Narcosa is a Dutch one-man project whose sound is a mixture of dark ambient, death industrial and martial elements. This cd-r was handed to me by its creator at a music party a while ago. I wasn’t really sure what to expect, though the artwork didn’t look very cheerful. Photos of brains and dead bodies, a signature in blood… The statement that ‘various human bones and medical instruments were used for drumloop and other sounds’ did not surprise me anymore after seeing the booklet.
The cd-r contains three untitled tracks and lasts about 15 minutes. The music is mostly created by a mixture of analogue electronic gear, loads of samples and unrecognizably treated instruments like guitar and violin. The first sounds really work on my nerves with a mixture of distorted sounds and brutal satanic screaming. But soon there comes more structure in the track, with an ominous hornlike sound and dark speech sample (something about a patient…). An apocalyptic soundscape that will appeal to fans of Toroidh and some CMI acts.
The second piece starts with a minimal drone, but soon evolves into a heavy percussive marching piece with many obscure samples. This track mostly reminds me of early Blutharsch material. It’s a bit repetive, but certainly powerful.
The last piece has a more extreme sound, a dense noisy structure with lots of nasty samples to give you a very unheimisch feeling, something for experienced listeners of oldschool industrial.
This cd-r suprised me in a positive manner. The sound is really dark and oppressive and the ‘medical theme’ gives it some originality. Perhaps at times the artist tries to put too many different elements in his tracks, but on the other hand the density enhances the feeling of suffocation.
