounds were "field recordings" from within these chambers. Interesting, the notion of field recordings from an imaginary horror! Was the hostel in Eli Roth's movie real? Were the events of the Exorcist "real"? Certainly, they become part of our "accepted reality" by their existence on the flickering walls of Plato's Cineplex, and however sad or happy the fact is, our horror art never comes remotely near the horrors of police blotters and politics.

  Whether Watermann's Calcutta Gas Chamber is a place we can find upon a map of Kolkata or located squarely in the anterior lobe of Watermann's fetid brain, the effect is equally asphyxiating.

  The sounds here are heavy, toxic with aberrant minerals. Scathing, sordid, unnatural. There is claustrophobia and a dread to these sounds as the album unfolds. The landscape invades, then recedes, pulling the listener in with it to a world of panic, shock, intimidation and anxiety. The recordings remind me terrifyingly of my own recent experiences with chemotherapy. Those appalling little rooms up at the hospital with no windows and their tubes of deathpoison are akin to Watermann's Calcutta Gas Chamber in myriad ways. That Watermann himself died from cancer is a desultory irony here. The album was recorded in 1993, and Watermann died in 2002. Nevertheless, because of his relationship with the light of darkness and the elegance of horror, cancer treatment must surely have seemed like familiar territory to him. These bountiful communications on the repugnance of chemical violations to the human body are precise and loathsome in their accuracy. Listen if you dare. (10/10)

From Absolute Zero Media: (by Clint Listing)

  I don't know who John Watermann is but this is one of the most horrific topics a death ambient or experimental artist can cover the sounds and feeling of a Gas Chamber being put to use. By going to a Gas Chamber and doing field recordings with the elements that are there in and around the gas chamber. This was a gas chamber in Indian and was recorded in 1993. The elements of these field recordings were mixed with the soundscapes you hear on this recordings. I can't really say more then this is a haunting and chilling reminder of a world more importantly a 3rd world nation using a tool of mass destruction to control population. Sadly it looks like Mr Watermann died in 2002. I'm looking into his works and the look to span decades of experimental, ambient and noise releases on various label. This CD has sparked a very hard interest into his other works so with that alone Cold Spring has gotten the word out on this amazing composer of the experimental scene. This is a must listen to release!!!!!

From Vital Weekly: (by NMP)

  If we were forced to know about all gruesome maltreatments of human beings around the globe taking place every day, we'd probably become insane or, in best case, totally depressed people. On the other side it would be absurd to ignore the fact that human atrocities unfortunately is an unavoidable part of the world. Australian sound artist John Watermann has taken the listener back to the horrifying gas chambers of Calcutta that remained in full action until the 1980's. This re-issue of his album "Calcutta gas chamber" was originally released back in 1993. The album is partly based on tape recordings that John Watermann did on his exploration to the site back in 1990. Rather than being an album of authentic concrete recordings from the chambers the eight works (titled "Shudder project 1-8" each of them with quite disturbing sub titles) more concentrates on atmospheres of gloomy darkness and claustrophobia to express the horrors of the site. And it does work terribly well! The tracks of black ambience use concrete sounds of industrial timbres, clanging noises and icy drones drifting back and forth between abrasive and subtle expressions. The complete lack of melody increases the feeling of darkness and total isolationism. Being more than "just" an impressive work of ambient, the inner-beauty of the album lies in its incredible way to express detest for the sadistic interaction of human mankind. Essential album in all aspects!

From Gothtronic: (by Remco)

  On a record with field recordings from the Calcutta gas chamber you don’t have to expect any happy happy fluff fluff sing along music, right. So what John Watermann offers here are the horrors of the Calcutta gas chamber which was in use until the eighties and had been shut down in 1989.

  John Watermann had the opportunity in 1990 to take a look inside and made several recordings which he used in the studio as source material for the compositions on this CD.

  This CD consists of eight shuddering projects with sub titles leaving no place for any imagination like “Fitting the gas hose”, “The shredding of human tissue” or ”An intellectual challenge to convert victims into heart-shaped soap”.

  Hearing the hissing and dripping sounds and the dark pulsing drones you will taste the horror and the atmosphere from the buildings in the Calcutta outskirts were the actions took place. Completed with other peeping and creaking sounds and a lonesome melody or pulse as well as the sounds of the machines of death John brings you dark ambient that sometimes is relaxing and nervous at the same time.

  The music feels uneasy at moments when shrieking sounds hit you in unexpected moments and leave you uncomfortable. Calcutta gas chamber is a disturbing and claustrophobic piece of ambient which is interesting and horrifying.

  Cold spring brings you a pretty good dark ambient re-release that dates back from 1993. For people who like dark and slow pulsing ambient with unpleasant surprises.

