Been a while since we heard from these wall-of-amplifiers Japanese psych monsters. This new CD – their first non CD-R release – is actually their fifth to date and it marks a definite change in attack. The title Requiem fits the mood of the sonics perfectly. It starts off with the sound of a distant opera singer coming through shortwave feedback like Keith Rowe’s playing on It Had Been An Ordinary Enough Day... and the tracks build scrambles of odd sound around this central ghostly edifice. Indeed, early on in the disc the arrangements almost have the cracked organisational logic of a Graham Lambkin production, with room sound and odd metronomic detail. Slowly the group begin to generate that patented low-level feedback attack, at first gathering round the female vocals like smoke before erupting in thundercracks, painstakingly controlled feedback paeans and industrial-scale amplifier violence. The whole recording has a feel of violent weltschmerz, at points touching on Keiji Haino and Jim O’Rourke’s amazing contribution to Faust’s Rien. Beautifully haunting, epically sad, this a classic weirdo Japanese side from one of the most enigmatic groups to come out of the Tokyo underground. Highly recommended.