The licensing deal with Willowtip Records is probably the best idea that Earache have come up with in recent years. With the latest outputs by WATCHMAKER and NEURAXIS we get two stunning examples of bands that keep on stretching the boundaries of extreme music while sporting almost diametrically opposed contents and ideas within their lyrics. Enter WATCHMAKER: the booklet contains only a quote by legendary German director Werner Herzog as a message of intent saying that "the common denominator of the universe is not harmony but chaos, hostility and murder." And the music on "Erased From The Memory Of Man" is nothing short of the aural equivalent of that thesis. Starting off with quite SLAYER-esque riffing and pretty straight uptempo-drumming it soon turns to the realms of the atonal and noisy. Especially the vocal performance belongs to some of the most extreme ever, no harmonizer, no effects, just sheer cries of anguish and despair. The whole recording has an ability to draw the listener down into an atavistic realm of turmoil and darkness which is only equalled by very few Black Metal acts. This is truly the scream of a dying civilisation. Not for the faint-hearted (see also NEURAXIS-review). www.earache.com.