Form and Void: Severe Disconnect
This was one of the best songs of 2014.
It’s heartfelt, complex, and frenzied. It’s exactly the style of power electronics I want to hear when I play this genre. The first time I heard this song I listened to it another half dozen times in succession. Herukrat is a fascinating and compelling character in extreme music. I first heard “My Hand Belongs To The Creator Of The World” when a friend directed me to an interview with Herukrat on Black Metal & Brews. I got my hands on a copy of I Bear Witness near the end of last year and rushed it to my Best Albums of 2014 list. I Bear Witness covers Herukrat’s conversion to Islam; it features audio samples of his conversion ceremony. It also features a track denouncing Islamic terrorists who operate in the name of religion.
In the interview, Herukrat points to Machismo as a source of inspiration for his vocals, and calls Severe Disconnect “the most extreme thing I’ve probably heard”. As Herukrat’s vocals on “My Hand Belongs To The Creator Of The World” mark a serious high point for me (they really make the track) I had to dig deeper into his source of inspiration. The written word on Severe Disconnect is nearly nonexistent, at least on the web. If it has received coverage in print I have not discovered it yet.
Severe Disconnect was released in March of 2013, and recorded in 2012 and 2013. Five credits appear on Severe Disconnect: Buller (synthesizer/vocals), Delacroce (vocals), Gonzales (noise/vocals), Ibarra (synthesizer), and McEvilly (vocals). This album somehow sounds like the work of an entire power electronics crew. In researching this story a while back, I learned Machismo is a prime example of “no coast” power electronics. They originate from Chicago – the “no coast” scene has a sound all its own that is distinct from east coast or west coast power electronics. I am under the impression Machismo had been reduced to a duo from a five man crew. A recent email with Ethan Ebeling / Swallowing Bile revealed they played a live show as a duo shortly after the release of this cassette (the featured image for this story could also confirm this).
If they’re not going to allow me to teach their children, then I will corrupt them.
It was never my intention to fully review this album, as this is something you need to hear for yourself – if you consider yourself a fan of “extreme” music. Severe Disconnect is a stark and abysmal goliath. It is unbridled delirium. It is every moment of pain you have ever experienced converted into audio form. It is the snarling of each damned soul lost to John Calvin’s theology being returned to Earth.
It is easily one of the most extreme things I have ever heard.
Herukrat’s I Bear Witness and Machismo’s Severe Disconnect are both available from SVN OKKLT digitally for free. Severe Disconnect is also available for purchase on Bandcamp (for $4.00!)
Featured image via
