Beneath

Marax "Beneath" -  04.29.2011 - Muchausen Sound 19 - CDr

Track:

1. Life Beneath A Bridge

Total length: 46:55

This release serves as the first minimalist album from Marax, who's history / discography has always been Harsh Noise, Death Industrial / Dark Ambient & Experimental. More to come, a lot more.

June 14, 2011
Vital Weekly Email update / review

'Beneath', which is one piece of almost forty-seven minutes build, it seems, from a single field recording, treated and/or mixed. It sounds like a recording under a bridge with cars passing, but then in very regular intervals, so who knows: this might not be the case, and this is an utter minimal treatment of some loop of something similar. Maybe its all a highly conceptual recording? Its surely all quite captivating!
I was thinking of the 'below the highway' concept because of the title of the release.




Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Sonomu.net
Marax is a one-man project from the American South primarily associated with the "black" end of noise. Beneath, however, is a subtle, refined experiment in timbre. It clearly evokes the sound of traffic swiftly passing beneath a concrete overpass on some well-paved highway. The tarmac may be wet. Or it may just sound that way. He could very well have extracted the sound from any number of sources under the clear, powder-blue sky gracing the cover.

Over the course of more than three-quarters of an hour, Marax treats the recording to achieve a hollow, tinny sound, the regular zooms heard as if through a length of aluminum piping, as it were. Sometimes they come fast and furiously enough to resemble the metallic clashes of a sword fight. Constantly hovering above is a cluster of singing, humming notes, like hydroelectrical wire tensing against a cold wind. And though it may sound contradictory, the effect is spellbinding.

- Stephen Fruitman - http://sonomu.net/text/~marax-beneath-cd/

Felo De Se

Felo De Se – 04.15.2011 – Muchausen Sound 20 – CDr – Limited to 100

Tracks:

1. Felo De Se

2. Anxiety-Guilt Cycle

3. Hidden Need

4. Soul Murder

5. Tension Breaking

Total Length: 33:11


June 14, 2011
Vital Weekly

Originally to be released as some kind of split with Never Presence Forever. Although noise based, it has a suppressed form of feedback, and an overload of sound effects on a minimum of sound sources. These being radio waves, it seems, and god knows what else. The title piece is too long, but the other
four pieces are much shorter and done in a great way: an excellent dynamic sound, which lacks the usual noise release, with a speaker crushing bass sound, and occasional high end outbursts.




TUESDAY, JUNE 14, 2011
The Formless Kingdom
http://theformlesskingdom.blogspot.com/2011/06/marax-felo-de-se.html
Rex The Ninth
I am very excited to bring word of this new work by the great young man who goes by Eric Crowe, AKA, Marax. Mr. Crowe had been responsible for giving us one of the most compelling Noise releases of the past couple of years to hit the PostIndustrial underground, a little EP called "Black Veil of the Sanguinarian", which I had the privilege of reviewing for Heathen Harvest back in o8. I had felt a significant admiration for the work upon first listen, as it showed a sort of darkness that ran into some varied, yet also inspiring depths of expression. I had tried to make Eric a regular contact because of the effect "Black Veil" had on yours truly, but almost two years or so before myspace got all desperate and transformed into a highly unwelcome, very stifling jock/mix of facebook/last.fm formats, Eric was unfortunately NOT a regular. But with this release, which I can attest to have anticipated HIGHLY, we now see the young Crowe as a regular presence on facebook, and while facebook isn’t yet really set up to be the haven conducive to creativity and communication for musicians the way the fallen and corrupted myspace once was, I am happy that he's there.

"Felo De Se" is only in a couple of ways similar to "Black Veil of The Sanguinarian", Eric's style withstanding, but what sets this one aside is that this was originally intended to be a split/collaboration with Never Presence Forever. While his previous work showed desperation, tension, eeriness, and yes, even a sort of cynical sense of wonder [the beautiful and passionate epic "Nod"], this new tape brings only a seething, borderline maddening set of some of the dirtiest noise-drones I've heard to date. This is a different noise palette than before, and while I cannot say for sure just who threw in what into the fray, the best way I can describe this Felo is an extension of the track "Inside the Inner Voice" off of "Black Veil". Only this time, that scary ass voice has PLENTY more to say...

