Skip to content

Satøri – The Woods (2023)

  • noise

In 1987 Dave Kirby started Satori after having been active in the noise duo Psychopath for a few years. In 1994 Justin Mitchel of the Cold Spring label joined and after a pause in 2007 Satori became a three piece project. By 2012 Satori was a solo project again, but the new album is announced to be released on Cold Spring within a month.

“The Woods” is another massive wall of noise with highly distorted vocals. The sound reminds quite a bit of Control at times. Some tracks start a bit ambient to give the listener some rest, but pretty soon the dentist drill sound and other noises that make a wall of noise set in. As before the tracks also have a bit of an industrial side with heavy blasts, but it are the chainsaws and the screeching that are mostly noticeable. Somehow the sonic mayhem works quite well for me, but even on my scale “The Woods” makes a pretty tough listen, so it will probably not be an album that I will play a lot.

Links: Satori, Cold Spring

Unhuman + Petra Flurr – Mala Vida (2023)

Petra Flurr is an interesting artist, but by the time I discovered the wonderful albums “Puffmutter” (2009) and “Download Selbstmord” (2012) they were ‘too old to review’. Obviously I do not follow him close enough, as there have been several releases since.

Flurr usually works with other artists. Modernista, 89st or Unhuman. “Mala Vida” is not the first cooperation with Unhuman. The sound of Petra Flurr holds the middle between old school EBM and electropunk. Discogs describes him as: “Italian/German queer punk electro EBM singer and performer” which I suppose fits the bill. Unhuman is originally a Greek who also moved to Berlin.

Flurr’s voice reminds of old school EBM’ers and also the sound leans towards things such as DAF every now and then. Some tracks have a typical ‘disco speed’ which goes for the whole of “Mala Vida”. On other releases the speed can be a little higher.

“Mala Vida” is (in my opinion) not the best album of Flurr, but it is still good and easy listening and like with a project such as Infecticide or Parzival on the more cheerful end of my musical spectrum.

Links: Unhuman, Petra Flurr, Bite

Sutekh Hexen & Funerary Call – P:R:I:S:M (2023)

The long running Canadian Funerary Call teamed up with the relatively new American band Sutekh Hexen. In three decades, Funerary Call went from “ritual music” to dark / ritual ambient to more noisy material and soundscapes. Sutekh Hexen goes from experimental doom to blasting black metal and also an occasional soundscape. What would the combination bring?

The opening track is a soundscape with a noisy start. Other tracks can also be described as “soundscapes” or sometimes perhaps “noisescapes”. Some tracks are dark and tranquil. At other times the tracks are more noisy. Mostly, there are stretched sounds and vocals giving the material a bit of a ‘ritual feel’. Here and there there is a blast. There are not many metal elements. In the opening track there is some guitar and in “Towards The Eastern Gate” screeching guitars set in about half way, but I would not have mind if that happened more often.

The album is descent, but not the best material of either project in my opinion.

“P:R:I:S:M” has eight tracks and almost 54 minutes running time. The album comes on cd, double lp (red or black vinyl) and through digital means.

Links: Sutekh Hexen, Funerary Call, Cyclic Law

Geneviève Pasquier – Indecent Behaviour (2023)

In the Ant-Zen series of luxury 7″s comes the first Pasquier in several years. Two new tracks, both uptempo and both again somewhat different from what Geneviève did before.

“Cannibal Night” is a nice track with a bit of a punky feel. “Berühren” is more of a romantic electroclash song that opens softly, but is sped up by a beat after a little.

Both tracks are Pasquier’s take on old tracks, both originals I did not yet know. In the case of “Cannibal Night” by Nox the new version is not that far from the original, but now there is an uptempo beat.
Profil’s original is already a punky synthpop track, which -as mentioned- sounds more romantic in the Pasquier’s version.

Links: Geneviève Pasquier, Ant-Zen

Tanz Ohne Musik – 17 (2023)

Tanz Ohne Musik found their way to Ant-Zen who present a 7″ and (of course) a digital version.

