Climax Denial - Sexuality Is a Curse.

Climax Denial – Sexuality is a Curse – IDES – Cassette, C32 – 2006.

https://www.virtueslabel.com

A1. I'll Lick Your Cum Off the Cement.

A2. When You Breathe I Wince, When You Move I Tremble.

A3. Swallow My Head My Shoulders My Arms My Hips My Legs.

A4. Bury Me In The Crypt Between Your Legs.

B Show Me What You're Hiding Under That Skirt.

 

Climax Denial is the refusal to let go to keep shit bottled up. Whether self-induced or inflicted by another. It causes suffering, but it can also make you stronger, it can also break you down to nothing… Climax Denial is catharsis and castration at the same time. Exotreic magazine, interview with Aldo V. 2007

In an age when I was getting further immersed in Industrial and its surrounding genres it was Chis Sienko’s article in As Loud as Possible magazine made me begin to seek out the work of Climax Denial. I even found Alex Kmet’s then seller name on Discogs and bought a few things off him, they were All My Loves Are Like Dreams and Sexuality Is a Curse. The urgency of the title ‘Sexuality is a Curse’ resonated to me on a massive personal level. It was released on Nicole Chambers IDES Recordings a small label that released from 2005 – 2010. IDES despite being interviewed in As Loud as Possible, it remained a mystery, the label did 17 releases and stopped, each one looks beautiful, Chambers had an amazing curatorial eye. Alex Kmet had been making noise since 2002 aged 17 in high school. Sexuality is a Curse was released when he would have been around 21. This was the golden age of social media and noise in the US, many of these artists toured frequently around the world, there were hundreds of releases coming out on a monthly basis. This was around the 8^th Climax Denial release and the 3^rd album after Basement Bruises and A Wood Rose for Little Love Knife (2005). Kemet explained to me; ‘I had only been doing Climax Denial for about a year when I did Sexuality is a Curse…, but it is seemingly the start of the more perverted/erotic/fetish themes compared to the 2005 releases.’ The inspirations for the album have been lost in time, in As Loud As Possible magazine in 2010, Kemet talked about his inspirations for releases around that time to Chris Sienko; ‘With very few exceptions, the tracks are about specific events in my life. Sometimes exaggerated, sometimes not. If I have to make up a character, it’s just myself acting out some masturbatory hallucination.’ I am left questioning what the inspiration for Sexuality is a Curse was as Kemet rarely gets too detailed in interviews about the specific motivations for a release, he will often just give a general hint.

Sexuality is a Curse was recorded in a farmhouse outside the city were Kemet lived for 6 months, many of the early Climax Denial releases were recorded here. It was recorded with a minimal set up of broken mixers, microphones and pedals. He has in the past described the time it could takes to record a release in As Loud as Possible: ‘I have gone months without recording anything at all, there have been releases that take months to complete and I have recorded releases in one day on more than one occasion.’ Kmet says the album was improvised in a couple of days and it comes from a time when the project was very prolific and the primary focus of his life.

Originally Kemet explained; ‘All the tracks were officially untitled. The words printed in the artwork are just lyrics from one of the tracks, but whoever uploaded the release to discogs entered them in as though they were track titles. I kind of liked it better that way so never made an effort to change that.’ I will go with this for the review of the work.  Side One begins with the hallucinatory I’ll Lick Your Cum Off the Cement, it shimmers, metal is hit in the distance and drones waver to blur the focus of the listener, deep threating rumbling noise lurks beneath this – it sets a sense of occasion to the work. Things take a nastier turn for When You Breate I Wince, When You Move, I Tremble. Uses a thick Harsh Noise Wall with a lot of drag and crackle, the vocal is authoritative but distorted so that it works as a noise flanked by the walls of dragging distortion around it. The whole track feels like an attack, the inaudibility of the vocal makes me feel as if I am drugged. A lone drone cut into by pitches of feedback wails accompanied by breathing sounds and contact mic abuse. A thicker wall of noise interrupts and drags itself to the end of the track. Swallow My Head My Shoulders My Arms My Hips My Legs begins as menacing drones signal an aggressive blast of sound, the vocal howls, buried in the noise as if gasping for survival, the sound is oppressed as distortion pulls us out of frequency, crushing the sound – feedback howls through everything to destroy the oppression. Due to this the sound gets bigger and the combinations of noise gel into one blasting symphony. Bury Me In The Crypt Between Your Legs moves into sad tones that bring us to the haziness of the opener, but use melody to demonstrate a level of musicianship that is hinted at in the intro and the use of noises to take over and accompany each other. This stops and moves into low level noise, deep drones accelerate with drones and shimmering keyboard melodies return to signify the side’s end.

