Envenomist - The Helix (Killer Pimp CD)

Here's a disc that hasn't actually come out yet, but is well on its way and slated for a March 31st release. Usually I don't review stuff that isn't out yet, but I figured I'd go nuts on this batch of Killer Pimp discs as they're all so swell. Jon heads Brainwashed, so I'm not sure where he finds the time to do such a great job with these releases but they're beautiful and, more importantly, wonderful listens.

David Reed is the dark and mangled mind behind Envenomist, and his distinct breed of dark ambient, drone works are absolutely cavernous. This disc is, of course, no different, and the quality of production only deepens the effect.

Opening with "The 11th Hour," The Helix starts down and never gets up. Thick and immense swells of tone rise and fall, dispersing into each other deep into the invisible tunnels they inhabit. With a special ear for a certain level of monolithic, prehistoric mammoth soundtracking, Reed draws a cautious line between craftsmanship and noise, always opting to air on the side of mood over movement. These are carefully wrought crevices that are each distinct in their own right. "Heptadecagon" creeps outward on its fingers as it finds ears, the quickest route to the brains it feasts on. Overboard animalization? Perhaps, but the feel is there.

Elsewhere, as on "Final Frontier" and "Bestowal," Reed takes analmost sci-fi approach, which rich swirls of synth comingling in a hum of static. Never one to clutter, Reed's works always pervade a certain spatial conception, but whether its as open a space as explored on "Bestowal" or as closed a one as on "Gyres," it is never a welcoming locale. Luckily there are enough creepy and undiscovered insects to keep you occupied until the wolves come. It's a real burner for sure, static in all the right ways and, more than anything, quite simple in its blatant exploration of tonal landscapes. A real winner. More reviews from Killer Pimp on the way for sure.