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.
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.
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