Detrimental Effect - Your Truth.

Detrimental Effect – Your Truth – CD/Download – Tesco Records – 2019 – Tesco 137.

Detrimental Effect is a Germany based, one-man project that has been releasing albums since 2017. There have been two releases on Unsound Productions (aka Unrest) – To Brandon Bryant (2017) and Be My Enemy (2018). ‘Your Truth’ is the project’s third release and first on Tesco. The album deals with the wider spectrum of media and political distortions/versions of Truth and what Truth is to individual people. – this furthers out to the effect and divide that this has on populations.

Your Truth is an album that begins with a sense of restraint, it stays in the simmering zone in its early stages. There are hostile atmospherics to the early tracks on the album, demonstrated to good effect - the fucked off vocals that overlay this do work well within the whole mix.

Cruel-Fiction allows a repetitive beat and recordings of dialogue to play off each other, there is a slight buzzing that interferes with and teases this. That is then followed by looping electronics and a distorted dialogue that along with slight, subtle noises intensify the sound.  I like the contrast of tracks using just samples and noise against tracks where it is vocals and noise, this allows a wider sonic dialogue. There is a very good use of Power Electronics noise, twerky, farty, distorted noises that threaten, particularly on the title track Your Truth. The way the shouted vocals are restrained in the mix is excellent, it works very well on Gloves are Off, this is a hard thing to do, particularly as the album really begins to intensify in its latter stages.

Further tension grows as recorded speeches and screechy noises play off each other in The Lie of the Lands, here the noise plays a more prominent role, reed like noises become pure torture as the speech intensifies. The nature of torturous noise continues into Final Truth, without explosion or delving into displays of Harsh Noise this is as intense as it gets – tension close to breaking point. The final track simmers away with distant dialogue and murky electronics as vocals are reigned further in as if they are drowning in a distorted mud, this continues with resonating synthesisers until its death.

Your Truth is a very controlled, strong album. Restraint in Power Electronics can sometimes fail, this is always held back perfectly. As a result of this, the slightest rises in sound or changes throughout the album have a strong effect. This is my introduction to Detrimental Effect, I am very impressed and now a fan. I want to hear more of the projects work for sure.

Nevis Kretini 2019.