Noma - Nothing Was Working / Digital Antichrist

The second release from Acid Casualties is quite similar to the first (Atmos' "The Only Process"). Not too surprising since they're both from Gothenburg and even shared the same studio at the time, if I'm not mistaken.

"Nothing Was working" has gnarling effect sounds similar in style to those on ACDC001, but not quite as good. The bassline and buildup fall short as well. The acidic sounds made me think that "Acid Casualties" implied that it was something of an acid trance label as there are acid sounds in Atmos' ACDC001 as well, but later releases proved that theory to be wrong. This track feels more like nifty sounds stacked onto eachother than a well-crafted track. This makes it less exciting than it could be, because there is potential in there for sure. Overall I feel this track isn't too empty, but instead its individual elements should have been used differently.

"Digital Antichrist" has more sounds that just *have* to be coming from the same synthesizer Atmos used. The bassline is better than the A side and there is percussion that sounds like a rhythmic sword fight. A tortured scream followed by a sample saying "bursting through the chaos" (or something like that) sets the mood. Then there's this really weird gargling sound, like some strange animal, that manages to fit right in. My only gripe is the bursts of swordfighting percussion actually, as it gets a bit too loud and noisy for this type of track. The melodies towards the end sound a bit random for my taste, but they never get to the point where it's annoying.

Conclusion: Time has taken its toll on this in a more harsh way than the Atmos release on the same label. The B-side still does its job though, and if you want to mix from A-side to B-side of ACDC001 this is the perfect track to have inbetween.