Serial killers have always been a major source of inspiration for industrial artists, who traditionally try to incorporate shocking or taboo subjects. This compilation, “Songs for dead children”, was inspired by child murderess Susan Smith’s desperate pleas for affection. The booklet contains a photo and a letter of Susan Smith, both giving an innocent, harmless impression.
Most of the artists on this cd are rather obscure. Only a few names have I encountered before, like Baal and Kuru. There’s a lot of not too accessible dark ambient/drone music present, with a few powernoise pieces. I quite like the opening track by Baal, ‘I’ll kill the kids for you’. An experimental, droning dark ambient piece, with hypnotizing speech samples. A few tracks are quite weird, like the one by Axiomata, with maniacal voices, strange spacy feedback, ongoing drones and many things happening at the same time. Some tracks start as threatening ambient, before bursting into downright noise escalations, like is the case with Sickness. I’m quite happy when that one is over! Recant is not very middle-of-the road neither, but I appreciate their mixture of industrial noises and soundscape elements much better. Quite a cool powernoise piece is contributed by the appropriately entitled act Antichildleague. The last track by Ball is also quite terrifying, with harsh percussion and screaming vocals about ‘das Ende’.
A compilation which will be appreciated by fans of experimental harsh noises and people with a fetish for serial killers. A few tracks are quite effective, while some other pieces are quickly forgotten.
