Quite an interesting release (already issued in 2002), with the participation of Genesis P-Orridge and Michael Moyhihan (Blood Axis). Masterminds of Cotton Ferox are Thomas Tibert and Carl Abrahamsson, former members of White Stains. Musicwise “First time hurts” contains soundscapes, ranging from atmospheric dark ambient to cinematic trip-hop, incorporating a collage of sampled sounds from a wide variety of sources, including some ethnic roots/reggae and hiphop stuff. On top of that you hear hypnotizing (misanthropic) spoken words, amongst others from the aforementioned characters.
This unorthodox combination works surprisingly well. Many tracks offer a surprising interaction between styles, like the ‘urban’ hip-hop beats of ‘Red light glow’ with ritual percussion, jazzy saxophone and the deep spoken texts. Or the religious choirs and the eastern rhythms on “I can still hear the music’ The cool deep basses of ‘Modern World’ are also very effective. ‘Sanguine essence’, with Moynihan reciting a text from Ernst Junger, really is spine-chilling. On ‘Snake hiss’ and ‘Amenema’ Genesis P. Orridge contributes his characteristic voice. Also surprising is the last track, a moody soundscape with the peculiar high vocals of Krister Linder.
I was quite (positively) surprised by this album, an original creation with a lot of atmosphere. Avantgarde and accessible at the same time.
