P/O Massacre

*2026 stock* A new P/O Massacre release - the duo of saxophonist Anton Ponomarev and guitarist Anton Obrazeena - is always an exciting proposition. "Sonic Oblivion” is an extension of sorts to the 2023 album "Aural Corrosion” featuring Merzbow and Alex Buess. Based on materials from the same recording session as its predecessor, "Sonic Oblivion" has a different impact. This nearly two-hour-long album features knife-sharp and grave-deep guitar noises by Obrazeena, apocalyptic electronics and shrill saxophone avalanches by Ponomarev, alongside electroacoustic textures and found sounds.

The first part of "Sonic Oblivion” reflects on destruction - whether technological in "Progressive Collapse” or natural in "Love Waves" (a seismological term, not a pop song name). The second part features the softest improvisation by P/O Massacre - "Nonslaught" created mostly with a clean guitar tone, modified pocket trumpet, and subtle electronics. "Kirkenes - Tromsø” is a composition based on a single sample of the sound of De Havilland DHC-8 Dash 8-100 propeller aircraft, when Obrazeena flew the plane through Norway after crossing the northern border of russia to avoid military drafting for the war in Ukraine. This sound was then reworked using hardware, and the final track was mastered by James Plotkin.

Alexis Trice, a native New Yorker and cover artist for Sonic Oblivion, developed an early and passionate interest in art, particularly drawing and painting, with a keen focus on the natural world, a theme frequently depicted in her works. Her artistic expressions investigate animal dignity, the intrinsic brutality of nature, and the effects of human encroachment. Man, too, is animal, and Trice conveys this truth through a visual language of discomfort, fragility, and grace. Her work reminds us of the urgency of threatened landscapes, the contrivance of freedom, and the exquisiteness of a single still moment.