Toronto’s eyeswithoutaface is one of the most underrated bands out there in bandcampland. They’ve produced some stellar heaviness on their two full lengths, remix record, and showing an excellent ear for blending and mixing electronic, industrial, noise, breakbeat, and stomach churning sludge. So it is no small wonder that Mike Szarejko, one of the driving forces behind eyes…, would eventually break off for a solo exploration of the outer reaches of heavy. Morbido Bis jettisons the sludge metal core of eyeswithoutface in favor of the dark art of ambient/noise alchemy. Older Gods is an evil mindfuck of a record, a kaleidoscopic bad acid trip through varying experimental forms and textures. Szarejko has taken the electronic monster mash that turned eyeswithoutaface in to such a formidable beast and, with the help of an exceptional mastering job by James Plotkin, created an excellent piece of experimental noise.

Older Gods opens on a strange note, with an odd frog snore croaking away like an amphibious Rip van Winkle snoozing the years away nestled snugly in a dank cave.  The fragmented sample collage recalls the long gone Pica and Steve O’Donnell’s LSD-infused toy mash ups. “Offering” then changes tone from the oddly whimsical to a darker mood, with twinkling guitar and swarms of background feedback. “The Future Past” is a juddering mess of hammering rhythmic noise, shuddering epileptically with the odd cadence of particularly nasty breakcore.  “First Earth” and closer “Above Reason” settle in, evoking the chill of classic Cold Meat Industry death industrial, Gruntsplatter, and Lull.

“All Ends Revealed” stands out though as the most original and fresh sounding track here. Featuring guest appearances by Tuka Shahidi and Max Deneau of eyeswithoutaface, Szarejko takes a blistering live drum performance by Tuka and packs in layers of scalding noise and feedback. Max’s contribution, some surreal Burroughs-esque spoken word, preludes clatter drum taps and a brief blast beat before electronics and a shifting synthetic orchestral backing appear to build to a harsh noise and drum freak out. Calling to mind a more restrained Death Unit, the sprawling five minute long harsh noise jam concludes with howling vocals and crumples in an exhausted heap for a slow droning fade.

Ambient, drone, and noise are marginal genres even among the extreme music underground. They’re all love or hate propositions, split between the people who see them as boring, lacking any talent or skill in their creation, and the highly debatable proposition that they aren’t “real” music, and the people who identify with the genres’ atmosphere and subversive nature. There is very little in the way of middle ground and as someone who counts himself a fan of harsh and decidedly unconventional (or as some would say, unlistenable) forms of music, I have to say that Older Gods stands is one of the better recent examples of experimental music. It’s well paced and arranged, and captures the anything-goes mentality that informs the best work in the field.

[Visit the band's website]

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