A Benefit for Stephen Petrus: "When one has nothing left make ceremonies out of the air and breathe upon them"

This post was initially going to be a review of a brand new compilation, but I've decided that due to the timeliness of matters, it's most important for me to simply put this out for the world to experience without going into great depth. Why? Because when this album is a compilation set to benefit Stephen Petrus, a member of the noise community whose house burnt down on January 8th. The public might view extreme musicians as groups of unsavory people, but I can't think of too many examples of such a large community coming together like this to help one of its own in other musical genres. So, instead of spending lengthy paragraphs telling you how the appropriately titled "Recovery From Flames" from Marc Benner is one of my standout tracks or how great it is to be introduced to Petrus' own music with the killer tune "Scarlet Apocalypse I" from his project Lithopædion, I'm simply using this space to encourage you to purchase this compilation and help this fellow reclaim a small part of his life and rebuild the rest. The music is generally on the ambient side of noise, with few tracks straying into harsher territory, making this a rather listenable compilation even for newcomers to the genre. In fact, with 28 tracks occupying about three hours' time, this one's a perfect introduction to some stellar noise artists. It's currently going for ten bucks but will soon be raised to fifteen for optimal benefit for Mr. Petrus, so hop on it now. Still, if you can afford to pay more than the minimum, I urge you to do so. The bandcamp player has been refusing to work on my page, for which I apologize. Click any of the links above to visit this compilation and hear the tunes.

Song Premiere: Venowl & Auditor- "Mounds of Scorched Teeth (Unmastered)"

I feel like I'm constantly having firsts here on this site. I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I do, because today's first is something I'm used to seeing only on more prominent sites. I have the first available track from the impending release from Venowl & Auditor entitled Acid Revealing Open Wounds. This release showcases some rather new territory for Venowl, who do seem to benefit from rising to the challenge of working with others. When they force their churning noise through the paradigm of another artist, they expand in new directions. Auditor's contributions to this release manifest as a sort of tension, something reeling in Venowl's typically rabid sound and forcing it along a newer path. While this isn't nearly as painful as having teeth burnt out of my skull, these guys continue to create sounds that walk the masochistic line between enjoyable and hideous in all the best ways. The crawling horror of Venowl is slow and meticulous, with loose arrangements allowing for Auditor to fill in the gaps with bursts of noise, melody, and everything in between. About halfway through, things become truly deconstructed and it almost feels like witnessing people being torn apart. Those who have enjoyed previous works from Venowl or Auditor's former project, Iron Forest, should know what to expect, although there are a few surprises hidden in the murk.

Unmastered copies of this CD will be sold in a specially packaged edition at Venowl & Auditor's upcoming show opening for Wreck and Reference in Chicago. Fully mastered audio will be available on a separate release later this year from Altar of Waste paired with a bonus disc of unreleased material from Venowl. For now, enjoy the first of this album's two tracks, "Mounds of Scorched Teeth."