Occulting Disk

Occulting Disk is Helge Stens first full album as Deathprod since his 2004 dark ambient masterpiece Morals and Dogma. Described by its creator as an anti-fascist ritual, Occulting Disk protests hatred through sheer, uncompromising sound. Will Oldhams liner notes state that the way to deal with fear and hatred is to reduce them by their opposites, and sometimes its necessary to fly in the face of logic in order to do whats right. He also notes that being impaled by sound and vibration might occur, and that this will push one to confront the negative, oppressive forces. Unlike previous Deathprod albums, this one seems to be constructed entirely from sounds generated by Stens trademark audio virus, without the creaking, tortured strings or ghostly choral arrangements hes previously incorporated. Opening piece Disappearance / Reappearance recalls the second part of 1994s Treetop Drive, with stark blasts of electronic noise repeatedly shooting out and dissipating into empty space, providing a consistent series of electrifying jolts that are as brutal as they are mesmerizing. Most of the remaining pieces are a series of numerically titled Occultations, and while they usually arent nearly as harsh, theyre just as striking. These tracks generally consist of swarming, scanning feedback drones, ranging from gliding theremin tones to shrill, metallic vibrations. Occultation 1 is strangely comforting, seeming to cradle the listener in vast, rich waves of glowing energy. No such warmth is present in the sparse, bleak Occultation 3, however, and the following tracks proceed to stare doom directly in the face. Black Transit of Jupiters Third Satellite, the albums longest and most alarming track, is an all-encompassing mass of hazy, swaying static from which there seems to be no escape. Yet somehow Sten makes being trapped in an electrical storm sound empowering rather than hope-defeating. It also makes the dizzy, swirling synth-scape of the concluding Occultation 8 sound all the more uneasy. ~ Paul Simpson