THE HAXAN CLOAK 黑胶唱片和CD

Review: In a move many might have believed not possible, Bobby Krlic makes a welcome return as The Haxan Cloak with this monumental single. It's no less than ten years since we last heard from the industrial-tinged electronica maverick on his Excavation album, but now he's back with a bruising new piece called 'N/Y' which pops up on both sides of this clear 12" platter. It's a high pressure release full of jackhammer percussion and noise blasts, plus some sirens thrown in for good measure. Holding true to the industrial tradition, it's entirely engineered as a blast of intensity, and Krlic has considerable talent to render such an approach in a powerful, provocative way.

Review: As Bobby Krlic's project The Haxan Cloak makes a return after some ten years of silence with the 'N/Y' single, it's a fine time to track back and catch up on some of his small but perfectly formed catalogue. Observatory originally came out in limited quantities in 2010, and now it sees a repress to stave off the sharks and allow more people to experience this engrossing short form release. The title track is a strong melodic mantra riding a densely packed organ-like figure into oblivion, allowing the resonant frequencies and harmonics to become the dynamic movement in the track with an expert patience. 'Honfour (Temple)' is a subtler, more shapeshifting piece with gorgeous blooms of ambience and submerged pulses that lead you deeper into Krlic's evocative sound world.

Review: In light of the first new Haxan Cloak material in a good ten years, we're being gifted the opportunity to comb back through Bobby Krlic's back catalogue and fill in any missing pieces. Krlic is reissuing his back catalogue on his own label, Archaic Devices, which is a fine reminder to drift into the poised majesty of his debut album. Building on the promise of the earlier EPs Observatory and the limited CDr from 2009, this was when we started to comprehend the full scope of Krlic's charged world building. Roundly defined by his tense violin and cello cast in solemn spatial chambers, this album has lost none of its power in the decade since its release.

Review: Ten years on, Excavation has lost none of its power. It's a fitting time to reflect on the last The Haxan Cloak album as we prepare to digest the first new material from Bobby Krlic since, and a return into the complex folds of this album are more than enough to get us excited. Originally released on Tri Angle, now Krlic is putting the album out on his own Archaic Devices and putting paid to some of the astronomical second hand prices. Draped in finely textured, gauzy atmospherics and deathly rhythm pulses, this is a journey into the depths of imagination, where industrial, ambient and the avant-garde collide and test your mettle, but with its clear-sighted intentions it's also an album you can latch onto and continually draw more understanding from. A modern masterpiece, to be sure.