Live

I received this tape for free after a Discogs seller couldn't find another tape I ordered. I'm a fan of Cirrhus despite their unfortunate cryptofash tendencies, so I was pretty psyched about this coming in. Both self-titled releases (the 7" EP and the full-length) are great, and this tape was pretty rare at the time because it was only sold at the band's live shows. Unfortunately, but perhaps predictably, it's crap. CW Productions has a history of releasing rehearsal tapes with crappy production, and I guess a live show is just a rehearsal with a live audience, but this really is exceptionally bad.

The song choice is good, I guess, if we're going to pretend that the songs can be heard well enough to be evaluated here. Four of the seven tracks are from the debut full-length (and this was recorded in 2010 - it's always crazy to me how far ahead CW tracks are written before they get released on a full-length), and that album is truly excellent, so it's good to see those here. There are some interesting changes in pace, like "Night Falls and Bestows Insect Fixation" being faster than on the record, or tuning changes (though it's possible the tape is just poorly dubbed and all the material is sped and pitched up as a result). The other three tracks have circulated on various Cirrhus releases in the past, none of which I've heard, so I can't really evaluate them on a qualitative level because of the quality of the mix here. Generally, though, earlier Cirrhus stuff tends to be kind of boring, so I doubt I'm missing a whole lot.

Seriously, the recording is really bad, as you might expect from a raw black metal band's live album. This sounds like it was all taken off of the venue's soundboard in mono. The guitars, normally regal and natural-sounding and triumphant, are reduced to a muted pudding-like texture that trudges through the riffs where only pieces of chords are able to break through. All the raw atmosphere that these tracks hold in a more cultivated environment has been neutered here. The drums faithfully clank along, only helping to obscure the riffs (which nobody would dispute are the best part of the band). The vocals sound cool, a good classic crypt howl/wail, but they're so loud that they overpower everything in a lot of sections where they appear. If you've heard any professional Cirrhus recording, you know that the vocals play a very backseat role in the mix. Having them far upfront like this is the new Ihsahn album or whatever just feels perverted.

There's really no point to a live release with these guys unless you actually bother to produce it correctly. Most CW releases are rehearsals anyway, so you can easily hear how their songwriting translates to the immediacy of live performance. Why release an inferior product like this, in that case? Just to say that you have? Seriously, this is like somebody's flip-phone recording of the band's live show without the visual element. Considering this collective seems content to sit on material without releasing it (at least not with any immediacy), this definitely should've been one to only circulate privately. Almost completely without merit.