Italy's supreme Dokuro label brings us a
twelve-inch slab of single-sided vinyl, housed in a beautiful,
silver-on-black silkscreened cover and limited to 100 copies.
There's no sense in denying it; this is deep, industrial drone noise
– a single, dense and seamless composition that will drag you, nails
last, into its hellish inferno. AlthoughKam Hassah has put out a slew of CDRs
and cassettes on labels such as Middle James Co., Second Sleep,
and Heretic, this is the first release of his I've encountered, and
I'm completely sold. Simply put, the world needs more dark and dense
noise, and This Forest brings the goods. This senseless chaos hits with
the rush of a polar ice storm, like the sound of harsh wind
abrading recording equipment. Amid the noise one hears sparse
glimpses of sound – haunting echoes, digital scrapes and scratches...
Of course, the beauty of This Forest
rests in the atmosphere and emotion it evokes. It
is equal parts evil and the
unknown. I'm always impressed by the way certain noise and drone
artists are able to elicit potent feelings out of little more than
abstract sound, and this record is no exception. With the lights down and an
open mind, Kam Hassah's dark, grungy noise makes for a sinister treat.