Review: Kiras

Lithuanian extremist of power electronics has released one more album via Filth & Violence label. This time, as far as I've understood, in several formats: CD and tape. This is not a live recording already, but normal, full length album. I'm reviewing a CD and disgusting cover art spits straight into my face. Plastic case is nice to touch with my palm, but the cover is provocative: rough, black and white, xeroxed collage of all kinds of ugly faces. Pornography, flesh, soldiers, white trash, retards, minorities... There is also Pogrebnoy (famous Lithuanian fashion designer) and Stalin so all of this sums up into not that nice mirror of the society. No subtlety, just plain aggression. After opening the box, picture does not change - white disc and symbol that raises no further questioning with POGROM logo under it. On the left side - track titles in English and when you read the first letters of the tracks downwards you get unequivocal message: white power. There is also a small paper insert - excerpt from "White barbarian manifesto". Sprinkle of philosophy in order to enframe the noise on the disc. I don't want to get too deep into politics - usage of extreme symbols is nothing new in power electronics so I'm leaving it for everyone's own taste. I'm more interested in noise. And there's no secret - Pogrom is one of my favorite project not only in Lithuania. And it seems that this extreme outfit is just an accessory for truly high quality noise that this big guy makes. I must confess I didn't like "Multicultural Degeneration" after the first spin. Maybe I was not in the right mood or so, but it simply irritated me and it was very difficult to listen to it. But every time I started the disc from the beginning, I started to like it more and more. Truth is that the album is very gloomy and it's very dangerous to listen to it during hangover. You need to be truly strong inside before pushing play. Sounds and every other aspect of Pogrom do not go to compromises. You rarely know good things right from the start, so perhaps it's the same with this album - you won't understand it after just a couple of superficial listening sessions. The disc starts from feedback'ish chaos - something's being destroyed, something hums, etc. but all of this in one monolithic mood. It is chaos under control. Collected frenzy, locked up in the cage of the record, painted in one color and it is not pink. Tracks follow each other naturally and the unifying aspect is the filthy sound. Album is constructed in principle of some sort of comb. One track is an aggressive attack of feedbacks and aggressive filthy noise, the following one - more meditative/ritualistic session with echoing metals, falling racks, clanging chains and who knows what. These calmer interludes are all the same menacing. They are just expressed in less movement. The order is not symmetrically strict in terms of length of tracks etc., but you get what I say. You get a punch into the face, go to smoke, the second round, one more break, etc. and you are dead. Towards the second side of the record, there are less feedbacks, but more wall-like experience. You hear the voice here and there, but it is presented quite tastefully. In one track it is delayed, in other one - tremolo and so on. It is quite difficult to understand what is being said. Only in the very end I hear "multicultural degeneration". In this track the voice is rawest. It sounds weaker, but it seems that Pogrom wanted us to hear these words.
And there is a lot of what to think about while listening to this peculiar noise. Or if you like it more - power electronics. Personally this is not the best work of Pogrom. Still nothing beats "Liberal Cunt" for me, but without a doubt this is very strong release and hopefully it will get enough attention. The more time passes, the less chances there are that you will be mistaken by extreme trademark of Pogrom - sound. Gloomy, fucked up, strong and aggressive noise. Not suitable for weak ones.

Format: CD / CS
Released: 2012
Label: Filth and Violence