Dissecting Table- Memories

Artist: Dissecting Table
CD Title: Memories
Label: Triumvirate
Reviewer: Matthew Johnson
Date: 9/18/05

This particular album from extreme noise artist Ichiro Tsuji comes surprisingly close to sounding like “normal” music, in that there are such recognizable elements as voice, electric guitar, and a standard rock ‘n’ roll drum kit. What this assemblage of blast beats, overdriven power chords and bellows actually sounds like is a high school death metal band’s first garage demo being played through a broken PA system – but in a good way. The four tracks, simply entitled “Memory I” through “Memory IV,” each clock in at around ten or fifteen minutes and tend to alternate between almost pure noise and more “impure” noise loosely inspired by grindcore. The opening track is a good example of the album’s aesthetic as a whole: lots of screams, some hollow-sounding drums hammered in rapid fire, and thrashing guitars that emerge from and sink back into a morass of earsplitting feedback. “Memory III” is the most varied, with plenty of nervous clanks and clattering amidst the guttural shouts and several more synthesized sections that feature glitch-inspired drum machine patterns instead of reverb-drenched blast beats. “Memory II” is as brutal as it gets, apart from an interlude of grumbling, lower-register feedback that’s actually soothing by the time it rolls around, while “Memory IV” is a bit reminiscent of early industrial in the vein of Throbbing Gristle, with a greater emphasis on metallic clanks and studio knob-twiddling. Definitely not for the weak of heart and ear, this album is too rough even for most fans of the industrial and metal scenes that inspired it, but this will be a harsh delight for even the most jaded noise devotee.

Visit www.dissecting-table.com for more information on Ichiro Tsuji.