Few pairs of words perk up FACT's collective ear like 'death ambient', and so few albums released this year have made us sit up and take interest like William Fowler Collins' Perdition Hill Radio - the latest limited vinyl release on Type Records.

Fowler Collins, Bill to his mum (possibly), hails from New England but now lives in New Mexico, where he makes music based on "field recordings, electric guitar, lap steel guitar, laptop computer, processed recordings, micro-cassette tape recorders, and home-made electronic devices". He's toured with Brightback Morning Light, collaborated with Matmos, and generally seems to be a bit of a dude - even curating a series of experimental music events at the University of New Mexico's ARTS Lab titled the Spectre Series.

Perdition Hill is Collins' second album, after 2007's self-released Western Violence & Brief Sensuality, and comprises six songs lasting from five to twenty-one minutes - the absolute king of which is 'Dark Country Road', the longest track on the album and its best - recalling Xasthur and Lustmord in its static-filled darker phases, and early Xela in its cleaner ones. Perdition Hill is out in limited-to-400 2LP form now, and will be released in CD form next week, both via Type, who earlier this year put out the first album by Fred Thomas' stunning City Center project. We'd recommend both.

We also think he sort of looks like the Undertaker, which makes the whole thing so much cooler.

Tracklisting: 

1. The Hour of Red Glare

2. Grave Robbing in Texas

3. Dark Country Road

4. On Perdition Hill

5. Slow Motion Prayer Circle

6. The Ghosts of Eden Trail