The experience begins with ‘Game’ a suspiciously quiet track at first, until around forty eight seconds in, where almost from nowhere a sinister noise emerges, bringing with it a vibrating hum that will make your bass growl as well as a plethora of clustered background sounds that play with your sense of expectation.
But it is ‘Theme’ where 2 really finds its feet. Spanning a massive twenty seven minutes plus, ‘Theme’ is less of a track and more of an experience. From its subtle and repetitive drum beginning, ‘Theme’ erupts slowly and malignantly into a shrieking digital nightmare. A cacophonic choir of digital noise, loud and unremorseful, does for the best part of half an hour, what electric shock therapy does for the foreheads of psychiatric inmates. Don’t be surprised if after this epic portion of noise you have to give yourself a small breather, if for nothing else then to allow your sensory perception to re-adjust.
After the psychological trauma fades you’ll find yourself in relief to be hearing different notes and sounds from the following track, ‘Abattoir’, which is still quite visceral, only this time with more guitar and feedback elements than previously. O’Malley’s drone/ doom guitar work creating a wave of foreboding for around about twenty minutes or so.
Ending with ‘Snow2’, a quieter, if still as macabre and desolate track as before, though within the subjective context of the rest of the album. ‘Snow2’ feels like a heavenly solace from the battering that precedes it.
2 will ripple through your body days after first listening and in fact may well stay with you for the rest of your physical existence and perhaps beyond. But don’t let your guard down just yet as rumour has it that KTL 3 is on the way as well as a score for a silent film by Dennis Cooper. Apologies for the watermarks, I seem to be slavering at the mouth.
