»Their hermetic works reflect a barren nihilism«, claims the press release for Relay for Death, the project of twin sisters Roxann and Rachel Spikula. Within seconds of intone the morph orb, one of two tracks exceeding 15 minutes on the EP mutual consuming, you’re inclined to agree without reservation. Over its entire runtime, the piece unfolds an intimidating sonic panorama – so inhospitable it echoes pop-cultural images of hell. Not the playful kind seen in South Park, but religiously charged: a den of sin reminiscent of Hieronymus Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights.
Despite their life-denying aesthetic, Relay for Death sound maximalist – and, in a strangely unsettling way, beautiful. At the end of the first scene-like track, which gleefully unveils its infernal landscape with noisy cello streaks, muffled blows start to pulse, bleeding seamlessly into »terminal ice wind«. Here, the bass rumble momentarily evokes a ghost train at Vienna’s Prater funfair, before a morbid rhythm emerges that seems to punish hubris. Midway through, the Spikula sisters introduce a sharp rupture – with glaring, overdriven synths reminiscent of Portishead’s »Machine Gun«. Then a restart: the game of silence. From the void, submerged kick drums crawl forth, before the wind returns once again.
