Chiang Valley Liberators - Fires On The Horizon

Chiang Valley Liberators (hereby referred to as CVL) is a project that wears its heart on its sleeve; with songs titled 'Burn the Fucking Flags And Force The Ashes Down The Throats Of The Nationalists' it is easy to see their political stance. The press release I received from them went into their thoughts on global social and climate issues; basically, the world is fucked and we're on a trainwreck to an inevitable end. However, CVL hopes that this record not only puts those issues on the mind of listeners, but also that their sounds will encourage listeners to do something good in the world. 

While that is all swell, I can't say I really picked up on any of those issues in CVL's primarily instrumental experimental record "Fires On The Horizon". No points go against them for that, though; I always have a compulsory need to state an artist's objective in a given work. Nonetheless, this six piece album is well put together, combining elements of dark ambiance, tribal drums, and industrial mechanics all into one. 



The album starts with 'Black Dust' which I can describe as an experimental techno track. A solid but raw bassline is present from start to beginning, but the overall density of that steady beat was never heavy enough to make my speakers boom. Throughout the track, there are samples (such as high pitched squeals, dirty effects on the bassline to make it seem ever more raw, and quick successive lines) that keep the track moving onward. I only wished that the bassline would not be so repetitive and would change state more often; after all, the song lasts seven-minutes and fourteen-seconds. After the fifth, I felt as if the song overstayed its welcome. 

'No Better Time To Kill' does not have the same problem that the previous track had; it remains consistent in wholesome content for its six-minute and nine-second duration. The intro of the song sees us deal with raw, droning synths which is interjected by scratches and other glitchy effects. Around the one-minute and fifteen second mark, a keen ear will hear the oncoming drums. This, alongside ritualistic humming and other traditional instruments, lends the track an impressive feeling. I would say, that with the addition of the acoustics that come later in the track, it sounds like a song that could be featured in a medieval fantasy setting. 

While I appreciated the drum work during the introductory moments of 'They Said That Nobody Saw It Coming; And We Knew That Was A Lie', the high-pitched synth line running in the background ruined the production. It was so bad that I wasn't able to get through the song in one-sitting; my studio headphones came off and I had to let my ears finish ringing before I skipped it and never returned to it again. A pity, considering that several of the other sounds coming from the song were promising. 

Luckily, the wonderful metallic drums on 'Burn The Fucking Flags And Force The Ashes Down The Throats Of The Nationalists' brought me back into the album instead of running and screaming away. I love the alarm-sounding synth that blares throughout the song. The culmination of that, the kick drums, the metallic drums, and the noisy offering during the latter half of the track made this one of my favorites on the album. 

I don't have much to say about 'The Endless Screaming' other than it does end and there is hardly any screaming contained within. It's a dark ambient piece with background samples of what sounds like a peaceful life. However, what's presented is a very basic dark ambient piece; there's not a lot to it and the material is average for the genre. I've heard better, I've heard worse; I'm just glad the production is good.

The final track on the album, 'Developed Within Coils of Incessant Hatred', is a brilliant stomp-worthy noise piece. It's like the tribal drums made love with bass music and had a brilliantly odd experimental child. It is quite a bit louder than the other tracks on the mix, so I might recommend turning down your headphones a bit should you be listening casually. No points off for that, however; it's a ton of fun throughout it's nine-minute and thirteen second run. 

One thing that I love about experimental records such as this is that you never really know what you're going to get next; one thing that I hate about experimental records such as this is that you never really know what you're going to get next. It's an oxymoron, really; at times, the experimental sounds are fascinating to the ear and mind. Other times, such as on 'They Said That Nobody Saw It Coming; And We Knew That Was A Lie', that experimental nature bogs down a song. Nonetheless, despite that track and the mediocre sound on 'The Endless Screaming', I enjoyed my time with CVL's work with "Fires On The Horizon". Their tribal / experimental / industrial mix-up offers a rather diverse effort that flows seamlessly from one track to the next. And, so long as they can fix up some of the odd choices they made on the album, I think I would quite like to see what they do next. Six-and-a-half out of ten! 

This review was commissioned through our Ko-fi page.
Sep 16 2021