CoC : Orthrelm - Asristir Vieldriox : Review

Orthrelm - _Asristir Vieldriox_
(Troubleman Unlimited, 2002)
by: Brian Meloon (5 out of 10)

Orthrelm is a two-piece band from the Washington, DC area. Their music can be adequately described as "painfully technical synchronized guitar and drum blasting". This album contains 99 instrumental tracks which last for slightly more than 12 minutes altogether. Each song consists of between 5 and 10 seconds of quick and abrasive guitar lines with corresponding drum parts. The playing is quite good and the relative tightness that the duo displays is amazing. Unfortunately, while their style is interesting when the songs are longer than a minute (as on their previous offering _Iorxhscimtor_), the lengths of the songs here doesn't give any chance for the music to develop. The flow created from the songs and the spaces between them is novel and interesting, but it's ultimately unsatisfying, as it's nearly impossible to remember any of the songs or even identify exactly how far into the album you are. If all that wasn't bad enough, it's not just the music that makes this album difficult to listen to: the production is very tinny and noisy. This is one of those albums that's interesting to think about and listen to once or twice, but it has little to no replay value.

(article published 1/9/2002)