20.SV

APOCALYPTIC DESERT - REVIEW 02

Review from Judas Kiss Magazine: http://www.judaskissmagazine.co.uk/

20.SV, named after the level of radioactive contamination (20 sieverts) which will cause death in 100% of human subjects within seven days, is the solo noise project of Lebanese musician Xardas, who also records dark ambient under the name Seeker, and who recently released Burning Sigils under his real name, Osman Arabi. Apocalyptic Desert is the third in a projected series of eight 20.SV releases on Autumn Wind Productions, following last year’s Insects and 2006’s Acid Vomit.Human Genocide, which was a re-release of two early cassette demos. (Seeker, Burning Sigils and Insects have also been reviewed by Judas Kiss.)

As with Insects, Apocalyptic Desert is a monolithic, terrifying juggernaut of pulverisingly intense electronic noise. If you’re after a weapon of mass destruction in sonic form, then look no further than this – 20.SV gets the job done nicely, decimating all it touches, taking no prisoners and leaving nothing but radioactive rubble in its wake. Over its 28-minute duration, the track deploys blunt, ugly, low-end rumbles, bestially distorted vocals, ominous purring mid-frequencies and penetratingly shrill, stabbing bursts of high-frequency noise and feedback in a concerted attempt to inflict maximum damage on the listener. There’s a looped fragment of melody, possibly from a highly processed guitar, inserted into the toxic brew as well, but if you’re expecting a nice tune, forget it. You’ll have to whistle it to yourself while waiting for the all-clear to sound. Admirers of extreme projects like Messiah Complex, Grunt and Antracot will probably enjoy 20.SV’s work too – all others should approach with due caution.

Apocalyptic Desert is also monstrously loud. I can testify to this because I was listening to it on the bus yesterday – generally speaking, I need to turn the volume on my CD player up to around 20 on the bus to drown out the engine noise and the loathsome babble of my fellow humanoids, but 20.SV proved more than adequate at the default volume setting of 8. Turning this fucker up to 20 would probably result in haemorrhaging from every orifice and massive organ failure. Apocalyptic Desert comes in a card sleeve, and the first 75 copies include a poster of the cover artwork. There are plans afoot to produce a box to house the first three 20.SV CDs, including Apocalyptic Desert, and the box will include a booklet, poster and stickers. Xardas is calling for visual contributions for the booklet – check out the 20-SV website for more details.