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Released: May '08
These look fucking great! Two colours available, black on grey and black on black! Prepare for the summer with suitably grim attire! These are limited as I need
all the dosh I can spare at the moment to get the next batch of releases out, so act fast! All sizes S-XL available!
Released: May '08
20 minutes of slowly building, grim and pummelling harsh noise. Layers of black static build on top of one another until everything is maxed out and it becomes a pure wall of droning bass-heavy morbidity.
Jewel case with minimal two-piece black/white card inserts. 100 copies.
Released: Mar '08
A new limited CDr from the current main man of torturous, necrotic black noise, Gnaw Their Tongues. This is some of his most noisy, "anti musical" stuff to date, all jangling chains, old samples of torture victims, cold synth and total NECROMATICAL SCREAMS. It reminds me a lot of Abruptum, but not quite as minimalistic. Whilst not overtly black metal in terms of sound, the aesthetic and general sense of utter misanthropy is abundantly clear. A perfect companion piece to his more "mainstream" releases. These won't stay around long so get 'em while you can!!
Put a lot of time and effort into the packaging on this one: A3-sized card sleeve with a black-on-black vellum insert, with a double-sided CD-size fully printed card sleeve inside, and printed silver
CDr with black bottom. All held in a DVD-size PVC wallet. 100 copies
Released: Mar '08
Black shirt, white front print (logo/woman with knife from the "Devotion" CDr), At War logo on the back. Fruit Of The Loom shirts. Sizes S, M, XL available!
Released: Mar '08
Reissue of the long-sold out demo tape that Funeral Folk put out in an edition of 66 copies. These guys are getting a real name for themselves in the metal underground and this is a statement of intent that justifies that! This is some of the most filthy, disgusting stuff I've ever heard; one long track that goes from all-out black metal fuzz to passages of total low-end DOOM to seriously disturbed ambient passages, all sounding like it was recorded on somebody's walkman in a dungeon somewhere. 20-odd minutes of totally harrowing bleakness. True Belgian nihilism!!
Great three-panel foldout silver-on-black screenprinting by Tetedemort from France, all in a thick PVC sleeve. Grim artwork by the late great Aubrey Beardsley. 500 copies.
Released: Feb '08
At last!!! We've had this one brewing for months now and it's well worth the wait! What started off as a small run of CDrs has become At War's most ambitious release to date, and I'm totally fucking chuffed by it!!! This collection comprises demos, live stuff, rarities and rehersals from the UK's most consistantly interesting, forward-thinking, and just plain fucking great band of the last decade. Starting off from now and moving backwards through time to the early bedroom demo days, this CD shows Marzuraan's evolution from simplistic droning minimalism of the two bass lineup to the full-on rock beast of today.
The album kicks off with a cover of Loop's "Afterglow", putting it through the post-Ginn blender and coming out with something great. The other cover here is a raging, lo-fi recording of Rollins Band's "Turned Inside Out", performed at the inaugral Glasgow Implodes fest a few years ago. There's a fierce, noise-ridden performance of "Nice Wang" that I think I recorded on Julian Cope's last tour (crowd (un)reaction the MZ was hilarious), the epic dark drone rock of GMT recorded at the Lord Clyde in Byker, and the aptly-named Kraut-esque monotone riff of "Earth 3" from the confusing Manbyrd cassette.
All in all, Marzuraan do it better than anyone else going right now; be it bleak minimal droning walls of sound, controlled experiments into feedback or baws-out "post" rock, without the scene points. They sound like the late, twisted Flag stuff on a mid-period Voivod album, with Swervedriver on in the background. Played by Helios Creed. Or maybe I just talked a load of bollocks, fuck knows! Buy this record, dickhead.
Totally great packaging by the guys at Thumbprint Press (HUGE thanks to WT for all the effort put into this, and Pete for artistic vision!); three-panel chipboard sleeve, double-sided print, with
stark black letterpress and clear varnish. You may know these guys' work from the Sunn live album or one of the many Bastard Noise family releases, but this tops the lot in my opinion! Top banana.
