Static Mantra is Harsh Noise Wall project from Czech Republic. It started releasing in 2010 and now has several albums and collaborations with other wall noisers in discography. Ideological fundament of the project is hinduism/buddhism and reflection of these religions in wall-like sounds. Conception is truly interesting and I'm really happy that Static Mantra showed that it's not that difficult to find your own niche in HNW sounds and not follow the easy path of giallo and associated themes. But though conception gladdens, the sound - not really. The title of the album, from what I can understand, is mantra to a form of deity Shiva - Mahakala. Released with the same template of artwork as all Toxic Industries Irritant Series in which, in a corner, the deity itself. It's almost an hour of minimally changing wall. The fundament of it - pulsating tone of distorted sound in mid and lower frequencies with some twitching and interrupting interferences around. Wall is not monolith - constant crackling does not let you feel comfortable in static and the distorted base of sound seems that it'll explode and evolve into some more brutal noise, but it does not happen. Almost an hour of wall with small variations of noise, sounding in one emotional level. You can listen to it and not hear it. Without a doubt, 60 minutes is a long period of time and, for my ears, the record that plays for so long and that still wants to catch attention, should either be absolutely static, but very intense and brutal, so that it'd enslave and crush you or it should have to offer something soundwisely. About these nuances I've written many times already - how much you can hide under a wall of sound, how interesting it is to try and dismantle it layer after layer over and over again. And there's no such thing in this release. It's just a lengthy noise wall that consist of a couple of sound elements that catches you at first, but finally become boring and you don't pay attention to it anymore and it becomes just a buzz in background or in headphones. This record is mantra that neither led me to spiritual journey, nor presented external irritants for the mind. Maybe it's just not my type of HNW, but I'm sure that there exist plenty of records that sound better than this. The project itself is interesting, and conception is nice, so I want to believe that he managed to present it in better way in other releases.

Format: CDr
Released: 2010
Label: Toxic Industries
Edition: 33