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Sunday, 17 July 2022

Edge of Decay - Vein of Metal.

 

Edge of Decay – Vein of Metal – Aussaat- Aussaat 22 – 2022 – CD.

https://www.facebook.com/Aussaatundernte/

https://www.facebook.com/edgeofdecay

https://edgeofdecay.bandcamp.com/

ernten@aol.com

        1.       Rising of Contingency.

        2.       Sterile Stimulation.

        3.       Love Violence.

        4.       Cult of Iscariot.

        5.       Teenage Dreams.

        6.       Vein of Metal.

        7.       Anemia Seducer.

        8.       Infertile.




I haven’t reviewed a lot this year, life gets busy and a family member died. Being a lone project makes for a longer, steeper road in which to engage in and discuss modern day Power Electronics and all related genres. I have written for a few zines of late, I don’t know if that will continue. That has been an epic achievement writing for someone else, but the intense focus needed to do that well takes up a lot of time. I feel the need sometimes to do something alone, could a book on acts of now be the answer? This blog is my engagement within the scene. Back to the now -

Finland artists Edge of Decay have gradually produced a solid body of work since they first appeared in 2012. Having released on labels like Aussaat, Antipatik Records, Freak Animal Records, Obsessive Fundamental Realism and Phage Tapes, as well as playing the final United Forces of Industrial Festival in London, their CV is impressive. The new album Veil of Metal comes in a nicely presented panelled digipack with black artwork on red card. 

Vein of Metal drags into action with its’ intro track Rising of Contingency. A sense of urgency is radiated on Sterile Stimulation, as helicopter noise cuts away to anxious synthesisers. Samples of someone discussing violence serve as an intro to Love Violence at this point the electronics become violent as if the album has warmed up and ready to accelerate the sound. This couples wall distortion and screeching shards of crunching distortion that increase to become more explosive as the track develops.   

Cult of Iscariot models cold Power Electronics, this leans into Tesco Industrial nastiness, it’s not nice to listen to and that is effective work. The electronics become increasingly frenzied across the track, the rhythm is broken up and moved into a different pattern. Infected hiss and rhythmic distortion shift the sound whilst echoing the previous track’s methods on Teenage Dreams. The vocal is undecipherable across the pulsating rhythm of the track, I find myself wanting more from the vocal, I want it to be clearer. The way the rhythm of the noise keeps faltering is effective, it keeps you locked in.  

The title track, Vein of Metal, continues the infected electronics of the previous track, it is an ambient landscape that gives off bleakness. However, it is an impressive display of electronics that displays impressive subtle shifts of noise.  Anemia Seducer feels as if it is dragging across a floor, struggling to survive. The album has gone from infected to dying in two tracks. As the aggression builds, Anemia Seducer becomes a pained, screamer of a track. Infertile demonstrates an impressive die off, it follows off from Anemia Seducer brilliantly providing a dramatic end to the album.

Since its’ first release in 2016 Aussaat has really established itself as a strong, consistent label with Edge of Decay being a highlight amongst the label’s releases with the two albums that they have delivered on Aussaat. This is a good album, well executed and delivered.

Coventry Soul 2022.

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