Escuadron De La Muerte – Bastion XXIII (Album – Steinklang Industries)
Genre/Influences: Death-Industrial, Power-Electronics, Noise.
Format: Digital, CD.
Background/Info: Hailing from Mexico,
Zihr Alphil has released a considerable number of productions between 2008 and 2013. But then the project went through a long silence till “Bastion XXIII” -which was already released a year ago.
Content: The front cover looks more than controversial, but that’s a part of this project’s image and approach. The sound is clearly driven by old demons of Death-Industrial –so it’s not a coincidence Roger Karmanik (Cold Meat Industry label owner, but also known for his Brighter Death Now project) has been mentioned among the ‘thanks to’. The hardest pieces of the album are into Death-Industrial and a kind of Ambient-Noise style moving crescendo till a total sonic earthquake. But the work also reveals a very few ‘softer’ tracks, which are more into Experimental music and even Ritual mixed with Noise.
+ + + : The diversity of the album for sure is the main strength of this work. I like the overwhelming debut, but still the passages featuring a kind of Ritual influence (cf. “Sagrada Santa Muerte”). The lovers of Death-Industrial music will be pleased discovering tracks like “Astarteastaroth” and “Satanas Montando Un Elefante Rosa”.
– – – : Most of the tracks are long, sometimes a bit too extended. The most traditional Death-Industrial pieces aren’t my favorites as they rapidly start to be repetitive.
Conclusion: Harsh and merciless sonic torture from Mexico!
Best songs: “Sagrada Santa Muerte”, “Por El Valle De La Muerte Cabalgaron Los 600”.
Rate: 7.
Artist: www.facebook.com/escuadronmuerte
Label: www.steinklang.org / www.facebook.com/steinklang
About Escuadron De La Muerte
Escuadron De La Muerte is the Mexican industrial project of Francisco “Zihr Alphil”, started in 2007 in Aguascalientes. Its stated aim is to build destructive atmospheres and odes to death, drawing on noise, death industrial, martial, power electronics and dark ambient.
The recorded output runs from “Eraser Minds” in 2008 through “Thanatophilia Cruentus” on L. White Records in 2009, “Omnia Vincit Mors” on Ufa Muzak in 2010, and “Mörder” and “Acherontia Atropos” in 2011. The project first appeared on Steinklang Industries with “Birds Of Pain And Blood” in 2012, then went quiet after “Bautismo De Fuego: Le Dernier Bataillon” in 2013.
“Bastion XXIII” returned the project to Steinklang Industries in 2020 as a limited CD. A cassette, “Prototype (1900-2020)”, followed on the same label.
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