The Deep Bleed is the work of one Mark Hjorthoy, who hails from Vancouver, British Columbia. I had previously enjoyed his disc, “Machines that Search for God,” so I was interested to see how this one compared. The liner notes state, “Rise Or Fall asks, in every situation in life, ‘Do you rise, or do you fall?’ Do you rise to the occasion, or do you fall and comply? That determines who you are. Simply, and truthfully. You are what you do everyday. If you don’t like that you see, change it.” So let’s get philosophical with Hjorthoy and see what rises to the top.

We start off with “The Fall of Icarus,” which is densely layered drone that builds in intensity over time. Despite the title, the feeling is calm and almost peaceful. Rather than the sudden crash suggested by the title, one can almost imagine Icarus gliding peacefully down on what remained of his wings. “The Rise of the Phoenix” is a bit more unsettled. It begins with slightly jagged drone with the same underlying hiss of the previous track but then settles into a pulsing drone that builds over time. Crackling noise reminiscent of fire crackling enters into the mix and eventually takes over as the drone continues to crescendo into a cacophony of stuttering noise and sweeping synth before fading into nothing.

I have enjoyed everything I have heard from The Deep Bleed and this release is no exception. If you like your dark ambient soothing and peaceful, the first track is what you need. If you want it noisy and unsettling, the second track will be right up your alley. Well done. This album weighs in at around 23 minutes.

This is quite the set of heavyweights on this release. Noise Hangover hails from Russia, and despite the funny name, this is some serious noise. I don’t know much about the artist, but I have yet to hear a Noise Hangover release that I did not enjoy. Fail is the work of Dan Fox, the hardest working man in noise. He also records under a host of names, including This is What I Hear When You Talk, Fail, Loss, as well as being the driving force behind Inner Demons Records. Platonoff hails from Saint Petersburg, Russia, and has also put out a steady stream of excellent noise discs on Inner Demons. With this roster, I am expecting some good noise, so let’s dive in.

Noise Hangover lays down some thick, heavy, constantly evolving drone. Layers and layers of drone. This would be in the same vein as Troum, but if Troum is a dream, this is not quite a nightmare, but rather a dream from which you awake with a sense of unease. Really solid.

Fail brings the noise with digital noise that sounds like malfunctioning kids toys thrown into a cement mixer. There is a lot going on here, and Fail keeps changing things up to keep it all interesting. This is a fun ride, as expected of Fail.

Platonoff closes it off with the machinelike noise that I have come to expect from this artist. This is a bit more chaotic than previous works I have heard, with the clanking metal combined with squiggly electronic noise. Out of the three, this feels the most harsh.

As expected, all of the artists brought their A game to the split. This would be a fantastic show to see live, and all of the artists are in top form. If you like any of the artists, or just like solid noise and drone, this is well worth picking up. This album weighs in at around 39 minutes.

Fencepest is a collaboration between fencepost and Pestzone. I had reviewed previous releases by each and enjoyed them, so I was interested to see how this would turn out, even though they seem to be the same person running both projects based on the Bandcamp page. In one review, I wrote, “If Fencepost was going for maximum creepiness, they nailed it.” In another review, I wrote, “Pestzone manages to evoke a sense of existential dread without resorting to cheap gimmicks like horror movie samples or jump scare noises.” You can understand why I thought that this would be a good combination, right? So let’s see what’s happening in the garden, shall we?

