S.T.A.B. Electronics
– Funerals – Old Europa Café – CD – 2023 – OECD 337.
https://www.oldeuropacafe.com/
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61556830742937
1.
Birthdread.
2.
The
Howl.
3.
She
Fucking Died (In Memoriam JS).
4.
A
Poxing.
5.
The
Death of Sex.
6.
All
Things Bright (Snowtown).
7.
I
Stand Alone.
8.
Violence
Begets Violence.
9.
The
Wisdom of the Grave.
10. Grief.
A
baby cries, this is the introduction to Birthdread. rumbling electronics
and ranting soon become the core of the track, Keith Finnan never stops reminding
us that “We Scream!”, he doesn’t stop for the entire track. For the first time
in years a repetition as good as the start of Enemy of Pigs ‘Mother, mother
please, mother, mother, please’ or the death tirade that began Day of the Male.
Muffled
sound samples play out until an impressive display of synthesisers and distorted
rage laden vocals becomes ‘The Howl.’ This uses something common to the Dalek power
vocal technique but makes it original by heightening the treble of the vocal to
such levels so that it becomes too sharp to accurately decipher. The electronics
warble in accordance to the vocal, heightening the confusion of the sound. The
muffled voice sample returns to its report after the death of the sonics.
Descending,
depressive electronics back a bleak vocal rant of ‘She’s Fucking Dead’ -is
this a lost love, a relative? The vocal repeats ‘She’s Fucking Dead’ until it
becomes emotion made into a weapon to batter the listener into submission. I
swear I can hear grieving in the background. This track is horrible, pure grief
made into noise.
‘A
Poxing’ impresses us away from grieving with big electronics, the drones,
samples and vocals kick the shit out of each other, warbled vocals rant with a
terrifying urgency and we are pulled back into the horror of She’s Fucking
Dead. It is here that I am aware I am in a position similar to that of Martin
Sheen’s character Captain Benjamin in Apocalypse Now being dragged down the
river through the deepest recesses of Colonel Kurtz’s mind, I have no choice
but to follow this journey to its end. The death synths impress the fuck out of
me here, they are unbelievably huge, so drag me down that river.
Horns
go off, sampled voices argue and the vocal shouts it’s head off, I feel as if I
am properly in the middle of things now. Stuck in an argument deciding who to
go off at, fuck you all I am ready, let’s fucking go for it. Let me finish my
drink so I can break my glass ready for whatever comes next. This is ‘The
Death of Sex,’ samples cry, the vocal roars, the horns sound like a traffic
jam building up towards road rage.
Pulsing
distant beats go off, boom, boom, boom, boom. Raving, ranting and electronics arrive,
sampled dialogue plays simultaneously – that and the vocal battle for
prominence of All Things Bright (Snowtown). The urgency isn’t in the
vocals, but is totally manipulated through the electronics, they sound like old
electronics, a bit Moog like, but they are in charge, bigger, divebombing
drones cut in and kill the Moog until the vocal is left to do its’ work with
the sample, the electronics come back once this has all been sorted out.
A
dramatic intro lets us know ‘I Stand Alone’, the electronics throb, repeat
and allow the sermon to begin. The vocal seems laced with more spite here than
on other tracks to express the isolation. Technical question here, is this the stance
of any listener of this level of Power Electronics? I have been playing this in
my car on the way to work for months, my own deaf levels of isolation never stop,
words and actions stab me in the face daily, am I completely fucked? Technically
that makes this the soundtrack to the listeners life. I stand alone
raises too many questions upon questions in my head, so fuck off S.T.A.B. The repetitive
electronics and their tonal fuckery are amazing at least, the track’s die off
is gradual and painful.
The
urgency continues with samples in ‘Violence Begets Violence,’ the vocal
reports, the electronics and the rhythmic beating noise are anxiety made into
sound. The depth of the synths radiates an ambitiousness akin to a lot of Cold
Spring artists like Colossloth and Satori and that of Control, but the vocal is
a ranting death sound that radiates pure hatred. The ‘War Is Good’ chant is
greatness akin to that of Hydra.
Mournful
Synths and prayers spin together, beautiful, distorted, whirling electronics to
form a black vortex of funeral sound – this is ‘The Wisdom of the Grave’.
The vocal goes off, shouts and spits at the death of life. This is very bleak,
but the best electronics are saved until last, perhaps the best of the project’s
career, ‘Grief’ uses overridden organ noises and warped vocals. Whatever
this is, it works.
My
only suggestion is sometimes the project should let the electronics do all of the
work, vocals aren’t always needed due to the clarity and strength of the
samples and noise on here. I say this as I always thought of S.T.A.B. as an effective
PE/Death Industrial project, but this release does demonstrate a clearly
intelligent, effective and subtle use of electronics. Funerals is potentially the
starting point to a new era of S.T.A.B. Electronics. Good work within this
genre needs solid thought behind it to be remotely effective and the sharpness here
is all in the fine details. Better be this good in Manchester next month,
welcome to the now of Death Industrial. Excellent.
Nothing
and Nobody 2024.
