Vales is a one-man project out of Delaware that leans a little further towards the harsh end of the whole free-noise/drone continuum. “Carpathian Shrine” fills out the A-side of this c-20 with some overblown synth noise (I’m guessing) with subtly shifting wave patterns. Gradually, distant, mechanized frequencies seep there way into the foreground. There seems to be some beats lurking around in there somewhere towards the end of the track, the recording quality making it difficult to discern, but this could simply be my own head throbbing as it’s trying to make sense of this unsettling din. The B-side contains the sidelong title track that features more blown-out, electronics grappling that ebbs-and-flows from quieter sections into throbbing speaker-melting gush. The murky production obscures much of the sonic subtlety at play here, making “Dual Graves”, as brief as it is, aurally wearing. 4/10 -- David Perron (19 November, 2009)