Here, we have an acronym I haven’t seen before. V.C.O.B.T. stands for Vicious Circle of Black Thoughts, and this happy bunch (or person, who knows because it’s hard to find anything about them) is from Helsinki. This is their third release after a split with UND (also never heard of) and a 7″, both on the Finnish label Blame, The Victim, and that is where things become interesting. Blame The Victim is a hardcore punk label, and maybe the people behind V.C.O.B.T. are also in punk bands, but as said, there is not enough information on the internet to confirm or deny. So it’s all a mystery.
This cassette has a total playing time of just under an hour and consists of two parts. Both sides open with long tracks titled “Guilt Trip”, parts 1 and 2. These tracks are built from material recorded in ’12 and ’13, but it was left alone for 10 years, and assembly took place in 2023. Both guilt trips have a strong LoFi feel about them, which is good. The tracks know different parts; sometimes, the flow between the parts is a bit sudden. Not that it’s a bad thing, but it made me retract the word ‘ambient’ from an earlier version of this review. The sporadic use of metal junk noise is the second reason, by the way.
As an extra, the tracks of the 7″ on Blame The Victim were added to this release. Of the three tracks, two are metal junk noise-based and fit perfectly with the ambient-ish approach of the guilt trips. Everything about it doesn’t make it an easy release to review. There is a bit of a schizophrenic character about it. It’s partially loud as f***, and parts are gorgeous Lofi tapestries of sound with delays everywhere. And you know me, I like everything as long as they’re extremes. So this release fits perfectly in my alley, but when you get into it, you’re being sent in another direction. Which is great for variation, but not if you want to listen to some bedtime ambient. All fun aside, this is a proper release if you like it harsh, lofi, and ambient-ish.
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