Review - A.Barker – Fairmount Philadelphia,Pennsylvania - (Defiler/Murderous Vision unissued consumer review) - 11/3/2011. California seems to be a part from the abundance of tourist attractions, overcrowded beaches, and the refreshing change from the cold fronts found on the east coast to more friendly warm drifts of sunny San Diego lies a hot bed of artist's currently pushing the envelope such as Author and Punisher,Zsa Zsa Gabor and was once the home to Industrial's strangest motif,Crash Worship.Then you have a tight gap hidden closer to the U.S/Tijuana border,there lies a lesser known yet just as talented musician, Defiler,one of the darkest under rated projects continuing to push the walls of extreme to new favored heights. After finally tracking down his latest offering in the form of a 7" vinyl split with Ohio's very own experimental noise artist Murderous Vision I wasn’t totally sure what I might be getting myself into as most splits have earned reputations with either one, artist’s not living up to the investment of vinyl, or two, the whole thing comes across as a forced yet expensive way of self-promotion with the results breathing an endless road of disappointment with that fucked feeling of spending too much for too little. Surprisingly enough I decided to fork over a measly ten bucks and after a few good spins on the ol record player,this album instantly became one of the more subjective and most significant additions in my collection. Both projects deliver one of the most profound releases I have heard in sometime and the more I hear the album as a whole the more horrific each track becomes. Opening up the terror is Defiler, who’s known recently for his D.I.Y take on self-releases and paranormal based workings within the darker extreme’s of Death Industrial Dark Ambient territories, especially found on his most recent and highly acclaimed full length,”V.III”.However with his "Diseased Icon" piece found on the split Defiler has somehow stripped down the basics of his terrifying barrages of field recordings found on his earlier ritualistic affair’s and formed one of the most nightmare inducing tracks to date. Though minimal in output the overall effect is jarring and sounds as though the most horrific sounds of hell were recorded directly to one of his 'digital voice recorders' then found years later in some old abandoned cemetery permanently embedded onto vinyl. What truly makes this track unique is the departure at least here from dismal industrialized synth's,apt use of film sampling and self-found E.V.P's,to formulating the use on what’s mentioned in his liner notes as a Bone Horn??!!! What that exactly is beats the shit out of me but the climax in the middle of the track may be what the fuck this thing delivers sonically, sounding like an old didgeridoo has been ran through a swarm of flies and daisy chain effects recorded by none other than the devil himself! Though Defiler's side is without a doubt remarkably cold, creepy, and nauseatingly distressed there is a side two on this release were the relentless nightmare only continues to brew forward. Here we have one of Ohio's hardest working talents, known for his climactic flirting with classical music, to true crime based Noise and remains the sole entity behind Live Bait Records, home to such artists as Skin Graft,Subklinik,and Megaptera.The always busy Stephen Petrus has brought a more ritual end to the album under the title "A Savior’s Plague”, a track that further takes the unwary ear into an actual experience then listening enjoyment, accompanied with ritualistic samples, crawling synth lines, and climactic throbs of low end turbulence that manages to subject a strange horror quality found in early B film cinematography captured here in low fi audio form. Both musicians have ingeniously created works of undisputed art that melds together almost as one seamless venture into the darkest aspects of creativity. One can expect well thought out high quality tracks, near perfect production, housed on beautiful glossy black heavy vinyl that sounds flawless and is sure to stand up to wear and tear play after play. The overall look and content brings me back to the early Cold meat Industry, Slaughter House Productions days when artist's were focused more on output rather than over the top imagery that comes off as pretentious than benificial. Iam glad I have been able to keep up with Defiler, and with this album have grown a larger interest in Murderous Vision all the while sitting on a pillow of anticipation waiting for the split to make its way into circulation. This albums worth every cent and shows why Defiler and Murderous Vision are hands down definite staple figures who continue to hold their own in a scene filled with sketchy imitation’s and recycled ideas.