Slayer of the King of Hell (Natural Snow Buildings)

Slayer of the King of Hell is the third of a trilogy of hellish noise drones released by Natural Snow Buildings in 2008 (the other two are Between the Real and the Shadow and The Wheel of Sharp Daggers).  Slayer is an improvised cassette tape recorded on two tracks at Mehdi and Solange's home in Vitre, France, and edited in February 2008.  The release was limited to 95 numbered copies. Good luck finding one.

This is another one of NSB's more challenging listens and as the title implies, not for the faint of heart.  The album opens with Four-Armed Protector and five minutes of delay-drenched guitar drone. After this relatively brief introduction, the orchestration suddenly turns to a morbid, slowly pulsing crawl. Bells, chimes and tambourines rattle on with a harmonium and wordless vocals.  Toward the end of this A-side, things begin to blur. Sounds that were undertones become masking overtones, soaked in distortion and reverbed into obscurity. This could put some people off, but you should be used to this by now.

The B-side starts with the titular track and a tympani drum beat, but becomes a bit difficult to follow toward the middle as washes of overtones drown out the original rhythm until the drums emerge again toward the end.  The final track, Broken Sword, is an excellent ambient drone, with the presence of the familiar chimes, tambourines, and what sounds like reverse-looped guitars.

Track titles and times are as follows:

1. Four-Armed Protector (41:55)
2. Slayer of the King of Hell (32:35)
3. Broken Sword (10:14)

And then, just like that, we're through all of Natural Snow Buildings' many 2008 releases!  That wasn't so hard, was it?  To recap, here's a summary of the albums released during that prolific year (remember, this isn't their complete discography, just that for 2008):

Dance of the Moon and the Sun Sessions

• Sunlit Stone -Moon Disc
• Sunlit Stone - Sun Disc
• The Moonraiser EP
• The Sundowner EP 

The Snowbringer Cult Sessions

• The Snowbringer Cult
• Laurie Bird
• Sung To The North

Night Coercion Into the Company of Witches Three-Disc Set

• Night Coercion Disc
• Gorgons Disc
• The Great Bull God Disc

I Dream of Drone Compilation

• Sung To the North CD
• Gorgons Disc
• Battle-Gods Disc
• Norns Disc
• Between the Real and the Shadow CD

The Hellscape Trilogy

• Between the Real and the Shadow
• The Wheel of Sharp Daggers
• Slayer of the King of Hell

That's anywhere from 11 to 18 albums depending on how you count them.  That's 16 hours of music, without playing any of the discs included in later compilations twice.  And if you've been following along at home as we've been posting the albums, you've listened to it all!  Congratulations!

Also, if you've listened to all of this, that means you've survived the first 45 days of The Great Coronavirus Pandemic, so congratulations on that, too!  Keep listening!  You're life literally depends on it!