Released: Feb '08
First foray into the world of vinyl and it's a belter if I do say so myself!! The incredibly busy George Proctor smashes us across the chops for the duration of his side of this slab with a punishing
six minute lesson in harsh noise brutality. It sounds like a large collection of faulty electric appliances being launched down the stairs of a building on fire. Fucking GREAT! On the flipside is a couple
of tracks by the band formerly known as TETSUO. This side sees a change of direction from the previous lo-fi clatterings of before and contains two mercilessly heavy tracks of full-on noise doom!! First
track, "The Sound Of Slow Decay" does exactly what it says on the tin...repetitive sub-Sabbath riffing which eventually kills itself, followed by "Vincent Price's Wife Is Dead", which sounds like a hokey 70s
nightmare sequence from a Hammer film gone wrong.
Stick-on laser printed sleeves and a confusing insert that doesn't really shed much light on anything. BLACK VINYL, 220 copies. This is a corelease with Turgid Animal and can also be bought from
www.turgid-animal.co.uk
Released: Feb '08
First (I think?!) record from this horrible meeting of the two unstable minds of Lee Stokoe (Culver) and George Proctor (Mutant Ape). This comes across very much as a great sum of parts
from this pair: vaccuous tunnels of stasis and repetitive crumbling walls of horrific noise assault. It all sounds a bit like the beginning of Terminator II, y'know, when the big tank things are
crushing the MOUNTAINS OF SKULLS. To quote Donald Tardy of Obituary: heavier than a bag of donkey's balls.
Completely at odds with the holocaustal music contained within, this is packaged in sickeningly garish covers drawn by Tisbor in my kitchen as the cabinet collapsed on top of me. Bright
yellow vellum backs and full colour Girls Aloud tribute CDrs! 100 copies.
Released: Feb '08
First release (hopefully of many!) by this amazing new band from the US. I got this through the door one day a few months ago and was utterly blown away by how totally powerful and blistering it was.
Three tracks of completely bleak, unrelenting and totally innovative harsh black noise! There are some terrific moments of tension as everything boils down to a low simmer, before once again the high-
end kicks in and pummels yer napper into submission. There's a rather ambiguous Satanic theme running through this and there's a genuinely weird and truly unsettling undercurrent to the whole thing.
Bang on the second track and you'll see what I mean: distorted synth (?!) tones, echoed, unintelligible samples, cut through with the odd "Erector"-style ultra high-frequency laser blast. Properly
disturbing music.
In keeping with the tone of the piece, image for the front artwork taken from "Cthulu" by Austin Spare (the original of which I had the pleasure of viewing a couple of months ago in Glasgow!); wrap-around
black half-sleeve, back parchment insert, fully printed CDr. 100 copies.
Released: Feb '08
Around 30 minutes a piece from this pairing of like-minded post-industrial pessimists from Chicago and Bathgate respectively. Mike Kraus AKA Death Factory gives us four tracks of very varied noise/ambient.
There are a lot of different styles going on here, from straight-up harsh-head attack to weird flanger effects, more often than not all amalgamating into a sorta "noise orchestra" crescendo. A lot's went
into this and repeated listens really yield something new every time. Supoib! Messiah Complex's side is a little more typical of their sound than than
ominous dark ambience of their previous At War release, "Meniscus". This untitled track builds up from a crackling oscillation to full on blazing static fire and a wailing feedback chorus. It waxes and
wanes through solid rumbling noise wall and loud as fuck, in-yer-skull post power electronic battery! These guys are quietly plying their trade and putting out some great releases on many respectable
noise labels. Keep an eye out!
Some of my favourite At War packaging yet! All cassettes come in static shielding bags with double-sided insert/black stickered cassetes, all sealed with a wee sticker. All these tapes were pro-duplicated.
You think I've got time to sit every night dubbing an endless pile of fucking tapes? Nae chance pal!! 100 copies.
Released: Jan '08
New collection of long out-of-print demos from the French master of bedroom black metal, ZBT! This is totally raw stuff, utterly devoid of production values and often, song structure. This disc comprises
some of ZBT's more considered, "musical" demos, from the repetitive dirge of "Primitive Era", the unrestrained wail and incoherance of "Apocalypse" to the thrash-esque precise riffing of "El Borak". While this
is often a difficult listen, the riffs are fucking great - opener "In Your Grave" is total Vulcano/Sarcofago-style South American-influenced filth - and the underground attitude and amateurish sound contributes
to the true black metal atmosphere that so may lack these days. ZBT is obviously influenced by Les Legiones Noires, with jarring tremello guitar, off-kilter production and is as mysterious and just plain weird
as those bands were. For fans of bedroom BM like Striborg or cult LLN such as Mutiilation, Belketre etc.
