A healthy dosage of soundtrack-driven, ritual-laden, and tangled ferocity, First Rebirth finds solace in dark electronic caverns. Abyss Is Calling yields an abstract refinement, curiously, and chaotic beauty start to end.
A healthy dosage of soundtrack-driven, ritual-laden, and tangled ferocity, First Rebirth finds solace in dark electronic caverns. Abyss Is Calling yields an abstract refinement, curiously, and chaotic beauty start to end.
Tracks like “Abandoned Fragments” delivers on this trajectory with its eerie pulse, heavyweight beats, and orchestral backdrop. The (breakcore) force expands on “Paroxysmal Attacks,” where sharpened old-school Panacea extracts begin to take shape. All manner of organized noise, corrosive echoes, and turbulent rhythms explode on the aggressive “Chanting Mechanism (Ritual Machine),” where pleasant distortion and rusty drums run rampant.
First Rebirth provides Argentina-based Netlabel with a firm grasp of deconstructed moody-electronics and dub-infested patchwork as revealed on “Mind Exacerbation,” grime-filled and sandblasted bass that simply doesn’t let up. The Russian artists’ gritty structures pairs with surreal ambient interludes as displayed on “Viscid Dreams” and the scorched drones of “In Limbo.” Abyss Is Calling results in a blast to the senses—harsh electrical wires burnt without cause—yet there’s a fleeting sense of disjointed calm (reference “Alchemy Of Souls” and “Teared Asunder.”) The album eventually boils into a gelatinous stew where organic elements meld with tribal tendencies.
Fans of early Amon Tobin will benefit from First Rebirth’s sophomore album—a visceral audio-collage blending instrumental and digital disorder. Easily a worthy trip to get lost within, and a fine backdrop for a dystopian world you might find on the other side of the Milky Way.
Abyss Is Calling is available on Abstrakt Reflections.
