Crepuscular Entity - Harmfulmelodics.

Album: Harmfulmelodics

Artist: Crepuscular Entity

Label: Basement Corner Emissions

Catalogue no: KV&GR/RECS #427

Tracklist:

     1.      Shiva Agonistes

     2.      Engel’s Tasting of the Hand that Fed Him.

     3.      Penitentiary of the Core Mind

     4.      Quayside Walk, Dark Waters

     5.      10:00 PM Friday, a Bottle of Malbec, and a Vinyl Copy of the Mekons’ Honky Tonkin’

Some of us, and that includes me, occasionally like to have their ears and sensibilities completely shredded by blasts of seemingly unrefined, fierce noise. Crepuscular Entity’s Harmfulmelodics serves this purpose rather well, and it left my ears and mind ringing with its raging abattoir aesthetic. Here we have five lengthy tracks (the longest of which is 40 minutes!) of freeform improvisation, creating huge chunks of raw noise-meat, bloodied and battered, dripping with viscera, and unashamedly smelling of the fresh kill. Not for the delicate of hearing or taste, these are not merely slabs of crude unprocessed cacophony, but also physical steel blades and graters, sharp and ready to slice, dice, and dismember.

It’s not hard to imagine either standing in a blast furnace or in the midst of a nuclear detonation – the smothering, claustrophobic blankets of nucleated, granular din paint a vivid picture of vaporisation right down to the atomic level. This is the sound your body makes as it disintegrates into its most basic molecular and cellular components, and what’s worse is that your consciousness remains intact even as the dissolution takes place, and your mind is unable to grasp just what’s happening until it’s too late.

The barrage is relentless, but having noted that there are nevertheless adornments and highlights added here and there to render it all that much more three-dimensional. Pain, grime, industrial decay, corruption, filth, oil and grease, rusty machinery, tortured souls, and rebellious electronics: these are the necessary ingredients of Crepuscular Entity’s elixir, a medicinal poison to reduce all into an unidentifiable sludge and bone. This is the slaughterhouse of civilisation, the clubhouse of the barbaric, the abattoir of moral codes and social niceties. The hooks are sharp and buried deeply, the blades are swinging, the blood flows freely, and we are turned to swill.

Unlike Merzbow, there’s a different set of rules being followed here. It’s not a matter of being more or less refined, or of being more polished or rough around the edges: it’s purely a difference of approach, one which arrives at a specific destination. This is in-the-moment creation, recorded and left as is, the only additions being those which were added on the day - nothing else. This is more akin to an exorcism, a cleansing, and an unleashing of controlled power, a catharsis meant to abate something deep and angry. It’s extremely visceral, a force to be felt in the pit of the stomach. This is as real as it gets.

Available from Bandcamp at the following link:

https://basementcorner.bandcamp.com/album/harmfulmelodics

Psymon Marshall 2019.

Various - Modern Bön 1 - Puraka

Album: Modern Bön 1 - Puraka

Artist: Various

Label: Modern Bön (Inhalation)

Catalogue no: N/A

Tracklist:

     1.      Visions – Emanate

     2.      Leftina Osha – Perverse is Normal

     3.      Good Luck in Death – On the Night of, We Spoke in Empty Whispers

     4.      Uruk – “Munkh Khukh Tengri”

     5.      Naresh Ran – Rehte Evil

     6.      Saahiya – Kuberekwa

     7.      ContemplaTRON – Böö

     8.      Izumi Yamamoto & Andy Hafner – Rhizom

     9.      Dead Space Chamber Music – Siren Chant

    10.  Eye Spirit – Fragile X

    11.  Thisquietarmy – Toujours ce rappel de l’éphémère

Compilation albums can be the devil’s own arse to review, if only because of the fact that in a short(ish) review one can only give a brief overview of the delights on offer. This particular release is based around a concept, that of a modern interpretation of the ancient Tibetan folk religion of Bön, whose origins lie in a mix of shamanism, animism, and ancestor worship. Indeed, one could say that this record’s heart lies deep within the Himalayan mountain fastnesses – the secret core of Bön being as mysterious and inaccessible as the Tibetan plateau itself.