Side A has the title track, a melancholic minimal wave track. “Cold” is more in the angstpop style that TOM sometimes produces. With some distance, this is the most interesting track to me. In the last track, TOM tried something new. “Mescaline Swimming” is a somewhat uptempo track, a bit in an electropunk direction. Amusing.

Links: Tanz Ohne Musik, Ant-Zen

v/a – Arise (2023)

14 July Cold Spring will present another label compilation. Two cds, 33 tracks, 2,5 hours of music. Most tracks are from earlier releases (unfortunately), a few are from forthcoming releases.

Since Cold Spring releases different kinds of music, “Arise” goes from the heavy industrial of Kollaps and Khost to the dark ambient sounds of Jagath and Sleep Research Facility, noise by the likes of of Himukalt and Satori to more folky sounds such as those of Coil and FM Einheit. There are scene classics. Coil as we already saw, but there are also Merzbow, SPK and Genesis P-Orridge. Also projects that were new to me.

A large part of “Arise” is dark ambient and soundscape, not entirely my cup of tea. The good tracks I already knew. I guess this compilation is mostly meant as an introduction to Cold Spring.

Link: Cold Spring

Haus Arafna – Dunkelheit Bleibt (7″ 2023)

After the heavy “Asche“, the title does not exactly suggest a happy release. Indeed, the title track is quite like the material on the last album. A great track, with the misanthrope of the “Asche”.

The other track is called “Welt Verzicht” (‘world renunciation’). It is a little lighter on the rhythm, but also more “angstpop”.

The first track is magnificent, the other one is great, but I would not mind some old school Arafna noise again some time.

Links: Haus Arafna, Galakthorrö

Mode In Gliany – Amer Armor (2023)

After a 7″ on Galakthorrö a couple of years ago, Mode In Gliany returns to the same label for an album, available on vinyl and cd. Contrary to most other Galakthorrö project, Mode In Gliany also releases material through other labels.

The focus of Galakthorrö seems to be more and more the darker end of minimal wave and less the industrial of days gone. I find this a pity. Even though most releases are alright, I seldom play anything safe Arafna, Növelet, Subliminal and sometimes Herz Jühning.

Anyway, Mode In Gliany has more of a melancholic style. Perhaps not as much as Sühne Mensch or the latest material of Haus Arafna, but more than for example Da-Sein. The album is nice though.

Links: Mode In Gliany, Galakthorrö

Da-Sein – Sore (2023)

The fourth release (third album) all on the same label.

“Sore” opens with an analogues humming with some ‘Arafnian’ sounds, fitting for the label. In “Hell Over You”, the sound is more the November Növelet type minimal wave that we got to know Da-Sein for. It does seem -though- that Da-Sein leaned more towards the darker end of the style on “Sore”.

Like before, the slightly rougher tracks are the more interesting. There are some other ‘Arafnian sounds’ to be found on “Sore” and this time there are also more ambient tracks.

Like the previous releases of Da-Sein, the new album is nice, but I do not expect to listen to it a lot.

Links: Da-Sein, Galakthorrö

Ausströmen – Intersection (2023)

The debut of this UK noise project from 2018 was launched through Soundcloud, had a few physical releases and ended up on Bandcamp. The second album is now made available on Bandcamp and I have not heard of upcoming physical releases yet.

“Intersection” is quite like “Immobilise”. The noise of not too extreme, there are the typical ‘nagging’ vocals (but not in a negative way) and most tracks have some sort of rhythm, either in beats or pounding industrial. Ausströmen has a distinctive style, so it is not easy to throw in another project name to give you an idea of the sound. But, since both albums are on Bandcamp, you can just listen to them and decide if you want to buy them.

What may be somewhat different this time, is that “Intersection” has more ‘noisescape’ type tracks, which are alright. I prefer to wall of noise type tracks better and they are once again excellent. Also the more industrial tracks are again great.

Five years after a smashing debut (I still play it frequently) there now is a great follow up. Hopefully there will be a physical release again this time.

Link: Ausströmen (Bandcamp)