There are few things in this world better than a slab of overblown, in-the-red analog harsh. Both Johan Strömvall Hammarstedt (J S H, Gamiani, etc.) and Edvin Norling (Peking Crash Team, Pollutant) already deal heavily in sonic extremity via their various projects, but there’s something cathartically simple about their work together as Hingst. First shredding eardrums with a string of excellent self-released tapes—all three of which are collected by the Ska vi älska så ska vi älska till Wall Riders compilation CD on Abhorrent A.D.—they now present their official full-length debut on Hammarstedt’s own Ominous Recordings. Absolut Hingst, its blue washout cover sporting yet another mustachioed leather daddy, offers up some of the duo’s crunchiest material yet, mastered so loud it’ll tear your speakers a new one. The main thrill of these two tracks erupts from the interplay between the densely packed mid-range smorgasbord and the high-pitched squalls of feedback that slice through it; the noise already feels like it’s always on the edge of collapse, and those desperate screeches make the chaos even more volatile. “Hingst på Böda” is by no means lacking in low end, but “Hingst blåser 2,0” spreads an even thicker bass layer beneath the pedal-driven mincemeat. The second half of the ten-minute scorcher is absolutely crushing, a brutal blender-blast of writhing distortion that smashes together every frequency plumbed thus far. This is what they call “the good shit.”
Noise Not Music 