Gaping Chasm
Ergospective
Aliens Production
As a repository for deep scene fare with a special focus on dark electro, Aliens Production is the perfect label to be reissuing the work of Gaping Chasm, the Slovakian one-man project of Roman Petro. Releasing a handful of tapes in the 90s and the odd release since, Gaping Chasm’s style reflects the technique, gear, and aesthetic of its time, as shown on a new compilation of unreleased and rare material.
Effectively acting as a supplement to the reissues of existing Gaping Chasm material and as a royal sampler of material spanning 1995 and 2000, that Ergospective‘s tracks received less (or no) initial distribution than the rest of Petro’s material doesn’t make it any less approachable or less representative of the project. The distorted blasts of “Cold Eyes” or the tense interplay between stuttering snares and funereal choirs on “Hell” get Gaping Chasm’s aims across as well as anything else, and he’s generally on point in capturing the murk and crunch which the era’s associated with. Despite the technical roughness of some of the material, it demonstrates an advanced taste level; it comes as no real surprise that Petro worked on the Slovak Crewzine, writing up the likes of Sloppy Wrenchbody and Vancouver’s own The Fourth Man in addition to more familiar fare for a couple of years before Gaping Chasm began releasing tapes.
Thematically things tilt towards the heavier side of things, with pieces about the Sobibor prisoner revolt, and the titular theme of “Desire” being addressed via a military trudge which pulls Dive-like minimalism into the lurching waltz of early :wumpscut:. But despite those morbid styles and themes holding sway on Ergospective, there is some variety that’s equally reflective of the era. Synth shakuhachi, breakbeats, and liquid programming point to the trippier and more open-ended approach to dark electro on “In Eternity”. Heck, keep an ear open for some very tongue-in-cheek Space Quest sampling on “Are You Ready Follows”, indicating that Petro was just as plugged into geek culture as any of us back in the day.
Like Aliens Production and the zine milieu in which Petro cut his teeth, Ergospective (mastered very nicely by Anatoly Grinberg) is the epitome of the call coming from inside the house. This is brooding, crunchy dark electro made by someone raised on a diet of the same. It won’t reshape your understanding of the era or your taste for the style, but as an undiluted blast of this stuff straight out of a time capsule it’s a potent hit.
