You could aim the same arrow at Human Larvae except that what we have here is made with so much more feeling and contains so much more passion that it makes Stratvm Terror sound like Burl Ives. Yes its a power electronics/Industrial ambience album and yes it contains plenty of PE clichés but its all done with such professionalism and with such care that you just cant help being impressed.
This is Human Larvae's first full length release and there seems to have been a great feasting on classic PE albums. Track titles such as “I Do This Because I Love You', ‘A Loss Too Great To Bear' and ‘To Hide In Her Uterus And Hopefully Suffocate In Absolute Tranquility' reveal a deep thinker at large thus elevating this from being just another misogynistic, misanthropic outing. Home Is Where The Hurt Is also contains some genuinely unsettling moments. The sound of a womans terrified screams on the aforementioned ‘I Do This ..' is enough to bring comparison to darker Runzelstirn and Gurgelstock moments. My only complaint is that a lot of these tracks tend to outstay their welcome. There's nine tracks here spanning an hour which, given the material and subject matter is heavy going. Still, crank up your stereo, get out your snuff mags and indulge in some solid PE. It sure beats replicating hell in your living room.
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Human Larvae - Home Is Where The Hurt Is CD: http://www.humanlarvae.de.vu/
Existance Establishment: http://www.existest.org/
Overall Rating: A
Composition: B+
Sounds: A+
Production Quality: A
Concept: A-
Packaging: A
Note: this review may seem biased, considering Blood Ties Webzine is hosted and ran by the same label that produced this CD. I am no way infatuated with the production or creation of this CD and I am being as honest and genuine as possible with this review.
This CD is the first full length nine-track epic by Germany's Human Larvae, his only release under this moniker besides the debut 3" CDr EP The Odour Of Love on Silken Tofu. You may have heard his sounds preceding this project; as he is also behind the harsh noise project Broken Diode. The package is a gorgeous black cardstock slimline digipak, with red and silver inked beautiful artwork and a nice simple layout. One of the best printed digipaks I've ever seen and fitting for this release. HL has obviously been careful and precise when creating this CD, considering this album has been in construction for several years (2005-2007), and now finally seeing the light of day in 2008 shows that a lot of time, effort and serious consideration has gone into producing this gem. Limited to a hand-numbered 500 copies, so it's very unlikely it will be sold out tomorrow.
I Feel Therefore I Hurt is what I would consider a perfect introduction to this album. Melodramatic perhaps, but we're all human. We're all vulnerable. This isn't something anyone can deny or contradict. To say the least, the sheer evolution and depth of construction on this track is a cut about the rest. Using warm throbbing synthesizer drones and stark samples, Human Larvae begins the nightmare without fucking around. As I'm thinking that the screams of "kill yourself!" could perhaps be a little louder, harsh walls of noise swarm into the track, and the mix of the passionately fierce power electronics vocals amongst this is a truely breathtaking combination. Everything seems on par with everything else in the composition; the noise is crisp and loud, the drones add plenty of atmosphere, and the vocals are powerfull. You don't need to look too deep into the philosphies surrounding this release to understand Human Larvae's aesthetic. The melodramatic song titles, use of sombre desolant atmospheres and strong vocals are enough to make the listener understand what this album is trying to portray. The mundane suffering that we all go through and sheer disgust are channeled into this album, and this is the soundtrack of negative self-loathing and loss. To me, it's an honest observation of everyday existance, uncovering something personal, something that isn't often expressed in this genre of music.
