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Saturday 15 August 2020

Inner Demons Records #11.

Drago Katzov and Shallower – Split – [IND076D] – Download/ 2x3”CDR – 2020

https://innerdemonsrecords.bandcamp.com/

https://dragokatzov.bandcamp.com/

https://shallowernoise.bandcamp.com/releases

       1.    Drago Katzov- Elegy For Loyal Eight.

       2.    Drago Katzov – Twenty Years in the Sand.

       3.    Drago Katzov – You Will Find Me Between Breaths.

       4.    Shallower – Delphis

       5.    Shallower – Totem Pole Joe.

       6.    Shallower – Ethanol Drinker.


Expectation is a pointless feeling when doing an Inner Demons raid, perhaps expecting to be surprised may be a way forward. The work of Drago Katzov slowly climbs inwards to the core of itself with each track. The three tracks here meditate upon themselves and offer masterful demonstrations of low-level noise. The word Cinematic crops up in the description of the work, I agree with this as there is at times a massive sound that conjures up rich imagery within the work. Each track is an epic adventure.

Shallower is a foggier affair as a rain of distortion washes over distant harmonies, this simple interaction creates a rich sound, the listener is pulled in through the subtle restraint of the work. As crisp blasts of distortion roar the rise from that is immense. This, like Drago’s work becomes cinematic and dramatic as the subtle dynamics stretch across all tracks. As the use of distortion increases and takes over it becomes a wall of nothingness, but when this is interrupted by note patterns that injection of content is really felt.

Both projects offer up an impressive contribution to their own Cdr, this is strong work, possibly even brilliant.

En Nihil – Existence In Reverse – [IND082] - 3”CDR/Download – Inner Demons Records – 2020.

       1.    Existence In Reverse.


Creepy things start to happen from this CDR, it’s En Nihil, a project that has been active in some form since 1994. Existence in Reverse begins with combined creepy atmospherics and frequency abusing, high pitched noise. I like this it is like an upset cousin of Dark Ambient. It has an ambient aspect, yet there is noise and slow rhythm tied in there too. Vocal samples soon pop up, shouting and yelling. Something like this would have been ace on the old Slaughter Productions Death Odours compilations from decades back. Things move on, the rhythm goes away, and it gets noisier, making for a bleak display of Industrial Noise. As that dies off we have subtle interplays of low distortion taking the lead, this builds into pure creepy atmospherics which then intensify into a clattering noise assault that plays off against digital drones.

This is a complete shapeshifter of a release. Good.

Dorkus Maximus 2020

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