From Mentenebre: (by Fernando O Paino)

  Este es uno más de los fantásticos trabajos que este compositor experimental berlinés está acostumbrado a realizar. El ya desaparecido John Waterman (1935-2002) cuenta con un extraordinario currículum vitae dentro del campo de la música experimental, la carrera de Waterman comenzó como fotógrafo y realizador de pequeños cortos y películas. Este artista empezó a componer música a mediados de los años sesenta debido a la necesidad de acompañar a sus películas de bandas sonoras que las ambientasen. Poco después decidirá abandonar Berlín y trasladarse a Australia, donde continuará trabajando en este tipo de proyectos.

  Sin embargo, habrá que esperar más de una década hasta que la música de Waterman quede plasmada en formato comercial. El artista empezará a editar sus primeros discos a finales de los años ochenta; ya dentro de los noventa trabajará con sellos centrados en la música ambiental y experimental, como es el caso de Dark Vinyl.

  Waterman no perderá su afición por combinar su música con imágenes, muestra de ello la encontramos en el fantástico audiovisual, autoproducido por el propio artista, que se titula “A Rose Is A Rose”. Otro gran trabajo, esta vez sólo auditivo, es su álbum “Babel”.

  “Calcutta Gas Chamber” fue editado originalmente por ND Records en 1993. En él se presenta un viaje por los asfixiantes y siniestros aspectos que una cámara de gas nos puede ofrecer. El CD está cargado de escapes de gas, sonidos raspantes y distorsiones. La inspiración que Waterman necesitó para realizar este espectacular proyecto nació de un viaje a Calcuta realizado durante 1990. Para Waterman la visita resultó corta pero productiva, el artista supo proyectar y materializar de forma abstrabta los horrores y la hermeticidad e indiferencia con la que funcionaban las cámaras de gas en este país.

  Ese propio sentimiento de indiferencia que transmite el trabajo en sí es el que, traducido en la cabeza del oyente, se transforma en agonía y presión al contextualizarlo de forma apropiada. Este álbum fue grabado en 1992, utilizando una vieja central eléctrica abandonada en Brisbane. El estilo que ofrece Waterman es similar al aportado años atrás por artistas como Steven Stapleton en su proyecto Nurse With Wound.

  Pura música experimental que nunca deja de sorprender al que la escucha. Siempre resulta muy interesante comprobar el extremo cuidado por la dimensión y el alcance del sonido que esta clase de discos ofrecen, este resulta más cuidado y medido que en los proyectos de música Pop en general. Sin duda nos encontramos ante otro estudio de psicodelia experimental oscura realizado por uno de los artistas más influyentes en este género.

From Alternativ Musik: (by Marius Meyer)

  Alles, nur keine leichte Kost ist es, was diese im Hause Cold Spring wiederveröffentliche CD von John Watermann darstellt. Es handelt sich um ein zum ersten Mal im Jahr 1993 veröffentlichtes Konzeptalbum, das – wie bereits der Titel andeutet – den Horror einer Gaskammer darstellen soll. Die Darstellung erfolgt auf dieser Veröffentlichung in insgesamt acht experimentellen Kompositionen, die mit intensiven Klangbildern auf einer Länge von knapp 57 Minuten ihre Wirkung beim Hörer nicht verfehlen. Geräusche, Frequenzen und Samples geben sich die Klinke in die Hand und formen sich zu einer tiefgehenden Geräuschwelt, die der Thematik gerecht wird.

  Die Gaskammer in Kalkutta wurde Ende 1989 geschlossen, John Watermann besuchte sie - wie er im Begleittext zur CD darlegt – am siebten Juli 1990. Da es ihm erlaubt war, bei diesem Besuch Ton-Aufnahmen zu machen, die er für diese Veröffentlichung als Grundlage nahm und somit ein hohes Maß an Authentizität auf Calcutta Gas Chamber präsentieren kann. Von der Titelgebung her laufen die Stücke alle unter dem Titel Shudder Project und sind lediglich von „First“ bis „Eigth“ durchnummeriert, was den Charakter eines Gesamtwerks untermauert.

  Ziel ist es also, durch die elektronischen Klänge bestimmte Vorstellungen beim Rezipienten hervorzurufen. Dies gelingt John Watermann durchweg auf eine ansprechende Art und Weise. Bereits am Anfang begegnen knirschende Geräusche, immer mal von dumpfen Klängen unterbrochen, die beispielsweise an das Entriegeln von Türen erinnern. Es ist schwer, bei den Klängen wirklich Orte zu lokalisieren und Tätigkeiten auszumachen, aber die grausame Vorstellung des maschinell herbeigeführten Todes zieht sich wie ein roter Faden in diversesten Ausdifferenzierungen durch das Gesamtwerk.

  Die Klänge sind harsch und dabei häufig verstörend. Sie leben von den Aufnahmen, die Watermann bei seiner Besichtigung 1990 gemacht hat und von elektronischen Manipulationen. Raue, harte elektronische Klänge, wie man sie vom Industrial gewohnt ist, formen hier ein Klangbild, das man beinah als elektronisch geprägte Programm-Musik bezeichnen könnte. Die Genre-Bezeichnung „Industrial“ wäre hier allerdings etwas zu eng angelegt – neben der klassischen Songstruktur wurde auch der Rahmen des „Industrial“ hier gesprengt, was auch Cold Spring dazu bewogen hat, diese Veröffentlichung lediglich mit dem schwammigen Begriff „Experimental“ zu belegen.

