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REVIEWS
The Angels of Prostitution
The Whore
I Watched Them Hang
Big Fucking Titties or a Fuckable Mouth (of the Succubus) (featuring It-Clings)
Untitled
Dew Falling Over the Garden
Famine Wears the Mask of Prosperity
The Whore (Dead Man's Hill Remix)
The Serpents that Lick the Dust (Embodi Remix)
The Whore (DYM Mix)
The Whore (To Mega Therion Remix)
Dreams Beyond the Northern Ocean (Vicious Alliance Remix)
Under the Bodhi Tree
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Worms of the Earth
The Angels of Prostitution
Bugs Crawling Out of People
Posted: Friday, September 12, 2008
By: Ilker Yücel
Editor
By: Ilker Yücel
Editor
A strong concept, monstrous constructions, haunting ambience, and dramatically improved production marks the arrival of Worms of the Earth into the annals of post-industrial.
Power noise has become something of a joke - in this writer's humble opinion - in the underground industrial music scene. With many artists focusing primarily on endless repetition and copious amounts of distortion, so much music in this particular subgenre has fallen into the pitfall of banality and utter boredom, while simultaneously becoming one of the most popular subsets of industrial music. Yet, there are also a plethora of artists that have taken the aesthetics of power noise and applied it to a more atmospheric medium, truly emphasizing the balance of musicality with aggression and cacophonous textures. Joining in those ranks is Worms of the Earth, the brainchild of Dan Barrett; having spent the past several years honing his craft with several split EPs and free downloadable albums, he now unveils his first album proper, The Angels of Prostitution.
Those familiar with Barrett's past work will immediately notice a dramatic improvement not only in the production values but also in his overall sense of song structure. "I Watched Them Hang" is one of the earliest best examples of this full of dark melodic passages that evoke the greatest depths of abysmal terror and despair. True to the genre, there are still plenty of repeated and distorted loops galore, but with each measure, Barrett introduces the subtlest shifts, be they in the form of glitches or a simple alteration of tone. Another standout track is "Untitled" with its warm pad progressions and searing synth melodies that are as mystical and medieval as they are current, and while the rasping vocals of "Dew Falling Over the Garden" might seem in stark contrast to the almost serene arpeggios, the track gradually builds into a macabre march of gut-wrenching anguish. But it's not all horror show for "Famine Wears the Mask of Prosperity" assaults your speakers and punishes your eardrums with a dastardly display of thunderous percussive attacks and industrial clamor that could seriously put all other power noise artists to shame, while "Big Fucking Titties or a Fuckable Mouth (of the Succubus)" adds a slight bit of much-needed humor (not just because of its title) as the slow cadence of twinkling melodies and haunting strings is offset by a belligerent spoken word on materialism in the modern world. Rounding out the album is a series of remixes, with Dead Man's Hill's version of "The Whore" being especially impressive as it completely restructures the track into a horrific onslaught of operatic sorrow and monstrous atmospheres that is nothing short of epic. DYM's mix of this track also transforms the track into a noisy glitch-laden track that would almost certainly send listeners running to the dance floor, as would Vicious Alliance's mix of "Dreams Beyond the Northern Ocean."
As stated, the production on this album is top-notch as each sound, sample, every drumbeat, every note resonates with clarity, never running the risk of destroying your stereo system, but always allowing the power of the music to continue its threats to seep into your psyche and send you into the grips of insanity. Barrrtt also deserves credit for strengthening his conceptual framework; gone are the Transformers samples, substituted for an intelligent selection of clips from various sources that actually do well to enhance the fractured atmosphere of the music rather than acting as a simple distraction from the lack of regular vocals as in most industrial and noise music these days, with the title being derived from Jewish mysticism about a group of succubi, thus exploring the female as demon, a concept that in fact led to delays in the album being printed due to "offensive content." Despite this, The Angels of Prostitution is one of those records that prove that there is still much ingenuity and innovation to be found in even the most mundane of musical genres, and signals the arrival of Worms of the Earth as a creative and vicious force in post-industrial music.
Those familiar with Barrett's past work will immediately notice a dramatic improvement not only in the production values but also in his overall sense of song structure. "I Watched Them Hang" is one of the earliest best examples of this full of dark melodic passages that evoke the greatest depths of abysmal terror and despair. True to the genre, there are still plenty of repeated and distorted loops galore, but with each measure, Barrett introduces the subtlest shifts, be they in the form of glitches or a simple alteration of tone. Another standout track is "Untitled" with its warm pad progressions and searing synth melodies that are as mystical and medieval as they are current, and while the rasping vocals of "Dew Falling Over the Garden" might seem in stark contrast to the almost serene arpeggios, the track gradually builds into a macabre march of gut-wrenching anguish. But it's not all horror show for "Famine Wears the Mask of Prosperity" assaults your speakers and punishes your eardrums with a dastardly display of thunderous percussive attacks and industrial clamor that could seriously put all other power noise artists to shame, while "Big Fucking Titties or a Fuckable Mouth (of the Succubus)" adds a slight bit of much-needed humor (not just because of its title) as the slow cadence of twinkling melodies and haunting strings is offset by a belligerent spoken word on materialism in the modern world. Rounding out the album is a series of remixes, with Dead Man's Hill's version of "The Whore" being especially impressive as it completely restructures the track into a horrific onslaught of operatic sorrow and monstrous atmospheres that is nothing short of epic. DYM's mix of this track also transforms the track into a noisy glitch-laden track that would almost certainly send listeners running to the dance floor, as would Vicious Alliance's mix of "Dreams Beyond the Northern Ocean."
As stated, the production on this album is top-notch as each sound, sample, every drumbeat, every note resonates with clarity, never running the risk of destroying your stereo system, but always allowing the power of the music to continue its threats to seep into your psyche and send you into the grips of insanity. Barrrtt also deserves credit for strengthening his conceptual framework; gone are the Transformers samples, substituted for an intelligent selection of clips from various sources that actually do well to enhance the fractured atmosphere of the music rather than acting as a simple distraction from the lack of regular vocals as in most industrial and noise music these days, with the title being derived from Jewish mysticism about a group of succubi, thus exploring the female as demon, a concept that in fact led to delays in the album being printed due to "offensive content." Despite this, The Angels of Prostitution is one of those records that prove that there is still much ingenuity and innovation to be found in even the most mundane of musical genres, and signals the arrival of Worms of the Earth as a creative and vicious force in post-industrial music.