Side Two is one long track Show Me What You’re Hiding Under That Skirt that begins with a female narrative talking about abuse. Thick rumbling distortion takes over and is allows feedback to interrupt and wail, this goes back and forth for a time. Both elements gain power with their return. With the bass roar now on full throttle the feedback wails lower like a vocal until the vocal returns, again it is noise which combines with the feedback to work together. Pressure is put on the sound to make it faulter and drag, this element is toyed with continuously. I question if this is double tracked vocals as Climax Denial does a lot of things with his voice, I have seen him jab himself in the throat to cut into his voice and abstract it. The build-up of sound is furthered by all of the elements gelling together as the track progresses this shifts to being a lone wall of bass roar that cuts out to signify an end to the work.

Climax Denial in 2024 I believe is influential on several fronts: firstly, as a veteran Power Electronics project of near 20 years, secondly, I believe one of his methods – burying the vocals within the noise is now prevalent amongst projects like Cremation Lily and Knifedoutofexistence and the influence on queer projects like Straight Panic (with whom he has collaborated), Doll and Distraxi (who collects Climax Denial).  Alex Kemet previously ran SexKrime Arts label, before that Violent Whatever and now runs the Virtues Label. Sexkrime was cassette and Cdr, Virtues does vinyl, CD and cassette all-in high-quality releases. This is an outstanding album that had a huge impact on me as US Power Electronics goes making Climax Denial a project that I still collect to this day.

Nothing and Nobody 2024 -25.

Threatening Reflections - Mosquito Larve in the Birdbath.

 

Threatening Reflections – Mosquito Larvae in the Birdbath – Cassette, C20 – Virtues – VTUL010 – 2023

https://www.virtueslabel.com/

I’ve bought many releases on Alex Kmet’s Virtues label since it began in 2020. There have been impressive works by Doll, Corporate Park, Jon Mueller, SV8, Fog of Joy, Kate Rissiek and Climax Denial amongst others in that time. I like the presentation and the wide range of work by artists that the label puts out.

This is the second ever appearance by the Climax Denial side project Threatening Reflection, the first was in a split release with Climax Denial on Violent Whatever in 2007 – two sides of the same artist. I like the 16-year gap between releases and this is the first stand-alone release by Threatening Reflections.

The cassette is printed and presented in a pard clouded, part clear cassette case. The inner card folds out and there are images of mysteriously dead animals printed in colour with a shot of a Mosquito larvae with trees and long grass in the background on the inside cover. The artwork clearly and beautifully sets the theme to the work. I say this, as each of the images are like works of art in themselves, with the front cover images seen as either staged scenarios or natural accidents captured within a landscape.

The untitled work becomes a landscape of sound, initially formed through drones that remind me of the work of Angus MacLise or La Monte Young. This quickly moves into its own territory through the dragging vocal sounds, subtle glitch sounds and noises that seem to reference bad weather, each running through the sound at different times. I feel as if I am lost in an American rural landscape that shifts from plaguing me with fear, to overwhelming with natural beauty as I try to navigate it. These aspects cause the release to live up to the threatening part of the name, but it is also serves as a strangely seductive reflection at the same time.

One of my favourite Climax Denial releases is the Sexuality Is a Curse release on the short-lived IDES Recordings label in 2006. To me that recording is Climax Denial presented as something other than the genres that are frequently tied to the project. This release also does that and easily matches Sexuality Is a Curse in terms of how good and how unique it is.  Mosquito Larve in the Birdbath is a short but very strong release that demonstrates the different facets of beauty that Alex Kmet can create in his recordings.  

One and one alone, 2023.

Climax Denial #3

Climax Denial – Indolence – CD/Download – Abhorrent A.D. - AAD69

https://abhorrentafterdeath.bandcamp.com/album/climax-denial-indolence

https://www.virtueslabel.com/ (Still available from)

1.   Strong Nude Exhausts A Landscape.

2.   Clogged Drain.

3.   III (Mental)

4.   Shell In Muscle Fantastic Passion.

5.   Last Chance.

Indolence – An inclination to laziness.

Online dictionary definition. (merriam – webster)

I collect this project; I get everything that I can, but I have only reviewed him twice on here - my bad. Since 2005’s Little Wood Rose for Little Love Knife the discography of Climax Denial has steadily grown, as has the project’s reputation. Past interviews in As Loud as Possible and more recently in Special Interests have cemented the projects reputation. The image is a photo of a man with Lymphatic disease.

Harsh noise that feels like it is recorded with real metal and contact microphones explodes to create Strong Nude Exhausts A Landscape. Metal clangs throughout the roaring distortion, things stop, kick off and generally explode. This is release follows Asexual Electricity as a real foray into Harsh Noise. This has always been a part of Climax Denial’s many approaches, but these last two releases truly dive full into the genre. Blasts of electronics fuse into the physical sounds of metal clattering throughout the savagery of the piece.

