ROCK-A-ROLLA

This is Christopher Walton's third release on Cold Spring under his TenHornedBeast alter-ego and rather unsurprisingly it is a remarkably bleak affair, albeit one interspesed with the odd moment of introspection. Comprising of four larger pieces separated by three briefer intermisssions, it lies somewhere in that grey area where drone ends and ambient begins, a hulking colossus of bass and free-form drumming one minute and a somnambulistic foray by way of birdsong the next. Whilst the droning sections are suitably atmospheric it's the intermissions which are the most interesting.. Each one possesses its own particular charm,be it the natural beauty of "Hilnaric", the clinical precision of "Ironborn" or the bizarrely unsettling waves of synth in "Cimmeria", and in each case acts as the calm before the storm, a brief moment of respite before another onslaught of crippling distortion. The album is closed by the title track, a 20-minute long composition which does its title justice with plenty to spare; it quite simply crushes everything that has come before, overcoming all with its sheer density and leaving a potent aftertaste. Definately not one for the faint of heart.