The Vomit Arsonist - To What End.

The Vomit Arsonist – To What End – Cloister Recordings – CD/Download – CRUS-143 - 2025 

https://thevomitarsonist.bandcamp.com  

https://cloisterrecordingsus.bandcamp.com 

1. By Every Measure.

2. I Do Not Want to Be a Part of This.

3. The Onset of Calamity.

4. Made to Crawl.

5. Rendered Useless.

6. Blessed Emptiness.

7. It's Coming and You Can't Stop It.

8. Demoralization.

‘We are fucked as a species, and this is the soundtrack.’ – quote from Cloister recordings website.

I read in Special Interests that Andy Grant lyrics are taken from a notebook of thoughts and writings and applied to tracks. He also sound collages sounds recordings that he has made recently and over the years into his works. Reading about Grant's recording process seemed to lock me into his work, as I was unfamiliar with it before this review.

The thick texture of an ominous, abstract, landscape of sound greets me, distorted pulsations form pillars of rhythm. The album often uses huge bellowing drones, crunched up, slow rhythms, loops and some samples of metal being scraped, hit and dragged. Electronics, buzz and play out for long periods of time.  On some tracks, drones are left to operate for long periods of time while intricate details of roaring bass and samples are intricately woven around this – there is a clear eye for fine detail running through the album.

A distorted, infected vocal rains over this – the vocal is raspy, distortion that runs through it. It also functions like a mist of angry static that simultaneously shouts over the compositions of noise being made and becomes a part of the work, it blends into its' surroundings. The overall sound is infected, as if decomposing while flies party over it, that is the Death Industrial of the work. 

The use of noise rhythms through slow beats is sophisticated, as it is often distorted so it blends into whatever else is going off slightly, to quote the Facebook group Noise Now Playing, there is no ‘Beat Shit', it works well within every track. I highlight this, as beats are a yes or no in noise, it either works or it flat out fails, there is no maybe and here it works well. 

Overall this is a good album, this is further evidence that these are exciting times for Death Industrial and Vomit Arsonist is a key part of that. The album can be purchased from the Cloister link above.

Nothing and Nobody 2025.