Not to be outdone by the sadism of batchmate Torture Corpse who has wedged his latest cassette between two tightly-bound pieces of steel wool (the material just a little less harsh than the sounds inside), Mexico’s (((O))) offers a more subtle antipathy toward his listener by simply covering the windows of the tape. For the otherwise blank façade of the cassette this means never being certain of where one stands on this deluge of blistering drones (sonic likenesses to Sunn are also well-suited), and any memories made through astute listening are sure to be lost upon ejection. Nevertheless, ‘Fuego Somos, Fuego Seremos: Roars & Abstractions.’ is epic a narrative as the Inferno itself, and manages to outperform the grandeur of its confines: nested in a wax-stamped glossy wrap-around, the C38 comes with a bagged-n-tagged sliver of obsidian tucked in a stamped draw-string pouch. There was little doubt this would be a worthwhile listen knowing Auris Apothecary’s consistent quality. What came as a pleasant surprise was the fidelity to which this extensive package grafts on to the dark and devilish opus which (((O))) has achieved. Performed in seven parts, this eschatological vision is performed mostly with a thick growl of guitar derived distortion. It’s a white cloud lit bright by the fires beneath, not yet throwing off its soot. A warning is made in part one, a woman speaking in Spanish, sounding pre-recorded and projected off the wall of smoke. A wonderful swell of metal picking rises to one side to cut the pale with cool hues and sharp detail. A stoned religious raga like Om consumes all the loose particles in a single harmonic beam. The sonic stratosphere swirls and we dip below without warning where drums pound wildly on elevated peaks and a sudden stutter shakes the whole world in its frame, recalling the deluge now full of steel filings. Part six (“Seis”) begins the B side in all-out war, the penultimate movement of battle before the restitution, a yellow-hot cloud of shapeless attack and hum, dragging into the longhall kettledrum procession of the final verses. A blistered tone over top like horns, this purgatory opens to real horns of bone (probably conch) and a rain of cooled streaks, fine, gritty drips, and a powerful engine percussing into the darkness of the tail of the tape. The entire cassette is a terrific duel between the void of fire-elemental wash and hugely symbolic objects as final icons. Stamped to 99 copies, on chrome tapes. Highly recommended.
Auris Apothecary cassette
$9
HERE