Right off the bat: I didn't like it. Yes, I listened through all of it, multiple times even. Pure noise music just isn't for me. I know I gave SexGender's Transgenital a good review, but I heard SexGender as a punk band first, and a noise band second. Cthulhu Detonator on the other hand is 100% noise based.
That being said, I'm not going to just bash this album. If there's something I can credit Mr. Hogg with, it's his ability to create atmosphere. My guess is that the desired atmosphere is supposed to be a bleak, dark, depraved future where massive industrialized cities cover the globe and machines have taken over, hell-bent on efficiency and general life-extermination. Pretty much the soundtrack to a grimdark setting. That, Cthulhu Detonator does well. That's about all I enjoyed from Infernal Machines, the only other bit being the more melodic and ambient songs like "Womb" and "Blinding White Light". I find the sheer harshness of the rest of the album gives songs like those a greater impact, giving you some time to calm yourself and breathe.
Overall Score
1.5
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Noise music just isn't for me. If you're into noise or dark ambient, I'm sure you'll enjoy Cthulhu Detonator's Infernal Machines. You can check out Eric Hogg's music at his bandcamp page.
That's all for now, folks!
-DG
In case you or your readers aren't familiar with Eric's music, I thought I should mention that he does a lot more than this kind of stuff. Eric Hogg - the actual person - runs the gamut from "avant garde noise-sculptor" to "traditional, man+guitar song artist" across his music, but he has divided it across a few different aliases.
ReplyDeleteUnder his new Cthulhu Detonator alias, he makes what seems to me to be structurally deprived noise; I don't actually like it much either. However, I agree that, as a soundscape, Infernal Machines is intense and effective.
Under the Zephyr Nova alias, he makes experimental electronica that is for the most part traditionally structured, though it varies a lot from song to song many regards. "Rise Automaton" was attributed to Zephyr Nova before the creation of the Cthulhu Detonator alias, but other Zephyr Nova songs like "Liquid Satellite" are on a completely different level, in my opinion. I'm a HUGE fan of Zephyr Nova because of how amazing the best of his works are, although admittedly some others still don't really appeal to me.
He has gone by his real name for his acoustic music, but he has also used the alias Solipsis. I'd say it's somewhat folksy acoustic rock music, with a bit of a Simon & Garfunkel feel to it, perhaps. The overall quality is really high. It's good stuff, if you're into that kind of music.
and have a lot of stuff from 2005 and 2006, but not much from later. I hear he's also on Soundcloud, but I haven't been able to check that out because my browser is really, really outdated.
The Zephyr Nova albums, "Zephyr Nova" and "Shatterscapes," and the Eric Hogg album, "Origins Unknown," are available for purchase/download somewhere on the web.
And the links that mysteriously vanished from my comment are for ACIDplanet, under the artist names "Zephyr Nova" and "Eric Hogg". Search engines are your friends, I guess.
ReplyDeleteWow! Thanks for the info! I'll definitely check out Zephyr Nova as well as Hogg's acoustic stuff!
DeleteCheers,
-DG