20.SV - The Great Sonic Wave

Hundreds of micro-samples of iron and steel objects were recorded, processed, cut, split and edited in multiple ways to form The Great Sonic Wave
Vocals/Voice FX recorded in The Haven Vault, Hoboken, NJ USA
(2012 - 2013) by Alan Dubin
Sounds sculpted and recorded in Tripoli - El Mina, Lebanon
(2008 - 2012) by Osman Arabi

I’ve featured the extreme work of Lebanese sound artist 20.SV before but I was delighted when the chance arose to feature him again. Named after the radiation-poisoning threshold beyond which humans cannot survive for longer than seven days, 20.SV is a master of bleak, austere and clinical electronic sound manipulation who has found an ideal sparring partner in vocalist Alan Dubin. For the uninitiated, Dubin fronted arguably the most harrowing band ever to exist, Khanate (also featuring Stephen O’Malley of SunnO)))), and is capable of issuing the kind of vocal techniques not otherwise heard outside extreme horror movies or amid the night terrors suffered by withdrawing drug addicts. On The Great Sonic Wave, Dubin vocalises at his most restrained, issuing clammy whispers, screeched orders and croaked entreaties. His singular voice, combined with 20.SV’s progressive, insectile, ambient industrial electronica, makes for a thrillingly tense, disturbing listen that builds in waves of unstoppable horror. Just superb.

- John Doran