Abattoir & Satori – Megaloschemos Live CS (Unsigned)

At first, I thought this was a split cassette release, but after a while, I realized it is a live collaboration between Abattoir and Satori. This material is not their first collaboration, and previously they released the album version of Megaloschemos and another collaborative cassette named Aether. Abattoir is a side project of Lorenzo Abattoir, an Italian noise artist based in Torino, Italy, mostly known for his prolific experimental project Nascitari. Satori is a longstanding British project operated by Dave Kirby, a very prolific artist active for more than three decades on the international noise scene. Megaloschemos serves as a live demonstration of their previous collaborative studio material, performed live at Havizaj#111 in Budapest, Hungary. Unsigned curates this festival, so the publishing of this material came naturally.

Megaloschemos Live carries series of collaborative compositions. During these numbers, both Abattoir and Satori are exploring several experimental genres to achieve particular ambiances. You may notice some field recordings, especially sounds of rain or subtle white noise, while the vocoder atmospherics are punching their way to the top. Both artists are gradually building a darkened, obscure, eerie ambiance that ends up with loud sonic detonations. Their sound ranges from plain ambient and drone to more industrial noise or harsh noise sound, but all these atmospherics are achieved by gradually adding layer upon layer of pleasing soundscapes. The best part about this live performance is the experience of these artists because both Abattoir and Satori are prolific experimental artists with countless releases in their catalog. Therefore, you can only expect top-notch maneuvers skillfully pulled by both noise acts.

Perhaps the presence of experimental industrial sound is more hearable on the other side of this interesting cassette release. All the layers are nearly echoic, with lots of reverb and delay included in the mix. However, this set of tunes also goes with the first side and doesn’t spoil the initial ambient aesthetic of this release. Even the harsh noise sound included within this set of songs has some specific vibe. I could easily conclude this is not Japan, French, nor American school of harsh noise. However, their take on foundations of harsh noise sound is equally pleasing, mainly because these maneuvers are equalized to fit the ambiance and aesthetics of this duo. Everything about this material resonates in some specific manner, suitable for fans of any avant-garde genre, so you cannot go wrong if you pick up this release. The cassette is available on the Unsigned Bandcamp page, so pick it up if you’re into perfectly executed ambient with various experimental twists and turns.