Reviews

"Nostalghia" is a very deserved reissue of a tape of the same name released on Smell the Stench label two years ago. It comes in a very beautiful A5 sleeve that suits the title of the CD brilliantly. And the content itself: absolutely excellent noise. The tunes end quite abruptly, which surprisingly suits them well. This way they are independent harsh experiences. One is wall of noise where you can almost still hear remains of deconstructed music; another one is high-pitched and narrow changing wave; yet another massive onslaught. And so on. You can see the whole spectrum of good noise gone through skillfully on one CD.
In the end there's as a bonus an untitled, restrained live collaboration with Grunt from Gelsomina's first gig, which was certainly worth releasing as well. In my book, this album pushes straight to the second best Gelsomina release, even passing the brilliant "Greenaway" released in the early spring. I also suspect that with twenty or so listenings it might reach the number one position.
Unbelievably good noise. A must for fans of quality noise.
Taken from Kuolleen Musiikin Yhdistys

The name Gelsomina was encountered before, on a bunch of CDR compilations from Finnish Musically Incorrect Records, who also released 'Rautavaara' (see Vital Weekly 365). The first ten tracks on 'Nostalgia' were originally released by Smell The Stench in 2004 as a cassette. Gelsomina is the nom de plume for Pekka PT, who is credited for 'noise' and noise is what we get. Loud obnoxious feedback and distortion, the full works are here. Unlike others in this field, Gelsomina has 'depth', has 'variation' and has 'skil' - three factors not always present in the work of the lesser imaginative noise makers. Even when Gelsomina walks the paths of noise that is now paved like a highway and no longer a 'find your way in the bush', he still does a pretty fine job, pretty much along the lines of a good Merzbow. One of the better noise makers I encountered recently.
Taken from Vital Weekly

Eleven, count 'em eleven, slices of grinding harsh noise fury, so loud, so piercing, so in your face, that the weak listeners will have to turn it down. This is face-peeling stuff; there's no sissified politics or conceptual posturing here, just the audio equivalent of tying you to a chair, plugging in a Black & Decker sander, and applying the working end of the sander directly to your face for about an hour or so.
The first ten tracks were originally released as a C60 cassette by Smell the Stench in 2004; the last track is a bonus untitled live collaboration with Grunt, recorded in October, 2004 at La-Bas Studio at Helsinki, Finland. You're either totally down with this kind of balls-out sonic harassment or you can't throw it in the trashcan fast enough. Your sinuses (and possibly your entire skull cavity) will be miraculously cleansed after experiencing this real, real loud while wearing headphones. (Note that DEAD ANGEL cannot be responsible for auditory damage that may result from emulating our questionable listening habits.) I'm sure this is, like, real limited or something, so you may want to look into this while you still have the chance. Cipher Productions continues to win hearts and minds with its commitment to overamplified sonic violence.
Taken from The One True Dead Angel

Nostalghia has a haunted, eerie and emotional edge not often found in noise. Sure it’s still noise, and brutal as hell, but there seems something in the sounds and the way they're put together, which really hits you in different places to most noise, sort of like body blows to soul, so to speak.
On offer here are eleven tracks; ten were previously released on a c60 cassette in 2004, the last track is a live collaboration with Grunt. Quite who or what Gelsomina is, is somewhat of a mystery, the promo I was sent out has little or no information – all the noise appears to have been made by Pekka PT with source material provided by Mikko Novaro and Kaj Wikgren, quite what the source material is also remains also a mystery.
Geting down to brass tacks – the music, most of the tracks seems to consist of screwed and grated up harmonics, the traces of melody, never full showing, but they're there. Psychedelilah feels like a ride through deserted scrublands, as an eclipse is forming in the sky above you, the tones that may once have been lush and haunting, now seem beautiful wrong sounding, as they swirl and twist, spikes of guitar feedback weeping from its core. Sei Shonagon seems to dwell in the feeling of washed out and aged memories, like sun faded photographs, everything seems to burning then dripping, there seems to be a choir music or some kind of stage musical song at its base, but it's difficult to define fully, as it keeps bending and melting, as a wind like squeal and whine bellows through out.
A really mysterious treat of a release, here’s hoping whoever Gelsomona is or was, they decide to create some more jagged and emotional draining soundscapes. To order direct go here, but be quick it’s limited to 500 copies.
Taken from Musique Machine

