Ponomarev / Obrazeena Massacre – Massacre CD

Ponomarev / Obrazeena Massacre – Massacre CD

"There have been bands called Massacre before, but this one is unlike any that preceded them. They are a duo: saxophonist Anton Ponomarev and guitarist Anton Obrazeena, and this is their debut album.

Obrazeena’s guitar was plugged into two guitar stacks and one bass stack, the better to achieve floor-shaking rumble. Ponomarev, who also plays electronics, sent his saxophone through two separate chains of electronics encompassing pedals, Moog processors, spring reverb, octavers, drone effects and more, so that it would travel independently through the left and right channels of the PA system. There was also a clear channel documenting just the saxophone, with no effects.

The resulting music is an unearthly ever-shifting roar, sometimes identifiable as the product of guitar and saxophone but just as often not. Obrazeena’s guitar frequently starts out as an almost country-tinged drone, not unlike Earth’s “Hex; Or Printing In The Infernal Method” before turning into a downtuned wall of thick, syrupy distortion you can almost touch. Ponomarev’s sax screeches and bellows, and his electronics create a dense pulse, with needle-sharp sine waves piercing the waves of static and reverberant atmospheres. The absence of rhythm allows them to concentrate on hearing and reacting to each other without worrying about time, creating an immersive world of pure sound that fills the room as easily as it empties out your skull."