seven

This is the second full-length disc from Law in 2000, and it's been a long time coming. Completed back in '96, various delays with three separate labels held it back from seeing the light of day until now. Though still the solo project of Mitchell Altum, Our Life Through Your Death features contributions from Marissa Lafferty, who was an original member of the project back on the first tape release, Malediction.

The impact of Our Life Through Your Death can be felt before you even unwrap the CD. A magnum revolver stares out from the cover, bathed in a sea of threatening red. According to the brief liner notes this is the same gun Altum's younger brother used to commit suicide. It's already deeply personal, and the music hasn't even started yet. When you understand that it's experiences such as this that Altum is building these discomforting, tormented, grinding atmospheres out of they take on a whole new meaning... the noise becomes an exorcising of demons -- a cathartic clamor of intensity.

This disc attempts to forcefully dredge up all the dark, rusty, chaotic debris inside of you and feed it back through your ears. Many tracks are abruptly cut short, again tying into the impact that began with my first look at the cover. It's like a concept album that only Altum fully comprehends, and in listening to it we only hear fragments of his personal intentions.

The repetitive, driving tribal rhythms of "Your Body is Immobilized" make it one of the easier tracks to absorb. Each beat is cloaked in an ominous, foreboding atmosphere and spastic, serrated cuts of growling noise that escalate as the track progresses, before it eventually comes to a peaceful close. The beginning of "Betrayal of the Flesh" is laced with an acoustic guitar that reminds me of more apocalyptic sounding Swans material, but before long a deep, chugging electric guitar overpowers it, twisting the track into lengthy, feedback driven soundscapes.

Cold, distant and mechanical expanses of textural experimentations armed with a cold-blooded intensity. What else would you want to listen to while doing the dishes? Altum already has a new release on the burner entitled The Black Lodge. This will be Law's final release, due out soon on the French label Nuit et Brouillard.