VATICAN SHADOW Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Although we've already seen two exceptional Vatican Shadow releases this year in the form of his Type and Blackest Ever Black EPs, they were taken from earlier cassette only releases, while this first record on his evocatively titled Bed Of Nails imprint represents what is clearly the next phase of his career. The influence of techno which was somewhat foggier in his previous records is brought to the fore. The title track, which comes in two halves, sees incisive kicks playing off against gravelly claps, with the kind of broken rhythms more characteristic of industrial UK sounds. It's something repeated on the rapid fire of "Cairo Is A Haunted City", but despite this, his music is still filled with the kind of spectral melodic explorations which unhook his more earthly beats from the physical realm into something altogether more nightmarish. The output of the Downwards imprint is obviously a reference point, but the beatless kosmische of "One Day He Heard The Call" which closes proceedings shows that there is more to his influences than a fondness for 90s Birmingham based techno.