Released
1998
Label
Spectre
Nocturnus
Reviewed by
Michael C. Lund
Contact
PO Box 88
2020 Antwerpen 2
Belgium
Visit
Last Edit/Update
06 juli, 1998
Hybryds/Yasnaïa
SPLIT 7"
(limited to 399 copies)
Track Listing
Side A
Hybryds (with P.A.L.) -- On The Seventh Day
Side B
Yasnaïa -- Cold Moon Over Black Water
The small Belgian label Spectre normally specializes in extremely
exclusive 10" vinyl productions that are pressed in only 100 copies, however, the
releases on their new side label Nocturnus will be made available in
somewhat less restricted quantities. Their first release is an excellent split-7"
with Hybryds and Yasnaïa (the female half of Hybryds);
issued in an edition of 399 numbered copies, and packaged in a nice black and white cover
adorned with a color reproduction of what looks like a Lovecraft inspired
psychedelic painting.
Side A of the single features the
Belgian ritual-industrial duo Hybryds in a collaboration with German P.A.L.
It is therefore not surprising that the sound of this song -- "On The End Of The 7th.
Day" -- is extremely rich and tense. Yasnaïa delivers a piercing, euphoric
vocal performance with religious/occult overtones, and is supported by an accompanying
carpet of intense, clanking impacts and other metallic tribal percussions, washed along by
a slow-motion rush of synthetic interference. The total impression is as of an ecstatic
sermon in honor of some arcane god, carried out in a futuristic, corrugated steel
cathedral.
"Cold Moon Over Black
Water" is a solo track by aforementioned Yasnaïa, and conjures up feelings
and images akin to those on the Hybryds track, except this piece is less
noisy and synthetic. Deep, warm acoustic rhythms blend with manipulated electronic echoes
and gurgling effects to evoke a mesmerizing, hypnotic atmosphere. The vocals of Yasnaïa
are similarly electronically treated, and consists solely of vocal sounds, screams and
howls, rather than any recognizable words or lyrical elements.
