Reviews

Disclaimer: the following review was written by a severely disturbed,possibly deranged, individual who is, shall we say, CUCKOO FOR CRACKSTEEL. Some exercise of caution is therefor advised.
Cracksteel. To your average Lombardo, simply a kickass harshnoise unit. For me, more like a FUCKING OBSESSION. It helps when the shit`s genuinely good. Focused. Active. Unrelenting. Unapologetic. Pure raunch-ripping noise of the first order. Coming into the earholes in the mid 90`s, Cracksteel built up a horrifically minuscule catalog of output, spanning little more than two years. Their genius is in the realization of noise not as a demonstration of technical brilliance, layering, editing, panning, but rather a singular, and singularly abrasive, focus: straight for the jugular, and DON`T LET GO. The singularly abrasive tone was set toward the end of `95, with the near simul-release of "Crustacean Speedstar" and "Blood Purge", both on Cracksteel`s own Workturm Ghetto. These tapes are classics: unutterably harsh exercises in seething viciousness; striking, pleasure-packed brutality for the serious harshead. Hot on their heels came the incredible "The Kingdom of Pain" (Self Abuse), a truest of noise masterpieces, and what was to be the culmination of all MATzyAMA`K`s efforts. After that, a couple splits: a relatively disappointing one with Mo-te in late `96, and the much more satisfying "Imperial Torture", released on Solipsism a few years later.
Since then, squat.
Chronologically, "Felucca" sits snugly between "Blood Purge" and "The Kingdom of Pain". Track one, "Noesis Ventilator" actually resembles "Into The Drift And Sway" off the latter, principally in its screech-laden aggression. Momentum builds quickly, an overload of driving bulge-grind rolled into a steady, unwavering slew of jagged rip-shriek, never stalling for an instant`s refresher, and never, ever, deviating from the earhole drilling surge. Condensed ear abrasion, not so much layered as overflowing - with pinprick sharp metal jab bristling meatshred. A raging whitewater floodwash of accumulated debris, surging, bubbling, boiling over. This shit really MOVES. There are times when it feels as though the MATzyAMA`K is randomly chucking shit into a ferocious, sizzling pit of searing razorgrind, but the shit`s hardly out of control, nor is the MATzyAMA`K idly playing around. Firm anchors abound, offering plenty to latch onto amid slutbagged, chattering orgies of sweet, steel-sleet febricity. There IS an open-ended feel to the relentless, frenzied drive, which serves only to draw the listener in when increasingly large rips in the tattered, crumbling fabric stumble recklessly through tiny, twitching bits of moiled drift and sway.
Side B`s "Blasted Vortex Archipelago" offers what sounds like an alternate work over of the same track materials, split into the left and right channels respectively. The greater "separation" allows the slow-moving, low end gush rush roomto flesh out a broad based underbellow, plowing through earthy smoke snows in billowing turdheaps. Raw, rumble-heavy guttersludg shitshovelled in trembling bludgersmudge asphyxia. Normally buried vocal elements are almost discernable for the briefest of intervals, playing against feedback saturated rustgrumble, ultimately serving as gritty, rough-hewn, texturizing agents. Halfway through, however, the somewhat muted grimeslather finds itself unceremoniously ripped wide open, harsher screechbleach hiss-sheets clambering for attention. The effect is positively assrending; concentration drawn first from one savagely ruptured fistfreak crunch-hack to the next. Just as the noisehead starts nodding its grinning approval, that wacky MATzyAMA`K pulls the fucking plug. I could easily have indulged another side`s worth.
NoiseGrade: A
Harshness 8.9
Density 7.4
Rawness 9.0
Craftsmanship 6.3
Spasticity 6.1
Harmonicaness 5.7
Taken from Mr Blumpy