Blackhouse – Hidden Beneath The Metal

It doesn't pay to prejudge, now, does it. The fact that the 'Christian' tag has followed them for years and yet they maintain such a hardcore following should give some clue as to the quality and sheer raw horror of their music. No glib mindless songs sung to bland acoustic guitar here - BLACKHOUSE vary their sound from crashing metalwerk to twangy black guitar reminiscent of RY COODER's "Southern Comfort" soundtrack, or perhaps a slow Western by DAVID LYNCH. In between these poles are a lot of moody spatial 'instrumentals', mostly utilising found sound sources (ie. again metal) with studio spawned noise. This latter varies from subtle use of white noise to swirling maelstroms of churning human voice, looped and flanged. The opening track is collosal, transforming through as many different styles as the remainder of the album, which itself varies from ear-piercing shrills to low passive hums, from busy noisy rhythms to discordant loops with sonic blasts.

Disturbing, raucous, cacophonous, stark noise meets destroyed Industrial structure. The only 'song', as such, is the final track, which is a dark Hardcore-like piece of darkness.

I'm sold. I'll definitely be seeking more of their sound out in the future.

Originally reviewed for Soft Watch.