Classic B&W art in tribute to the old masters! This is a full CD, NOT CDr.
Released: Jan '08
100 Copies
These guys slayed Glasgow when they came last year and these new recordings are even better! Two mini CDrs, two new lengthy songs by this Anglo-Canadian drums/guitar duo currently residing in Tokyo, Japan!
First disc "Ikeburo Incinerator" is a total Jap-psych instrumental blowout, completely wild and unrestrained. The title of this track seems pertinent, in that it sounds like it was recorded in a sweaty room
with no fucking way out. Second disc - "Your Love Is A Fucking Drag" is more of an early 90s AmRep-style jam, yet feels more considered. Brilliant caustic lyrics and shredding screams give way to an
over-the-top instrumental cresendo, all heaving guitar and clattering drum wizardry. Really happy to be releasing this, some might think this is more "musical" than the usual At War stuff, but this is still as
in-your-face and NOISE as anything else.
Printed double mini-CDrs in nice "indestructible" double CD cases, with mounted thick-stock card inserts on brown paper.
Released: Dec '07
One of the most punishing noise releases ever. Period! "Claustration" is over five hours (spread over five discs) of the most harsh wall noise imaginable. Ominous pummeling walls of avalanche static
beating upon your brain until submision. This record will takes "wall noise" to the next level - essential!!
Here's a run-down of everything included:
5 CDrs - "Claustration"; over five hours of new harsh order from the french master of wall, Vomir!
Bonus CDr of old Vomir/pre Vomir material; very interesting disc compiled from old tapes/CDrs. See the origins of Vomir!
Vomir tshirt, white print on a black shirt
Glossy Vomir 5"x3" Vomir "Harsh Noise Wall" sticker
Vomir pin badge; black skull logo with red type
Released: Nov '07
The first At War CD release is finally out!! Ohio's SLOTH have been creating some of the most fucked up, weird, funny music of the past 10+ years and this is their first ever CD full-length album! Known for
split records with bands such as Corrupted, Grief, Floor, Upsidedown Cross, Noothgrush etc etc, this album sees Sloth in a much more musically diverse frame of mind than usual. The painful sludge noise is still there
but there's an altogether more considered approach. There's piano on it for fuck's sake. Weird lo-fi songs that sound like they were written by a fucked up kid mix sit happily with garage rock high end jams and tar pit
slo-mo doom dirges. The "13 samples" are bang on and the humour is as bizarre and hilarious as ever.
Full CD (NOT A CDr) with full colour 4 page booklet, drawn by artist-in-chief Uberneecie and coloured in by a group of five year olds from Glasgow.
Released: Oct '07
50 Copies
Manipulated field recordings and subtle electronic oscillations from Adam Baker, who also runs the excellent and under-appreciated Dirty
Demos label. At times quite disorientating due to the chopped-up nature of the 13 short-ish tracks; snippets of conversation and street sounds
glued together by laptop fuzz.
Stickered black digipaks with gold spraypaint, insert and sprayed white CDrs.
Released: Sep '07
120 Copies
New mini-CDr from one of the most interesting and forward-thinking US "noise" bands out right now. The idea behind this release was to utilise no distortion at all, using
a lot of unorthodox instrumentation. The results are astounding and quite unlike anything WIO have done in the past. Some great tunes going on here; eight minute-plus "Now You
Know" is amazing; low-fi percussives and what sounds like some spanish guitar? Great ritual music nonetheless that comes as a big surprise and my only dissapointment is it's not longer. Another
companion piece will be coming soon on At War, cannae wait!
3" CDr comes in a PVC case, wrapped in black material made out of flowers (?!) and a gold band, and a printed insert.
