Sunday, January 19, 2014

Counterblast

Counterblast - Prospects 1995
Counterblast - Balance Of Pain 1996
Counterblast - Impassivity 2003
Counterblast - Faceless 2010
Counterblast - Nothingness 2011
01. Counterblast - Prospects, 1995 Vinyl, 7", Single
     Skuld Releases - SKULD 023
02. Counterblast - Balance Of Pain, 1996 Vinyl, Album, LP
     Skuld Releases - SKULD 031
03. Counterblast - Impassivity, 2003 CD, Album
     Life On The Edge Records - LIFE 1
04. Counterblast - Faceless, 2010 Vinyl, 10", 33 RPM, EP
     Alerta Antifascista - AA62
05. Counterblast - Nothingness, 2011 CD, Album
     Alerta Antifascista - AA70
In a fearless diversion from the request log, let's have a reload of the heavy darkness of Counterblast. The first two records are lethal charges of metallic crusty sludgy thrash armed with the Amebix | Neurosis Big Bertha. Extremely powerful stuff that bangs and crushes, awesome! Then, from Passivity on, they dropped the fast parts and only retained the Neurosis engine, and they are every good at torturing it. If you can't get enough of the Neurosis sound, you should enjoy this a lot. But... I still find the first two records more vital. And before anyone asks, I won't post any Isis, Pelican or Kylesa, I got rid of all these. Counterblast and Agrimonia largely fill this niche on my shelves.
Counterblast seem appropriate here today because I attended the Godspeed You! Black Emperor + Neurosis show yesterday, and now the weather is all grey and grim. It was a good show, very professional and artistic and decorated. Godpseed did their thing, stockpiling layers of string sounds and other analog noises in long progressions, like a conversation of disagreeing whales. It was interesting. When something is interesting, it means you appreciate its qualities and don't want to say bad things about it, but you didn't care much. I thought I'd be more into it than on records (which I did not keep, don't ask for this either), but not really: it was fun for a while, then I had to go eat something, 90 minutes of this was too much for me. Also, I don't really get the visuals, someone may explain it to me. I suppose the projected films were to immerse the audience in the fascinating universe of something and underline the absurdities of other things, in black and white. I only saw random scenes of visual noise, flowers, rail tracks, factories, words like "hope" and "I love you", dead bodies, texts displayed too shortly to read, ID photos, machinery, industrial plans, abandoned houses, hills and other things. It was interesting. Well no, actually it wasn't. "Hope" despite human industry and real estate decay? "Love" and flowers in contrast to factories and war? Really? As usual, I must have missed something. Every time a band project films, the narrow limits of my neuron prevents me from appreciating it. Was it poetry, politics, an art college student project or hipsterism? Why not project a Louis Lumière film instead, or excerpts of a good book, or a Gwar video?
Then Neurosis did their own thing. No video projection, but nothing from Pain Of Mind (just kidding). These dudes are seriously serious about their recipe of heavy melancholy. They wear menacing beards and don't talk to the audience at all, these are alpha males with emotions (and sound generators). It was a very long and perfect set too, and I guess I'm not into Neurosis all that much anymore.
!ZER Counterblast ZER!
Remove brackets and unzip: [it's in my counterblood]

5 comments:

  1. Zer
    Effectivement, mêmes sensations pour le show de samedi soir.... Neurosis a délivré quelques parties bien word as law...
    Puis après concerts des Hassler et de S.H.I.T. aux Katakombes pour se débarrasser de ces lenteurs pesantes et presque préhistoriques pour God Speed...excellent show de S.H.I.T. !
    Fab'

    ReplyDelete
  2. I enjoy this very much. Is there a formal connection to Agrimonia? I got tuned onto Agrimonia when Profane Existence included a free CD with an order.

    Woodchuck Pirate
    aka Raymond J Raupers Jr USA
    www.woodchuckpirate.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Both bands are Swedish, but I think that's the only connection.

      Delete
  3. I'm beginning to have an affinity for material from Sweden. I've successfully collected all 3 parts of the "More World Less Bank" 7inch series issued by Halvfabrikat Records .

    http://www.discogs.com/Various-More-World-Less-Bank/release/1669586

    http://www.discogs.com/Various-We-Come-In-Peace-7-More-World-Less-Bank-pt2/master/442024

    http://www.discogs.com/Various-More-World-Less-Bank-Part-3-No-Borders-No-Banks/release/3335352

    Woodchuck Pirate
    aka Raymond J Raupers Jr USA
    www.woodchuckpirate.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. please, reload this stuff. link don't work

    ReplyDelete

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