Genre: Noise / Progressive Noisecore

01 – Tod Durch Arbeit - Volksvergiftung
02 – Softmicro – Die Flucht aus dem Dorf in den Wald (Intro)
03 – Softmicro – Der Uhu
04 – Softmicro – Die Wasserschildktrotte
05 – Softmicro – Das Weisse Kaninchen
06 – Softmicro – Der Waschbär
07 – Softmicro – Der Hofhund
08 – Softmicro - Graubart
09 – Tod Durch Arbeit – Der Wald Brennt
10 – untitled - [recorded live @ System Breakdown Studio 20.03.04]

Tod Durch Arbeit – “Volsvergiftung” Some marching song interrupted by some disharmonious, tortured voices and samples opens the song. Alarming noises appear with some short loops, many voices and sounds that remain some guitar, and its numerous gratings. Rather the same frequencies are used, globally, with many white noises and high-pitched gratings. There’s the same oscillating sound, much perturbed with many parasites, tearing gratings and harrowing creaking in this song. Then, one can find some German WWII sample, some pseudo puking noises, lost cries and metallic gratings that cannot be differenced from distorted voices, few low sounds, everything without rhythm, of course. It’s tortured and a bit insane, with a lot of metallic noises. Samples are much interfered. Although the arrangement of samples is well-done, I can’t get into it. It’s really hermetic, bushy, and cognitively disrupting.

Tod Durch Arbeit “Der Wald Brennt” begins with machinistic sounds, some other broken up voices, constant low howling humming of some machine. Distress cries, oscillating and distorted, with some kind of victorious schizophrene hymn: they create an asylum atmosphere. After that, Arabic/Oriental songs’ samples, lowered and maybe also slowed down, are as an old stinky perfume of Middle East. They’re completely mocked through attempts of distorted mad vocals to cover ‘em. Again broken up samples and a kind of sad, plaintive, neonate imitation create a weird atmosphere, as the second half of the track gets ambient with some German samples again. It slows down with some metallic echoes, various gratings, explosive and white noises, broken up and guitar notes… After raging voices, the audience finally applauses.

Both Tod Durch Arbeit tracks are long, and their evolution is slow compared to Softmicro, whose elements take more space. It’s difficult to discern any logic, any structure: rhythm is absent. Samples seem well-disposed.

Globally, Softmicro differentiates from Tod Durch Arbeit with shorter tracks (~1 min. long) and the presence of some kind of structure. Sound is more massive, the artist plays with interruptions. Few songs express some rhythm (2nd, 4th) through loops. There are no beats, rarely some low shocks. Lower sounds and, especially, loops repeating with some oscillations of treble may be heard (f.i. 2nd). Samples usually phrase the music, as in the 3rd track where a theme of going to bed merges through several samples in German and English. There’s also a vibrating low voice, playing with interruptions and the track generally has a kind of rhythm. Strangely, metal samples used with a distorted shouting voice and a high-pitched noise end the song.

4th track seems “flowing down” from high-pitched sounds, phrased by some interruptions, to echoed low noises. 5th track is more about some distorted electronic noises that may remind some Morse code or any apparel’s distorted noises before the end dissolves all noises… As most tracks, a frenetic eclecticism is the keyword: fast heterogenic sequences following each other.

6th features some descent, a kind of “hertzian bombing”, from echoed and elevating notes, to high pitched noises… Sample and abrupt interruptions aggressively cut the tracks in pieces. 7th has some anguishing background note. There seem to be some progression in distortion. Interruption, with vibrations… Movie sample and in the end some note of some waltz finishes the track with harmony, that the listener had forgotten the existence. 8th shows a low vibrating noise, as a burning atmosphere, much distorted, then an electronic invasion, with some rhythm, a kind of metalloid clash before lugubrious organ-like notes close the track. Softmicro has something bellicose and raging, fast changing and disturbing. But, the listener gets lost in both Softmicro and Tod Durch Arbeit. This one is even more insane. The music has clearly nothing to do with this innocent squirrel shown on Softmicro cover… Quirky!

I think such an album is required for hardened noise fans. The music is much broken up and so obstinately intense that one has to be used to undergo noisy music. To be honest it is not my cup of tea. Either my ears are not mature enough, or my tastes prefer more rhythmic and less intense things. Note that I cannot talk about 10th track which didn’t feature in the material I got. Originally, this split was released on handmade 2CDR digipack, (I got only one CD), limited to 20 hand numbered copies! Few privileged fans will have the opportunity to possess it.