Thursday 15 May 2008

Skin Chamber - Wound (1991)


As metal deteriorated in the early '90s, I became smothered by the gruelling sounds of industrial. No, not the throbs of Nine Inch Nails or the grooves even of Ministry, but instead the swollen migraine grind that was Paul Lemos, the man behind other noises such as Controlled Bleeding. This is true industrial hell and if you like music violent, torturous, alienating, intense, burning, pounding - then look no further, although the term 'music' would be used loosely here for this awful, ear-busting, rusty, oily tumult where song titles have no meaning because this dreadful duo are only interested in painting pictures of black swinging chains, blood-dried meathooks, gurgling radiators, wielding sparks, metallic drones, unbearable grinds and churns, screeching cogs and combusting engines. This is as extreme as industrial metal gets, the crazy professors making their sounds with all manner of instruments, sounding as if they have rehearsed in a scrap metal yard by clattering pipes, scraping corrugated iron and simply trying to create something so smog-filled. You'll choke on this record and anyone who claims to get such pleasure from the cankered cell of a sound will be considered slightly unhinged. This is beyond apocalyptic, and far more severe than the grey dub of Godflesh. After five minutes of this burning pain you'll be coughing up metal splinters, chewing on foil and experiencing the worst migraine known to man.

7/10

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