Label: Nigra Mors
Date: July 18th, 2024
Speaking of long, winding roads, there are few you can take harder than the one that’s almost forty years long, but taken one-two minutes at a time. And yet, the “headliners” of this CD have opted for just one such!
Of course, I mean the Belgian mincecore monolith, Agathocles. Twelve songs which appear on this split release are exactly what you would expect of them. This loud, fast, dirty violence is very recognizable and this band’s trademark for decades now. Some of the tracks already saw daylight on their full length, “The Conquest of Patagocles”, some on other releases, while some I couldn’t place anywhere. That’s not to say they are exclusive to this CD (though they might be). I just couldn’t find their origin.
In any case, one more for the extensive Agathocles collections. How big is yours?
Next up is the Peruvian act Atrofia Cerebral. Thirty-five pieces, packed into just over ten minutes. Need I say more? Well, I should. Obviously, this is a very noisy and chaotic version of sick, necrotic goregrind. Very raw in sound, and minimalistic in composition. As if you can be anything but minimalistic, with approximately seventeen seconds per track, on average.
Not much to hear, but there’s something to look upon, interestingly enough. As all three bands have their individual cover artworks in the booklet (plus the one covering the entire split album), Atrofia Cerebral’s one seems to be a photo of some Serbian World War I soldiers with civilian victims of Austro-Hungarian war crimes. Can’t be sure and it doesn’t say anything about it in the booklet, but it sure looks like it.
As a stark opposite to the Peruvian duo, Vlfxvrz is a project by the multitalented Nocturno (Xerión, Nigra Mors) and Rosebud, which comes at you with just one track, but lasting thirteen and a half minutes. Within “Noizu”, you will find a multitude of genres, or better said, musical directions, blended into an elongated journey. From noise, industrial ambient, to doom/black metal and even crust punk. If I’m not mistaken (and it’s highly likely I am), it is sometimes accompanied by some poetry reading. Asian scenery in the cover artwork might also give out a clue to further understanding of this song.
After a nineteen minute sonic violence, these thirteen minutes, though psychologically disconcerting to a degree, offer a vibrant, meandering, dramatic and cinematic atmospheric relieve.
And that’s likely the best description of “Fremitvs Harpyarvm”. Tense and primally brutal, physically and psychologically.
