Horders / The Way to Light split review

The Way to Light and Horders have recently teamed up on a split cassette tape released on Die Song. Both belong to the ambient/noise genre spectrums, but are certainly quite different in terms of sound. While Horders tend to produce more abrasive sounding tracks, The Way to Light tends to create more atmospheric pieces. 

Horders play five new tracks on this split, and they are really something quite different to their earlier work. For a noise/instrumental project that may seem like a hard thing to do, but they have certainly tried to push the limits and explore some new territories this time round. It is almost hard for me to explain exactly what is different, it really needs to be heard to be understood.
The first track, "No Hope" follows an ominous distorted acoustic riff that really captures the name of the track, and is filled with the usual samples and abrasive reverb I've come to associate with Horders. "Desert Glass" starts in a completely different direction, with a minute of building distortion that builds into an enormous wall of sound that bursts through your ear drums. In a way it is horrible to listen to, but yet in another strange way I keep going back to listen to it over and over again. Once the wall is finally broken down there is another solemn riff surrounded by samples of machine guns and other unearthly noises.
Where this side gets particularly interesting for me is the last track "Erase the Slate". While Horders has definitely had samples of spoken words in previous tracks, this is the first I am aware of to feature actual lyrics. Of course they are wickedly distorted, but they work on top of the acoustic guitar perfectly and without careful listening sound just like another layer of twisted noise samples.

As I had thought, the TWTL is entirely different to the Horders side. All of the abrasiveness has been stripped back and replaced with intense drawn out drones. Everything about these tracks is very soft, yet somehow very dark. It makes me feel like I am hearing the sounds from a very long distance, as if I have travelled away from the source to a place inside my own mind.
The first track, "Aghartha" starts with roughly three and a half minutes of drones and hints of an array of sounds that create such an immense atmosphere. A quiet acoustic riff then makes it's way through all the layers of sound and is eventually accompanied by a whisper of spoken vocals. "Worthless Crown" starts with a slow, heavy drum beat that is at the start a part of some distant noises which eventually fades into the abyss. A slow tune creeps it's way back into the air, and by the three minute mark starts some acoutisc guitar and vocals that would not be out of place on a Roses Never Fade record (no surprises there really).

A small promotional video was also made for the release, and all of the tracks are now streaming online. TWTL even has it's first full-length album on the horizon, again thanks to Die Song.

striVVe #4 Tape

I'm not even sure how long ago I got this now, I really should try to post about things sooner to when they arrive!

Anyway, this is (rather obviously) a cassette, released by striVVe recordings some time last year. It features 9 songs from the likes of Shade of Mankind, Thee High Priestess, Black Feud, Horders, Oede and RVeVV, broadcasting strikingly different spectras of heavy music.  

The tape is probably best described as baby blue, although it was most likely produced to match the blue fading over the top of the 4P artwork. It's certainly a nice touch though, much more interesting than a standard store bought cassette.

This particular tape is probably just about the most limited release I've got. Only a ridiculous 10 were produced, and mine was lucky number 5!

Extras, it almost doesn't seem right when I get something without extras anymore. Luckily, this has got it in bucket-loads. To start things off there is a massive cloth patch of the artwork on the tape. That's the one on the right, and on the left there is a cardboard print of the same image.

Next up is this zine. I'm not really into any religious things, and don't want to get into any kind of debate here about the pros/cons, but it's definitely an interesting booklet. There are a few interviews, one of which is with Hans of Liar fame. At this point he was the replacement vocalist for Rot in Hell before for whatever reason things didn't work out and Lecky stepped up.

For a small time label, striVVe definitely put out some interesting things, all with great packaging. They are definitely worth checking out

Horders - Fimbulvetr 12"

Okay, back to vinyl now.

My first exposure to Horders was on the awesome split with RIH. At the time I didn't quite appreciate what Horders did on that split and like a fool didn't really listen to it. Then I bought a second coloured copy of that split and listened to the two tracks some more, and they started to grow on me a bit. Various other internet folks had mentioned how good the new LP was so I decided to head over to Give Up's webstore and order myself a copy. I'm pleased I made that decision.

