AZONIC

HALO

  1/  Beyond the Pale                            (Hawkins)                     10.16
  2/  Shore                                      (Hawkins)                     12.33
  3/  Headwaters                                 (Hawkins)                     11.25
  4/  Raze                                       (Hawkins)                     11.50

          Recorded and mixed at Greenpoint Studio, Brooklyn, New York
          Engineering : Oz Fritz
          Assistant : Layng Martine
          Produced, designed and arranged by Bill Laswell and Andy Hawkins

Andy Hawkins : guitars; Gabe Katz : additional bottom drones.

          1994  -  Strata (USA),  0002-2  (CD)

Note : Bill Laswell does not play on this album.

REVIEWS :

Azonic's Halo came out on Strata, Laswell's ambient gtr. specialty label, in 1994 [sub-label of now defunct Subharmonic - SW]. The band consists of Andy Hawkins and Gabe Katz, both of dub-metal terrorists Blind Idiot God (3 albums out on SST, Enemy and Avant between '87 and '92). Azonic's sound is composed entirely of processed guitar and bass drones in an ambient metal mode - utilizing extreme distortion and portentious mountains of gothic sound. It could easily be compared to the first two Earth releases on Sub-Pop, "Extra Capuslar Extraction" and "Earth 2," and even uses some of the same forlorn - sounding wolf noises and gamelan-esqe gong drones that appear on "Earth 2." In the case of Azonic, however, I suspect that the sounds are created mostly by guitars rather than tape loops. The sound is loud, rich and full, focused mainly on the textures generated by distortion and the interplay of slowly oscillating harmonic frequencies. It is "trance" music in the truest sense of the word, opening huge vistas in the listener's head with the application of only the most minimal of sonic effects. With "Earth 2," this is one of the best ambient metal releases ever. Azonic and Justin Broadrick of Godflesh/ Head of David/etc. released the equally essential "Skinner's Black Laboratories" on Subsonic/Sub rosa in '95. Laswell contributes only production to the Azonic records.

Adam Beales