- 12'', 2008, Release The Bats Records [RTB#31] -
Description from Release The Bats:
"Two of the best acts currently dwelling in the depths of the Swedish underground scene. Sewer Election [Dan Johansson from Ättestupa and Källarbarnen etc.] should be well-known by now, previous releases includes a split 12" with Incapacitants, cds on Troniks and Chondritic Sound and the amazing Killing-tapes. Altar of Flies [Mattias Gustafsson from Cryme] has created quite a buzz over the last year with a huge amount of very limited tape/cd-r releases. On this split LP, Sewer Election contributes with the nasty Rotten Corpse. A crude and disgusting piece. Monotonous, freezing coldness. Altar of Flies continues with his dark and eerie forest rumblings. Buried claustrophobic lo-fi insanity straight from hell. Heavy outbursts of feedback. Could've been outtakes from an old Dario Argento soundtrack. Mean-spirited ugliness from both bands."
* * *
Dynamical, yet straightforward - largely due to the A-side, and the contributions from Altar of Flies. Sudden bursts of screeching metals entwined with droning, broodingly ritualistic segments, very much reminiscent of Anna Gardeck's musical aesthetics on Bondage Woman makes this one of my favourite releases by Altar of Flies up to this day, and The Sounds of Mental Illness one of his best, most disturbing tracks. Apropos the atmosphere; in an interview in swedish, Gustafsson mentions being especially pleased with another production in the same vein as with the tracks on this particular split, namely Axis II (from Sacred Trails) as it "feels very filmic and threatening in an uncomforting [...] manner" - a description which suits the majority of Altar of Flies' oeuvre, and greatly emphasized in the present form.
Sewer Election's contribution Rotten Corpse feels less interesting, lacking the edge and harshness of his previous releases, such as "Sex / Death" or "The Killing Sessions" (together with Treriksröset). It's altogether a decent track, "crude and disgusting" at all times, but (inevitably) compared to the A-side, it appears rather spiritless and at times even anticlimactic.
A1 Altar Of Flies - Hiding In The Shadows
A2 Altar Of Flies - The Sounds Of Mental Illness
B1 Sewer Election - Rotten Corpse
See Also
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