For those who are unfamiliar with Horders, it is the music incarnation of the street art project, Give Up. Horders has a dark (mostly) acoustic style, incorporating various samples and the likes. They've also incorporated a lot of their artwork into this release, which is really great of course. The inside of the cover has my favourite piece from Give Up, "sleipnir". Once I've got the money to do so I'd really like to get this screen print to put on the wall.

One hundred of these were pressed on clear vinyl which does look really nice. I was a bit slow on picking mine up, so was only able to get the regular black pressing, out of 400 copies. It does still look pretty great though, the triangle on the centre label goes really well.

The inside the box was three Horders/Give Up badges. I originally forgot about these when I first wrote the post, it was only when I went to recycle the box that I found them once again.

And if there wasn't enough art in this release already, it also came with a photocopy of another of Give Up's works. A Horders patch was also lurking inside the cover.

Rot In Hell / Horders split 7" - Blue

My last post was about a second-copy pick up, and it was pretty quick and easy to write, hence I thought I'd do the same again. This time around I've got something I think is a little more exciting; a copy of the RIH/Horders split on blue wax. I initially wrote about the black version I got a while ago, but was recently trawling the discogs marketplace and came across this copy selling for really cheap. Funnily enough, reading the old post it seems I somewhat predicted the existence of this post. I've always liked the look of the blue version, so thought there would be no harm in getting one for myself.

This is pretty much exactly the same as the black version, all except for two reasons. The first is the most obvious and has already been mentioned about 4 times; the colour. The vinyl is a lovely blue colour that matches the font on the cover art great. As a nice touch the inner sleeve is also the same kinda sky blue. Oh, and this version is limited to just 100 copies.

The inside of the artwork is exactly the same once again. But it's really well done so it deserves another photo.

Here is the second difference between this version and the black version, this one comes with an HT planchette just like the one on the cover art. This ties in nicely with the whole Ouija board theme of the release (which I'll admit I didn't pick up on until Gavin mentioned below). In all honesty this was probably the main reason I was after one of these blue copies, I love getting the little things.

When I actually ordered this the seller didn't mention if it was included or not. It was pretty cheap,so I didn't get my hopes up but thought it was worth a shot. Of course once it arrived I checked to see if it was the plastic sleeve, and I couldn't see anything. I was a bit disappointed, but what can you do? Anyway, after taking everything out to have a good look I noticed something small slip out of the inner record sleeve and onto my bed. I'll leave you to guess what it was....

I've recently mentioned how good the acoustic incarnation of Rot in Hell is, and if you are a fan of the band I strongly suggest getting your hands on a copy of this (even if its only digital). Plus the horders side is something that'll really grow on you. Well it has on me anyway, so much so that I've also picked up their latest 12" LP that I'll be writing about very soon....

Rot In Hell / Horders - Omega Suite split 7"

This split sort of marks the departure of RIH as a pure metallic hardcore band. When I got this I didn't know what to expect, and almost thought it was the wrong record or something. Instead of the raging fury of the band's previous material, this split takes a more sombre approach much like some of VVegas' work. It really shows off the diversity of this momentous band. 

Of course this is a split, so two bands present work here. Horders is the musical project for the artistic project Give Up. This sort of continues along the same path as the Rot In Hell side; the tracks are slow acoustic/experimental tracks. 

Describing the artwork is a bit like, well, finding a guitar pick in a hay stack. 

Inside the cover is the lyrics to both to Rot In Hell songs. This is probably the only release where this wasn't entirely necessary, you can actually tell the lyrics when listening to it. Imagine that! I do really like this inside though, the black and white design is well put together.

There were too versions of this record pressed, a blue and a black version. The blue version looks really impressive, and even comes with its own little guitar pick. Sadly, I do not own such a version. All I have is the regular black version, well so far anyway.