Hwwauoch, Under the Gaze of Dissolution, Germany, Amor Fati Productions, vinyl LP (2023)
Along with four other bands, these being being Arkhtinn, Mahr, Pharmakeia and Voidsphere, all of which share members with one another, Hwwauoch is part of a collective known as Prava Kollektiv, whose country of residence is as yet not known. “Under the Gaze of Dissolution” is part of a tetralogy of albums that started with Hwwauoch’s self-titled debut back in 2018, diving into what it means to be alive and conscious, discovering pain, torment and insanity in that meaning, and leading the path out of that hell through death or destruction.
From opening track “Thou Shalt Not Exist” right through to the title track, the album is a crazed ride through a black hell of continuous screaming madness. The vocals have to be heard to be believed: they carry on as if their owners have been put through a giant cosmic wringer, whirling them round and round through vast expanses of space until they can stand the punishment no more and their minds break completely. At the same time though, as the screaming shreds your own sanity into jagged pieces, the music itself is surprisingly focused and channels all its intense energy into raw noisy aggression. Acid-edged, spiky tremolo guitars churn out riff after riff after riff of dissonant twangy jewel tones while the percussion pounds out the beats and powers the music along. The production across the album is clean and clear, bringing out every detail of the pain and torment in the vocals and emphasising the lonely blackness of the space in which the music pounds away.
After a few repeat hearings, the music does reveal itself to be less chaotic and more structured, with some tracks possessing distinct riffs but I suppose not too many listeners will be playing this album often enough to recognise the riffs and other episodes on songs that are unique to them. The screaming and wailing may be enough to stamp a deep impression on most listeners, of a demented atmospheric BM universe in which madness and extreme inner torment are part of a normal mental state.
The six songs on the album are best treated as chapters in an overarching work aiming to dismantle and scatter consciousness into a void to relieve inner pain, sharing as they do the same black hellish atmospheres and a claustrophobic, airy backdrop that is ever encroaching on our fragile mental states, ready to swallow them whole and claim our souls. Song titles like “Thou Shalt Not Exist” and “Echoes from a Thousand Dying Worlds” leave us in no doubt that the world is coming to a crisis point beyond which may lie mass deaths happening at an unspeakable rate and dead bodies rapidly accumulating in the open air as landscapes come under fire and even the very air needed for breathing burns with unseen toxins. The last track of all – the title track – is the most varied and manic of all six, as multiple voices contort themselves in high-pitched shrieks, deeper roars and screams of pain. Passages where the drums become the sole or dominant instrument on the track appear at least once or twice in-between noise guitar storms belting down hard until all unfortunate beings caught are flattened or melt down into slushy snow.
The whole work can be frightening and overwhelming, especially late at night when your own consciousness is wavering and wanting to go to sleep. The music can sound tinny and a bit thin, but the clean production on the songs highlights the twangy melodies and riffs, together with the choir of voices stuck in a bleak black world they can never escape. Some very good riffs are present beneath the screaming and the babbling. While its intense nature may mean that the album doesn’t get much play, when you do venture into its depths, you will find some rare sparkling gems in the harsh and bleak soundscapes.