This overarching concept on this, the first of four volumes delineating the stages of ritual and belief (Puraka [Inhalation], Kumbhaka [Contemplation], Rechaka [Exhalation], and Nirvana [Eternal Grace]) may suggest a plethora of ritualistic bells, gongs, thighbone trumpets, and throat-singing aplenty here but, while there are indeed some aspects of stereotypical uninitiated Western ideas contained within, what we actually get are moods and atmospherics infested with the spirit of the old ways, and the interpretations are as varied as the people who participated in this project. It’s about reaching back and reconnecting with those who have gone before us, the ones who laid the foundations so to speak, and those whose voices are still able to teach us wisdom. This is no different to those people in the West who are endeavouring to return to pre-Christian belief systems in order to realign themselves with their ancestors, and to rectify what adherents see as the imbalance of today’s world.

There’s no doubt that every piece here conjures up images of dimly-lit, smoky temples standing precipitously on the very top of vertical pinnacles of rock amidst the snowbound Himalayan peaks. The essence of the ancient past as well as the people, spirits and devils that inhabit it, are a constant thread running through every one of these tracks. And that, to me, is what this album is about: those deep lines connecting the present and the future to the past, and reminding us that the past is important, and that it can still teach us a lot.

Standouts for me are Vision’s swirling opener ‘Emanate’, Good Luck in Death’s mysterious ‘On the Night of, We Spoke in Empty Whispers’, the lilting and uplifting drone of ‘Siren Chant’ by Dead Space Chamber Music (great name!), the equally drone-worthy and ghostly ‘Fragile X’ of Eye Spirit, and Thisquietarmy’s gloriously blissful drone-fuzz tsunami of ‘Toujours ce rappel de l’éphémère’ (Always this Reminder of the Ephemeral). These are just the ones that connected with me on a level deep within – all are worthy in their own ways (although, to be honest, I didn’t get on with Izumi Yamamoto & Andy Hafner’s jazz inflections on their contribution ‘Rhizom’, but that’s purely a personal thing and no reflection on them).

If you’re looking for some deeply soulful drone, packed with some depth and dimension, then as an introduction to these artists this is as good a place to start as anything you could want. Available (alongside Volume 2 – look out for review soon) via Bandcamp only at:

https://modernbon.bandcamp.com/album/modern-b-n-v-a-i-puraka

Psymon Marshall 2019

EDEN - Demain Sera Chaos de Fleurs

Album: Demain sera Chaos de Fleurs

Artist: ÉDEN

Label: Hannah

Catalogue no: N/A

Tracklist:

1.      Demain sera Chaos de Fleurs

2.      Drowned in Space

3.      Static in the Void

4.      Rêves de Ruines

5.      Deeper, through the Light

This five track album is another release from the young Hannah label, one which appears to be issuing material solely through Bandcamp. Whereas Espaces by labelmate Nikita Fuji is one single musical expression divided up into seemingly arbitrary tracks, Demain sera Chaos de Fleurs (Tomorrow will be the Chaos of Flowers – although to be grammatically correct the French should be Demain sera Chaos des Fleurs) presents a varied selection of atmospheres and moods.

The title track begins with a pulsing organ-like tone that soon develops into a grainy fuzzed-out industrial machine noise swelling that piles up upon itself continuously, like a never-ending rumbling of thunder. Then we jump to the other end of the spectrum in ‘Drowned in Space’, echoing knocks from inside a gargantuan hollowed out metallic cocoon: an embryonic something existing in potentia that wants to born. It too, builds up steadily, its heartbeat getting stronger by the second.

‘Static in the Void’, the following track, again pulses and shimmers into view; perhaps this is the potential apparent in the previous piece now made absolute, and whatever it is has made itself manifest in three-dimensional space. The pulse of life and strength is solid and palpable here: its struggle for existence has been justified, and its living, breathing, and pulsating fleshiness has been birthed for all to see. ‘Rêves de Ruines’ is its manifesto perhaps, its announcement of the fulfilment of some idea or prophecy.

Finally, we get to what is my highlight of the album – ‘Deeper, through the Light’, a sumptuous swirling inflowing of sound and light, converging to a singularity of illumination. Does that illumination merely signify physical light, or is it the illumination of the sainted man or woman? Is it the return of matter to its source, or the mote in God’s eye into which we all return? Or is it merely a signpost, a pointer to a path on which we must all tread? Yes, it contains a subtle hint of the angelic, but simultaneously it also speaks of ineffable power. It is not to be trifled with: it may be the harbinger of a glorious future, but that future is merely the destination. The path itself is dangerous and full of peril, and we must be wary.

