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 “At
the center lies the singularity, where matter is crushed to infinite
density, the pull of gravity is infinitely strong, and spacetime has
infinite curvature. Here it's no longer meaningful to speak of space and
time, much less spacetime. Jumbled up at the singularity, space and time
cease to exist as we know them.”
So says the University of Illinois’ web site about a black hole, but it
could also apply to Hall of Mirrors, a two-CD compilation of space
rock so unrelentingly heavy that listening to it with headphones could
very well give you a concussion. This is no collection of reheated ‘70s
stoner fuzz riffs – this is sonic warfare waged on an intergalactic scale,
with sheets of steel-plated feedback waves crashing against your brainpan
with the single-minded power of the Atlantic Ocean at winter’s high tide.
Looking for a friendly, familiar groove from any of the 22 bands on this
disc is like trying to reason with Mecha Godzilla seconds before he
squashes you flat. It just does not compute to spare you.
Having said that, there’s also a lot of feral beauty in these
biomechanical fire chants –Acid Mothers Temple’s “Fire Walk With
Us” brings to mind a symphony orchestra reaching an orgasmic crescendo
in the middle of a foundry explosion, and Kinski’s “Teen Center”
is sleek and genuinely exciting motorik-style Krautrock. But it’s not
pretty you’re after if you’re visiting this site, so you can skip over
those tunes and head right for the real earthmovers, like Circle’s
“Kuonopaivaa,” a 75-ton groove monster complete with Lord of
Darkness vocal rumblings, or the haunted garagestomp ruckus summoned up by
the DMBQ’s “Small Hours.” The real beast of the set,
however, belongs to the now-defunct Gravitar, who set loose a
rib-snapping, teeth-cracking shitstorm that sounds like their instruments
are begging for their very lives as they’re hammered into bits. Is this
something you wanna hear after a long day at work? Probably not, unless
your day job involves being very quiet and still for hours at a stretch.
But should you wish to have your molecules rearranged via soundwave (which
can be very pleasant, if done properly), any of the acts that contributed
to Hall of Mirrors would undoubtedly more than happy to oblige you.
Happy space trucking.
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