Arts – “Vault of Heaven” – [Youth Attack Records]

abacus   9/17/2013   12-inch, A Library

Crumbling black metal crust noise project from Mark McKoy, scumbag out of Illinois that was previously part of the powerviolence trash crew Charles Bronson. Just as menacing but in a much grimier disease ridden vein, Arts excretes a monolith of dirty riffage and shit-kicking drum turbulence. Hints of melody lure you into the abyss of dismal dilapidation to drown all hope in the viscous guitar sludge and leave you queasy with rotten regret. Blood spitting vocals contemplate religion, mythology and darkness (as in evil); Gothic not like black hair and leather but like medieval monks wrought with despair and madness performing ritual self-mutilation as a means for escape. The lyric sheet suggests their might be words sung, but it really just sounds like a bunch of heaving, growling and moaning. Pleasantly disgusting. Not to mention this sounds like it was recorded with one microphone inside a tin can, the gritty shitty sound really boosts that misanthropic fervor. You hate to love it. Or love to hate it. You’ll probably hate it either way.