Release The Beast

CV Vision returns with the follow-up to his last opus Im Tal der Stutzer and delivers his sixth studio album Release The Beast – where he finds the sweet spot between psych rock, Detroit techno, fried synths, black metal and library music. Teaming up again with Swedish drummer Uno Bruniusson, CV Vision switched up the last production approach and opted for a return to previous studio methodologies. “I wanted to get a rougher sound on this record,” he says. “I dug out my two broken reel-to-reel tape machines, and patched them together, like Frankenstein. That’s what gels everything really - there’s different musical styles, but it’s the tape machine that brings it all together, sound-wise.”

Release The Beast does indeed fly off in several directions over the course of fourteen tracks, and gives us an insight into the full spectrum of the CV Vision musical universe. Fuzzed-out backbeats and psych progressions establish the opening tracks, as the sweet harmonies of ‘RTB’ and ‘The Rhythm’ are offset by raw magnetic hiss. ‘Dungeon Drums I, II, III’ draws on acid and early Detroit techno experiments, tapping into the cosmic elements of the Motor City’s beatdown grooves (and even mediaeval black metal melodies) to bring out a krautrock twist. The second half of “Release The Beast” takes another turn with instrumental jams, like ‘Nikita’s Tune’ and ‘It’s K-Jazz’, that nod towards the psychedelic soul of David Axelrod and Rotary Connection, and the trippy DIY experiments of L.G. Mair, Jr. Closing out the album, CV Vision lays down the bluesy stomper ‘Town Talk’ and distorted motorik workout ‘The Jam’ next to the folky incantation of ‘Brickwall Symphony’ and stacked layers of heavy guitars on ‘Go Your Way’.

While Release The Beast is a varied tapestry of sounds and styles, there’s a common thread running through it all. The cover art depicts the boarded-up entrance of a Berlin stairwell, surrounded by the burnt-out debris of a long-forgotten party. “It’s not just about letting out inner demons,” he says, “but rather coming to the end of a creative process. A chaotic, troubled process, but also one where something good comes out at the end!”