The frequencies on the work are decidedly deep, and while the noise element is not as pervasive or intense as was on tracks from "... the Sanguinarian", what will get under your skin here is the almost unbearable tension and atonal void this piece has to offer. The title track is the longest in question, and this one will make you want to pull your hair out because it’s seemingly a perpetual and disturbing presence inside your head. There is a good amount of vocal dirt in this track, nothing I can make out, but like "Inside the Inner Voice", this side has a down-pitched tinge, with a subtle distortion, possibly sped-up to make it sound even more uncomfortable. The whole of "Felo De Se" rumbles unceasingly, like a half-hour trembling of the Earth. "Anxiety-Guilt Cycle" only further pushes the theme of the album with its name, this one having some awesome, death-rattle-like phrases that come in and out. The same rattle is in the transitional "Hidden Need", giving ground then to the static-ridden "Soul Murder”, and finally, "Tension Breaking" by way of a slowly flanging end.

The Devil is really in the details in "Felo De Se". While not as elaborate, it has the same vibe as Tzii's "Vuole Morire", a very challenging one, comparable to some psychopath staring vacantly over a long, engulfing stretch of the American Southwest desert, so I suppose it is very appropriate that the tracks were laid down in a place called Southern Discomfort Studio. Conceptually, it has no bullshit and is flawless. Black and abysmal enough to induce anger, but also simple and ambient enough to actually channel anger.

The Crowe flies LOW for this one.

Lazy

Lazy – 03.19.2011 – Muchausen Sound 17 – 3” CDr & Download

Tracks:

1. Hands Of Murderers

2. Amputated

3. Like The Dead, Somehow Walking

4. Plan, Plot, Think and Breathe Evil

5. Leave A Trail Of Wreaked Lives Behind

6. We Long For Light

7. Into Darkness We Sink

8. Tiny Hands


Total Length: 14:59


The sound for Lazy is centered around 1 pedal, the Snarling Dog Mold Spore, it is the common thread throughout. I never owned the pedal, I borrowed it from a friend for a day and loved the raunchy grittiness and high-end decay it served up, so I recorded multiple tracks seeing what the pedal could do, in various lengths then later divided them up and added layers and textures to complete the disc.

June 14, 2011
Viral Weekly
 Maybe 'Lazy' says something about the state of noise and its production. Its very easy to make noise, it doesn't require much effort or style: maybe music by lazy people? Maybe Marax isn't himself too serious about this? I hope so, since the pieces on this release, nine in total, don't show much originality in the world of noise (if that is at all possible). Not too well spend on me.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Dead Formats

Similar to the previous Marax I reviewed but definitely has a different vibe. This one has a lot more glitchy, high pitched sounds that start it off right away. It also has more tracks that go beyond the :05 mark but they are still relatively short. The thing that really stands out to me on this one is this right near the end there is a track that sounds exactly like how my alarm clock sounds in my dreams when I am trying to wake up. It's got the constant harsh beep but it is constantly changed in a subtle way that gives it this surreal and disorienting vibe that is wonderful. The layout on this one is a little heavy on the photoshop filters but this is definitely worth checking out. 

Crawlspace Atrocities

"Crawlspace Atrocities" – 3.10. 2011 – Muchausen Sound 10 – CDr

Tracks:

1. Crawlspace Atrocities

2. Commence Now

Total Length: 33:50


WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2011
Phillip B. Klingler a.k.a. PBK:
http://killingbirds.blogspot.com/


"Crawlspace Atrocities", though newly released, belongs to that first period of Marax's work as it was recorded at a live concert in 2003. Whatever was going on at The Highnote in Birmingham, Alabama on that night of June 27th, couldn't have possibly prepared the audience for this sonic manifestation of pure evil! Beginning with a low bass rumble against an echoey backdrop of media snippets, soon the bass texture becomes an angry drone with electromagnetic fields fluxing around the edges. A voice enters, whispering in an anguished tone, you find yourself in the dwelling, or mind, of a maniac. A powerful electric current builds forcefully to an abrupt end, changing the mood as if a door slammed. Now it is even darker and more forbidding. A recurring loop lurches into the frame, then the voice returns, Golem-like, admonishing you over and over.

Drawing equal inspiration from black metal, dark-ambient and noise genres, the result is a quite literal soundtrack of sinister evildoing. As a live performance this is very well-controlled, deliberate, the chaotic aspects associated with noise music are reigned in, compressed, making it feel as claustrophobic as it ought to be considering the subject matter. It takes on the feel of time passing slowly, while you are always at the edge of dread, with strong visual aspects that combine to create a stunning horror film soundscape!