Released: Sep '07
100 Copies
Snotnosed has become a bit of a legend in recent years. Born as a "tribute" of sorts to Jap trash noise legends Hanatarashi/Hanatarash, this duo went
about demolishing several venues of northern England (and often themselves) with as little care for the consequences as their Japanese counterparts did in the 80s. What
we have here is a collection of live sets as well as remixed/remastered "studio" tracks which originally appeared on Traqueto Records' "Surrounding" complilation. Nothing
can compare to the total destructive onslaught that was Snotnosed live but these recordings are the next best thing!!
Painstakingly packaged in yellow card covers, with a full colour CDr (pink, green or yellow), a green Snotnosed pin badge, and a
twelve-page booklet, featuring live reviews, previously unseen photos, "An Oral History Of Snotnosed", liner notes and track info. Amazing stuff!!
Debut album from sometime Tetsuo member Rejectamenta!! Total robotic psychosis; there's far too much going on here to even begin to describe it after just a few listens. Adam Cresser is a total genius
of circuit-bent electronics and his mastery is on full display here. It's amazing to hear a "noise" album that's actually been thought out - nay, COMPOSED - that you can in fact hum along to. Well, maybe not.
Either way, this is totally intense stuff and I'm not over-emphasising when I say this is up there with the finest examples of the genre I've ever heard. Whilst there are so many noise artists out there today who
release 50+ albums in a year, it's refreshing to hear one who actually puts in a massive amount of time, work and effort to make something that just sounds devestating. Buy or die!!
There are two different versions of this record; I had initially only intended on putting out 50 since the metal cases were so expensive, but I've since decided to make an unlimited "regular edition" which is a lot
cheaper but contains exactly the same music. It's up to you what one you want to buy.
Packaged in a metal DVD-sized tin, hand engraved on the front, with shiny silver CDrs. Expensive but these cost a fortune to buy and will cost a fortune to mail due to the weight! 50 copies.
Printed in response to Sunn charging three thousand quid fer a CDr on their
last UK tour! Euronymous is spinning in his grave and that's why these shirts
are necessary attire! Tool up and help in the fight against the hipster
menace!
Released: May '07
100 copies
Finally the new Noma album is unleashed! I'm massively chuffed with this one; everything about this release is why I
decided to start At War in the first place!
Double album set that shows two distinct sides to the wonderful and often frightening world of Noma; the first disc "Lacrimosa" features
one long piece built up with layered harmonium and drones which slowly envelop the listener. As Dylan Carlson said, "...a physical presence in the room...I can almost touch the sounds". The second disc, "Nidus" collects a bunch of more "noise"-style shorter tracks built around heavily-manipulated found sounds, vocals, and field recordings. In contrast to the first disc, lots
going on and really benefits from repeated listens.
I'm very chuffed to be releasing this as Noma gets nothing like the credit he deserves when there are a lot more unoriginal acts doing the rounds right now being praised by the usual clueless
journo-types just cos their face fits. Highly recommended!
Packaged in printed vellum with wrap-around insert in over-sized PVC slipcase. These are all hand-made and have been in the works for several weeks due to every part of the process going wrong at some point.
Released: May '07
Unlimited Press
One long track of unrelenting filthy monoto-noise from these mysterious noise perverts. Faceless
and unrelentingly harsh avalanche of pummeling noise and low-end bass rumble. Truly unpleasant black-on-black packaging that's as hard to see as the music is to listen to.
I'm going to do this one as an on-going press so no limit on numbers.
Released: May '07
100 Copies
A torturous bleak industrial noise soundscape that could only be borne from Bathgate, Scotland! Totally bereft of joy, this is much more dark ambient than this two-piece's usually more harsh noise output, but there are definite METAL undertones to the whole thing. This will suck your soul! Think Death In June, the "Eraserhead"
soundtrack and the first Fear Factory album (!)
Pro-printed sleeves in DVD-size polythene covers
Released: Mar '07
100 Copies
One long track of unshifting "harsh noise wall" from prolific frenchman and Maison Bruit head Vomir. Overwhelming white noise static that takes no prisoners. Fuck music! No tunes, no comprimise!
Comes in an oversize hard "CD safe case" with some pretty horrific artwork.
Released: Mar '07
100 Copies
Reissue of the out of print Finnish noisecore classic originally released four years ago! 56 songs of discordant, screaming out-of-tune mania from a solo Beip. All done in nine minutes of sheer aural torture, brings to mind the best finnish noisecore band ever, AUNT MARY!
