Audacious doesn’t come into it. The title gives fair warning of what to expect, even if the cover doesn’t. Yes, that 12” square cover that contains a 5” silver disc, a CD, in a white paper envelope. It’s hard not to feel disappointed, but equally, you have to laugh at the audacity, and besides, the contents more than makes up for it. By which I mean it too is audacious, and utterly punishing.
Shuddering explosions of shrill electronic distortion amidst a blizzard of howling static, the whole thing occasionally stutters and stalls under the weight of its own volume and speaker-mangling tonal intensity.
The first track, ‘Convulsive Threshold #2’, with its running time of 16 minutes is the sound of circuits being fried as they’re pushed – and pushed – beyond their limits, and held there, without mercy. ‘Convulsive Threshold #1’ is, perversely, track 2, and ratchets up the sonic brutality and does so for double the duration, with an overloading racket of pings, scratches and squalls of interference exploding from the speakers for a full half hour.
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It’s absolute madness of course, and while it’s as far from ‘music’ as you’re likely to get, it’s one hell of an experience.
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