Nod – The story of the three little pigs and the big bad wolf

Hmm, a rather peculiar release this “The story of the three little pigs and the big bad wolf”. It’s not the usual practice of Cold Meat to release fairy-tales. But don’t worry, this cd is not something to play for little children before they go to bed. I don’t think their dreams would be too pleasant… This is already predicted by the cover art, which shows a slaughtered pig (cold meat) and a hanged wolf. The famous tale about innocent pigs and the brutal wolf is questioned here by Nod. Who is really the pig and who the wolf?

Nod belongs to the more noisy half of the Cold Meat artists. This act was already present on the compilations “Esthetiks of Cruelty” and “Nihil”. The first track ‘the story of the three little pigs’ starts rather innocent, with a female voice telling the tale, against a dark ambient background, mixed with a few strangily distorted child’s voices. The real noise is kept for the second track ‘the beast in the arms of god’, though it starts with some soft acoustic sounds. But a shouting male voice and distorted industrial noises turn it into a fine harsh piece. ‘And’ is a quite nice” atmospheric piece, with almost sensual female spoken word and a somewhat psychedelic background, which makes me think of November Növelet. But the next song ‘Jolly fool’ quickly turns into a harsh piece of powernoise. Throughout the album an alternation of soft and harsh elements can be found, perhaps as a metaphor for the little pigs and the bad wolf.

The concept of this album deserves praise for its originality. Music-wise this is certainly not one of my favourite Cold Meat releases, though I admire the variation and adventureness. But it might come in handy if I have to chase away irritating neighbourhood kids.

artist: Nod
label: Cold Meat Industry
details: [CMI 120]