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Since forming late in the latter half of the past decade, the
California-based extreme noise outfit Actuary has been steadily cranking
out a stream of split releases that saw them sharing wax (or other
petroleum-based substances) with everyone from Merzbow, Bastard Noise and
Gnaw Their Tongues side-project Aderlating to cult underground noise spewers
like Winters In Osaka, Bacteria Cult, Juhyo and Fetus Eaters. Keeping up
with their prolific output has been a daunting task, but also a rewarding
one, as Actuary has been pretty consistent in quality, offering epic-length
blasts of abstract electronic chaos, extreme psychedelic circuit-fuckery and
monstrous synth abuse with each new release that are primed for some serious
sonic skull-melt.
On their first real full-length Cd 'The Reality Is, The Dream Is Dead',
Actuary returns to present us with four new tracks of intense noise that
covers all of the different aspects of their sound. The opener 'Spiritual
Armageddon' sends spasms of squelchy electronic carnage through a massive
rumbling dronescape, evoking visions of high-end robotics in the throes of
mass suicide in the bowels of some subterranean forge, interspersing the
blasts of crazed glitchery and hyper-speed tape-vomit with passages of dark,
reverberating factory ambience. 'Heat Of Eternal Punishment' blends together
scraping metallic tones and textures with more of that violently spastic
sine wave manipulation and sputtering distortion, later shifting into fields
of fearsome industrial soundscaping and layered, processed samples that
ratchet up the panic level to nearly unbearable heights. Corrosive buzz saw
drones flutter and fluctuate across the 'Pool Of Perpetual Torment',
building into crushing waves of percussive industrial pummel, malfunctioning
engine roar and mangled electronics. And on the final track 'Baptized In
Flames', the band works up a smoldering, apocalyptic noisescape infested
with the sounds of clanking metal chains, pulsating distorted synths, and
the howling of mutant cetaceans, and by the end of the album has transformed
into something resembling an entire megalopolis being consumed in a hell of
nuclear fire.
The malevolent, psychedelic electronics that Actuary exudes across
'Reality' takes the sort of brutal cyborg chaos found in the likes of
Bastard Noise and Government Alpha, and drenches it in a heavy coating of
dextromethorphan delirium, making for some of their heaviest noise so far.
Released in a limited, hand-numbered edition of two hundred copies as part
of the 'Crucial Blaze' series, 'The Reality Is The Dream Is Dead' also
features a thirty-two page art zine assembled by the band, filled with
strange, surrealistic artwork from members of the band as well as
contributions from FetusK, Mories (Gnaw Their Tongues), Chris Dodge (Spazz),
Jay Randall (Agoraphobic Nosebleed) and more...
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