I can’t stop listening to The Culture of Fear. It is not only my favorite thing I’ve heard from Dosis Letalis so far, but is now one of my favorite wall noise releases ever. Nemanja Nikolic has achieved something that, at least in my experience, is extremely uncommon within this area: he has made an album that feels complete. The two twenty-minute tracks that make up The Culture of Fear contribute to this by being completely distinct from each other. On the A-side, “Fearmongering I” enters with a staggering initial blast of harshness, presenting an unyielding slab of brutally abrasive noise full of chunky, shifting textures. Despite the lack of progression, the track feels well developed and contained, and I neither wished for it to end or for it to have gone on longer. “Fearmongering II” is similar in this regard, but sonically it is not merely a continuation of the sounds explored on the first side; instead, the track is much quieter and reserved, drawing from subtle, crackling electronic sounds and mechanical drones. It’s a pleasingly meditative conclusion after the aggression of part one, but is just as impactful. I’m finding it difficult to describe how well the pacing is handled in The Culture of Fear; though, describing anything else about it isn’t much easier. Please listen, and witness these raw, powerful expressions of emotion and frustration.
Noise Not Music 