Slow Death EP

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Leather Nun chronology
Slow Death

EP by The Leather Nun
Released	1979
Recorded	1979
Genre	Alternative
Length	12:14
Label	Industrial Records
	Slow Death (1979)	Primemover (1981)

Slow Death is the first album (7" EP) by Swedish rockers The Leather Nun.

Singer Jonas Almqvist landed a recording contract for a single with Industrial Records. In order to record a b-side he formed Leather Nun in Gothenburgh, Sweden, Feb 1979. The band was roadtested during a festival in March 1979 and then recorded three songs for Industrial Records to choose from for the b-side. They couldn't choose and the single ended up an EP and was released in Nov 1979.

The music on this record sounds very dark, tuneful and dangerous. Compared to their later recordings the songs are heavily industrial and abrasive.

The cover of the EP shows a man who has burnt himself publicly as a sign of protest against the war in Vietnam.

Slow Death starts out with the song No Rules, a distorted, primal, Stoogoid/Raw Power-style riff that immediately plunges into a sub-Motorhead punked up swamp. Fuzzed vocals emerge, English painted with some evil, thuggish accent. Behind the fuzz and dumb riffage (and that is smart dumb, not dumb dumb) are some odd vocal loops or something difficult to figure out. But it works.

Death Threats is a combination of bass/drum loop, a band saw loop, and a drill, then a telephone ring. The vocals come in, sounding as if they were recorded in a room lined with cotton balls. The guitar arrives late, perhaps because it is being played under water. And the solo is taken up by a very loud typewriter. A drill/saw crescendo ends the song.

Third song is the title cut, a slow, sparse crawl about someone dying slowly from burns that cover 90% of their body - fun stuff that owes a lot to Suicide's Frankie Teardrop as well as Pere Ubu's Heart of Darkness. Not quite as good as either of those two doom classics, Slow Death is still a pretty sweet song.

Ensam I Natt originally appeared as just a sliver of time on the Slow Death 7". On the reissue, you get the whole show. A busy bass line starts it up and then once again we plunge into fuzz filled dumbness. Ensam is easily one of the 100 best punk songs ever made. It is primitive, it is brutal, and it is immediate. Perfect.

When re-released in 1980 a long live version of Slow Death, featuring Genesis P-Orridge on violin and Monte Cazazza on synthesizer was added. Like the studio version, it creeps in. It is slow and sparse. The vocals are more distant, but that is fine. The synth and violin combine and sound, at times, like a wah-wah guitar. About the two minute mark the guitar comes in with a slashing ka-kunnnnnnnng. It takes up the melody but doesn't overpower. The guitar starts what turns out to be a long, fragmented wah wah solo.