For quite some time I was thinking how should I start this review - "it is really difficult to write about noise that you like" or "it is really easy to write about noise that you like". I think it's the first one. Especially if you are talking about Knurl. The truth is that I have never heard any bad album of Knurl. But the truth also is that I have never heard the best album of Knurl because all of them are equally strong, interesting and intense. This time I spin the CDr, released several years ago by Polish label Impulsy Stetoskopu. It was lying on the shelf far too long, collecting dust and finally I managed to get to it. Nice packaging - metal box with scorpion and colorful inserts inside with H. Bergson quotes for every track. It looks really solid. There are several weird things, associated with this release though. First of all the title of the album - Mesosoma - that means the middle part of arthropods that bears legs, wings etc. This concept is slightly more distant from the usual themes of Alan Bloor - screws, bolts, corrosion, oxides and other themes, arising from welding and chemistry. It's the same weirdness with track titles like notheism etc. I wonder whether it was some sort of deviation from usual themes because of author or label. But most likely it's the latter one. Other thing that quite surprised me was that the sound in it is quite varied, having in mind that we are talking about Knurl. I get the impression that it is because of violin that was used in the recording process and which is one of the favorite instruments of Alan. These weirder moments are audible very well in Notheism and Matolytic tracks. Matolytic sound is overall like some sort or Japanese guitar noise a la Otomo Yoshihide etc. Other tracks are dominated by harsh and evolving metallic textures that are usually associated with this artist. The first track, Lascination, is typical and strict distorted abuse of metal constructions, lasting for more than 11 minutes. If I would want to pick something that I didn't like too much in this album, I would say that the sound lacks lows. It is concentrated in middle and higher frequencies, but perhaps it's also the problem of the format, and overall aggressive sound attack quickly kicks out these thoughts out of my head. Chrosite is one more rather strange track. Until the very end of the track sound doesn't reach the line of blasting metallic distortion, but rather sounds like the never-ending problem of the rusted engine. The rest of the tracks are more or less typical noise explosions that have already become the trademark of Knurl. Truly nice and a little surprising Knurl album. Apart from the format, everything else is excellent. Quotes and phrases on the inserts seem slightly exaggerated, but maybe it's subjective since for me this artist is associated with absolutely different things. I wish I could understand at least half of the track titles though...

Format: CDr
Released: 2009
Label: Impulsy Stetoskopu
Edition: 120