Feeding Frenzy
Cage Rape
Sanitized Soul
Sick Beauty
Mechanical Pain
Insect Cock
Libido Creature

So there I am sitting down… recovering if you will… from hearing the magnificent madness that was "Toy Factory" [read review here] when a coup de grace was delivered to my head. My brains were instantly splashed all over the tobacco stained magnolia painted walls, adding a bloody pink texture to the otherwise drab surface, dripping slowly down towards the multi burned carpet. I woke with a start. Sweat covered my ungainly flab. Confused I looked around. Strange sounds surrounded me and I struggled to figure out where they came from. My attention was drawn to my CD player and all was revealed. "Semen" was still playing happily in the background. Realisation dawned. I had fallen into a nightmare strewn deep sleep. Rubbing my eyes I gathered my thoughts. I had only been out for 8 minutes. That was all it took. Eight minutes of this music and nothing was ever going to be the same again. Damn them both to hell.

HNB has a lot to answer for. The notorious ever productive Swede with a recording history that makes my head do summersaults and my wallet wince. Every project he’s been involved in becoming an aural voyage of discovery. MZ412, Folkstorm, Toroidh… the list goes on and on. Some of his more intriguing work, although this can practically be said of every release with his name on it, is the collaborated shared work with other likeminded artists. Drakh, Merzbow, Goat etc… and now Hentai can be added to this list. Jakob Nybo, Vital Records main man, and the one responsible for the uniquely sick "Toy Factory" has joined forces with HNB… and "Semen" is the result of their unholy union. Seven tracks of dark atmosphere, incorporating experimental ambience and fierce Industrial electronics, that will plunge you headlong into oblivion. For here the music is razor sharp and cuts deep. The disturbing imagery it invokes only one facet of many. The coldness of the electronics akin to liquid oxygen being poured onto naked exposed flesh. The black hideous surreal moments even more terrifying when accompanied by the twisted soundscapes these anti glimmer twins have conjured up. Nothing is ever what it first seems. Nothing can prepare you for what will eventually come. It will tear your soul apart, leaving a stench of decay lingering in the air. Be afraid. Be very fucking afraid.

"Semen" scared the living shit out of me. Not many recordings have done that. Not deliberately anyway. It played on my inner fears and fertile imagination like a sperm whale with a seal. Toying around before eventually going in for the kill. With HNB in tow the quality of the recording was never in any doubt. Working in tandem with Jakob has given both free reign to let their creative juices run wild to produce a deeply unsettling recording. One that can justly be claimed as a dark piece de resistance. Once heard you’ll never forget the "Semen" experience. Come to think of it. Welcome to their nightmare. Sweet wet dreams aren’t made of this.

ANM