Location: UK / US
Genre: NOISE / BLACK METAL
Label: MATRIARCH RECORDS
Year: 2022
Reviewer: LUKE HAYHURST
UK Black Metal/Noise duo Poisonous Reflection are back and they have friends in tow, with US noise merchants Razorwire Handcuffs. Their brand new split release has been put out on cassette by UK label Matriarch Records.
I'm used to Poisonous Reflection doling out raw black metal savagery with barbaric levels of noise pollution surrounding it. Here though the first two tracks, 'Botulinum Poisoning' and 'Strangled and Resuscitated' are all out noise affairs, with an atmosphere like something akin to waking to find your television left on and in your half awake state being confused by the static and white noise now permeating your confused and foggy senses. Maybe you have to be an 80's or early 90's kid to fully appreciate that analogy but trust me I remember a few nights like that!
Not until the bass heavy tones of 'Succumbing to the Exultation of the Fathomless Void' do we hear nerve shredding vocals like nails down a chalkboard, whilst cold, deeply unhinged guitar tones sound out in an aimless, lunatic fashion. Poisonous Reflection see out their half of this split with the lo-fi savagery of 'The Rape of Luminesce by the Cosmic Ravine', in which anguished vocal rambling battles for supremacy against a cacophony of swirling, blackened roaring and uncomfortable drum tones before veering off into a crescendo of noise fuelled madness.
This is my first experience of Razorwire Handcuffs whose three tracks start with 'Collapsed Cranium', which is somewhat ironic as their aural raging inferno of sound could achieve exactly that. As the sonic blaze strengthens it feels like a wasps nest has been let loose inside your head. This theme continues through 'The Kill' and right into final track 'Wave of Pure Hate', which is a spoken word audio clip with a droning ambiance in the background, before signing off with a burst of ear piercing static.
I do very much like the work of Poisonous Reflection, even though they have dropped a lot of the Black Metal side into the background. Razorwire Handcuffs are harder to like, but easy to appreciate for this solid wall of hate filled noise.
https://poisonousreflection.bandcamp.com/
https://razorwirehandcuffs.bandcamp.com/music
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