There have been bands called Massacre, the most important one was the trio of Bill Laswell, Charles Hayward and Fred Frith, but the name Massacre served also an American death metal band, Chilean thrash metal band, Finnish punk band and even an Argentinian indie-rock band. Somehow, the name Massacre fits outfits that search for far-reaching sonic regions.

The Russian incarnation of Massacre – sax, flugelhorn and electronics player Anton Ponomarev (of BROM) and guitarist Anton Obrazeena (of Jars), fits its title. The debut album of Massacre offers an unearthly but quite immersive amalgam of an ever-shifting wall of roaring noises, where you can only occasionally trace the sounds of an electric guitar and alto saxophone. This limited-edition of 100 black and color vinyl offers two 20-minutes of dense, heavily distorted and uncompromising, noisy drones, «Bhola» and «Ajkai». The CD version adds a self-titled short piece, that manages to match metal, country, free jazz and noise in less than eight minutes.

Massacre’s sound was conceived when Obrazeena’s guitar was plugged into two guitar stacks and one bass stack in order to achieve the floor-shaking rumble. Ponomarev sent his saxophone through two separate chains of electronics encompassing pedals, Moog processors, spring reverb, octavers and drone effects 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.

Ponomarev and Obrazeena claim that the absence of pulse allows them to concentrate on hearing and reacting to each other without worrying about time, and focus on pure, immersive and reverberant waves of sound that instantly fill the room and pierce apart its walls. Massacre guarantees a listening experience would empty out your skull. Certainly, not for the faint of heart.

Eyal Hareuveni

Anton Ponomarev (s, flh, elec), Anton Obrazeena (g, eff, knife)