Not the noise-summit trio I was hoping for, but a slice of racket from two duos. The N.B./Moore piece starts with a short-wavey sine tone and high-pitched squealing counterpart eventually joined by static string twisting, cheap mic feedback and occasional electronic howling. Moore gets gradually more involved in kicking out a squall and his varying approach serves to keep things interesting. Stop/start power tools and more feedback enter and the whole mass grows denser and more congealed. The guitar starts cutting out, falling back to crackling noise and then coming back in with a vengeance, imitating a welterweight trying to punch his way out of an amplified cardboard box...but the signal keeps shorting out until it finally dies altogether. A minute or two later the thing ends with what sounds like someone flicking a switch.

The O'Rourke session begins with a cough and a hissy tape of city ambience, much calmer than the preceding�cat fight. At 1:00 the feedback starts and then things ramp up in stages until Chris Corsano's drums enter in full pummel, entangling with one (or more?) guitars. Free metal meets power electronics. At around 6:15 it dies back to hissing and eery noises, and ends as a vehicle drives by.

At only 21 minutes it's a tad short for my money, and one wonders why Corsano isn't credited more prominently. All of the principle players together would've been a heavenly racket. As it is The Voloptulist is a bit disappointing, but that's what�I get for expecting.