Summon Thrull - Spire Hell Heap review

Moving to a local artist, Summon Thrull, who curiously isn't playing at the Debacle Fest this year. Dustin Kochel, the dude behind ST, also mastered the Hobo Cubes record above so there's some Seattle noise trivia to keep in your back pocket. Kochel dropped his first Summon Thrull CD-r back in 2009 and followed it up with last year's Debacle disc Spire Hell Heap (also released on cassette via Rainbow Bridge.) It's been a while since I've listened to Kochel's debut and I remember it being pretty good but I definitely think Spire Hell Heap is a more developed piece of work and it's pretty kickass to put it simply.
Kicking off with the introduction "Poison Arrow," it's a kind of audio molotov cocktail, 3 parts noise 1 part hip-hop. "Even the Horses are Cut in Half" never lets you settle for a second. Kochel tries to calm you down a little by spreading some keyboard plinks over of the top of arrhythmic thumps and dilapidated roars but a little keyboard shimmer only goes so far. I'm still feeling mighty uneasy. "Fang Venom Duct" cranks up the fuzz. There's a nice little hip-hop-style interlude before the thing just fuckin' erupts in nasty synths and crush 'em noise. The intro to "Illicium" sounds practically crunk, dude I love this shit! It's not as zonked as Yo-Yo Dieting and as far as I can tell Kochel isn't sampling rap songs but I sense a vague similarity. This is an icy club jam obliterated. "Skin Scrape" sounds like its title, creepy, rough and scabby. Some kind of hardware is being thrown around amongst spooky synth and whispers. The back half of the track gets scratchy as well with what sounds like layered field recordings of something trudging through the woods. "Rusted Pike Driver" brings back the beats while "Yellow Lab Blowjob" seethes and hisses with feedback. The title track is sort of a combination of those two, thudding beats but a shit ton of feedback caked on top. Kochel pulls the reigns just enough to momentarily reveal a song underneath before the electronic percussion starts pounding again. "Spider Mites" is much heavier on synths, they glide but, man, do they sting. There's no sort of aural relaxation going on here. The finale "Pregnant Leach Solution" (what is this pregnant leach problem?) begins with an aggressive chopper-blade synth and a bunch of bent bell tones. The kind of thing that might give you a concussion or a seizure or both. It fogs up your mind and not in that pleasant psychedelic way people speak about. People get institutionalized after listening to this kind of shit.
I think the disc could be trimmed down a little here or there, but in general I really love Kochel's vibe. He manages to be harsh without being "harsh," he does use distortion but he doesn't drown everything in it. It's more the volume, the mastering and the brute force of the sounds themselves and the off-kilter way Kochel attacks you with them. This isn't the kind of thing I like listening to everyday (or even every week) but every time I put this on I'm impressed by it's intensity and some of the unique pieces Kochel comes up with. I'm looking forward to seeing what Summon Thrull serves up with next.
The Hobo Cubes disc is sold-out but the Summon Thrull jammer (the cooler of the two in my opinion) is still readily available fromDebacle. Check 'em out! And also be sure to head out to Debacle Fest 2012 if you're in the Seattle-area this weekend.

Go to the review: http://auxiliaryout.blogspot.com/2012/05/hobo-cubes-timelessmindless.html