malsonus.com : HOLLOW EARTH reviews

Reviews of HOLLOW EARTH - Dog Days of the Holocaust CD (Crowd Control 1998):

OUTBURN MAGAZINE (1998):
There's dark sonicscape (Raison D'Etre, In Slaughter Natives), eyes plucked out, pitch black sonicscape (Megaptera, specifically "The Curse Of The Scarecrow), and then there is Hollow Earth, who pour gasoline into the vacated sockets, followed by a lit match, charring spirit and soul, leaving nothing but a brittle, empty husk. For Michael J.V. Hensley (Yen Pox, Blood Box) and Jonathan Canady (Dead World, Deathpile, Blunt Force Trauma), darkness has no depths; the fathomless plummet they sonically take us on is vast and yet claustrophobic; it can scratch an unanswered plea across the barren heavens and then, just as swiftly drop us into the throat of some nether-beast, a gurgling low rumble tumble into the acidic belly of despair. Very malleable, this sound, like clay or, moreso, like lava, because not only is it dark, it is agitated, often violent. Layer upon layer, the sounds swirl and attack; it may be dark sonicscape, but this is not background music, it's too damn intrusive! The juxtaposition of the slaughterhouse (the sample opening the disc) with the Auschwitz imagery and quote on the inside of the booklet, completes the Hollow Earth mandate, the sentience of death (not just death, this wallows in the desensitized ugliness of the bad death) permeating every sound. Five tracks, 63 minutes in all: "Floor Of Hell" (the residual ambience of the abandoned abattoir), "Scrawled In Blood" (a harrowing masterpiece of malevolent, mind-crushing terror--this one's worth the price of admission, friends), "Rape Machine" (monotonous, relentless...), "Whispers Of Hatred" (completely engulfed in suffocating waves of dismay) and "Probe" (haphazardly scouring the inside of the emptied husk with ragged, nervously chewed off fingernails, rough and careless); every iota of sound here is embroidered with the cadences of dissolution so pure the experience renders the listener numb...and the dark sonicscape enthusiast ecstatic.
-JC Smith

Tunnel Magazine (1998):
Seems like Michael JV Hensley and Jonathan Canady (one ov these guys is in Dead World) have seriously put some time into this release. Not only time, but experience, style, and just awesome, humming, pulsing, deadly sound. Th theme ov the album seems lame to me, the artwork is terrible, fucking photoshop dicking around crap, the quote inside is lame. but the CD IS TIGHT.

The first track is raw, just it takes you into the chamber. Slothy, humming, utter fog surrounding on all sides, like being in some odd deserted area during the" DOG DAYS OV THE HOLOCAUST!" wooo woo what a coincidence. The second track in this is simply amazing ambient work done by these two fellows, as well as the first. It's not incredibly slowly progressing i'ts just soo smooth and layered well, that it masterfully creates a feel which TONS TONS TONS ov ambient fails to create, - being smooth. Lots ov times it just is too slow, too layered, to fastly progresssing. this stuff is right perfect, right flow, no stupid shifts, nothing awkward, planned incredibly well, produced fucking hell ov good, it's simply the shit.

The rest ov the cd progresses and remains in somewhat the same fashion, bass hums roaring, slowly opening envelopes ov vast landscapes ov low eq reverb chambers, the essence ov war left over, very pictaresque. every now and then they'll lay a mild background synth to capture a tad bit ov melody. but in the hums itself, which must have been carefully constructed, there is some melody. This release stands apart from all ov it's dark ambient friends. It's seriously one ov the best cd's ov dark, chilling, smooth dripping ambience ive ever heard. Go fucking get it if this is your style.