Sunday, September 25, 2011
C. Reider
http://www.vuzhmusic.com/blog/2011/12/03/now-playing-netlabels-ii/

This is kind of a heavily rumbling kind of disturbing and distorted noise music that’s mixed at low levels to set an atmosphere as opposed to the aural pummelling that could occur if all level faders were pushed to the top. You could call it “dark ambient”, I suppose. To me it feels like it draws more from industrial music and somewhat from black metal… especially when the gasping, pained vocalizations come in.

I really like the constant shifting of sound, like a frantic noise performance… but the calm, subdued context is a new way to hear this kind of movement.

Well done.

Harsh Fields w/ Wilt & Goose

Marax, Wilt & Goose – 2011 – C90 – Small Doses / Phage Tapes

Limited 50 White 50 Black

Tracks:

Side A

1. The Abandoned Church in the Middle of Nowhere

2. Thirteen Miles Above the Earth

3. Contraction of the Crust

4. The Midwinter Sun

5. Subterranean Disturbances

6. An Ever Empty Feeling of Complete Loneliness

Side B

7. Field Guide to Isolation

8. The Coldest and Darkest Months of the Year

9. The Blizzard of March, 1888

10. A Slight Breeze Before the Storm

11. Violent Machines Rape the Land

All tracks composed from original source material by WILT

Tracks 2,3,5,6,9 and 11 mixed by MARAX

Tracks 1,4,7,8 and 10 mixed by GOOSE

C-90. Co-released in 2011 by Small Doses and Phage Tapes (DOSE98 / PT:144). James Keeler (Wilt) recently unearthed these unreleased collaborations with Goose and Marax.

Deeply layered dark/death ambient sounds come through making for a stunning set of recordings.

Released in two editions of 50 copies each. The black edition (offered here at the BloodShop!) features black cover art, an oversized black vinyl case, and black cassette shell. The white edition is the same, but in white.

Includes a folded insert.

Black Veil Of The Sanguinarian

Black Veil Of The Sanguinarian – 2008 – Crucial Bliss – CDr – Limited to 300

 Disc art

Inner Sleeve 

Outer Sleeve [Layout & Design by Adam Wright / Crucial Blast]

Tracks:

1. Returning to Rust

2. Inside the Inner Voice

3. Bleeding Black

4. NOD

Total Length: 45:55

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2012
Charles Hoffman
The Centipede Farm

I lucked into Marax’s 2008 release on Crucial Blast, Black Veil of the Sanguinarian. It’s a more subdued, slow-burn kind of death-drone, which is welcome after the assault of the above split. At “Returning to Rust” it’s evening in the countryside of singing metallic insects. “Inside the Inner Voice” uses very slowed-down spoken word, which someone somewhere mentioned in reference to last year’s Funeral Liturgy as a bit of a Marax trademark, but this is the first other place I’ve heard it. “Bleeding Black” has a great rumbling-crumbling sub-bass drone with what might be progressively higher-pitched and more-distorted versions of itself layered over. Seven minutes in I think I hear a distant voice in it but then it’s gone. Later it seems to resolve into a couple of chords, but only for a second before the piece ends. We find those chords again a little ways into “NOD”, a 22-minute sound trip that transitions nicely from a noise drone intro to a mesmerizing horror movie synth line that forms the basis for the rest of the track.




SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2009
Heathen Harvest
Rexington Steel

Often times as I sit in front of my crappy PC and wonder just how to begin writing about some of the more mundane submissions I am obligated to contribute to our highly respectable underground organization, I long for those few and far between times when I am too awestruck to write (instead of being too pissed off to write because of how little talent some people have)… Fortunately, this is one of those times. “Black Veil of The Sanguinarian” is one of the most profound Power Electronics releases out there. Period. It may only be an EP, but the four tracks delicately guarded by the simple, thin bi-fold cardboard, dvd-sized cover can easily be set side by side among artists like Navicon Torture Technologies, Schloss Tegal or Stahlwerk 9. This is not only because there are sonic similarities in the style with which the tracks are delivered, but because they take on a life of their own, and have a quality that can easily help define the genre that contains it. And, surprisingly, vise versa.

