I believe on this release you can hear
the foundations of AOF ‘sound’: Chilling drones, chaotic oscillating
synths and raw object noise, combined with tape manipulation. The first track follows exactly this
path, with scary sounds and a dense atmosphere were humans are not welcome. I
always see the harsh ways of nature when I listen to AOF, and it is no
different with these tracks. Here,
calmer and eerie parts are followed by Brutal noise. Deep drones and meditative
vocal loops are the protagonists in the second track, joined by ghostly
tunes. The third track is more dissonant
in sound, with a loop of a alarm sounding 2 note tune, followed by brutal,
stomping noise. Really impressive chaos, where nasty tones/tunes meet up with
harsh noise. Track four begins with dark, noisy drones, which are followed by
high producing tones and calm noise. Later on the noise takes over with
shredding feedback and screaming, which has similarities to the work of Âmes
Sanglantes.
All the tracks of Fossils seem to be
existing out of cut up sounds from tape decks. Conversations between people/radio sounds, field-recordings,
machinery sounds and weird (synthesizer?) noises seem to be the main core of
all these tracks. Sometimes unearthly and sometimes right-out scary, like the agonizing
moaning from the penultimate track. It also feels a bit like you are on an alien
vessel in outer space or other planet with transmissions from our world. The overall sound is
very raw and bleak, so don’t confuse this with some poor experimenting. Its
very well done indeed.
Apart from the artwork, which I don’t
like, I really enjoyed this release.