Various Artists - Anthology 2 (Come Organisation Archives 1981-1982) CD review

More fevered aural nightmares exhumed from the archives of William Bennett's mysterious Come Organisation, including Come's 1981 album 'I'm Jack', two 15-minute tracks of rumbling, suffocating weirdness by Bennett and Jim 'Foetus' Thirlwell that might appeal to any who appreciate the minimalist doomscapes of Boris and Sunn0))), though this is far more sinister and jarring. Also featured is a whirlwind of sheer stereophonic terror by Nurse With Wound entitled 'Fashioned To A Device Behind A Tree', and Philip Best in his pre-Whitehouse days as Consumer Electronics, performing a suitably horrendous noise attack that is actually more aggressive than the early Whitehouse recordings. The closing three tracks by Leibstandarte SSMB are also extraordinary , especially the cold-as-death 'SS20 Attack', a petrifying concoction of electronic sounds which conducts an atomosphere of impending doom far more effectively than any sub-genre of heavy metal ever could.

These tracks still retain maximum impact 20 years after their creation. In fact, it's fair to say nobody has since equalled the unflinching exploration of extremity and disturbance and the sheer experimental and transgressive drive to be found here.

Chris Chantler

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