“Returning To Rust” is a fine introduction indeed, opening up gradually, but by no means slowly, getting straight to the point with a well-defined, deep rumble, unstable but orderly static, and a seemingly random screech here and there. Not a trace of what anyone would call music is to be found in this track, which can easily become anyone’s favorite of all four. The following, “Inside The Inner Voice” is comprised mainly of what composer Eric Crowe has posted up on his myspace profile as “invocation”, a deeply down-tuned vocal passage paired only with the faintest atmospheres that only become absolutely apparent at the close. To add further insight, it feels like what his album art looks like, particularly the close-up of bones in a catacomb printed on both sides of the simple packaging. Track number three is a marriage of the calm and depth of track two with the desperation and dirt from the first. It goes under “Bleeding Black”, and it would actually be as intense as “Returning To Rust” were it not for its elements being put out at such low volume frequencies. But this is not a problem, and is a method often utilized by Leech of NTT. Here we have a fierce, but subdued distortion, a searing, indecipherable, almost unrecognizable length of screamed vocal, and a low drone that is mostly felt more than it can be heard. Yet it doesn’t just fade out, it practically tears itself to shreds for only a few seconds in the most chaotic way, like a banshee ripping itself out of some trans-dimensional auditory vacuum.

The last song is actually as close to a song as the material on this offering gets, and in a very dignified and elegant manor. It is almost longer than the three that proceed it combined, clocking in at almost twenty two and a half minutes, and is described as “a headphone epic”. FUCK THAT. Something as beautiful as “Nod” deserves to let its waves reverberate over everyone and everything within its immediate vicinity. Here, a synth line dominates most of the track, sorrowful, but also having some Martial undertones when let along with the strong, but well placed noises that hold it together.

To end this review, I would like to acknowledge a statement made by Mister Crowe included in the liner notes of his fine release. He thanks “those who listen deeper and hear more”, but because of the exceptional work put into the actual mixing of the sounds, everything can be heard easily. I have to say, the man certainly knows how to EQ. But the contents of “Black Veil…” are more than mere sounds, and I believe it is the inaudible manifestations that surface as you experience this work that Eric refers to.

--------------------------------------------------

TUESDAY, MARCH 3, 2009

Foxy Digitalis

Kevin Richards

I am not quite sure what I expected when I saw this one. The cover art and title had me thinking I was in for some serious buzzing blackness, but much to my surprise that isn’t quite what this one had in store. It was a darkness of a very different kind.

The initial low hum of forest sounds and insectile chirping eventually gave way to a white buzz that seemed to be made of deliciously frying transistors and cricket’s legs. This is followed by some seriously detuned murmurings as we hear the keeper of this dark cauldron muttering to itself about some evil perpetrations. This sinister dynamic continues through two more pieces which also keep their dynamics at a pretty static level, like that horror movie heard faintly in the neighboring unit. These pieces build and develop, but not necessarily through their use of crushing volume, but more through their use of seemingly static forms whose repetition itself creates the subtle changes. It is like the shadow you see from the corner of your eye, you know something foreboding is about but the mystery is never fully revealed. 7/10

-------------------------------------------

Crucial Blast

Adam Wright

The first new release from Marax since 2005...this is electronic/harsh noise by Eric Crowe, who in the past served as throat for the cult Southern grindcore band Social Infestation, who also featured future members of Mastodon and Withered. This full length has been in the works for several years and is only now crawling out into the light, but the wait has sure been worth it. This'll incite some serious zoneouts from anyone who dipped their skulls in the molten deathdrone of Marax's ultra-limited Love Of Death series...Black Veil has four lengthy tracks of heavy liquid nightmare distilled from the catacombs. The disc opens with the fuzzy muted swirl and distant percussive clang of "Returning To Rust", which moves through soft gauzy layers of crackling distortion until exploding in a churning wall of concrete-mixer crunch with heavily modulated, howling demonic vocals. "Inside The Inner Voice" is a seven minute exercise in pitch black ambience and malignant incantations, and "Bleeding Black" stretches out across a vast abyss of distant reverberations and ambient fuzz, filled with far-off sonic flutterings, metallic scraping and screaming voices that just barely heard, an intensely creepy ambient dronescape. And the final track "Nod" is a twenty-two minute headphone epic...this is one of my favorite Marax tracks, a threatening ambient film score piece that stretches way out and moves from huge slabs of growling black ambient drift and buzzing black metal guitar through epic celestial synthesizer riffs. Simple synth melodies are repeated over swathes of droning amp rumble, the low-end sometimes swelling up in huge waves that threaten to overwhelm the entire piece, and a beautiful little melody begins to take shape later in the track that sounds like it's being played on a heavily processed piano, repeating over and over. Later, the buzzing, fuzz-drenched sheets of blackened guitar and droning distortion come back in and the sound becomes a massive muted fuzzdrone that reaches out forever, finally fading off into the ether as the track comes to a close. I'd normally never describe any of Marax's material as beautiful since most of his works either suggest feelings of isolation and dread or simply shear your fuckin' dome off with extreme electronic skree violence, but with "Nod" Marax gives us one of the most mesmeric pieces of music I've ever heard from him, a sprawling, subtly beautiful narco-scape that's like hearing the mystical krautrock orchestrations of Florian Fricke and Popol Vuh faded and filtered through the deformed, dank dungeon atmosphere of Abruptum. 

