Vile Cretin - Vile Cretin (Intonema)

Ah, these kids today and their wacky band names.....

Neither vile nor cretinous, this is a fine, tight recording, much more restrained (though with a dark undercurrent) than I expected to hear from Nick Hoffman and Miguel A. Garcia when first giving it a spin. The sounds, while subdued, convey a subterranean, almost Lovecraftian feel, dank and throbbing. There's often a pulse or slow, slow rhythm beneath, serving to activate the sluggish morass of hums and clicks above. Those pulse, not always prominent by any means, often hidden, keep the music oozing forward and the pair create a really wide array of sounds while remaining more or less in a dimly lit, creepy sounding, Gothic area. Heavily tolling bells in static, low flutters or gargoyle wings...maybe they go a bit far with the spooky organ chords on the fourth track, but even that eventually splays out into something more, shedding the spider webs a bit as it takes on a bevy of noise elements. That track, and the disc, concludes with an excellent, hollow, extended tone, complex and wavering, seriously chilling. Solid work.

Intonema