Released
l998
Recorded in legal
exile in 1995
Label
Maligant Records
Reviewed by
Kim Alexander
Contact
Malignant Records
P.O.Box 5666
Baltimore Maryland
2l2l0 USA
Visit
Last Edit/Update
29 April, 1998
Iron Halo Device
The Collapsing Void
Track Listing
Pulsating Flesh
(7.3l.96)
Introduction
l. Eyespark, The Man
Penetration
2. Intruding The Skin
Reflection
3. The Collapsing Void
Completion
4. An Empty Anthem
Spliced & Segmented
(8.95-9.95)
Creation
5. The Abduction Of Winter
Evolution
6. The Expanding Void
Observation
7. Red Memory
Contemplation
8. A Passion Vessel
This release is wearing out my cd player. It's VERY GOOD. If you tend to read my reviews,
you must be getting a *feel* for what I am into at this point in time -- but like most of
us, our tastes in music evolve. Tastes in music evolve for many reasons.
In my case, there is just SO much music out there I haven't heard yet, that the
underground scene is still unfolding for me. Such is the case with this release:
The Collapsing Void. This CD is excellent in my opinion because of the way it's
smoothed together with strong and unyielding sounds that Philip T. Easter
(aka: Dj Stone Glass "Steel") has used in his mixing the
compositions, and his choice of samples from various artist's releases, of which I am able
to identify on a few of them.
The first track Eyespark, The
Man, is SO good. It has a continuum of deep droning throughout the first part of the
track (reminds me of a track off Scorn's Evanescence and may
well be sampled from it), relentless drumming but not overwhelming, and drifts into a man
who sounds like he's sitting in the top of a mosque in some far distant Islamic country
wailing to his countrymen about Allah layered over -- then shifts into electronic buzzes
and echoing and fuzzy electronic injections, synths with walls of noise injected here and
there, low drone in the background. Excellent excellent track, which slides into Intruding
The Skin, with a strong powerful EBMish drum beat, winding synths, and more walls of
noisedrones in the background as Phil gently slips in Lords of Acid
sampled from the selection where the deep eerie slow bass goes on with the singer voicing:
"I'm Fucking Beautiful...." over and over again, with a fast paced power
drumming laid over it and more synth-noise ...another incredible mix.
Phil then heads
the listener even more deeply into The Collapsing Void with a looped bleeping that
fades out into a deep blasting white noise barrage. An Empty Anthem won't let you
down with synth harmony and wailing, soft and haunting drum loops, and eerie drones
layered on a slow, dark melody, conjures up an electronic figure of doom knocking at your
door.
With a slow march-like beat, a deep
bass synth drum engaging ominously in the piece, and the addition of clanks and a quiet
wave of background melody, The Abduction of Winter again brings to mind an
omnipresence of a threatening mysterious power. The Expanding Void begins with a
deep sonic abyss eventuating to the addition of an eerie layer of orchestrated melody and
beeps...then moves directly into Red Memory, another ambiently experimental
electro-manipulated selection with more dark synthscapes, clanks of metal on metal, exotic
female vocals (most likely sampled off some other CD/artist), and a rich melodic layer of
pulsing harmony that is simply beautiful. The final track, A Passion Vessel,
a slow ambient work of gentle sonic drifing brings the CD full circle with a quiet yet
unsettling end.
I know there are many bands sampled
on this CD, but I just don't know who they are -- nonetheless, this is obviously the work
of a master mixing some of the best sounds (and LIVE no less), in the ambient-
experimental-noise electronic genres of the underground. Phil Easter has
my *high-five* with creating The Collapsing Void. If your tastes are in
experimental electronica, you really need to get this release, it's just an incredibly
GOOD piece of aural art, and it's ORIGINAL! Something quite difficult to find these days.
GET IT. You will NOT regret it.
