Various Artists – The Stormer

This one has been on the back burner for awhile. A comp dedicated to Aussie madman extraordinaire Ülex Xane, and specifically his recordings under the Streicher moniker. If you’re not familiar with those recordings, you should remedy that right away. Most of those releases were limited cassettes on Xane’s own Zero Cabal label, but they’re easy enough to find on the web in mp3 form.

Side A begins with “Invocation” by Pink Lava. A looped scraping sound over toy piano and sampled conversation, a bit boring but it’s thankfully short. A cover of Streicher’s “Destroi!” from Green Army Faction is next. An old war time record sample and lot’s of nice textured loops, GAF never disappoints. “Bulldog Breed” is another cover, I believe, from Mumber Toes with some decent lo-fi noise. Narkoleptik is next with “Lie Down In The Gutter”. A metallic buzz that varies little, but still one of the better tracks of heard from him. “SHARP Shooters” from Genocide Lolita provides the most aggressive track so far. Old school PE with mangled vocals, it’s one of my favorites. Making two for two of great tracks is Gelsomina with “Truth That Hurts”. Sci-Fi noise with nasty junk damage and shouted vocals, a definite highlight. “I Don’t Like You” from Mansfield sounds a bit like some old Broken Flag stuff, uber lo-fi feedback with white power samples. Great. Wedding supplies low end lo-fi rumbles on “First Bells Of Harihara”. Stab covers “I Don’t Give A Fuck” for the tape closer. Minimal cranky noise over the title mantra. One of the great things about the original was the total absence of anything other than vocals.

Side B kicks of with “The Stormer (Lansing,MI:2007)” from Burial Hex. The man behind that project, Clay Ruby, put the comp together and released it on his own label. This is a really low quality live recording. It has a weird vocal intro that sounds like “Oi! Oi! Oi!” repeated over and over and a few buzzes and junk metal scrapes. Whitecastle is next with the oh so long “Ruination II”. This one is more lo-fi noise that varies in pitch, but never really goes anywhere. Finally, The Grey Wolves enter the picture with “Streicher Commando Storm”. It’s typical old style Wolves, but there’s not a damn thing wrong with that. This one could’ve been recorded in ’88. And you can’t go wrong with Odal. He supplies 9+ minutes of chaos with “Eurabia”. Salvation For Sale is next with “Julius Streicher”, the whooshing noise effects I liked a lot, but the vocals are annoying as fuck. It sounds like a steel drum. Fecalove tears shit up with “I Can Feel Death SS On My Cock”, lots of heavy crunch and maximum feedback. Nice shouted vocals as well. A cover of NON’s “Total War” closes the tape, this one courtesy of the most hated project in Power Electronics, Deathkey. Lots of sampled war sounds and the vicious vocals make it almost unrecognizable, but the track is amazing. Another one of my favorites.

As the danger with any comp, this one is really uneven. There are a few really good tracks from some fairly prolific names in underground electronics and a lot of so-so tracks from projects that seem to only exist on this release. Still, for $6 it’s worth grabbing for the good tracks.

Review stolen shamelessly from Plaguehaus.

01 – Pink Lava – Invocation
02 – Green Army Fraction – Destroi!
03 – Mumber Toes – Bulldog Breed
04 – Narkoleptik – Lie Down in the Gutter
05 – Genocide Lolita – SHARP Shooters
06 – Gelsomina – Truth That Hurts
07 – Mansfield – I Don’t Like You
08 – Wedding – First Bells of Harihara
09 – STAB – I Don’t Give a Fuck
10 – Burial Hex – The Stormer (Lansing, MI 2007)
11 – Whitecastle – Ruination II
12 – The Grey Wolves – Streicher Commando Storm
13 – Odal – Eurabia
14 – Salvation for Sale – Julius Streicher
15 – Facelove – I Can Feel Death SS on My Cock
16 – Deathkey – Total War

If you like it, BUY IT!
The Stormer I
The Stormer II

PW: heavyelectronics.wordpress.com

~ by heavyelectronics on September 8, 2009.