Prurient – Black Vase (Load) 2005
My first draft of this post was quite dismissive of Black Vase which might come as a bit of a surprise to some given the previous praise I’ve dumped on Prurient’s work on these pages. The trouble might have been that this is a totally different beast to the other Prurient records I own – Evol’s word for Black Vase was “challenging” – which might be the understatement of the year. This is very challenging stuff indeed. Cocaine Death is almost cuddly compared to some of the sonic nastiness going on here but in many ways Black Vase is no less rewarding. Black Vase doesn’t exactly have a musical theme but it sure as shit has a lyrical theme, that being S&M. Never understood S&M myself mind, but that hasn’t stopped me enjoying this. The first track Romans Shower displays a certain hatred for the listener with its super high intense frequency which certainly gave me a few painful moments. The lyrics though (and hats of for putting lyric sheets in the booklet) are pervy as can be – well as pervy as they can get when creamed death metal style over the accompanying sonic mess. After the violence of Roman Shower the tracks become, if not easier to listen to then certainly a great deal more tangible with big drum beats and percussive elements anchoring the next two tracks while noise shears in and out of the cauldron. Even Silver Flashlight which begins in much the same high frequency vein as Roman Shower eventually allows some drumming to ground it all. For noise nerds the real treat is in the 17 minute long title track which is pointless explaining but has some powerful droning elements which I thought were pretty good. From then on Black Vase has those cathartic and violent elements which often anchors the best noise. Although this is certainly not the record if you’re thinking of having a dabble, I think it’s great. Just know what you’re getting yourself in for.
Ducks Battle Satan 
Leave a Reply