Aside from sampling a few scattered tracks here and there, this is the first time I've finally decided to check out an entire full-length from this esteemed German project. These eight tracks (titled simply "I" through "VIII") comprise a tastefully capped off 36-minute run through an array of excellent dark ambient/death industrial soundcapes. Lightly filtered spoken vocals appear early on in "II" next to rhythmic percussive textures, flanged midrange, and sizzling crisps of feedback that roll back and forth. This type of crisp, sizzling distortion comes back in a slightly glitchier and more electronic form in "IV", hovering over lurching low-end loops and changing over into thick, subdued harsh noise at times. "VI" is a very consistent track that again uses a low-end loop that has a rhythmic churn to it alongside very faint and slightly harsh textures, as well as an ethereal sort of machinated hum that fades in and out of the center of the mix. "VII" is probably the "harshest" piece herein, granted there's still a monotonous ambient tone repeated underneath, and there are faint instances of slight, slight melody seeping through... but the distortion that fights its way to the fore, while atmospheric, is a bit more grating and persistent than elsewhere. Towards the end things fade down as another sample (in German) closes the track out perfectly. The overall recording is a little rawer than I might have anticipated, but not really rough or anything. It's got a nice warmth to it, but it's definitely not as clean and pristine as I had expected it might be. To be completely honest I think the packaging here leaves a lot to be desired. The disc is housed in a matte digipack that's largely black, which is sort of nice, but the only art is a small (likely computer generated) scene repeated on both the cover and the inner flap, with scarcely any text whatsoever. It could be worse, but I've seen far better as well. In the end I'm not blown away by this considering the name power that Anenzephalia has garnered over the years, but this is a nice, aptly succinct full-length that flows nicely and is a cohesive whole whose concept is threaded throughout several elements of the individual segments. Worth checking out, but my guess is that some of the project's earlier work might be a bit more worthy of praise...
[Tesco]
Running time - 36:23, Tracks: 8
[Notable tracks: II, VII]
Tesco Organisation - http://www.tesco-germany.com