Abruptly beginning the wonderfully titled "Full Moon, No Chance" with a brutal blast of sound, interspersed with semi-musical tones sounding like a disemboweled and gutted synthesizer from an older generation, this CD shows you that it means "noise" when it says so, and no pussy shit! Pekka's high and mid-freqency clips are through the roof all throughout the first track, with buried sounds of delayed feedback and raging white noise evoking a sinister, yet completely unsubtle, feeling. Never wasting a moment on interludes, the second track, "The Undead Fiend", starts of less straightforward but still with the same general feeling. If you're looking for gut-wrenching low-frequencies, I'd advise you to look elsewhere, as the first two tracks are upper-mid register screeching and searing.
Track 3 starts moving in a slightly different direction, though, with its nightmarish crashing bangs and eerie feedback howling. Back to the straight-shot mid-high fields we go, though the beginning of the songs was all bassy rumble... don't worry though, because later, the track dives back into that sound again. "Solaris" is 4th, and a creepier, moodier sounding track showing off an impressive, cunning "blackened industrial" sort of sound, with howling winds whistling and moving, and synth tones creeping disturbingly. The title track launches into a sound reminiscent of the first few, only this time with some added junk metal abuse-sounding material. I really like this stuff, as there is a great combination of tones and sounds, along with a good frequency balance not found in the earlier tracks (I'd definitely point the earlier stuff on this out to fans of early Incapacitants and even Prurient's "Troubled leep"!). "Black Irish" is where we start to wind down, into a more devolved, yet still harsh and over-the-tope, sound. More high-feedback, junk processed clamoring and undertones of atmosphere... still good and varied. There are a few more tracks before we hit the meat of the release, though, with a 16 minute solo track, then another long one featuring Finnish master, Mikko/grunt. Now, the source material for at least some (probably all) of the tracks was recorded by a few other people, while Pekka manipulated it (I'm assuming). Eventually, we arrive at "Tokyo Fist", which finds Gelsomina at its shortest on this CD, employing a bit of autowah, distorted keyboard tones, and the trademark, feedback, as well as some odd percussion of some sort. A very varied track there... but only a taste of what's to come.
The long track sounds nearly live, the recording quality being a little fuzzy compared to the previous, extremely hi-fidelity, tracks. This is an epic journey, filled with references to old Japanese noise as well as hinting at a style only Gelsomina can achieve. The production is fairly consistent throughout, all overblown, all-guns-blazing harsh noise with little respite. A true test! The live Grunt collaboration is the extra track from this, considering it was originally released on the Smell The Stench label (re-released by Cipher in 2006). Mikko's vocals don't always cut over the electronics, but when they do, they're full of agony and anger. Metal banging is found all over the track, as well as a repeating industrial "helicopter" sound at times, making the entire track remind me of an air-raid. Nice stuff here, all over the CD actually. Thumbs up for this one. For fans of the harshest noise that this scene has to offer... definitely not a trip for beginners!
Taken from Exoteric #4

