Unter Null
Neocide

Unter Null is a project by Erica Dunham, a striking 26-year-old bad girl from Seattle, a figure that certainly doesn't go unnoticed by the male eye, but it must be said, the girl has talent and hits the right spot, it would be hypocritical to say otherwise. We are faced with a project with clear Noise/Industrial shades, particularly Powernoise/Aggrotech, in the vein of the well-known Suicide Commando, Agonoize, Die Sektor, and company.

Massive doses of electronics, distortion by the pound, noise in industrial quantities, powerful and driving rhythms, this is Neocide, a work dated 2002, released only on the web, and until not long ago available for free download on Erica's official website (currently down): if you enjoy certain productions, I recommend getting it. "Pure War" serves excellently as a first track, the intro appears malevolent and aggressive, agonized filtered male screams alternate with shrill female wails that then transition into the actual piece, a conglomerate of ultra-reverberated rhythms, distorted beats, and noise galore, the track offers interesting breaks and electro-friendly interludes, the minimalist rhythms progressively rise until an intriguing obsessive and fast-paced riff takes over as a bridge, the screams continue throughout the work, everything is blended in the best way, and even the mastering is well done, a pleasant Noise piece, and one of the best episodes of "Neocide". The stylistic features resonate in "Sex Voltage", even noisier than the previous track, with a significant pattern of distorted kick in the foreground, complex rhythms that become more consistent as the piece develops, the inevitable distortions (even more pronounced than the previous track) make up for the total absence of melodic lines. Some stylistic choices are interesting such as the reverse kick and the continuous distorted lasers in panning. "Amped" is a devastating noise journey where deliberately exaggerated low frequencies dominate the entire piece, which is vastly superior to its predecessors, elaborate techno rhythms, omnipresent reverses, resonance filters, double bass drum are a nice listen and complete the picture. The eerie initial beats of "Fucking Waste" appear bloody and suffocating, incredibly "subby" interesting bass riffs revisit us, a robotic vocoderized vocal introduces us to what turns out to be one of the best points of the album, the rhythms are never banal and best accompany the dizzying succession of distortions and low frequency, the imposing kick, the sounds, and the vaguely spaced arpeggios pave the way for an impressive crescendo. The sonic madness of "Drudge" can only be pure enjoyment for noise lovers, 3:19 of only distortions and ultraviolence, perhaps not easily digestible if you're not accustomed to certain sonorities, but the quality is undoubted; the effect is like being in the middle of a shootout with tanks and helicopters a mere half meter away, preferably to be absorbed with worthy systems, fascinating, unmissable. With "Popcorn" Erica loses quite a few points, an embarrassing fall in style, it is an industrial-toned cover of the well-known piece by Gershon Kingsley (which has already been revisited numerous times in all possible ways), certainly a choice of very poor originality, the only good thing can be found in the peculiar bass line, the rest is just random distortions, rejected but obviously impactful on the dancefloor also due to the well-known tune. We then arrive at the Title-Track, "Neocide" is introduced by an introspective dark-ambient intro, the atmosphere is dark and hypnotic, cold bell notes in low octaves, and very reverberant effects enrich the sound structure, anticipated by chaotic and direct distortions, all then flows into an almost horror interlude, where a pad with decadent tones and a very unsettling vocal loop burst in, the chorus is as vicious and brutal as never before, the voice becomes more and more distorted, increasingly loaded with reverb, increasingly aggressive, increasingly disturbed, an authentic journey into the depths of pure noise, undoubtedly the highest peak of the eponymous album, a very worthy title track. Erica decides to go even heavier with the distortions, present and hyperbolized now more than ever at this point, here comes the aggravating "Trust In Us": accompanied by a choked vocal and particular electronic backgrounds, 7 minutes of pure sound agony follow, the feeling while listening is of discomfort, but even though it remains at much lower levels than the excellent title track, it still performs its dirty task. Two remixes close the album, the extremely fast "Nullification V.2.2" and the extremely slow "Assfuckerz.inc", both by NTT, aka Leech, the first, 4:50 of pure musical violence, deviates a moment from the works Erica has proposed so far, the track almost seems speedcore, the second aligns more with the album's style, a rising arrangement, distortions galore, poisonous and repetitive beat, an atmosphere anything but calm, and not least Erica's increasingly distorted and incisive brilliant orgasms that make it an appreciable closing track.

In essence, an album with its highs and lows, but nonetheless very valid and well-done; if you are a noise and distortion enthusiast, you cannot miss it, it must be said that over time Unter Null has become a much more garish and melodic product, quite distant from the excellent amalgamation of violence and insanity that was "Neocide", I don't know how much you might like her recent productions, for sure this 5-year-old work was quite a product, certainly challenging to assimilate for those positioned and closed to such sounds, but if you're looking for a sugary boyband and the umpteenth harlot to break the Billboard, maybe you'd better shift to Tokio Hotel and Hilary Duff.