The day might come when I finally shut up about 2021’s lucrative harsh noise offerings, but it probably won’t be any time in the next three or so months, so I hope it’s not too torturous. Even I were much quieter about it, the music all speaks for itself; though newfound scene-based stylistic renaissances are occurring everywhere, one the brightest beacons shines from Finland, from which originates a host of both old and new artists who even now are collectively finetuning a structurally agile but heavily psychedelic brand of freeform “crunch” noise—Umpio’s Kulotus and APRAPAT’s Born Rare are both good recent examples of this sound. But such appealing aesthetics are hardly ever fully location-restricted, so it’s not too surprising to see a new artist whose approach shares a great deal of kinship with that of the aforementioned releases crop up in Liverpool. Angel, the debut from Gauzed Wings (another anonymous project with no information other than location and a few genre tags), will immediately win new, unwitting listeners over with its sudden maxi-dose of layered, well-mixed distortion crackle, its pleasingly tactile edges curling and morphing as organically as if the artist were harnessing fire itself. There are some relatively more delicate moments throughout the opening pair of tracks, but with “Almost You,” one of two 11+ minute behemoths on the album, things shift over into full gear and the lightweight rollicks of flame become full, forceful blasts of bone-charring incineration, and even after that the breathtaking conclusion tops it all. “Echo” ends things strong with oscillating pulses and frail white noise façades that dies in desperate writhes and hisses. My kind of angelic!