Radiation Wasteland is a lot more subtle than the first outburst, due to the droning use of vocals and cinematic samples. It stays toned down and filth is spat out amongst the drones. The album takes another turn into pure militant aggression with the drum machine fueled Rapist Pig, yet allowing room for swirling ambient between head-splitting snares, heavy bass and enraged PE vocal assaults. However, the track ends up delving into instrumental currents of nasty harsh noise textures that pushes the track to just under nine minutes. The amount of diversity here is fascinating as well as refreshing... and I'm only on the third track. The excellently named I Do This Because I Love You is an instrumental cut of industrial drones that harrow and haunt the cinematic samples of an antagonized woman, which has plenty of touches and subtle loops. A real standout on this album is the fifth track (To Hide In Her Uterus & Hopefully Suffocate In Absolute Tranquility). It could either be toying with the concept of returning to the womb, or a combination of self-loathing and fetishising death. Anyway, its similar to the first track but begins as a more noise-orientated track that builds up with low-end textures that are mixed with sombre synthesizer strings. It ends up becoming a ruthless PE assault with vicious self-hate intact. Like I Feel Because I Hurt, it has an intelligent and thought-out sense of evolution. HL has put serious consideration when it boils down to the combination of sounds used, and the result is mostly a masterpiece. Again though, like Rapist Pig, it feels like there's two halves to this track as it takes a new turn into spliced sample use and layers of noise, yet ends well with those same synth strings. I would have preferred more vocals, but the build-up to those during the first half is executed well and the amount of diversity here is enough to put most who try to shame. A Celebration Of Open Skin is an interesting turn. It focuses on subliminal frequencies and static roars of noise that pour out like blood from a wound as well as fear-inducing melodies comprised from feedback. Repeating sections flow and errupt throughout this soundscape that is nothing but bleak imagery.
Now track seven is something I don't often hear in power electronics. I wasn't expecting this kind of thing at all and it's quite a pleasant surprise. It's a powerful combination of militant industrial lavished with noise that marches on. Tis My Desire To Loath In The Fires Of Vengeance is a good way to conclude the last track, if you consider the song titles. Trumpets and cinematic samples fuel this piece of martial industrial, until the "second half" of the composition similar to previously mentioned tracks. As usual it ends up taking a completely different turn rather than remaning consistant to the "first half", that could have branched off into a new track altogether. Still, it's not a bad "extended ending", mechanical loop works and in-depth noise stretches this to around ten minutes as well. Nearing the end of the album with track eight, Lips Will Bleed + Hearts Will Break is probably the weakest moment on this CD, when compared to what has been heard beforehand. It's a very noisey composition with a backdrop of industrial drone and film samples, and there's some voices to be heard buried amongst the noise, yet it's difficult to make out if they're vocals or samples because they're just too quiet! To end the album is a realisation of hopeless pursuits - A Loss Too Great To Bear; the perfect end, the edge of depression that is a soundtrack of gloomy classical-aided dark ambience. I love the way the track titles are coherant with one another as the album descends, kind of like nine concluding parts.
Home Is Where The Hurt Is comes very close to everything I could ever want in a CD. The amount of diversity is fantastic, and he has taken considerate care to ensure that this is an excellently produced record. Chances are you will hate this if you can't stand any kind of self-loathing or personal expression, but I would consider this truely "essential" to anyone into PE that has an honest approach, that branches forth both atmospheric and abrasive techniques. Human Larvae uses all sorts of styles of industrial to intrude on what many would consider a winning formula, yet it works incredibly well. There's barely a bad moment here. To be incredibly critical would be to say that some parts can drag on for prolonged periods of time and some tracks feel like two tracks merged into one, but the variety, clean production and true passion here constitutes for a truely worthwhile listen. Tip for 2008.
Statistik: Verfasst von Human Larvae — 18.02.2009 (19:04)
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Human Larvae - Home Is Where The Hurt Is (CD, Exist.org)
Musikalisch ist Human Larvae erneut ein großer Wurf gelungen. Zwar bezeichnet der Künstler sein Werk selbst als Power Electronics bzw. Noise, doch so ganz stimmt das nicht. Ist man von Vertretern des Genres doch eher eine Hau-Drauf-Attitüde gewohnt, volle 120 Prozent über die gesamte Länge des Tonträgers. Das kann zwar gut gehen, langweilt in vielen Fällen aber nur.