Black Veil Of The Sanguinarian is packaged in the signature Bliss sleeve with full color artwork from Crucial Blast, and the disc is attached to the interior of the sleeve on a plastic hub. Issued in a limited edition of 300 copies.

Shadows Infinitum: Further Explorations of the Drone Comp

“Shadows Infinitum: Further Explorations of the Drone” – 2005 - Crucial Blast – CDr – “Coming of Lilith”

"Coming Of Lilith" actually ties in to the theme for Black Veil of the Sanguinarian. It serves as an introduction to the style and direction.

End To Masterpieces

“End To Masterpiece”- Dbl CS – “Calming The Chaos”

This compilation was released by the late Patrick Beck of MALPA and SEASONS OF DISCONTENT.

w/ Murder Of Crow

 Marax | Murder Of Crow – 2005 – Snip Snip – CDr

Marax Art 

Murder of Crow Art

Totenhemd

Totenhemd –  #12 in “For The Love Of Death” series

2004 – Crucial Blast – CDr – Limited to 25

Tracks:

1. Stop

2. Comfort in Deaths Embrace

3. I Was Already Dead

4. Hearse For The Husk, Coach For Your Soul

5. Crippling The New; Not Ending With Death

Total Length: 1:00:31

Survivor Of The Dead Soul Within

Survivor Of The Dead Soul Within - #11 in “For The Love Of Death” series

2004 – Crucial Blast – CDr – Limited to 25

Tracks:

1. Dark Whispers From Cold Lips

2. The Weight Of It All

3. Pained Till The End

4. The Maker, The Taker and the Shunned

5. The Last Sigh

Total Length: 53:48

Marax | Stimbox Split

Marax | Stimbox – 2004 – Muchausen Sound 7 – CDr – Limited to 100

Tracks:

1. Where Did Everyone Go? (Stimbox)

2. Slipping Fast and Silently Dies (Marax)

Total Length: 48:14

Live tracks from both projects.

Paroxysm

Paroxysm – 2004 – Snip Snip 20 – CDr

Tracks:

1. Deceiving Is Believing

2. Agony Betrays

3. Man Talks Too Much

4. Lapsed Into Unconsciousness And Died

5. Molesting The Inner Child

6. So, You Think You Got Away With Rape

Total Length: 35:10

Suicide Was Inevitable

Suicide Was Inevitable - #10 in “For The Love Of Death” series

2004 – Crucial Blast -  CDr – Limited to 25

Tracks:

1. Rejected Enough 5:01

2. All This That I Am, Nothing 5:57

3. Drifting Between Realities 48:35

Total Length: 59:33

Everything Is As Cold As The Dead

Everything Is As Cold As The Dead - #9 in “For The Love Of Death” series

2004 – Crucial Blast – CDr – Limited to 25

Tracks:

1. Distancing: Further And Deeper

2. Staring At The Pills In My Hand

3. Actions Must Be Complete

4. The Noose Before Me; The Life I Leave

5. Kicking Out The Chair

Total Length: 1:16:42

Rising Sun On The Morning After

"Rising Sun On The Morning After" – 2004 – N.C.C. – 3” CDr – Limited to 28

Tracks:

1. Inches From Your Sleeping Face 4:27

2. Oral Sex With A .357 10:30

3. Blood Drenched And Smiling Into The Sun 5:30

Total Length: 20:27

Beauty And Pain
Clint Listing

Ah harsh mind numbing noise with a driving force of harsh harsh industrial.

This is some tense sounds going on here. The pain factor of these sound sources.

I don't know how to explain it correctly but the crunchness of this release is

just making me so god damn pleased.

This is just the soundtrack I need in my current pissed off state.

I now need to go find more of this Mr. Marax recordings as see if they hold up

to this stellar 15 minutes of insanity.

Marax have here mastered the deconstruction of sounds and have brought me to my knees.

The artwork on this 3" is 1st rate too. N.C.C. has something special going on here.

