Not too long ago, I reviewed a lovely collaboration between Variát and Merzbow by the same label, I Shall Sing Until My Land Is Free. The label is run by Dmytro Fedorenko, who, of course, is known as Variát and many other monikers. And as I wrote in that previous review, part of the finances raised by their releases go straight towards humanitarian help for the people of Ukraine. If this EP is your thing, order it; otherwise, check the link at the bottom and see if anything else might tingle your spine.
Monolog (Mads Lindgren, who I’ve known from his excellent releases on Hymen Records) and Variát together; how does that sound … Well, Not as you would expect!!! It’s a thrilling crossover between electronic music and some kind of sludge metal. And yes, you read that right. Sludge metal. En they’re doing a good job. Let’s go through the tracks. “Purifying The Well” starts with some sounds from a farm with a rusty pump and the tension that something will happen—nice organic layering. Stringed instruments, minimal melodic lines, and slow rhythms. Imagine workers on the field with tribal rhythms; This is the Ukrainian version. This first track is also the most quiet of the bunch.
‘Resistance To Shallowness’ is a blueprint for the remaining three tracks. Slow sludgy guitars and throbbing rhythms with nice industrial sounds. Me likez. ‘The Origins Of The Right”‘continues with the style as well as the atmosphere of the former track. Rhythmically it could have had a little extra ‘oomph’, but the layers of noise and guitars make up for it. The final “Resurrection of Light” on this 20-ish minute EP is a bit more upbeat. In the break it’s almost as if the sounds of taiko drums are added. It reminds me of sequences one could expect from Test Dept in the ‘unacceptable face of freedom” era, or maybe after listening to Les Tambours du Bronx.
As said, it is definitely not a bad release; though 20 minutes is kinda short, it opens the gateway to a full album. And I have already mentioned that all profits go to a good cause. Might as well get stuck with an excellent CD, right?
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