We kick it off with “bloom_II,” which is heavy cinematic ambience. This would be perfect for a suspense movie. You're in the dark, but you know that you're not alone. Waves of cascading sounds and ambient noise. Nice. “decay_XIII” keeps this cinematic feeling going, but the conflict is now on and the antagonist has revealed themselves. Pulsing bass with crashing noises surround you. “bloom_I” is spacey and dark. To keep the story going, the conflict is over, but everyone is wounded. You have survived, but at what cost? It would almost be peaceful if it were not so unsettling. With “decay_XIV,” you thought that the conflict was over, didn't you? There are still unseen forces that seek your demise hiding in the forest. You think that you can almost make out their eyes, but you're not sure if it is just your imagination. The sounds of malevolent bird songs ring in your ears. “bloom_VIII” is a bit grittier, featuring drone with just a bit of distortion. There is a lot going on here, which keeps it interesting. “decay_III” is a bit more chaotic and noisy. This is not to say that this is harsh noise, but imagine the cacophony of a high school band warming up, then run it through some reverb and you are heading in the right direction. This mellows out at times, but the overall feel is chaotic. “bloom_XI” is a bit more subdued, like the previous track has been totally fuzzed out and dissolved into a wall of sound. It's still gritty, but with a little less edge to it. “decay_XVII” is like a cow mooing (trombone or trumpet actually) with subterranean drones and other snippets of noises that sounds like heavily processed field recordings. This one went on a bit longer than it needed to though.

Somehow, they managed to attenuate the creepiness of their previous albums. But the overall result is still more than the sum of both band’s parts. Overall, if you want something that will serve as good background music to the soundtrack of your life, this is one to pick up. This album weighs in at around 70 minutes, so there is a lot to sink into.

I did not know much about this artist before getting it for review, but he now has a coule of releases with Inner Demons, some as collaborations as well as solo, as in this case. Hasegawa hails from Tokyo Japan, and his bio states that “After a long career as a systems engineer, he began producing music at the age of 50, bringing a unique perspective shaped by structure, logic, and disruption. His work explores density, rupture, texture, and live improvisation. Moving between harsh noise and electroacoustic expression, he develops performances focused on immediacy, instability, and sonic intensity.” Well, that sounds like something up my alley, so let’s dive in and see what it’s like in quarantine.

We kick it off with “Live in Jan-18-2021,” which is a short piece of harsh noise wall, with just enough variety to keep it engaging. Up next, we have “Fundamental 432HZ Pure Tone Music,” which is an interesting piece with test tones mixed with clattering metal noise and other field recordings and voices. The juxtaposition of the static tones and the spastic noise elements works well together and provides a nice contrast. There are spoken word lyrics at the end that sound like text to speech philosophizing on the nature of human existence. “Supplement to Fundamental 432HZ Pure Tone Music” is a short piece that continues the feel of the end of the previous track with layers of tones and spoken word. “Awaking and Walking in a Hospital” closes it all off. Imagine a thousand off balance washing machines and you'll get a sense of this track. It's heavy with some rhythm hidden in the noise. Well done.

Overall, this is an interesting mix of styles, and the test tone pieces work well against the harsh noise tracks that bookend them. This album weighs in at around 26 minutes.

I was unfamiliar with Jabe Ledoux, but they hail from Vergennes, Vermont and they also run the "Flux ov Time" netlabel. According to his Bandcamp bio, he creates “site specific percussion/found sound pieces that focus on repetition and poly rhythm to create trance-like states." The liner notes go further into this particular release: “I've been humping my drums to gigs in my car - or cars of bandmates- for several decades now, and I’ve always loved the random & chaotic jingle jangle of various percussive doodads bumping & grinding together over uneven roads. Recently, I found myself alone in my Kia Sportage (tm) with my Dookie Dickie drum and my Wh!skey drum, doing that dance that they do. I recorded a few minutes and was delighted by the deep bassy drones of the engine & tires-on-road that occurred. Thus, Sacred Quietude was born.” Sounds interesting, so let’s dive in.

This album consists of three tracks that are all variations on a similar theme. There is droning wind noise with some clattering metal and other field recordings and bits of noise. On the third track this noise comes center stage. The wind noise is still present but this is much more pronounced than in the other two where it servea mainly as incidental sound to the drone. It's peaceful but doesn't really seem to go anywhere.

Although there are some subtle differences between the tracks I would have liked Ledoux to branch out a bit. As it stands there are a bit too similar for my taste, but perhaps that is the entire point. This album weighs in at around 30 minutes.