Worm Gear
Scott Candey

This is a 3 song 3" CDR, and conveys a more volatile side of Marax. "Inches From Your Sleeping Face" uses gritty shifting high tones and fluttering statics to produce a biting tension for nearly 3 and a half minutes before the direction shifts into mid range noise swashes. "Oral Sex With a .357" comes in at 10 and a half minutes and is only slightly less subtle than its title. Built around a looping throb, heavy low distortions and shrill high end ping pong off of each other at varying pulse rates. Stop and starts eventually find their way in giving it a spastic random flow, but the sounds stay more or less consistent until the last couple minutes where it all becomes more feverish. "Blood Drenched And Smiling At The Sun" closes this out with some sharp edged harsh mid and high textures and what sounds like distant frantic screams or sampling looped deep in the background. A more piercing and abrasive side of Marax than those seen on the "For The Love of Death" series, but nice to see a project not afraid of some clear diversity in its catalog.

Kophinos

Kophinos - #8 in “For The Love Of Death” series

2004 – Crucial Blast – CDr – Limited to 25

Track:

1. Forgotten (Before My Body Was Cold)

Total Length: 47:09

The Last Dance

The Last Dance - #7 in “For The Love Of Death” series

2004 – Crucial Blast – CDr – Limited to 25

Tracks:

1. The Sun Offers No Light

2. I Too Shall Pass

3. Razor-lines Mark The Hours

4. Ruins Of What Once Was

5. Lost Within The Blackness Within

6. Yesterday Seems It Never Existed

Total Length:

Remembrance Of Failures

Remembrance Of Failures- #6 in “For The Love Of Death” series

2003 – Crucial Blast – CDr – Limited to 25

Tracks:

1. Remembrance Of Failures 5:01
2. Cleansing The Razor For Tomorrow 7:11
3. Respirdal 13:01
4. Fading Ember Of Survival 7:19


Total Length: 32:28

Worm Gear
Scott Candey
This is part 6 in the "For The Love of Death" 12 CDR series, this outing features 4 tracks, just over 32 minutes. This disc opens with the title track, a rumbling drone of a piece, with distant clanks and reverberations peppering the murk. "Cleansing The Razor For Tomorrow" combines low hums with static washes and barely audible vocals and or samples, too quiet to discern that it is anything more than a voice. A slow pulse rises in the mix adding body to the foundation while abstracted tones give the illusion of far away melody. "Respirdal" is a 13 minutes piece rich with a rolling subterranean ambience and quiet echoes, simple but engrossing. "Fading Ember of Survival" blends restrained crackling electronics with a sub-bass throb that eventually swells to panning drifts distortions and piercing highs, and offers the most abrasive portion of the release before fading out gradually to conclude "Remembrance of Failures." This is another nice installment in the series, focusing primarily on subtle dark textures that I think reveal more the more acutely you listen.

Taphephobia

Taphephobia - #5  in “For The Love Of Death” series

2003 – Crucial Blast – CDr – Limited to 25

Track:

1. Quality Of Life Has Long Since Passed (Dead But Breathing)

Total Length: 56:15

Worm Gear

Scott Candey

This is part 5 in the ongoing "For The Love of Death" CDR series working it's way towards 12 chapters. Each release comes in a DVD box, and is limited to a mere 25copies. This installment features one 56+ minutes epic called "Quality of Life Has Long Since Passed (Dead But Breathing)." This is slow moving, gradual and subtle Dark Ambient. Penetrating low end tones shift and emerge atop one another, as restrained elements of a more abrasive nature wade in the distance of the murky foundation... static drifts, reverberating mysteries and so on. There are brief hints of melody or at least melody fragments that reveal themselves sparingly. The track maintains a similar feel throughout, but stirs it's rudimentary elements well, and even over it's lengthy duration, manages to stay engaging. There is a lo-fi quality to Marax's output in general that adds to the atmosphere and feel of his work without effecting the overall sound quality etc... kinda like B-movie horror versus Hollywood horror. The cheaper film stock and less than epic audio recordings somehow give the B-movie more impact, credibility and style.

The Dead Don't Care

The Dead Don’t Care - #4 in “For The Love Of Death” series

2003 – Crucial Blast – CDr – Limited to 25

Tracks:

1. Distant But Deafening Screams

2. The Fires Burn Cold

3. The Day I Am Gone

Total Length: 16:23

Aquarius Records

This is volume FOUR in Marax's 'For The Love Of Death' series of super limited cd-r's (LIMITED TO 25) thematically focused on death and dying. Volume four is quite similar to volume three, with distant rumbles and faraway shimmers, gently panning from speaker to speaker, a hypnotic slow motion pulse, that is joined for the last ten minutes by what sounds like a train crossing signal way off in the distance. Another hyper minimal and very appealing installment in this awesome series.

