Hheva is a great new act from Malta: one long, disturbing dark ambient/industrial track.
Shiver, from Italy, deals with repetitive mechanical loops, samples and processed feedbacks, creating obsessive and hypnotic death industrial, close to Megaptera, Morthound or early Brighter Death Now.
Hheva - Troubled Sleep sample by Diazepam
Shiver - Troubled Sleep sample by SHIVER
review from Heathen Harvest:
"Hheva, a relatively unknown project, opens up with their half of this split in dramatic fashion. The use of tribal undertones scores in relative separation from the ghostly chanting that begins almost immediately. This act from Malta wastes no time in consuming the listener in a dredge of natural, as well as unnatural sounds. The beat is mesmerizing and easily absorbed, the chants and the sound of roughed water cascading down the walls of the mind. Though repetitive, it’s only the best kind; a swirling mix of dark goodness that just gets better as the track continues. It’s an important element when the musician asks for 20 straight minutes of a listener’s time. It’s amazing how the simple beat and echoing gray seem to grow more and more profound with each passing minute.
With a typical long-format track, once
you’ve reached the end, you’ve had enough, and it’s time to move on. I
can gladly say that this wasn’t the case with this one. Indeed, several
listens later I had to stop myself enough so that the actual review
could begin! A truly consistent, awe-inspiring piece of clean tribal and
ritual ambient.
Shiver, the known Italian project, begins
Side B in extreme form. A much more rough, noise imbued sound is
presented for the listener’s experience. This is definitely a different
breed than the first side, with use of much more abrasive sounds, vocal
samples, and near the end, straight out screams and sounds of torture.
This project certainly deals with repetitive mechanical loops, samples
and processed feedback, creating obsessive and hypnotic death
industrial, close to Megaptera, Morthound or early Brighter Death Now.
Out of fairness, I have to say that
Shiver’s side certainly creates a more visceral experience for me
personally. Hheva’s work is hypnotic, nearly calming in its journey,
while Shiver shocks and destroys.
This is a fantastic pairing, as one side
compliments the other, while managing to be completely different and
unique. The cassette medium is also quite nice, as it provides a true
underground feel, as well as an air of mystery to this project. This is
the kind of stuff that makes the underground scene so fascinating; the
coming together of very talented projects, who by themselves are
incredible, but when paired together, are indeed a force to be reckoned
with. Recommended for those who appreciate the little things, the subtle
nuance of mastered sound, and realizing musical genius when it presents
itself to them. Phenomenal."
review from Deadtones:
"Got this cassette from Diazepam records a while ago. This is a really
good split cassette I could listen for years. Both Hheva and Shiver
possess great skills and knowledge about approaching to the sound and
their tracks could inspire the whole ambient/drone scene. This is more
than ”another ambient/drone” album.
I really dig how both projects deal with soundscapes. Each project
consists of great musicians and they know how to produce good tracks
which can represent their skills to the consumers of this split tape. I
can’t even catch every single tone they recorded/produced. There’s a
full spectrum of well recorded dark ambient soundscapes, heavy bass
drones and distorted movements in the back of the recording. It sounds
almost ritualistic and ancient, like we are witnessing the end of the
world or watching the birth of a miracle. This would be a great
soundtrack for dark documentary or a opening secuence of a horror movie.
Plus, this is a C40 tape so you can enjoy in this masterpiece for
almost an hour.
This split cassete comes with cover artwork made of recycled paper,
with a amazing illustration on the front part of the cover. Contact
informations can be founded on the spine of a J-card. This material is
dubbed on black coloured tapes. "
review from Kultuterrorismus here (in German)
