Interesting, apposite and somewhat unexpected combo here for the venerable Nerve Altar imprint. Column Of Heaven continue to be pretty noxious, variously combining death metal, hardcore and noise to create a negative vortex of misery and suffering. There are clear waypoints where each song begins and ends, but to be honest it’s best to absorb it all in one big poisonous breath and let the horror consume you.
Was puzzled but not displeased to see Suffering Luna return a few years back, and their side of this monstrosity is a satisfying addition to their weird/wonderful oeuvre. Heavy, warped and thoroughly damaged stuff is what they play, lumbering between sludge, hardcore and MITB-style noise-outs while some sort of brass instrument is cruelly tortured in the background. As with their associates in Gasp, their heaviosity always seems dosed with a wry sense of the surreal, and that’s definitely the case here, their ‘Near Death (Can’t Put Down The Pipe)’ a bizarre, nigh-on 20-minute odyssey that is twisted and psychedelic in the truest sense of the word.