Haare – New Age of Death – Aussaat – Aussaat 15 – CD – 2020.
https://www.facebook.com/Aussaatundernte/
http://haarenoise.blogspot.com/
1. Thunderbolt
Gate Invocation.
2. Phowa.
3. New
Age of Death.
4. Maitreya.
I have been extremely impressed by the work of Haare,
particularly their Brain CD also released on Aussaat in 2020. Haare has a
prolific discography and the project stretches far back to 1999, not 2008 as I
had said in a previous review. I believe Haare to be amongst the absolute best
in the history of guitar noise and Ilkka Vekka to be one of today’s leading
lights in that field.
The Psychedelia of the sound resonated as Thunderbolt Gate
Invocation begins as a dark dreamscape. The sound is slow and rolling, it falls
to near silence at times. But in the quieter area’s sound quirks become
apparent, I had it in my head that this would-be big guitar noise with
shattering psychedelics, yet it demonstrates impressive, intricate details that
play off each other – these form atmospheres that make a track.
Phowa is more foreboding, it starts of quietly as small
details build up and the sound eventually radiates and pulsates. Phowa seems to
psychically lift after it levels out; the sound seems to take the mind on a
trip. The balance on the track is impressive, elements really work together
well as if the sound is one complete unit, there is less play off here. Feedback
is distorted with harmonics and they lead the track to its end.
The longest track on the album is the title track New Age
of Death this combines playful tinkering and deep, dark atmospherics. As a listener
I felt trapped inside it as if I were stuck in a nightmare and couldn’t wake
up. I like that the sound has such an effect beyond being just a display of
sound which the work is strong enough to get away with due to the detailed textures
that it displays, but here and with much of the rest of the album it
transcends, literally.
The sense of tropical hallucination that runs through parts
of the album shows on Maitreya. Silence and interruptions of its state occur as
the beginning as things pull back to low sound with a small palette of sounds
interacting. There are distinct shifts in sound to Maitreya, as if there are several
separate passages within the track. I like the quirks and atmospheres that the
track presents throughout these shifts.
New Age of Death is excellent, Haare is a top tier project
without a doubt.
Army of One 2021.
