"Inhuman Treatment" - Recycle Your Ears E-ZineWhile Exsanguinate's first CD album, "The black acts" is still fresh out of the oven, here comes another release from this Control side-project. This 3" CDR is supposedly released by a new label called Misanthrope, whose website should be hosted by Crionic Mind (who released "The black acts"), but which is down at the moment I write this. "Inhuman Treatment" contains 3 new tracks for about 18 minutes, going in the same direction as the previous CD... With Exsanguinate, Thomas Garrison of Control keeps the noise down and the microphone in the closet, choosing to write very dark tracks that evoke more the dark territories of Cold Meat Industry than the serial killers of his main project. The tracks are noisy all right, but not ear blasting, and the emphasis is put more on the general mood, very introspect, cold and brooding. "The picquet", for example, features the same kind of very massive oscillating tone that can be found in the soundtrack of "The Shining" and "2001", but played in conjunction with dark loops of low noise (think Archon Satani). All in all, the tracks on this 3" CDR are a perfect example of good death industrial: slow, massive, noisy (but not too much) and slightly mystic; no surprise that Exsanguinate's album was released on Gruntsplatter's Crionic Mind label. ... Old school and leaning strongly towards Scandinavia, this little item is a nice thing that doesn't lose itself in long tracks or boring intros. Exsanguinate goes here directly to the point and cut the lard off, presenting three cool tracks that some other newcomers of the genre could envy. Well done, and far more accessible than Control.
"The Black Acts" - Fusarium E-Zine
Exsanguinate opens with an immediate confronting ominous death industrial sound, which quickly builds up with all sorts of additional ear torture. Piercing sharp edged shifts rip your membranes apart, these shifts become more frequently used and flow back and forth while the death industrial underflow, sort of calm but heavy, smashes your body and your bowels against the wall. So far I must admit this is much better then the album of Control on Black Plague, Thomas Garrisons' main musical project which is rather focused on complete heavy distorted blistering walls of power electronics with screaming manipulated yelling vocals.... On the contrary "The Black Acts" got my attention right away, only looking to the artwork made something snap in my brain. This project is completely focused on the theme "torture" which sooths my likes and interests as well... "A Torturous End" kicks of with a grinding high pitched noise, which reminds me of Cazzodio material, like some of the previous (and forthcoming) on this album already did. But then suddenly the atmosphere takes a complete suprisingly direction, an immense cloud of deep dark drone/beat patterns comes down and pulls a rather rhythmic "dead"beat with itself to the surface, this is what I could call rhythmic industrial in the true sense of the word, not the Ant-Zen alike stuff, but a lot of analogue machinery sounds, grinding layers, samples, and quickly shifting higher pitched layers mixed on top of that. This is definitely one of my favourites of this album, no doubt. And the torture continues, loud magnificent well constructed layers which now and then remind a bit of the distorted strains of power industrial that one can find on the Control album, but unlike Control, this album keeps me in its grip during the whole 67 minutes, nothing that bores me, a great amount of variation and originality... "Peine forte et dure", well, this track takes a more (relatively) quiet direction, a repetitive high pitched loop with a slow pounding industrialised rhythm gives the atmopshere a more hypnotic touch. "Skellington's gyves" is then so far the most quiet of all, serving my ears, mind and body with a portion of long layered dark ambient (feedback) sounds, lightly oscillating and combined with a repetitive looped slow metal pounding structure in the background. "Beneath the gallows" being a wall of drone gets mixed with a sound that reminds me Iszoloscope, just thought I'd mention, also this track takes it more quiet and hypnotic, mindtaking compared to the first material of this album. Now it's time for "The black acts" and this is loud as hell, the storm has arrived. Blistering whirling thick overwhelming analogue power noise industrial. Explicitly sickening loud walls of sound (ask my neighbours J ), sharp shifting noises and piercing soundeffects. Now this kicks ass! This is complete demolition! This being my 2nd favourite of this album thus. Think of Cazzodio, but with its own sound yet as powerfull, sick and grotesque walls of destruction and ear-terrorism, a definite must, a fantastic long awaited newcomer in the scene. Hope to hear more in the future. Who ever claimed that ONLY Germany has the best Death Industrial bands now stands corrected, hear for your self! Rated: 10/10!!!
"The Black Acts" - Aversionline E-Zine
8/10 - This is another project from Thomas Garrison of the infamous Control, with this particular disc exploring historical methods of torture. From the start I can say that I enjoy this more than Control, not only because it seems less conventional from a visual/conceptual basis, but also because the sounds herein possess an excellent balance of searing harsh noise and fluid, menacing ambient landscapes. "Two Thousand Volts" introduces some samples amidst intense layers of cacophonous distortion and eerie background tones. The samples act more as an additional texture than anything else, as it's nearly impossible to make out what's being discussed. "Dissident Asylum" begins with one of the most unsettling synth tones I've ever heard, carefully swaying to and fro with some rumbling in the distance and slow, crisp crunches of distortion starting to come into the center/foreground. "Skeffington's Gyves" is one of the calmer pieces, creating lush ambience with only minimally aggressive shifts present. "Beneath the Gallows" is a similar piece, using mostly clean, deep tones to create an intense depth that certainly suits the title of the track. Of course the recording is excellent. The levels are loud, the tones range from bright to muddy. Even though the sound is polished there is a ruggedness to it, everything has its place. The layout is superb, one of the best I've seen from Crionic Mind. The entire package is consistent in its use of dismal, stone-like textures and classic illustrations of torture scenes, instruments of torture, etc. The use of text is minimal and effective - a perfect match for the music. Despite the 60+ minute running time and relatively consistent delivery throughout, nothing gets boring, as most tracks hover right around the five-minute mark. Fans of Control will no doubt be impressed by Exsanguinate. The material has the same sinister atmosphere, and though I feel the two stand on their own ground, they're not completely disparate. Recommended.
"The Black Acts" - Vengeance Magazine E-Zine
This release by exanguinate called the black acts is all about torture in every aspect, "punishment for all crimes" starts with bass and leads into well done high pitched distortion, a painful backdrop to what is to come! This release from Crionic mind has 13 tracks of raw anger ranging from sounds to be compared to such artists as Haus Arafna, Cazzodio, and other more popular Ant-Zen acts such as synapscape. This cd has everything to offer and should get more recognition then it does. You can hear all the masters of rhytmic noise and power electronics on this release and to me there is no bad to it. Here is the tracklisting for the black acts:
punishment for all crimes - two thousand volts - a torturous end - the mazzatello - the final hour - punishing the dead - science of hanging - dissident asylum - peine forte et dure - skeffington's gyves - beneath the gallows - the black acts - silence and separation
From start to finish you will feel torture and your ears will bleed!