A lot of compilations are hit and miss, sometimes there is a lot more misses than hits and those are the ones I won’t review on this blog. The ones I do review are the ones that have more hits than misses or in “Tasmania 1″s case, almost every track hits like a mack truck.
I found this on a now defunct blog and it was way up my alley, according to discogs it originally came housed in a box with two tapes with an A5 booklet with art for each artist. This was put out by Overuse records, which was founded by Tasmanian based Matthew Nicholls in 2015 and most if not all the acts on the comp are his own bands. That being said, each band and act has its own personal stamp and this comp fucking kills. So without further, ado start digging to the land down under.
The first track is an synth ambient piece with rumbling lows, its soft and calm but bludgeons you at the same time, it is by the act Dysassociation called “Endless Low”. Most people going into this compilation will think this is a noise comp, nope. The first track puts you at ease, wailing and sighing synths give way to…Snarling feedback laden blackened punk by Fixation with two tracks of mean hardcore with “Crippled Over” and “Falling Down”. Both tracks rip and go for the throat, these two tracks hate your fucking guts.
Next up you get blackened noise from the act Blackline, two tracks laden with black metal tinged filth, “Famine” and “Disease” and that is what it will sound like in your ears. Then Carved Cross comes in with their raw, lo fi rumbling black metal, screeching in agony with “Forced Self Deprivation”.
Another blowout ambient piece with crackling and searing textures comes to singe your ears courtesy of Colour Sensory with the track “Waves of Diffraction”.
Now time to get down, and I mean really really down, with the audio heroin of Gaunt, with the tracks “Music Isn’t Fun” and “Something Numb”, this is pretty much down in the dumps, volume blown out darkwave with vocals that are moaning and sound like they were recorded in a coffin. You want to get depressed listening to these two tracks complete with wailing synths. Then you get Leather Temple with “Dark Street Corner”, their piece dark ambient laced with low rumbles and screeching feedback, not for the faint of heart. Like a shot of adrenaline, Parvo comes in with the track “Teenage Kicks” and it will kick you right in the face, straight up no frills, lo fi punk, is what Parvo is about and there is nothing wrong with that!
Next up is the minimalist, lo fi black metal band, Night Falls Haunting with the tracks “Prelude” and “Fear Haunts Me”, “Prelude” is a slow, plodding, echoing and scratchy track that sets the mood for whats ahead, which is “Fear Haunts Me” which is sluggish and like walking through a cold dark forest in winter complete with screechy vocals. Night Falls Haunting has no pretense it is just straight ahead, depressing, old school style black metal.
The last two tracks on “Tasmania 1” are the noise act Claudia with “Faggot’s Spit” which has a crackling sound to it and what sounds like samples lifted from a she male porn flick, sometimes the sample sounds like the participants are wailing in pain, fun fun fun. Last, but definitely not least, is Fetish Ritual with “M.B.” power electronics done old school like Whitehouse. Spoken word, snarling in fury at child molesters with swirling screeches and static in the background, “Tasmania 1” nails the coffin shut and now you’ll suffocate.
So in closing if you can find this version of the compilation snap it up quickly, to my knowledge there was another version minus the A5 booklet and box set. I have volume 2 and will review that in the future along with some other Overuse releases. In my opinion the art in the booklet helps supplement the music, this is a must have for fans of extreme and on the fringes music.
No copies of the boxed edition of “Tasmania 1” but there is a copy of the no frills release on discogs whoever is interested might want to snap this up: https://www.discogs.com/release/16273038-Various-Tasmania-I
Here is Overuse’s defunct blog, there seems to be no new entries since last year but it still gives some info on their releases: https://overuse.blogspot.com/
If you throw up your hands in defeat and want to make your own depressive noise go here and listen to it in it’s entirety: https://www.bitchute.com/video/Tr5M2tqGgrAt/
Here is a volume 2 you can listen to it and check out my run down of it here: https://www.noisepuncher.net/2022/02/20/audio-white-noise-going-to-go-tasmania-2-iac-on-your-ass/