Taphophile

Taphophile – #3 in “For The Love Of Death” series

2003 – Crucial Blast – CDr – Limited to 25

Tracks:

1. Strange How The Dead Bleed (pt. 1)

2. Strange How The Dead Bleed (pt. 2)

3. Suttee (pt. 1)

4. Suttee (pt. 2)

Total Length: 28:12

Aversionline
7/10Here's the third CD-R in the limited edition "For the Love of Death" series. According to the tracklist there are two lengthy tracks that have each been divided into two parts, but I don't know if it's an error or some sort of mysterious intentional device, but the first portion of each track is merely a few seconds of silence? "Strange How the Dead Bleed" opens up at over 19 minutes of dismal, quiet, subtle dark ambient. You really have to crank the volume to hear anything, and the tones consist mainly of bassy rumbles and drones with some more percussive shuffling sounds coming in after about four minutes. It's pretty repetitive, but it works well as background music. It doesn't seem to demand a great deal of concentration, but it creates an excellent atmosphere. There's a brief bout of light distortion that adds some volume just past the halfway point, but then things sink back to a near silent presence. As things flow towards the end the composition reaches an almost Godflesh-like calm of sinister disharmonic feedback. Very nice. "Suttee" is much shorter, though still rather long at nearly nine minutes. The approach is similar in its sound and repetition, but a bit thicker and cleaner in its use of suffocatingly dense bass tones. It's also a bit more consistently loud (loud meaning "louder" in this case, as compared to the first track) and perhaps more involved. There are some vibrating undercurrents, churning midrange frequencies that at times sound as though their input levels were overloaded with low-end, and some shrill treble cuts into the distance as well (again adding a little bit of unfortunate peak level distortion). As with most Marax material the tastefully lo-fi sound is in fine form. The only thing that bothers me are the aforementioned areas where the levels peak out a bit due to excessive low-end, but other than that things sound fine - I just wish the general output volume was louder. The CD-R comes packaged in a DVD case with black and white inserts that repeat imagery of a grim reaper and the Marax logo. Inside is a tracklist, contact information, and a brief set of text called "Canvas" that basically deals with self-mutilation: "The years have passed and the tears have dried, I wonder why I haven't died? A canvas my arms have become, Of cuts and burns, more will come " The presentation isn't that strong, which is a shame if Marax could step up that level of his work I know he would start to gain the recognition he deserves. Packaging faults aside, Marax is certainly coming into his own and really deserves to score a proper release (i.e. something that's professionally pressed and limited to more than 25 copies so that people can actually hear it). I hope that day will arrive soon.

Aquarius Records

This is volume THREE in Marax's 'For The Love Of Death' series of super limited cd-r's (LIMITED TO 25) thematically focused on death and dying. Where the first volume was slow burning drones ala Lustmord or Organum, and the second volume was griity and granular like a Philip Jeck record, Voulme three pulls it back a little toward a much more ambient excursion. Distant rumbles like passing traffic heard from underwater, with barely audible digital skitter and analog hiss, and occasional far-away feedback. Super minimal, but quite nice. This one would definitely appeal to fans of Bernhard Gunter and John Hudak.

Filled Like A Hole

Filled Like A Hole – 2002 – Muchausen Sound 5 – CDr

Previously released tracks with 2 unreleased tracks*

Tracks:

1. Breathing Cold Memories 8:53

2. Suffering Is You 2:38

3. Beautiful Scars Remind 12:24

4. Last Sound Heard* 2:19

5. Pigeon-Holed* (Bastard Noise cover) 3:53

6. Travesty In C# 3:46

7. Vaginal Blasphemy 15:05

8. Hail The Goat 4:06

Total Length:

