Final is the long running industrial noise project from GODFLESH frontman Justin K. Broadrick. Richard Ramirez is the unabashedly gay cornerstone of the Harsh Noise Wall genre. “Ravine Of Spears” showcases these two giants of extreme audio experimentation fiercely tearing each other apart and stitching all the pieces together. The results do not disappoint.
A light pulse kicks off “Slow Decay” which holds our hands as we walk into a slowly ascending thunderstorm of noise. It feels like a predator stalking. “Mummified Money” puts electrical hums front and center, while metallic grinding and thudding machinery orchestrate a backdrop of uneasiness. I could see this as an ambient backdrop for a kill room.
“We Were Never Seen Again” brings reverberating guitar drone to glue together short bursts of hot static, which then make way for piercing frequencies and sweeping bouts of sonic violence. Whoever the “We” in the song title is referring to certainly meets their end here. “Vault” feels claustrophobic. Warm particles of noise bounce around what sounds like a metal chamber before dissolving into a rippling drone and fading out. Is this a collapse into the self? The quelling of a bloodlust?
It’s so easy to get lost in this album. The environments you can visualize if you just let yourself go are astounding in the most beautiful and horrifying ways.The label describes this offering as a “textural collapse that could very well be the discovery of new kinds of static”, and I couldn’t agree more. Definitely one of the most vivid, albeit difficult, listening experiences I’ve had in some time.
You can grab the collaborative album on vinyl or digital from the legendary Hospital Productions. You can also check out more from Final on their Bandcamp, and more from Richard Ramirez (and his hundreds of pseudonyms) on his Bandcamp.