Release of the Day: Anenzephalia - Task Force Terrorist

If you read yesterday's release of the day, then you've already been acquainted with Tesco's Archaic Documents sublabel/imprint: it's their label that reissues harder to find releases, which may have been  originally put out as CD-Rs or tapes, as beautifully repackaged vinyl records. So far they've really put out some heavy hitters with Genocide Organ, Grey Wolves, Prurient, SK1005, and Anenzephalia.

Anenzephalia began as the solo project of Brigant Moloch and is sometimes referred to as a Genocide Organ side project. It's somewhat confusing: not only does Wilhelm Herich of G.O. often perform in Anenzephalia sets, but Moloch joined G.O. in the late 90s after Roland Freisler left, and of course they're both German power electronics groups. Anenzephalia has put out records on Tesco since their 1991 seven-inch record Lyse. Their first couple of records, such as Lyse or Fragments of Demise are pretty impossible to find for under a hundred dollars, but probably can be found somewhere on the internet, albeit with much worse sonic quality.

Task Force Terrorist is a compilation of live tracks from their early days around the time Fragments of Demise came out, but before Ephemeral Dawn. What had previously been released on CD as Live Festival Karlsruhe 8.10.93 appears in stellar vinyl treatment with a couple bonus tracks from an earlier set in Munich of 1992 tossed into the mix. I don't feel the need to go into how wonderful of a job Tesco has done in the packaging of this record: it's simple, but noteworthy. Tesco's addition of the hand-numbered insert is elegant with a touch of the personal, perfect to look at when you're about to have an angry German dude yell at you for a while.

In my opinion, Anenzephalia already stands out for their cinematic structure. When I listen to an Anenzephalia record, I feel like I'm being guided through something, but not in some bullshit new age way. It's more like a bootcamp than some feel good journey. I mean, just think about it: Moloch would be one hell of a drill sergeant. If he says "Jump," chances are pretty good that I'm going to jump. His vocals are commanding and powerful without being overdone. And he knows how to weave them into his work to make something more similar to a song than the typical noise piece.

So yeah, still reading? Tesco knocked this fucker out of the park. The Live Festival Karlsruhe 8.10.93 is streaming on Spotify so listen to that if you're not certain, but I'll just be honest - the stream does not do the music justice. This is definitely a record you'll want in your collection.

I couldn't find a full track from the record so here are some excerpts from the new Task Force Terrorist reissue to get a better idea.