Untitled (Nova Scotia) - Untitled (Album 2021)

The debut album by this untitled Canadian project, and the only full-lenght to be released on the Abattoir label. Continuing their signature lo-fi experimentations and tying together most of the sounds explored thus far by labelmates Flesh & Blood, In Decay and Devotions, this is Abattoir’s magnum opus and seeming swan song, at least for the time being; impenetrable frequencies appearing as fugacious facets of an impossibly larger whole, much like a dim light cast down a dark, gaping abyss, unable to illuminate the totality of its confines. Very raw and cryptic, genre-agnostic and somewhat hard to categorize music, but certainly influenced by post-punk, ambient, neofolk, noise and industrial as well as sharing doom metal's lumbering gravitas and the obscure atmospheres of black metal resulting in a very ambitious yet cohesive collage. The record has an interesting structure, like time itself is slowing down as it progresses, following perhaps the arc of an explosion, chaotic and disparate at first until reaching maximum entropy and settling into uniformity, with each of the four sides dilating and gradually crystallizing into a more stable, if always nebulous form. Opening with the most experimental series of tracks on Side A, which is dominated by three striking pieces presenting a sort of synthesis of the various styles previously heard on the label (each then flanked by chilling ambient interludes); the first two are solemn and austere threnodies of gothic doom, mangled by heavy distortion and officiated via a disconsolate march of neofolk-ish guitar chords set to hulking percussion, as a haunted baritone wearily narrates his woes over a sea of numinous synths painting scenes of apocalyptic poetry, reminiscent of Swans and sounding in particular quite close to Niding's "Plågor" or Noctívago, but in some way even akin to the cosmic mysticism and state of inebriated hypnosis inhabited by Urfaust, or maybe interpretable as a much noisier and louder counterpart to Contour's "Year of the Hunter", with the foreboding last track on this first side venturing down a similar miserable pit of post-industrial anxiety and lethargy. Side B is on the other hand entirely comprised of desolate ambient wanderings divided into 3 tracks like teased earlier on; phantasmal vocal fragments blinking in and out of existence as if they're being swallowed by those vacant, lifeless yet beautifully lulling synthesizer layers and surreal tape loops. Side C then also pursues a singular sound, this time focusing on a continuous, lenghty instrumental neofolk track, coldly weaving a rather minimalistic but sonically dense web within which lay trapped many a tale of archaic lore and forgotten tragedy. Finally Side D is yet again a single piece, a silver needle inserted in the same vein of melancholy coursing through the Selected Works by Angeles, built on an exquisitely delicate looping piano melody that intimately scores a nostalgic sequence of field recordings/found sounds, queitly unfolding in the background the same way old fading memories do, a touching end that leaves an empty void in one's heart. The tracks are simply labeled as I, II, III & IV, each respectively accounting for Side A, B, C & D on double cassette, but I have taken some liberty in writing the timestamps based on the fact there appear to be several distinct tracks making up the first two sides, while the last two are long uninterrupted tracks. Released December 3, 2021 by Abattoir. ■ Available on Bandcamp: https://abattoir-label.bandcamp.com/a... ■ Follow and support the label: ● Bandcamp: https://abattoir-label.bandcamp.com/m... ● Instagram:   / abattoirlabel   ■ More information on the release: ● Discogs: N/A ● Last.fm: N/A ● RYM: https://rateyourmusic.com/release/alb... ► TRACKLIST: Side A: 1. 0:00 I.I 2. 0:56 I.II 3. 3:59 I.III 4. 5:02 I.IV 5. 9:26 I.V 6. 10:27 I.VI Side B: 7. 13:40 II.I 8. 19:39 II.II 9. 22:04 II.III Side C: 10. 22:46 III Side D: 11. 36:07 IV I take no credit for the music or artwork. All rights belong to the respective authors.