taken from www.plaguehaus.comJust about everyone with even a passing interest in Dark Ambient, Death Industrial or Power Electronics will be familiar with Lee Bartow, if not by name then by his moniker of Leech or his most well known project Navicon Torture Technologies. Sadly, that one is RIP, but Leech continues to record with different groups and under different guises. One that caught me off guard was this one, Theologian.Within the first few minutes of tape opener “This Is Wrong”, you’ll peg this immediately as one of Leech’s’ projects, you’ll also notice hardcore Atrax Morgue worship. The delayed, reverb-heavy vocals reminiscent of the classic NTT style, but the multiple-layered ambience of that sound has been replaced by more aggressive and minimal synth loops and rhythms. Not to imply that it’s boring, quite the opposite, just that where NTT is more brooding and ominous, Theologian comes across more ‘in your face’ and confrontational. Tracks like “The Last Grain In The Hourglass” could almost be labeled straight PE if the vocals were more distorted.The tape itself comes housed in a black medical Ziploc bag with a nice 6” x 6” insert, a sticker and a pair of black latex gloves. It’s limited to just 50 copies that almost assuredly will sell out, so get your Leech fix. This release, along with the big NTT box set should keep me satisfied for awhile.

taken from www.heathenharvest.comThis feels like some great reward. The name Lee M. Bartow and all it artistically entails means the world to me. Very few men have inspired me so intensely and so often to create as Lee has. So many of my favorite associations with all things Post-industrial have stemmed from being driven by all things Bartow. The fact of the matter is, that with this person, I have found the darkest, most emotionally charged, and profound musical form on Earth. At least, it truly feels that way to me. To be able to tell the world about this or any of his work is something I have looked forward to for years now. This tape is the second item created by Mr. Bartow that I’ve had the chance to own unexpectedly, the first being his final Navicon Torture Technologies box set, “The Gospels of the Gash”. Never had I been so anxious to drop forty bucks for any other musical piece before I saw this box, which was inappropriately stocked in the “Goth/Industrial” section at Amoeba Records Hollywood. I’ll go as far as Industrial for you, but NTT is so much more. Besides, if it had been in the “Unusually Experimental” section like this, “A Life of Constant Struggle”, I might not have had the chance to grab it.This cassette is everything I expected it to be in terms of style and that signature LMB intensity. It also proves that Lee had tons more to say by way of noise after the untimely end of Navicon Torture Technologies. It is more accessible, strangely, there’s heavier movement of more obvious percussive elements, more defined synth work, and still every bit as ominous and empowering as ever. I found it awesome that what linked this tape up for me to my other Leech score was that this work, too, is dedicated to “Kathrin”, to whom Lee’s page-long album dedication was addressed.When I heard the tape, I was happy to hear that the first side is pretty reminiscent to some more early NTT work, some mid-story NTT, and finally, a skip ahead to a sound that is more clearly Theologian Prime on side B. I especially dug how beautiful Lee’s voice actually is with the relatively simple processing on “Severity”, even as he screams shit like “With precision, it works its magic, black latex fingers, snaking around organs, lacing cable through bone, a face, disfigured with shuddering joy, spits into the glistening wounds.” The synth line that accompanies this grave and visceral image is pretty wonderful too.Now, I relate that this work was packaged in a black, surgical-grade zip-lock bag WITH a pair of black latex gloves. I hadn’t been so deliciously alarmed and enthralled by mere packaging since I uncovered DeVis deviLs g.’s bloody masterwork in the “Veneto” box. It just really brought not only that final song in the piece to life, but the whole EP. Only a zip-lock and gloves. But fuck. Black. haha. Very amusingly morbid. Just one more reason why I hold this man’s existence as one of the most crucial in todays disgusting world.In the ample and detailed dedication for “Gospels”, Lee wrote that it is possible that his art “adds nobility to my suffering” if and when it affects someone deeply and he/she identifies with it. I will take this final wordspace to confirm this. After all, those drawn to work such as this know all about leading lives of constant struggle. We are all very fortunate to have amongst us a voice that we all could perceive as our own within our core. Especially when a human core is so unfortunately susceptible to pain.