sister iodine: venom

French noise scene spearheads Sister Iodine return with their sixth album, Venom. Active since the '90s, Sister Iodine, which involve Erik Minkkinen, Lionel Fernandez, and Nicolas Mazet, has not lost one milligram of their radical and uncompromised approach in sound exploration and limits stretching. Following two studio albums on Parisian label Premier Sang, released in 2009 and 2013 respectively, it took almost five years to shape up Venom. It is with the advent of the 21st century -- more than ever -- that the decisive path of Sister Iodine has taken a fascinating route. From their debut album, ADN 115 (1994), which was strongly influenced by the original New York no wave scene (Mars, DNA, Red Transistor) to their more recent works which are augmented by "newer poisons" such as black metal, or the most abrasive end of industrial music and power electronics, as well as experimental electronics -- Editions Mego has reissued an extended version of Premier Sang's Flame Desastre on CD - -- the band has managed to survive through the years from the inhospitable French squats of the nineties to nowadays' established venues and proper tours. Today, the band's music has changed recipients and has attracted younger generations with their organized radioactive chaos, never conceding anything from their initial intensity. Over the years, Sister Iodine will have also created their own idiosyncratic language, for which sound exploration matters and pure beauty seem to count as much as pure explosive ferocity, while intense violence and energy gets deployed in live shows. The last few years witnessed an increasing number of collaborations such as the recent sessions with Meyhna'ch (Mütiilation) or the ones with Masaya Nakahara (Violent Onsen Geisha, Hair Stylistics). Venom includes two tracks featuring the vocal contribution of Stephen Bessac, the deviant frontman of the cult French hardcore band Kickback. Sister Iodine produces a music that is actually unique and unheard anywhere else, one of eternal youth and audacity. "Sister Iodine's Venom is a pure and raw, energy-powered album performed like an audio exorcism. Each track contains its own intense physicality to radiate sound illuminations of light inside of darkness. Venom is a powerful album of potent spells that Sister Iodine have conjured and captured as sonic shamans." --Cameron Jamie, Paris, France, January 2018