Well, when talking about ‘sonic confusion’ (isn’t that a subject we’re dealing with every single day? no?), please enter Necrosadik. Nowadays this Mexican one-man outfit, formed in 2008, implements some metalized elements, but that wasn’t the case in the past. Katharsis is a perfect example of this schizoid outfit. I firstly ‘met’ them thanks, once again, to Satanath’s master brain ;-) Aleksey, by the way…
But first things first, and that’s the realisation of Fall Into Void Records, a totally mad label from Austria that did re-release three Necrosadik-albums at once. Amongst them this one, Katharsis, which was initially released at the end of 2010 via Svartgalgh Records and Runenstein Records, though being extremely limited. Fall Into Void Records are now responsible for further psychic destruction the aural way…
Katharsis, and then I am coming back on what I mentioned in the opening paragraph of this review, indeed confuses the sonically way. Why? Because this is Black Metal without being ‘Metal’ at all. No, seriously, there is no reason to refer to ‘Metal’ whatsoever, for there is almost no electric guitar and absolutely no drum within this fifteen-track album at all. Yet still, ‘Black’ is the most appropriate description to make, because this sh*t is BLACK! For almost seventy minutes, Necrosadik brings aural distortion and frenzy, total sonic madness mainly based on piano, some noisy excerpts (samples, acoustic and electric guitars, yet dismorphed and raped all the way), and above all, the most tortured, unhuman screams to experience.
Oh yes, believe it or not, but apparently this album is divided in four separated acts, based around emotions, body, mind and spirituality. Let’s modestly add this popular term right here: WTF!
The intro An Introduction To My Funeral is a combination of screeching and dissonant, destructured guitar noises and anti-melodious piano tunes, creating a three-minute soundtrack of mental terror. Within the very same (poisoned) vein, this album continues. The One I Used To Be comes with comparable piano pickings, but joined by that sweet voice I mentioned above. Piano and voice get joined, though very modestly, by some background noises far away (guitar samples???), and it leaves me confused. Okay, this is meant to be Anti-Music, which I do not dislike at all, of course. But I am not sure if I truly ‘understand’ this violent expression of hate and disgust at the one hand, and depression / suicidal thoughts / despair at the other. This, as a matter of fact, goes for the better part of this album: some (dramatic) piano play with painful voices (dealing with every single aspect that makes human life so interesting: the chance, or better: the certainty, to die), sometimes accompanied by nihilistic guitar riffs (though always very ‘distant’ in sound) and / or field noises. Some ‘songs’ (what a silly way to define these auditive explorations) also include acoustic guitars (banjo???), being as irritating as the piano parts (with ‘irritating’ being translated in its most positive definition). And I might be wrong, but is that a clarinet and a saxophone I hear in Lacerate To Live - Bleed To Feel? And what about some organ in Immortality?...
Anyway, seen the fact that the simplicity and dissonance are a goal that was meant to sound this way, rather than simplicity and dissonance being a lack of ability to ‘play’ an instrument, I think one cannot be too severe in order to appreciate this album. It is on purpose that these pieces on Katharsis are not really ‘compositions’ yet rather low-fidelity sessions in order to create that highly uncomfortable result. Therefor I cannot (totally) dislike this stuff. At the other hand, I can truly understand why not everybody will appreciate Necrosadik’s efforts. And this goes not for this release only; also the other ones are truly frenzy and extremely hard-to-understand.
I am sort of obliged to give a quotation, so here it comes. It’s based on the intentions and the unique approach rather than craftsmanship or skillfulness, but I do appreciate the ideas behind this concept… …Let’s call it candle light dinner music for when your meet is still crawling around independently (any heartbeat still present might do just fine), and your wineglass is filled with fresh blood (your own, of course…), with the Grim Reaper himself as guest…