I was told the packaging was too expensive to give out the full product for review so I received a promo instead. Nostalgia is the first solo full length I have heard from Gelsomina and it is not too far off from what I expected after having heard his collaboration with Cloama. It’s a pity that most of the tracks are bland and boring on here because there are just a few that really stick out as being excellent noise tracks, so it becomes a bit frustrating to know that Gelsomina is capable of making some great material but instead seems to stuff the albums with a bulk of filler tracks instead.
“Full Moon, No Chance” and “The Undead Fiend” both remind me a lot of the material from “The Duelists” except produced a little better. These tracks are representational of what you can expect for most of the album, which can be described as a constant unchanging core (this could be either white noise, stupid tone, or droning feedback) with high pitched moving feedback overtones. To begin with the formula doesn’t really work and since it’s employed in the majority of the tracks its gets old really fast.
“Die Prophezeihung des Somnambulen” is one of the tracks that really make me frustrated with the album. This track is so fucking good. Huge distorted reverberating percussion, brutal, slow and evolving feedback that build into mountains of clanging metallic thunderstorms that form a dark and psychedelic experience that I do not come across often.
“Solaris” quickly throws you back into a ringing soup droning tones that sit around like lazy stoners except unless you’re stoned, I doubt you're having any fun listening to this. This is another example of the constant core of ring modulated feedback with distorted slightly moving textures over it that brings me back into a state of apathy towards the waves emanating into my ear canals.
“Nostalgia” is another track that manages to rise above the pitfalls for the most part with a lot of general movement all over the place. Injections of mid-high range feedback slam into me along with subtle atonal melodies lightly falling through the heavy machinery. This track is followed up the only other noteworthy track “Psychedelilah” which might be considered a “slow” song here with screeching alternating feedback lines, long undulating tones that form a perfect ambient/harsh noise zone. It is the most beautiful atmosphere created out of the sickest and most brutal tones. This material reminds me a lot of the song “Beauty Through Destruction” off of GM Electronic’s “Trashwalker” album and perhaps that is why I’m such a fan. Gelsomina makes great use of delay and pitch bending feedback and synth tones. This track seriously destroys all in its path.
For the most part the album ends here for me. There are a few good moments in “Tokyo Fist” which keeps things moving with a lot of cuts into musique concrete and sound collage interludes and more metallic clanging feedback. But this is followed by the worst track on the album “Sei Shonagon” which is nothing more then a pure endurance test of how long you can stand several constant annoying frequencies and walls of noise that move around so fast that they’re really not moving at all.
Another disappointment is in the live collab with Grunt which first of all, is not even half the volume of the previous tracks on the album. You’d think if a label would put so much money into the packaging they might listen to the album first and at least normalize all the tracks, or perhaps if they feel really crazy even master them. It’s a decent track with Grunt providing his token PE vocals and some added synth textures.
It’s obvious that Gelsomina has talent but it just seems that he doesn’t choose to use it all the time. I’d love to hear a release with just a bunch of just excellent Gelsomina tracks and no filler, but for now it’s a bit too patchy for me to invest in an album.
Taken from Blood Ties

Finnish act Gelsomina will be instantly recognisable to those with a Freak Animal fetish. This is a re-issue of the Australian legendary cassette from 2004 (Smell The Stench) with a bonus collaborative track from Gelsomina & Grunt. The delicacy of the exterior betrays the horrors within. "Nostalghia" is an hour-long, painful, seething, multi-edged ambient / harsh fucking noise assault! Ltd x 500 copies in a stunning multi-layered and textured A5 booklet.
Taken from Cold Spring

