Cassette Review // German Army "Year of Solitude" (Castle Bravo)

$6 //
Edition of 50 //
https://castlebravotapes.bandcamp.com/album/year-of-solitude //

Beats start things off funky like that one song from "Ferris Bueller" that everyone pretty much knows from that movie.   The drums echo as they hit in rapidfire succession.   Whispers behind it all.   Bigger, darker beats make this one wild.   It's a thrashing and banging scene.    The beats feel like a bouncing ball now and it has a nice way about it that moves.     Steel drums feel almost acoustic as we are in what could be some video game form of "The Crow".    Imagine if back when "The Crow" was released it had a video game?  That would have been rather fun, and this song could have been part of it, which is great.

Definite video game beeps and blips come through now as there are these almost haunted sounds behind them.   This eventually turns triumphant and has a big sound which makes me want to drive faster even though it keeps the same pace.    The next song brings on more of a drive, more of a sound of drumsticks banging and it can also feel tribal at its roots.    The next song twists and turns around the corners of some desert road which has no end and yet somehow can still produce a change from just staying straight. 

Briefly some screwed sounding vocals come in and then we're back into the digital electronics.   It beeps its way through what sounds somewhat like a video game but could also be one of those old television theme songs from either the 1980's or more likely the 1990's.   It's not quite "Law & Order" but it reminds me of something along those lines, mixed with a little bit of Doogie Howser of course. 
On the flip side we open with these great morphing and shaping tings which have some screwed singing behind them.   It's like a laserbeam bursting through a distorted atmosphere.    This winds up with this cool sort of country guitar twang sound.   Beats come through now like Stomp.   Scattered, like the keys on a typewriter.    It slowly makes this little beeps and then fades into a fog.    The slow strumming of a guitar can be heard, as deeper strings come into the picture.

It winds through like an old western town.    A buzzing like a lightbulb brings out this clanking, the way metal meets metal.    It creates a hypnotyzing rhythm by which I could ride out of town.    This takes us into a different type of beeping, almost like crickets, as it grows darker, more eerie like a haunted film score.    Some droning sludge is behind this and it just grows and makes me feel like we're grinding through some synth- somewhat like NIN or an industrial artist that is similar.

Guitars cut through now, somewhat country but more like 90210.    Skip beats take us to that place where we go when we reach the next plane of existence.    It gets quieter now, like chimes and a field recording.    This brings out a louder track of distorted electronics, with those changes in the frequency and all as well.   As the electronics do that mixed up thing this cassette comes to an end, not with a whisper but with a bang.