Rating:
Genre:
Rock
Release Date: 06/13/2006
Spektr are a
black metal duo from France about whom little is actually known. Their debut album,
No Longer Human Senses (aka
Et Fugit Interea), issued in 2004, took virtually every one in the scene by surprise, prompting those good folks at
Aquarius Records in San Francisco to laud it the "weirdest
black metal record ever." While there are heavy distorted guitars, frantically pummeled drums, and utterly unfathomable vocals, this is simply one mode of attack for the duo. Long
noise drones, found sounds, radio transmissions, etc., are equal parts. On
Near Death Experience, the band ups the ante. From the opener,
"The Violent Stink of Twitching Terror," you hear not only parts of
Emperor,
Bathory, and labelmates
Blut Aus Nord, but also
Swans, early
Lustmord,
Whitehouse, and more. The crack and boom of guitars make their appearances well known, of course, but they are wrapped in a narcotic, utterly slithering mix of creepy ambience that sets the listener's guts to churning. This is
experimental music where ambience and sound sculpture play equal roles -- there is nothing remotely settling or pleasant about this sound. It's pure black. Everything is woven together in fuzzy high-end shimmering glasslike sound. Buzzes and
glitches, bells, found voices, film
soundtrack dialogue -- all of them are stuck into the black hole and are vomited out in swathes of something approaching
black metal, but somehow both more and less
metal. If you think of
Circle of Ouroborus meeting
Stormcrowfleet and
Anaal Nathrakh of
The Codex Necro, you get the beginning of the picture that is this wonder slab of creepy-crawly messed-up sickness. Toss in the early
Burzum or
Emperor and mix with sheer strangeness and lots of despair, and you have a winner.
Near Death Experience also comes packaged with a video playable on the computer that further "illustrates" the band's trademark insanity. Highly recommended if you have the stomach.
~Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
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