Totenrune / Sarin Snow – श्रवो अक्षितम् / Κλέος Άφθιτον

Totenrune / Sarin Snow – श्रवो अक्षितम् / Κλέος Άφθιτον 7”ep Novichok 2022

Here is a quick dose of Novichok poison, being another split 7″ep in the ongoing series. This release sees the Australian Totenrune paired with the American Sarin Snow, who have each sought to thematically focus on a warrior archetype derived from the ancient world.

Totenrune leads off with an instrumental track based around muted buzzing oscillations which are partially buried under multitudes of raw metallic textures and general static fizz. Being consistently seething and edging towards the chaotic, the layering still remains paced and controlled, while equally infused with a distant and hollow tone. Despite the general bulk and heft of the track’s layering, the end result is far less brute force than other material I heard from Totenrune, here achieving imposing industrial noise result. Sarin Snow then takes up the flip side, which is immediately characterised by a queasy and swaying synth line, further blended with sparse and echoed metallic clatter, faint rhythmic pulse, tensile drone, and numerous other crumbling textures. The ominous vocals feature as another layer of distortion smear, and while being unintelligible, all the same they give the strong impression of being a harbinger of doom.

With both tracks focusing on generally controlled and contemplative atmospheres, each project duly impresses on this short split, and again commendably demonstrates the strength of Novichok’s label vision. Double-sided, pro-printed sleeve and insert rounds out the presentation.

Two 7″ doses of Novichok

The pace of releases issued on the new Australia Novichok label continues, noting that six 7”ep have been issued in 2021 already. Following below are reviews of two ep’s from the latest batch, with both issued in an edition of 150.

Krang Music / Browning Mummery – How I Want To …. Ronald Reagan (Extract) / Lament For Comrade Time 7”ep Novichok 2021

This 7”ep functions as a tribute to the late Australian percussionist and underground experimentalist John Murphy. The first side features a short excerpt of a longer work from John’s long-running Krang Music project, originally recorded and released in 1981. Being of a raw noise-industrial style, the tone sits at the mid to higher ranges, with a windswept and washes out lower end. Sonically it is an immediate headlong dive into sustained layered noise with a solid dose of industrial grit. With little in the way of tonal variation, it is a short but sweet homage to John’s early industrial experimentation.

Australian stalwart Browning Mummery (aka Andy Lonsdale) takes up the flip side, and is sonically completely different, and features the inputs of John’s wife Annie Stubbs (vocals) and further contributions from Julian Percy and Rob Cumings. Being far more song-oriented than Side A, Lament For Comrade Time it is perhaps most reminiscent of a 1980’s experimental industrial type. Framed around a loose bass line, mid-paced minimalist programmed beat, and smatterings of abstracted sounds, it is then strongly characterised by the lamenting but almost jazz-inflected vocals of Annie. Divergently engaging.

 

Psychward / Concentration – Morbid Paralysis / Deathmarch 7”ep Novichok 2021

Psychward, the solo project of Australian Thomas Miller leads off the split with Morbid Paralysis. Here it features tightly wound coils of charred noise and spitting static, which are framed around a central queasy oscillating tone. Ripping junk metal clatter and scrappy noise sonics add variety to the noise-industrial soundscape, while the overall feel is one of laborious control rather than psychotically unhinged. With the track abruptly cutting off rather than fading out, it concludes a short but very on-point track.

From what little information I can glean on Concentration, it is a new noise-industrial meets power electronics project of another Australian Larissa Kunst. On Deathmarch it features distortion which resembles distant thunderclaps, low bass rumble and a stilted death industrial-like pulse which acts as a backing to a (sampled?) poetic spoken voice. Yet that vocal element is smeared with just enough distortion so as to be difficult if not impossible to interpret, while late track further noise layers and metallic clangs give a slightly more chaotic edge. With a lo-fi and no-frills approach, it is a solid introduction to this project.

Rope Society / Am Not ‎– Диархия

Rope Society / Am Not ‎– Диархия 7”ep Novichok ‎2021

Novichok ‎is a new Australian based label with the chosen name specifically referencing a Soviet developed nerve agent. Clearly this split release has carried on with this general theme, given Am Not’s track is also titled Nerve Agents and the cover features an image of Mikhail Khodorkovsky – exiled Russian businessman and Kremlin critic (although in truth I did not immediately recognise who was on the cover as the image is of a much younger Mikhail, meaning I had to seek assistance in identifying who it was). The interior panel of the cover also features an image of the interior of Salisbury Cathedral, UK which would be a reference to the 2018 novichok poisoning of Sergei Skripal in Salisbury, who is a former Russian military officer and double agent for the British intelligence agencies.

Rope Society leads off Side A with the track Bite The Hand. In noting that Rope Society is a side project to Isomer which was primarily launched to focused on harsher sonics, it is interesting that this track partially arcs back to the sound of an earlier Isomer MCD Nil By Mouth. A Russian dialogue sample and low squelching heavy electronics modulating pulse opens the track, over which a seething distorted vocal is spat and further coupled with smattering of static smears. Space and separation of tonal elements provide a spacious production which is controlled rather than unhinged in mood. Am Not follows on the flipside, and feature a track of composed yet harsh power electronics, based predominantly on an idling machine line tone around which more jagged tonal elements are framed. But where the metered vocal delivery of Tamon is a usual and trademark element of Am Not, they are notably absent here. Instead the vocals are provided courtesy of Shift, and are completely flesh searing in their aggressive intensity, where through further sonic treatment are pushed to a point of being yet another distorted sound layered.

Given the short and sharp format of this 7”ep, both groups deliver a poisonous dual dose on this very commendable release. With a number of split 7”ep’s having already issued on the label, it will be rather interesting to watch how Novichok develops.