V/A – Tonal Destruction 2

This compilation is a must have for fans of industrial and electronic music. A luxurious digipack, containing no less than three cd’s filled to the brim with exclusive music. Both well-known as more obscure acts give acte de prĂ©sence on this second compilation on DTA Records.

The sheer size of this project (41 different acts) makes it almost impossible to review “Tonal Destruction” in detail. The three different discs each have a different concept.

The first cd is the loudest and harshest, containing with aggressive rhythmic noise material. Tonal destructiuon indeed. Various of these tracks are more food for the dancefloor than to enjoy at home. Stylistically they range from hard-to-digest breakbeat extravanganza to ruthless hammering beat attacks. Some tracks that work for me are those by Pneumatic Detach (loud and noisy), Detritus (surprisingly r1estrained), Larvae (dark d ‘n b), Proyecto Mirage (subtle and cool) and Lament Configuration (nice combination of atmosphere and noises).

Disc 2 gives you a chance to rest, with dark ambient and deep drones. Chaos as Shelter/Igor Krutolov is ritual and estranging, Conscienta Peccati and Emulsion are slow and meditative. Gacky sounds more classical, while Dither offers us a contemporary, ‘urban’ soundscape. Metanemfrost created classic industrial dark ambient. I find Lan Formatique beautiful and moving. Wilt is deep and dense, while Encomiast is dreamy and droney. Magwheels end this disc with an excellent slow majestic piece.

Experienced ears will be pleasured by the third cd, which ranges from experimental electronics to harsh power electronics. Again too many interesting tracks to mention. I’m very pleased to hear a new (and good) track from Mago again, whose “Definition of raw moments…” is one of my all-time favourite albums. Really outstanding is also Duuster, who released on the French M-Tronic before, with a nicely built up varied composition. Another nice surprise is the dramatic, classical piece by Griefer. But on this disc also harsher stuff can be found, and who are better equiped to do that than Aural Blasphemy or Navicon Torture Technologies. Though Norm, G-Nox, kNow and Stelladrine are powerful too. The disc is closed by the more subtle cglitchy soundworks of Uniform and Cordell Klier.

For everyone vaguely interested in industrial/noise, dark ambient and challenging electronica there must be enough of his liking on “Tonal Destruction II”.

artist: V/A
label: DTA Records
details: 3cd [dta 017]