A seriously strong statement of intent from Echo 106.
Lux Rec have caught the album bug. Following Alessandro Parisi’s excellent Draconia the Swiss imprint turns to fellow countrymen Echo 106. The brothers of Bruno and Hansruedi Schnueriger have graced Mathematics with a 12” and album and released Winter Music last year on Lux. Now the twosome are returning to their homeland’s label with Infernal Regions.
Muscles are flexed from the outset. “Gates of Hell” is a beat battered brute. 4/4 thumps are serrated by claps and snares before Acid lines sink into the horror. The rack is a teeth-down-the throat hammering and a floor destroying opener. Toms and hats are the foundation for “Wild Savage Forest,” a smoke ringed work of dark House. Many tracks are surrounded in a haze of caustic smoke. Deep chords are countered by blackened 303 and night clad claps. “Wretched Souls” locks soulful melodies to abusive rhythm patterns. Chords are stratified with absorbing subtlety, bars lilting with a complexity more associated with Techno, as the track rises into something truly superb. ”Frozen and Faint” comes from that same Detroit washed place. Rich analogue lines are coupled with strict drum strikes. “All is Heard” leads out the double LP. The brothers use this final piece to explore the harmonic side of their studio. Tempos are reduced in this textured finale of analogue richness, similar in feel to “Alternate Sunrays” from the Choco & Cherry album.
Infernal Regions is an album which illustrates what the Schnueriger brothers are capable of. Shadows pervade the double LP, dark tones and aggressive arrangements stalk the speakers. But, there are moments of amplified brightness, tender chords rising from darker dancefloor moments. A seriously strong statement of intent from Echo 106.
Infernal Regions is available on Lux Rec.