Hissing goes off, we have Clogged Drain as sounds echo in the distance. This short track makes way for the burst of Power Electronics Harshness that is III (Mental), jarring feedback and distortion collide, the aggression is faster than the previous tracks. The throb of bass underneath the sound begins to pulsate and control how the other elements work on the track. This gets also develops a level of fucky digital noise as the sounds reach full explosion, the layering of elements is also impressive, giving a strong attention to finer detail of sound.

Menacing drones, shouting, cluttering and speech samples drop us into the dronier, bleak side of Climax Denial as demonstrated in 2015’s Dehumanizing Environments, this reminds us how nasty and cold the project can get. Last Track, Last Chance, an explosion of distortion throwing out an array of noises revs onwards. This track dies off with a drop in sound to reinvigorate with explosions of metal being hit and roaring distortion. Everything goes into hyperdrive until the die off, end.

The two shorter tracks delve into strange territories that remind us of the oddness of Climax Denial, it reminds us of who we are listening to. This isn’t the typical American Power Electronics, macho ex-metal guy who found PE through Relapse Records, this is the real weirdo oddball who came into Industrial Music and kicked off. The quest continues with new work and new sides to the sound emerging at different times. Great album, I can’t say enough great things about this project.

Army of One, 2023.

Climax Denial #2

Climax Denial – Asexual Electricity – Modern Decadence/Hiroshima Dust – C20 Cassette/Download – 2021

https://hiroshimadecadence.bandcamp.com/album/asexual-electricity

https://moderndecadence.bandcamp.com/album/asexual-electricity

https://www.virtueslabel.com/

         1.       I

         2.       II

I have been collecting Climax Denial releases a lot more over the last year, this is quite a few years after buying Sexuality is a Curse (IDES 2006) and All my Loves are Like Dreams (Assembly of Hatred 2010). Over the last year, my collection has grown. There seems to be a Harsher Noise side to the project and a Cold Synth side, both fall into the area of Power Electronics, the synth side has been a lot more prominent over recent years.

Smack! The Power Electronics Harshness has returned on this recording with a vengeance. The assault is full on. The nature of the sound has a muffled deep end with sharper sounds cutting the lead and hitting outwards whilst the deep bass fills the sound out. The sound seems to accelerate and draw in other noises. II makes use of sharper tones in its’ delivery. The acceleration often cuts out allowing for different sounds to kick in and create passages within the work. There are harrowing echoes thrown in parts to replace drops and cuts, this gives brief areas of haunted stillness before the acceleration resumes.

The title is powerful and leads the mind to many questions. Is the theme of the return to sharper electronics asexual and focussed within itself? Is it something deeper? I will never know? Asexual Electricity is a solid release and is easily one of the best Climax Denial albums that I have heard.

Army of One 2021.

Climax Denial - The Sorry Dream of Being.

Climax Denial – The Sorry Dream of Being – Cassette/Download – 2020 – Total Black – Total Black143.

A. Still Life With Clitoris.

B. Self Portrait With Bottle.

http://fleshintomachine.com/

https://totalblack.bandcamp.com/

One artist that I have begun to collect seriously in the last year is Alex Kmet’s work as Climax Denial. Climax Denial has been actively playing and releasing recordings since 2005. I was made aware of the project from an interview in As Loud as Possible magazine back in 2010. My first were Sexuality is a Curse (IDES Recordings 2006) and All of my Loves are Like Dreams (Assembly of Hatred 2010). This was back in 2010, but a recent session of repeated listening to those releases was the moment when I finally got the project, I understood what it was all about. The Sorry Dream of Being is the latest release by the project on Total Black, it contains two tracks that are both just under 10 minutes.

Still Life with Clitoris immediately radiates coldness, it pulsates and throbs. It seems to be an ambient take on Death Industrial, pulling things back to cold atmospheres. The slightest change in the pulsations of the drones seems to make massive waves and shifts in the work as it evolves any change in sound has clear impact. The core drone is massive and that is the part that resonates, it functions in a similar way to good wall noise in that thee are two key sounds that combine to make the main drone and slight shift in either drags the listeners focus with it. The smaller sounds play around this and form a constant language that constantly converses and adjusts the mental picture that the work creates.

Sharper atmospherics are present on Self Portrait With Bottle, the main drone has more of a splatter in contrast to the radiation of the early drones, it also uses sharper, obvious shifts. What were smaller sounds on the first track take a more prominent role here they seem to dictate the entire sound even as the drone rises and interrupts, it is as if there is a battle for dominance between the two elements. A wider vocabulary of noises gradually enters the picture and it fills the sound nicely, I feel that the coldness shifts into something of a more suspenseful aura that radiates anxiety. I felt spooked afterwards, but this made a perfect soundtrack to my day of isolation.

The Sorry Dream of Being ties in with the ever-shifting narrative that spreads across the work of Climax Denial. There are many different sonic narratives occurring in the project, the bleak minimalism of this release is a dominant theme. The journey continues as does my devotion.

Nevis Kretini 2020.