  John Watermann ist mit Calcutta Gas Chamber ein ansprechendes Gesamtwerk gelungen, das beim Hörer eine seltene Intensität erreichen kann. Voraussetzung zum Hören ist allerdings ein starkes Nervenkostüm: Nicht nur die Klänge an sich sind hart, sondern auch die zugrunde liegende Thematik sind nichts für schwache Nerven. Wer sich auf diese CD einlässt, könnte daran aber durchaus seine Freude haben. Empfehlenswert!

From Twilight Zone: (by Michele Viali)

  John Watermann è stato quel che si può definire un artista totale, attivo a fasi alterne e sempre proiettato verso la sperimentazione. Già noto per il suo impegno nelle arti figurative, nonché come regista e fotografo, riesce a imporsi anche con la produzione audio, sebbene fiorita in tempi relativamente recenti (del 1989 il primo titolo). Ma il destino ha voluto che questo autore uscisse prematuramente di scena nel 2002, lasciando spunti incompiuti e progetti aperti, a testimonianza di una personalità vitale e creativa troncata da un’infame malattia.

  La maggior parte dei suoi titoli sono in fase di recupero e di ristampa, come testimonia questo Calcutta gas chamber, realizzato originariamente nel 1993 e ora recuperato dal team Cold Spring, a dimostrazione dell’ampia e ricercata cultura musicale della label inglese.

  La fonte di ispirazione per questo disco fu una viaggio di Watermann in India, durante il quale prese coscienza dell’esistenza di camere a gas a Calcutta, ormai dismesse e semidivorate dalla natura; furono fatte alcune riprese video, che servirono poi come fonte nella fase di realizzazione audio. Il CD si snoda in 8 movimenti che ripercorrono l’orrore degli omicidi con gli occhi della vittima, facendo rivivere in prima persona i rumori che caratterizzavano la gasazione e abbandonando qualsiasi motivo descrittivo o didascalico, fino a farci scivolare nella realtà più cruda, riproponendola con efficace realismo.

  Le modalità di realizzazione rimandano spesso alla musica concreta, con materiale sonoro preso a prestito da varie fonti e incollato in molteplici modi, al fine di raggiungere una costruzione audio assolutamente non trasferibile su un rigo musicale. Siamo comunque distanti sia dal panorama industrial di vecchia scuola che da quello più recente. Si tratta piuttosto dell’accostamento di rumori tanto scabri, quanto tranquilli, che collegano questo autore alle sonorità di classici sperimentalisti come Stockhausen o Asmus Tietchens (più vicini alla sua generazione), ma anche a recenti progetti tipo Kommissar Hjuler. L’assenza di ritmica e di atmosfere preconfezionate possono rendere l’ascolto arduo a chi non è abituato a tali manipolazioni, ma non siamo di fronte all’ultimo dei rumoristi, per cui questo può essere il momento buono per avvicinarvi a una linea musicale più complessa e distante dai soliti clichés.

From Musique Machine: (by Roger Batty)

  Calcutta Gas Chamber is a rather satisfying and grim mix of environmental recordings, dark ambient, noise and electronica. As the title suggest this takes it influence and source sounds from the Calcutta Gas Chamber before it was shut down in the early 1990’s. This is a reissue of the album original released in 1993, here with new grim artwork and it’s also been remastered, for more ghastly depth of sound.

  Watermann has managed to capture the sounds in an effective and grim manner, there’s all of manner of clanking, echoing, breathing, metallic settling and any other sound you can imaging would emulate from inside a Gas Chamber. Then he has stretchs, cuts and let hover like the smell of death, these noises into a terrifying and clastropic collection of tracks. That almost seem alive with the chocking, and struggling victims of the Gas Chamber, you can almost see their see 'fighting for breath' faces, before their eyes roll back in there heads and death ushers in. At times this comes across almost like a Macabre and death reeking version of Autechre before they went too way out, or maybe a deadly serious and more atmospheric aware version of Matmos. Other moments he investigate deep dark pits of droning ambience, that literal feel like your cartwheel though utter darkness, drop down and down, dank decay filled air filling your whole being.

  This is my first experience for Watermann's work, and it certainly won't be my last, he perfectly balances texture & surprise of sound use with a keen ear for deeply unpleasant atmospherics. A dark and skin crawling unpleasant treat.

From Monas: (By Roy)

 John Watermann also appeared on the "Swarm" compilation, but I don't really remember the track. Judging from the Cold Spring biography we have a multi-artist who makes films, photos and music. He decided to make the soundtracks for his films himself and this resulted in a soundscape approach of experimental ambient. "Calcutta Gas Chamber" goes from Tehôm-like ambient-scapes (but not as dark) to more noisy tracks with a lot of samples and strange sounds. Also there are very (not to say: too) minimalistic, monotous tracks. Overall this cd sounds pretty exciting and it sure is an album to put on, sit back and just listen.