A SNAKE IN THE GARDEN "Winter's Burn" (Grimeology Records)

Two longish tracks make up this C30 by northeast US noiser Matthew Mayer, and if anything they demonstrate the versatility of this project. "Frost of the Womb" is quite decent sparse ambient work with minimal nodes of dissonance periodically creeping into a slumbering synthesizer drone. "Water Caskets" is a polar opposite, a crunchy exploding mess in the tradition of your usual HN suspects, although the track displays a tendency to subside from total distortion into a single feedback tone which could have been used more sparingly. The only serious drawback on "Winter's Burn" is the noticeable lack of volume on the dubbing. Otherwise it's a good initiation into this guy's work and is enhanced by a solid packaging job with a color print on thick, high quality paper. Bonus points for one of the best label names I've heard recently.

www.grimeology.com