Aversionline
6/10
This is a collection of previously released material from over the course of Marax's existence, along with a couple of unreleased tracks. "Breathing Cold Memories" starts things off with almost nine minutes of excellent lo-fi dark ambient tones. Things start out incredibly slow and quiet, eventually bringing in a bit of guitar to add some melody. Things stay relatively monotonous and simplistic, but it works out well, you just have to crank the volume but watch out, because "Suffering is You" follows at ten times the output level of the first piece, complete with fluttering distortion, burly vocal shouts, piercing blips and whirrs, etc. "Beautiful Scars Remind" clocks in at more than 12 minutes and creates a superb death industrial atmosphere with suffocating low-end, subtle and indecipherable vocal manipulation, and light distortion. Sadly this track lacks the hypnotic qualities of the opener, so its length is far too tedious, but the atmosphere is there. "Pigeon-Holed" is a Bastard Noise cover, but having never heard the original I have no idea how it compares. It's mainly an ambient sounding bass hum with some midrange distortion and distinct vocal shouts somewhere in the distance. Not bad. The final three tracks basically amount to around 23 minutes of rather typical harsh, blaring noise. To be honest, I find it a bit boring, and aside from the blaring pain and insanity of "Hail the Goat", it doesn't really do anything for me. All of the recordings here are tastefully lo-fi, so while there is room for improvement, there's also a certain necessary quality possessed. The only thing I don't like, and this is a minimal issue, is that you have to keep adjusting the volume from track to track so as not to annihilate your speakers when things change up from crazy noise assaults to dark ambient soundscapes. The packaging is a bit disappointing. The CD-R just comes in a xeroxed black and white sleeve with very simple text and a pixilated image of a woman involved in some sort of sexual bondage act on the front. I know for a fact that Marax is capable of far, far more original ideas than this, which is the most disappointing aspect of the decisions made here. Nonetheless, were the picture clear and the fonts a bit more interesting/consistent, the simplicity could have been pulled off. I don't know, I'm picky. I think this CD does a very good job of displaying the boundless diversity that Marax is willing to explore. I prefer the calmer/more varied pieces such as "Breathing Cold Memories" or "Beautiful Scars Remind", but most of the tracks have their moments. I know that a lot of this material is pretty dated at this point, but if a constructive balance of styles can be reached (along with a more cohesive and appropriate visual presentation) Marax will indeed be a forceful unit.

Pass Away Into Heaven

Pass Away Into Heaven - #2 in “For The Love Of Death” series

2002 - Crucial Blast – CDr – Limited to 25

Tracks:

1. All Will Fail

2. Razor = Freedom

3. Slipping Away

Total length: 26:31

Eclipse Records

"Marax returns with another descent into funereal themes with this new limited CD-r, limited to only 25 copies. Marax continues the construction of dark post-industrial drones and subdued noisy ambience on this disc. Packaged in a black DVD style case with black sleeve."

Aversionline

This is the second CD-R in the "For the Love of Death" series, all of which are limited to only 25 copies, if I'm not mistaken. "Pass Away Into Heaven" is made up of three rather long untitled tracks (or at least the titles aren't included) totaling around 26 minutes. The first, and longest, piece runs nearly 13 minutes and is basically dark ambient that borders on death industrial thanks to some menacing low-end distortion crunch. The composition is very minimal, but I think it flows well, and there are just enough changes to keep things interesting. Some odd musical tones cut in and out, adding an almost melodic tinge to a degree, but it's mainly hums and drones running the show. Just past the halfway mark some manipulated vocals creep in, but I can't really tell what's being said. Regardless, it adds a great texture to the track, and at its best I'd almost rank this piece right up there with the calmer work of big names like The Grey Wolves, etc. The second track follows a similar style, though a bit harsher, with some dissonant musical tones in the background under dense distortion. The vocals in this one are sick! Distorted, throaty screams that almost remind me of Terror Organ. I'm not really a fan of the clouded musical textures in this one, but it's not that big of a deal. The third track starts straight out of the second, so perhaps all three of these tracks are supposed to be one large composition? Who knows? Regardless, the final track moves a bit faster than it seems, relying on a monotonous, droning loop and more dark, dingy distortion. It's not harsh, but it's not really what I would call calm by any means. It's pretty foreboding, which comes to an apex when softly whispered vocals fade in towards the latter portion. As with most Marax material the recording quality is tactfully lo-fi, with a good mix of tones and less muddiness than might be expected. The CD-R comes packaged in a DVD case with a simple xeroxed cover and insert with imagery of skulls and whatnot. Nothing truly exciting, but it works alright. There's also a brief passage called "Deeper in My Dreams" (Lyrics?) that deals with suicide: "Slicing puts the words just right, explaining where words fail me. The bright red relief, I must hold back, but I need it, I deserve it. No one better than I " Despite the visual weaknesses, this is musically probably the best Marax material I've heard to date. Everything is fairly cohesive and focuses on atmosphere, and it's obvious that both thought and emotion went into the work, which is very important. I hope this is a sign of similar things to come.