‘Experiment to Destruct’ looks, feels and sounds like a release I haven’t picked up in a long time: two acts of raw harsh noise ripped to a CDR with a pasted-on label, and with a foldover cover in a thin plastic sleeve: the type of release I received a glut of in the ‘00s, at the peak of the use of CDR as a cheap and efficient choice of underground sound dissemination – but one which has neared extinction in the face of the resurrection of cassette as the chosen base media. The disc is welcomingly crude and unapologetically abrasive, both performances seemingly one-take expressions of late night urge and frustration, a small bank of effects hammered and thrashed into submission.
Immediately noticeable about the Death Dedication tracks is their emphasis on low-end murk, a heavy bass frequency dousing proceedings at the expense of a more balanced production, I suspect the result also of the initial recordings being on analogue tape (given the thin layer of tape hiss mist which hangs above the piece), and giving both the project’s tracks an immediately sinister shadow under which to work.
Both opener “Twisted Limbs Washed” and second track “Do You Still Party” cover a fair expanse of sound, from sore blistered bubbles to soaked throes of distortion, and incorporating humming synth flights, boiling semi-ambient baths, and kitchen cupboard clatter. “Twisted Limbs Washed” is especially prone to being in constant transit, demure lines quickly running into thickly laid slabs, and with a mixture of monophonic and polyphonic tranches both when in full-on distortion mode and when exploring less torching tones. “Do You Still Party” is the more stable of the two, opting overwhelmingly for familiarly cascading bass-heavy distortions, but still falling into a backwater of idling softer noise a few minutes in, and slowing to glimpse a surprising skeleton of junk metal clamour at about the ten minute mark – which then permeates the track as its distortions return to again submerge the source material in viscous tarry noise.
Necroecclesia fires up a single track with an instantly brighter mid-range responsiveness and hint of high-end crispness added to its low-end furnacing, the piece largely immobile in its focus on a tearing central frequency and slowly entering booming bass, only a few small squeaks of higher register worming their way through a central middle register grind while a haunting repetitive throbbing sits at the back of the piece. The final third or so of “Evil Sleep” tears some holes in the previously enveloping approach, bringing some of the low frequencies out and prompting a haunting higher refrain to faintly echo around, further grain and gristle emerging from the thinner texture which has been sandpapered away over the preceding 15 minutes. It’s not the type of noise I visit unless prompted to, but “Evil Sleep” is clear in its vision, intent in its execution, and faultless for achieving its want.
The strangely-titled “Do You Still Party” is the subversive winner for me, less disjunct than “Twisted Limbs Washed” but without the wall-ish stasis which cramps Necroecclesia, and best expressing the solemnity of Death Dedication within its chosen swampish noise output while bringing some movement and uncertainty to the composition. The entirety of 'Experiment To Destruct' is deserving of several listens without necessarily being a release which will protrude from my collection in months’ time; like much of the ’00s product it emulates ‘Experiment To Destruct’ is a turgidly enjoyable listen should I chance upon it, but also unlikely to trigger a reminiscence and want to listen when in the drawer and out of sight. Short props to the suitably obscure collage art, which wraps the disc in layers of the unknown and adds a hallucinatory layer of distraction to the sound within.
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