CoC : Japanese Torture Comedy Hour / MSBR

Japanese Torture Comedy Hour / MSBR - _Split_
(Extraction, 1998)
by: Gabriel Sanchez (8.5 out of 10)

It can pretty much be said that a constant in many of my noise reviews is my praise of the unsung artists out there in the extreme "music" field. This is not just some attempt at trying to be more "obscure" or "underground" than others by praising such artists, but simply because more times than not, it seems it is the lesser known and praised artists who strive to produce the best works. The split between American grindcore sensation Scott Hull's (Agoraphobic Nosebleed) Japanese Torture Comedy Hour and Japan's MSBR is an excellent example of two lesser praised artists producing extraordinary works. JTCH's side kicks off with a mind grinding live track entitled "Man Tar", which envelopes the listener in an endless sea of low-end distortion and rippling waves of feedback. The other two tracks bring about a mixture of JTCH's usual "in your face" low-end assault and moments of more surreal, almost industrial-esque soundscapes that serve as a break from the usual one dimensional attack and provide an extra level of depth to the compositions. MSBR in turn produce more beautiful harsh ambient sound structures which freely flow from moments of aural chaos to audio surrealism with no noticeable break in the overall structure of the piece. Perhaps it is a testament to MSBR's genius that he can so stretch and contort the thin line between barbaric harshness and dark ambiance that by the time one comes to the end of an MSBR piece, it seems there was never a line to be drawn in the first place. Like all MSBR compositions, this is another in a long line of noise scapes which can be experienced over and over again and never once could a listener even hope to track down and contain every sound exploration. Easily another in a growing line of split releases from more obscure noise artists which demands attention from even the most casual listener of the noise genre.

Contact: Extraction, PO Box 1213, Quogue, NH 11959, USA

(article published 16/1/1999)