‘Noise’…….extreme ’Harsh’ noise, this is what this review is all about – and believe me, if you are not familiar with the twisted genius of Gelsomina I can assure you that this release does exactly what it says on the tin, cooked to near perfection. So, turn away, now, if extreme, harsh noise isn’t your cup of poison. You have been warned !
For those not in the know, hailing from Finland, Gelsomina is the extreme, harsh noise project of sole protagonist Pekka PT, mastermind behind the Musically Incorrect Records label and noisy b*stard par excellence. In essence, ‘Nostalghia’ is a re-lease, in CD form, jointly by Cipher Productions (SIC28) and Musically Incorrect Records (MIRCD#2). For the uninitiated tracks 1-10 originally appeared on a limited run C60 cassette, first released in 2004 on Smell The Stench Records, with the added bonus of an untitled live track with Grunt from the same year.
Embarking on our journey into sound, with the volume turned up to 11, ‘Full Moon, No Chance’ explodes out of the speakers with an intensity of a 1000 Megaton sonic blast unleashing an unrelenting barrage of guitar feedback, white noise and low frequency judder that lumbar punches the listener into a state of submission within seconds. This is an unrelenting white hot, searing heat-wave of sonic death where the screeching, high pitched squeals of feedback fight against a solid wall of noise, surfacing momentarily, before being subsumed into a miasma of bass heavy turbulence. After an abrupt ending ‘The Undead Fiend’ picks up where ‘Full Moon…’ left off and the onslaught continues unabated with the white noise and feedback turning themselves inside out in a battle for ultimate supremacy. This is the aural equivalent of having your skin flayed off with rusty razorblades and having salt sprinkled over the open wounds. This is harsh noise at its most formidable and it’s not taking any prisoners.
Stand out track ‘Die Prophezeihung des Somnambulen’ kicks off with one almighty reverberating, grinding wall of metallic pain before disintegrating into a maelstrom of feedback culled straight from Satans own PA. High frequency feedback pierces through the onslaught and delivers the equivalent of trepanation without the anaesthetic before stumbling into a black pit full of excruciating abrasive, harsh and devastating noise. This is a lesson in how extreme noise should be constructed. Take note. Where ‘Die Prophezeihung des Somnambulen’ was an exercise in brute force attack ‘Solaris’ is a lurching, swooping monolith of pure guitar rending feedback where twittering, modulated tones flit in and out of the fray, taunting us with their presence. This swirling vortex of dessicated feedback tones almost resolves itself into some abstract, avant-garde musical drone opus before undergoing total & utter disintegration, crushed to a point of singularity. ‘Solaris’ is sufficiently calmer than the preceeding tracks and seems almost subdued by comparison providing a welcome and refreshing change to the ensuing chaos. Fear not, however. After the relative calm of Solaris, it’s back to the nuclear furnace of scorching devastation as the title track ‘Nostaghia’ implodes in a frenzy of harsh, ear-fucking noise. Sheets of distorted, metallic mayhem mesh with slabs of mutated guitar noise to create some twisted, writhing vision of the apocalypse before finally melting away into nothing.
‘Black Irish’ punches and slashes its way through its allotted time span in style before ‘Psychedelilah’ kicks in with a musical drone tone that splinters into a swarm of high flying frequencies that pierce like red-hot needles through flesh before morphing into some quite beautiful, musical, guitar driven drones that put me in mind of the track ‘Light’ by Justin Broadricks Final project. This is simply breathtaking and, whilst still being abrasive and unforgiving has a presence and twisted beauty that makes this one of the highlights of this particular release.
The Sow Is Mine is one grinding excursion into high frequency hell. Through the fug of overloaded machinery drifts snatches of deconstructed vocals, disembodied and emasculated. An unexpected lull towards the middle is soon filled with humming static and a peal of tortured cymbal hits before launching once again into an excoriating blast of unforgiving violence. Its successor, ‘Tokyo Fist’ sounds for all the world like a herd of wildebeeste stampeding through a gong shop before being joined by a brace of angry, roaring elephants. The feedback is punctuated, again, by indecipherable vocals that lie low in the mix before an abrupt end and the 16 minute epic of ‘Sei Shonagon’ starts to impacts itself upon the ear. This behemoth of avant-noise doesn’t relent for one miserly second and the onslaught ramps up to a nerve-shredding crescendo filled with anger and hatred. The untitled live track, with Grunt, is noticeably more lo-fi than the first ten tracks and sounds dulled in comparison, probably due to the live recording environment. Nevertheless it still retains an intensity and power that is staggering, with Grunts shouted and distorted vocals augmenting the hurricane force catatclysm that rages, magnificently.
And the final verdict ? No doubt about it, this is a powerfully devastating & brutal release and all the tracks are of an exceptionally high quality. At times frightening and disorienting and at times strangely beautiful, albeit in a very abstract way, ‘Nostalghia’ gets under your skin and tears it off your skeleton in supreme style. The stand out tracks on ‘Nostalghia’, must certainly be ‘Die Prophezeihung des Somnambulen’, ‘Solaris’ and ‘Psychedelilah’. However, if there is one criticism with this album it’s that there is an element of sameness inherent in the remaining tracks. And there, my friends, is the quandary!! By its very nature the harsh noise genre isn’t out to conform to or confirm your predilections and Gelsomina certainly push the boundaries with a punishing frenzy. However, without any reference point within the tracks that defines a meter or even hints at a tempo it is extremely difficult to get away from the feeling that everything thunders along at a near constant speed and that underneath the almost constant barrage and battery of carefully constructed feedback any variations or subtle differences that might exist are crushed by wave after wave of all consuming tsunamis of noise and, after a while, this starts to taint and exhaust the ears. I guess, though, that this criticism is largely irrelevant in the context of the genre and misses the point completely and I suspect that that is exactly what Gelsomina was trying to achieve. So I will defer on this point, give Gelsomina the benefit of the doubt and let you, the listener, be the ultimate judge.
I can safely say, however, that this album isn’t for the faint hearted or those whose sensibilities lie in a more traditionally musical direction. You will definitely need to be partial to no-holds-barred-take-no-prisoners, extreme, skull-fucking noise terror to savour this release in all its raw glory because, make no mistake, Gelsomina make Brighter Death Now sound like the Pet Shop Boys. However, if you crave some of the finest that extreme harsh noise has to offer then the cleansing, cathartic beauty of Gelsomina’s ‘Nostalghia’, with its opulent packaging, has a right and fitful place in your collection.
Taken from Heathen Harvest