Fecalove & Taeter ‘Total Punishment Special’ C-32

Fecalove’s “A Beginner’s Guide To AIDS” swallows the first side of this cassette up to the balls, starting with an uncomfortably brisk loop which starts to pick up feedback and gargling vocals as its gets moist. But the action starts when the shuffling loop stops and the track explodes creamily, thick distortion still laced with hints of feedback and voice, but more heavily imbued with thundering junk metal and squirts of wriggling filter squelch. This incessant flood of gloriously encompassing noise dominates the piece by sheer weight, and the faltering start is forgiven once this fervent cascade of harsh noise starts gushing from all available points of discharge. It dries up only when a roar of synth with heavier low-end revs up quickly, the deluge finished because at some point it had to be – but not replaced, because no one likes a second-tier successor.

Taeter may be one of the most under-appreciated power electronics acts doing the rounds, and the three tracks here are once again superbly crafted and dramatically dark pieces of filthy art. The Taeter side opens with a ‘radio edit’ of the title track to ‘Glorious Paraphilia’, the track’s hammered synth dynamics now at the forefront, the vocals lowered in the mix for an effective shift to the (also shortened somewhat) piece. The cover version of The Gerogerigegege’s “Her Name Is On My Cock” which follows is astounding, lecherous synth drones circling sore and greasily effected vocal ,pams and cries which are tinctured with feedback and dripping in sleaze. Capturing the invasiveness of the (fucking classic!) original while adding something new – replacing some of the original’s hostility with an indecent liquefaction – makes the track an ideal tribute.

Another cover song follows, this time a more traditional power electronics reworking of Kickback’s “If I Die Tonight”, ashen synth clouds and metallic industrial thudding creeping from the speakers while a black metal inspired snarl chews up the lyrics to give off a sickening scent of MZ.412-esque grimness. Unlike the previous track there’s no stylistic alignment, this is a slow and menacing rework of a track just looking for maltreatment.

This split cassette also saw release on CDR, both in meagre editions for a run of 2017 shows by Nicola in Japan. I can’t even find a listing on Discogs, so can only mark it up as a true obscurity, even if containing material well worth a much larger issue.