PS - for an excellent resource on noisecore, check out this excellent info site:
http://www.cfprod.com/noisecore/
Packaged in a 3" PVC wallet, pro-printed card and wrapped in pink Cromatico paper.
Released: Mar '07
200 Copies
One lengthy track from then two-piece improv punk dicks Tetsuo partly recorded live in a manic performance in Aberdeen last summer. Inhuman screams, jazz drumming, samples from old Toshihiro Mifune films and some J-pop to finish it off. What more do you want?
The other three tracks come from Japanese Blondie tribute band BRONDIE, recorded in rehersal space in Kanazawa, Ishikawa in 2004. Fucking ace!!
3" CDr comes in a mini hard DVD case with nudie image of the goddess who is Debbie Harry, as well as a picture CD. Small but perfectly formed!
Released: Jan '07
100 Copies
The best release At War has done yet!! Remember the opening track on Corrupted's "Se Hace Por Los Suenos Asesinos" and how you didn't think the world could get any bleaker? Prepare yerself for this! One ultra-lengthy piece that builds up from minimal strumming to a total wall of white noise VOID and then back again. Brings to mind Ulver's masterpiece "Kveldssanger". Totally epic!
SOLD OUT
Released: Dec '06
100 Copies
Live set recorded with amazing improv guitarist and Enlightenment records founder Lars Myrvoll last summer in Oslo. The addition of a guitar makes this a much harsher proposition than some of this duo's previous material, but's fits perfectly with Jan-M Iversen's electronic backbone and Sindre Bjerga's buzz and howl. Some great heavy moments of apocalyptic doom amidst the lull and squall. Fully hand-made paper wallets hold the CD, only 2-3 of each design! Hand numbered, includes watercolour paper insert with art by Alec Cheer.
SOLD OUT
Released: Nov '06
50 Copies
New set of intensely personal tracks by one of the most under-appreciated soloists working today. Edited together from recordings made up to a decade ago, a lot of this is more caustic than recent works on Lefthand Pressings but there are a few moments of wonderful lull in there too.
At times dramatic, resonant and jarringly emotive; his best work yet. Packaged in printed gauze paper at the front/tracing paper at the back.
SOLD OUT
Released: Oct '06
50 Copies
30 min plus harsh noise workout incorporating bizarre samples, loops and vocals (?!) from this reclusive german cave-dweller.
Coming at it from a very unique angle: mad, atonal blasts of sheer noise evolving continuosly battle with tortured cows and piercing feedback. Comes in suitably zany packaging, all spraypainted differently.
SOLD OUT
Released: Sept '06
50 Copies
One 60 minute+ exercise in minimal drones and layers of dense, tidal
tone.
A total trip of wavelength experimentation and low frequency
oscillations of white noise, gives the same effect of the classic "Earth 2"
record. Very minimally packaged in two sheets of printed translucent heavy-stock
paper.
Released: Sept '06
100 Copies
Brilliantly bleak free-drone from grimm necrowizard Ruaraidh Sanachan. Three
very varied tracks of dense megalithic tones and penetrating feedback.
Comes
in a jewel case with half-size back insert and black-bottomed CDrs, and filled
with dead wasps.
Released: Aug '06
120 Copies
Track 1 recorded @ Glasgow Implodes Festival, 23/10/05
Tracks 2 & 3
recorded @ Leckie's flat, 27/02/06
Track 4 recorded @ Stereo, 24/02/06
A track each from each band and two collaborations recorded on Monopolka's UK
tour. Harsh high-end assault from Kylie, confrontational drum/vocal fight
instigation from Tetsuo.
Fancy dan packaging
Incredibly lo-fi recording of the first Tetsuo live assault. Six minutes of incomprehensible improv racket and a wee bit of Blondie recorded over a phone. Recorded entirely in tribute to Juntaro Yamanouchi.
SOLD OUT
Live set of Marzuraan's first scottish gig in December 2004, recorded in a
massive church hall. Four tracks, put together as one for the proper listening
experience.
Came in a black card sleeve with stencilled tracing paper
inserts, inverted cross sparypainted CDrs, and a postage stamp from Nazi
Germany.
Limited to 30 copies, all given to band and friends.