In a series of quite some interesting, no, excuse me, impressive (!) Cold Spring Records-releases, I came along the Iron Fist Of The Sun-album We Can Yield Our Own Footsteps, a seven-tracker that lasts for forty five minutes. Iron Fist Of The Sun are a Birmingham-based project by Lee Howard, and apparently (t)he(y) did perform ‘live on stage’ with acts no less than Raison d’Être, MZ.412, Trepaneringsritualen, Brighter Death Now, Skullflower and more of this stuff undersigned truly adores. Why wasn’t I aware of this act? Apparently there were more than a handful of releases before, so right now I am in search of… But what would you care anyway…
We Can Yield Our Own Footsteps opens with Pride, which starts of the scarifying way: a haunting drone-scape and ritual gong-alike sounds, preparing me, mentally, to worse to come. And ‘worse’ is pejoratively meant the positive way, of course! Soon some noise joins in, followed by mostly grim, tortured / torturing screams from the deepest abyss. Black Ambient Industrial is the first possible description that penetrates my ([…]) brain. This is a bad trip, a schizoid ritual of sonic terrorism (I have to admit that I sort of stole the term ‘sonic terrorism’ from the bio included). With The Disappearing Chair, the Power Noise-elements are even more prominently present, coming close to the border of Minimal Noise and Noise Wall, and the electronic devises and industrial frequencies cover the hole in a mostly uncomfortable, sinister veil. You will surely forgive me, if not agree, when I say that MZ.412 are a non-deniable comparison. Especially the next piece, Trapped In Amber incorporates some MZ.412-things, though the minimal and nihilistic repetitititivity might refer to some Ataraxy-nonsense as well. And the experience goes on that way. Sometimes there is a wall of penetrant and scornful noisy soundscapes, then again it deals with multi-layer dimensions of mechanical and industrial grotesquery, or frenzy, tortured post-nihilism. Black rituals for black minds…
FYI: mastered by Martin Bowes at the Cage Studio (in Cold Spring-terminology: think Skullflower, Khost, Trepaneringsritualen, Moloch, Tunnels Of Ah and many more)