Released
1997
Label
Relapse Records
Reviewed by
Michael C. Lund
Contact
Relapse Records
PO Box 251
Millersville, PA 17551
USA
Visit
Last Edit/Update
19 juli, 1998
Deutsch Nepal
COMPRENDIDO!...
TIME STOP!
...AND WORLD ENDING
Track Listing
1. Benevolence - 92
2. Thomas 29 Needles
3. World Mirror
4. Morgue Restaurant
5. Gouge Free Market
6. Tender Lover
7. Pain Is The Language We Use
8. The Phlegethon Fish
9. Auto Gamic Drummers
10. Poison Free Market
Released by Relapse
Records this CD by the Swedish one-man act Deutsch Nepal
contains material recorded between 1992 and 1996. It is a collection of highly
disconcerting pieces, for the most part based in dense, incessant percussion, and walls of
distortion and noise. The sparse vocals are mainly of a spoken nature -- suggestive,
surreal lyrical fragments, whispered in chilling voices. Samples of an equally cryptic and
ghastly quality are used to great effect on a number of the songs, and the Australian duo The
Moon Lay Hidden Beneath A Cloud (with whom Deutsch Nepal has
recorded a collaborative EP in the past) guests on one track -- "The Phlegethon
Fish."
The CD opens with the voice
of a man waking someone (the listener?) from hypnosis. From there "Benevolence -
92" develops into a noisy, ritualistic metal march of aggressive percussion with
muffled vocals and a powerful guitar riff. The piece is the most dynamic on the album, and
sounds as if it might have been recorded live.
A long quasi existential
rant sprawls through the first half of the more than nine minute long second track --
"Thomas 29 Needles." Again, a very intense and uncomfortable atmosphere
dominates this piece, which goes through several phases, all with strong hollow, echoing
percussions of various kinds, and very distorted vocals intruding here and there.
Another very extended piece
without any percussional elements is "Gouge Free Market." An insistent voice,
whispering the same three or four lines, appear intermittently over the consistently
pulsating wall of bassy ambient noise.
"Tender Lover"
features a number of cut-up female voices and sighs. The sounds, as of the cogs and
springs inside a clock ticking away, blend with a series of dynamic, explosive effects and
noises to create this gruesomely compelling audio collage.
A melange of different
pounding, grinding, echoing percussions, effects, misfiring engines, and other sampled
machinery constitute "Auto Gamic Drummers." The piece end on an abrupt note,
leaving a good minute of silence before the strange closing piece -- "Poison Free
Market."
This final wicked sonic
adventure combines a number of strange and harrowing elements. An excerpt from a Swedish
folk song, various snippets of demonic vocals, the ticking of an old clock, an old woman
putting someone under hypnosis and reprises of the vocals from "Gouge Free
Market" are but some of the ingredients in this eleven minute collage of weirdness.
Comprendido!...Time
stop!...and world ending is a sound-induced nightmare that brings cold sweat to the
brow of the listener if enjoyed at high volume -- a fresh and exciting listen, once the
initial alienation factor is overcome.
