REGEL

Maurizio Bianchi is one of the most widely known and revered architects of noise music during its inception as a genre, and Regel is a great example for why. The perpetual grinding and piercing resonances that wave in and out of focus on top of metallic drones on "Part 1" can be comparable to a much darker and noisier Conrad Schnitzler or Bernard Parmegiani, and seems like an obvious prototype for the more extremist sounds of Merzbow and The Cherry Point.

"Part 2" is a bit different, showing signs of what is just barely a despondent melody that beeps- and-boops its way along a ~24 minute trajectory across a much more emptier grinding drone than was present on the first track. The constant waving of pitch in the primary industrial drone creates an effect that is almost like being abducted into the music. "Acido Prussico" is a relatively shorter track that follows the emptier type of metallic drone as in the previous track, but the gloomy melodic portion is replaced by a high-pitched whistling resonance. A good track but nothing special for Bianchi, and is most like some of the best Bernard Parmegiani if not just a little bit more involved.

Besides Regel being primarily an experimental electronic noise album, it's not exactly harsh in the sense that it is painful to listen to (not like some of Aube's work); it's more harsh by sheer density and complexity than anything else, and really is quite relaxing once you allow yourself to focus entirely on the layers and layers of metallic sound effects. As hypnotizing as it is dark, this album somehow never crosses the line toward the morose or malevolent; I'd have to assume that the purpose of this album is to induce a metallic hypnotic state for the listener.

Regel should appeal to fans of older noisy electronic artists such as Schnitzler and Parmegiani but also to fans of the modern, more harsh developments in the genre such as Merzbow and Aube. The harshness level of this album when compared to some of the newer Japanese school makes this seem like easy listening, but it is in all honesty a rather soothing album that should please anyone who is into hypnotizing, enigmatic, experimental music.