Human Larvae verfolgt einen anderen Ansatz: Die wirklich heftigen Ausbrüche werden durch ambiente Passagen zusammen gehalten. Es gelingt dem Musiker echte Spannungsbögen aufzubauen und den Hörer so auch über die Länge der ganzen CD zu fesseln. Die Samples sind zum Teil sehr krass, so bei "Rapist Pig", so dass das Zuhören nicht immer "Spaß" macht. Wie die einzelnen Titel aber auch das sehr schöne Artwort nahe legen, geht es auf "Home Is Where The Hurt Is" nicht um Friede, Freude, Eierkuchen aber auch nicht um irgendwelche Verschwörungstheorien oder sonstige verquere Weltanschauungen, sondern einzig und allein um die Abgründe zwischenmenschlicher Beziehungen. Die können gelegentlich sehr tief und schmerzhaft sein. Human Larvae ist es gelungen, dafür eine hörenswerte musikalische Umsetzung zu schaffen. Ihr Soundspektrum reicht dabei weit über das Genreübliche hinaus, bindet zum Beispiel auch neoklassische Melodien ein, und verleiht dem Ganzen dadurch zusätzliche Kraft. Sehr gute Platte!
Gnark.com :
Endlich wieder eine Powerelectronics / Noise-CD mit einem ausgefallenen Artwork ohne die handelsübliche Effekthascherei. MONICA GREENWALDS Vermischung von Natur, Architektur und menschlichen Gefäßen, die den Digipak von "Home Is Where The Hurt Is" ziert, würde sich allein schon den Kauf lohnen. Die Musik von HUMAN LARVAE lohnt gleich doppelt.
Harsche, brutale, vibrierende Soundflächen, Songs, die sich auf mehreren Ebenen gleichzeitig entwickeln - HUMAN LARVAE schafft es sich schon mit "I Feel Therefore I Hurt" angenehm von vielen Genre-Kollegen abzusetzen, obwohl es an sehr typischen Elementen keinesfalls mangelt und so den Zugang zu "Home Is Where The Hurt Is" eindeutig erleichtert. Titel wie "A Loss To Great To Bear", "I Do This Because I Love You", "A Celebration Of Open Skin" oder "Lips Will Bleed, Hearts Will Break" lassen zusammen mit der intensiven, für PowerElectronics-Verhältnisse sehr ehrlichen und emotionalen Musik erahnen, was im Kopf und Leben des Künstlers vor sich ging und geht. Der Wechsel zwischen ruhigen, grollenden, fast schon filigranen Passagen und Wutausbrüchen die mehr Verzweiflung als Hass in sich tragen, begleitet einen durch das komplette Album. Die Noise-Wände schweben zwischen zielgerichteter Beherrschung und lauerndem Kontrollverlust, schlucken den Protagonisten in ihren Stücken und geben ihn nur zaghaft wieder preis.
Für einen Sektor, der musikalisch derart stagniert, ein mehr als beachtenswerter Release.
Statistik: Verfasst von Human Larvae — 03.12.2008 (16:01)
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Statistik: Verfasst von Al.Machine.O — 24.11.2008 (4:42)
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Introducing the debut full-length of this new Dresden based heavy industrial/power electronics unit following his 3 inch CDR on Silken Tofu. Taking cues from styles as diverse as the cinematic Navicon Torture Technologies and grungy lo-fi ...Today I'm Dead, Human Larvae delivers an emotional torrent of self-destructive force with "Home is Where the Hurt Is". Spanning a running time of over an hour, styles range from rhythmic orchestral industrial to bleak passages of black noise with a good dosage of throbbing feedback and scathing vocals. There is some sick twisted narrative to be found here but the search for these mysterious happenings will bring you to places you may never return from.
1. I Feel Therefore I Hurt
2. Radiation Wasteland [Excerpt]
3. Rapist Pig [Full Track]
4. I Do This Because I Love You
5. To Hide in Her Uterus and Hopefully Suffocate in Absolute Tranquility
6. A Celebration of Open Skin [Excerpt]
7. Tis My Desire to Loath in the Fires of Vengeance
8. Lips Will Bleed + Hearts Will Break [Excerpt]
9. Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust
* Each copy hand numbered and assembled.
* Pro-pressed CD limited to 500 copies.
* Black and metallic red ink printed on recycled heavy stock.
* Beautifully rendered design by Monica Greenwald
Trailer und Samples sind auf der Label Homepage
Interessenten PM an mich
Statistik: Verfasst von Human Larvae — 30.10.2008 (9:35)
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