Actuary

Since forming in the latter half of the past decade, California-based extreme noise outfit Actuary has steadily cranked out a stream of split releases that saw them sharing wax (or other petroleum-based substances) with everyone from Merzbow, Bastard Noise and Gnaw Their Tongues side-project Aderlating to cult underground noise spewers like Winters in Osaka, Bacteria Cult, Juhyo and Fetus Eaters. Keeping up with their prolific output has been a daunting task, but also a rewarding one, as Actuary’s epic-length blasts of abstract electronic chaos, extreme psychedelic circuit-fuckery and monstrous synth abuse consistently deliver serious sonic skull-melt. 
On their first proper full-length CD The Reality Is, The Dream Is Dead, Actuary returns with four new tracks of intense noise that cover all the different aspects of their sound. Opener “Spiritual Armageddon” sends spasms of squelchy electronic carnage through a massive, rumbling dronescape, evoking visions of high-end robotics in the bowels of some subterranean forge. “Heat of Eternal Punishment” blends scraping, metallic tones and sputtering distortion before shifting into fields of layered and processed samples that ratchet up the panic level to nearly unbearable heights. Corrosive buzzsaw drones flutter and fluctuate across the “Pool of Perpetual Torment,” building into crushing waves of percussive industrial pummel. On final track “Baptized in Flames,” the band works up a smoldering, apocalyptic noisescape infested with clanking metal chains, pulsating synths and the howling of mutant cetaceans—becoming by the end something resembling an entire megalopolis consumed in the hell of nuclear fire.  
The malevolent, psychedelic electronics of The Reality Is, The Dream Is Dead takes the sort of brutal cyborg chaos found in the likes of Bastard Noise and Government Alpha and drenches it in a heavy coating of dextromethorphan delirium, making for some of their heaviest noise so far. Released in a limited, hand-numbered edition of 200 copies as part of Crucial Blast’s Crucial Blaze series, the release features a 32-page art zine filled with the band’s strange, surrealistic artwork as well as contributions from FetusK, Mories (Gnaw Their Tongues), Chris Dodge (Spazz), Jay Randall (Agoraphobic Nosebleed) and more.