Encephalophonic - Alone Album

"Geez, this boy is fucked. Fucked raw. Raw. That's the fucking word, you fuck. Wonderfully blown-out sonics from A to B. A to Z. Whatever, you fuck. It's three in the goddamn morning, the earholes are absolutely mangled and here I am flipping over again, and again, you fuck. I did say raw, right? But I could have been letting the essence get to me. The stench. Encephalo has certainly expanded his sound. Or upped the gear. These are surprisingly full-bodied workings-through of fantastically flavorsome fudge-punchies. And surprisingly bereft of the more spastic inclinations of yore. Y'know, like, way back in, what was it, 2013? Yeah, those were the days, lemme tell ya. In them days, Encephalo was more noted for, well, how shall I put this? YOUR MOTHER SUCKS COCKS IN HELL! Now, he seems to have settled down to a more focused brutishness. SOUNDS FOR BUTTPHONE! For the moment, anyway. Side Peace-Signing Asian Kid starts with the familiar looped stuttering, slams into the familiar acoustic hacklery, dips into the familiar pincer grip, then rasps in fits and starts through unhealthy hawking splurt. Then he breaks out his surgery utensils and gets down to a pointed, business-like, needlepoint seethe. Come to think of it, this was just about as spastic as ever, but perhaps the clarity of elements set in motion renders a different species of perversion. Less agitating to push the shit out, more plain grim. Side Pierced Chick With Handsaw In Mouth is perhaps the more settled, thus to be second. Thunk-thunk-thunk-thunk. Ground-up propeller fizzle. A seemingly undercooked shit-bed acquires a threatening quality by successive increments. You'd think we were going to launch into the wacked-out Encecphalo we know and crave. And we do- almost. The knives are out! A few glinting spasmodic incisions threaten to rip the fabric apart before heavier densities roll into view, start to encircle the periphery, come into focus, then to escort proceedings to an impeccably subdued denouement. Nicely crafted bit of faux drama there, really had me going, think I'll flip over for more Peace-Signing Asian Kid." (Special Interests Forum '14)

"All right, now we're talking! If the 'phonic's side of the above split was slightly lacking in spirit, that's certainly not the case here. This is a no holds barred harsh noise attack of the most vicious kind!!! "Auto-Induced Maniacal State" indeed. Make sure not to consider this as "just" fast cut-ups. They are the, no worries, but E knows when to step back and raise the fists in the air and just let the sounds flow on their own.

One minor flaw, to my ears, is that both sides of the 7" fade out instead of going out with a bang. It works, though, and there's enough ear candy already. Maybe there's even no sense trying to top what's been going on with an even greater ending.

Nice artwork as well, and one that will make those who like to bitch about noise cliches bitch like there's no tomorrow.

Nearly perfect harsh fucking noise 7". (Special Interests Forum '14)