Published by Davide Pappalardo on January 2, 2018
BR1002 is the techno-industrial project of Italian duo Bruno di Berardino and Bruno Ruggieri. They met each other while working for Ribbon Club in Terracina, and due to their common tastes in music they decided to produce music together aiming for a stronger sound. They have released some digital only EPs like Percezione Distorta (Monolith Rec, 2015) and Hate Speech (Toxic Waste Buried, 2016) and even a vinyl called Auger under Italian label Scuderia (2016), and now they debut on Instruments Of Discipline with a self-titled EP consisting in four new tracks.
A stern, industrial tinged sound is the main theme of their music, focusing on harsh and noise-inspired rhythms and aural attacks, If we want to find a parallel, we could think about Perc Trax and its releases, in particular the stomping and unrelenting sound of Ansome, and even about some of the new outputs by HANDS. But here most of the time the tempo is slower, giving us a menacing and crawling pattern made of distorted drums, militant snares and unapologetic interferences.
Damage control, ironically, is a full front attack, starting with a building crescendo, and then developing an obsessive rhythmic march upon a creepy layer of sound. The track explodes with even harsher ad more distorted kicks, showing its imposing and monolithic nature. La nocturne takes technoise sounds and monotone bass sequences, resulting in an obsessive industrial mantra completed by blips, snares, and apocalyptic, riffing basslines.
Murder is a minimal affair, built on hypnotic rhythmic sequences and effected vocal samples. It soon degenerates in a sweaty, late night-dancefloor oriented number with heavily distorted kicks and spiraling, growling sounds. Requiem for a dream is a stomping and martial track full of snares, thundering rhythms and mechanical structures. As always, the sonic assault is underlined by an eerie, brooding atmosphere developed by noisy loops. A perfect way to end this more than satisfying journey through a sonic battlefield.
BR1002 show us they understand very well the sound they want to achieve: a restless and relentless techno-industrial assault with rhythmic noise and dark ambient inspired elements. They don’t stray away too much from the formula, but at the same time they manage to never get boring by never overstaying their welcome. Their tracks have the right length and a coherent structure with a start, a crescendo, and a finale: nothing starts too soon, nothing ends too late. A very promising new name in the game, one to follow closely.
Label: Instruments Of Discipline
Rating: 7,5