Bloodties
Overall Rating: A Composition: A Sounds: A Production Quality: A- Concept: B Packaging: C+ It's difficult to tell exactly what you're in for when the lone trumpet spits out it's wavering tone on ÒFirst Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of MenÓ, the first track featured on this short 20 minute CDR. As the organic trumpet melody continues repeating and is quickly joined by an overly distorted synthesizer drone you realize that this isn't going to some free jazz wank fest. Real Men Drink Horse Milk although short, is an excellent little disc of heavily emotional distorted drones and industrial noise that strikes me as one of those projects where the stars have aligned perfectly to form a monstrously amazing group of heavy, detailed ambient tracks that leave me feeling completely bleak, but the actual compositions here are anything but. All the tracks here are quite short with the closer being the longest and clocking in at 4 minutes. Although I do think this material would be more effective if the tracks were expanded on a bit I really have nothing to complain about because each track is varied and covers a lot of ground with what little time it was given. Even the more unmoving drone tracks like ÒSound of PladdaÓ the 2nd on the disc seems short despite the fact that the track is essentially quite stagnant throughout it's duration. But it's the subtle movement and dynamics, as well as the angered stagnancy itself which feels to bred out of frustration that just asks the listener to bask in it's stasis for as long as Fordell Research Unit is willing to fill your ears. Although ÒGloved Love (for Bava)Ó and ÒWrightÓ contrast in that the former is a wailing blast of industrial noise and the latter is a melancholy shifting melody they both share the quality of being cut off before they even begin. The movement and depth to these compositions are so involved that it's really a pity they are killed off before they're left a chance to grow into something new. Again, I can't really see this as a negative though because each track following brings some new intensity to the atmosphere like the detailed power electronic layers of ÒShe's Got (Balkanization of the Mind)Ó and the emotional pulsating throbs of ÒHyu-Hyu.Ó Finally the closer ÒDrone to Queen BeeÓ is almost exactly what you'd expect it to be, but this is good in a sense that I am left completely satisfied. Merely a simple heavily distorted thick synth drone as almost an anti-climax to anything I would expect. In the end Real Men Drink Horse Milk is a document of half-ideas but the twist here is that it is beautiful in that it can't complete itself. It's the sound of every failure you've ever had, every hope that was never brought to fruition that died before it could take it's first breath. I do hope that Fordell Research Unit has a little more confidence in themselves next time around and is willing to work the excellent material that they come up with a bit more, but for now I'm happy to be frustrated by this little gem.