Flesh Tomb by Mystery Hearsay

Whereas Factor X was even bootlegged in recent years - always a mark of long lasting quality - Mystery Hearsay wasn't. No lesser quality however from this hometaper - as the lingo of the day was - also known as Mike Honeycutt. He went on to produce other things later on, such as Mystery X, Mystery Iguana, and part of Wilt, but Mystery Hearsay seemed to have gathered dust. This CD, in fact a re-issue of a tape release called 'Flesh Tomb' plus bonus material from a net release from 2007 (which is which is not clear from the cover). Without wanting to say much about the quality of the music, the quality of the recording is of an entirely nature than the Factor X one, i.e. something that seems at least more professional. One of those typical mid-80s things was the arrival of what was called 'ambient industrial': music that was too loud to fully downright ambient, but also not loud enough to be classified as industrial. Hence ambient industrial and that's exactly the field of Mystery Hearsay's music. Lots of guitar/synth manipulations, along with percussive, metallic sounds and tons of sound effects to manipulate them. Like with a lot of these 80s things its not the composition that counts but the mood created, so it sometimes gets off the rails and takes a bit too much time to be fully interesting. But this is another great reminder of the young FdW at home listening to tapes, and one who fully forgot that Mystery Hearsay was actually a great band. Long forgotten, but thankfully resurrected.