Sunday, 24 November 2024

Hieronymus Bosch – Hieronymus Bosch (1997)


Country: New Zealand

Tracklist
1. St. Veronicas Veil 09:11
2. The Sphinx Is Silent 13:09
3. Bleeding 05:06
4. Turf Meat 07:48
5. Bedlam And The Muses 06:29

Hieronymus Bosch is New Zealand's longest running dark industrial act formed around 1985-86.
The band originally used reel to reel tape recorders, loop effects,
steel objects and an arsenal of classic analog synths and drum machines.
They performed only three times as this incarnation, twice in New Zealand and once in Sydney, Australia.
Their live art performances included poetry and slide shows and were performed in art galleries.
Their sound has changed greatly throughout the years, due to collaborating and experimenting with a lot of different artists.
The mid-1980s saw the band become a three-piece, fusing Darkwave and Industrial.
This line-up only lasted a few months, playing one very loose live set
accompanying a gothic/dark art fashion show at an inner-city nightclub.
In 1990 guitarist Morpheus Ire and bassist/percussionist Paul Blanchard were recruited
adding a more chaotic, almost anarchic direction to the group.
Live performances meant the destruction of stage sets and props while audience participation was always encouraged.
As part of an early 1986 performance the entire interior of a soon to be demolished house was torn apart in a frenzied ritual, accompanied by looping noise tapes fed through a generator driven PA system.
Around 30 people took part in this now infamous display of art terrorism.
Hieronymus Bosch, during this period, attracted quite a large and loyal following from the Death/Punk Metal communities
whilst still maintaining their dedicated Industrial/Experimental music fanatics.
In late 1994, the band headed back to its roots of Industrial/Dark Ambient.
In 1996, Hieronymus Bosch reduced itself to two core of the original members.
Their sound is constructed by combining the organic with electronic, nature vs technology.
Layering samples with movement, frequencies and modulations with sounds of their own existence. 
Creating huge rhythm through repetition and looping of sounds and samples.
Constantly building and creating new directions and moods.
Their first recordings were zero-budget, on limited tape cassette format, and duplicated on a double stereo cassette deck.
In 1990 they moved to video format, with a five-track release entitled "Hieronymus Bosch - The Video", limited to 300 copies.
1997 saw the release of their self titled album followed by their second album, "The Divided Self", in 1998.
They have also produced short film soundtracks for video artists in Belgium and Australia,
featured in many various international compilations
and made a couple of appearances on the mid 90's performance/video release series Technohell.
Their third album "The Dream Songs" was released in 2004 on the Polish label, Fluttering Dragon.
In 2010, they released a limited edition 7-inch vinyl, "Black Light / Black Star" to mark their 25th anniversary.