I thought of this as more of a sampler album on which the artist is laying out his wares on a virtual table. There is much potential apparent, even as it stands (four of the tracks are short, coming in under five minutes, but it’s only on the last track which, at over eleven minutes, gives it the room to breathe, expand, and explore properly). I suggest that perhaps that ÉDEN might consider gracing us with longer, more developed exegeses, allowing to us to become better acquainted with his vision. His work certainly deserves a wider canvas on which to paint his pictures.

Digital album available from https://hannahmusic.bandcamp.com/album/demain-sera-chaos-de-fleurs

Psymon Marshall 2019

Nikita Fuji - Espaces

Album: Espaces

Artist: Nikita Fuji

Label: Hannah

Catalogue no: N/A

Tracklist:

     1.      Espace 1

     2.      Espace 2

     3.      Espace 3

     4.      Espace 4

     5.      Espace 5

     6.      Espace 6

It’s a brave person who decides to base a conceptual ambient album around a work composed by one of the masters of 20^th century minimalism, and even braver when that work is one of Estonian composer Arvo Pärt’s works, in this case ‘Fratres’. The original is itself a sublime work, a masterpiece combining the simple with the seemingly complex, so to even contemplate the act of taking a part of it and expanding on its sublimity is astounding.

I’ll be honest – I am not much for classical instrumentation and music. I find classical music too intrusive, too much of an imposition on my aural reality. I am not saying that it’s bad, just that I don’t understand it and my brain can’t process it in the same way that I do with dark ambient.

This is a roundabout way of saying that Fuji’s interpretation, even if it’s only a slice of the original and so taken out of context, feels transcendent in a way that Pärt’s work doesn’t. There again, they’re two completely different beasts, and like I averred above my preferences are nothing to do with the quality of the original – this is merely how *I* respond to it. Espaces is essentially one track divided into six parts but ultimately the divisions are meaningless – taken as a whole this album can be interpreted as a journey through the cold, lightless regions of the earth, places where the sun hides its face for months at a time and, even when it does shine, the temperature declines to rise much above freezing. Frigid winds blowing is the only form of movement here, and they carry with them the icy dust of ages and eons, obliterating and obscuring the landscape, making features barely perceptible or even recognisable. In those times when the microscopic particles cease their turbulence and settle, the wind lessens, and the skies clear, movement doesn’t entirely desist: look up and we see the dance of even tinier particles shimmer across the dome of the heavens. Behind the veil stars twinkle frostily, their light as pure and unalloyed as we are likely to see.

This is serene and beautiful, but it also carries the seeds of darkness within it. In spite of how peaceful and tranquil it may appear, for the most part that’s only a superficial thing. Snow and ice, especially when sculpted by natural forces, can look spectacular, but cold can also bring death. Regardless of how fine and uplifting this music sounds and feels, that potentially lethal element lurks behind every note here. The glacial elegance portrayed here is alluring, enticing, but it’s perhaps fortunate that we are experiencing it from afar, at many removes. This is definitely a thing of beauty, but it comes with sharp edges.

Support this new label by going here to purchase your copy of this digital only album:

https://hannahmusic.bandcamp.com/album/espaces

Psymon Marshall 2019

Monocube - Substratum

Album: Substratum

Artist: Monocube

Label: Malignant Records/Cyclic Law

Catalogue no: TumorCD120/137^th Cycle

Tracklist:

     1.      Sehnsucht

     2.      Prima Materia

     3.      Luft

     4.      Visiones V

     5.      The Opposite of Nadir (feat. Antti Litmanen)

     6.      Opaque

     7.      Actio in Distans

     8.      Limen (feat. Visions)

Yes, you read that correctly – this album is a co-release between Malignant Records and Cyclic Law, two very fine purveyors of dark and industrial ambient. Monocube broadcast their brand of darkness from the Ukraine and on this outing are assisted by contributions from Antti Litmanen of Arktau Eos and Frederic Arbour’s Visions (he also manages Cyclic Law).

Shake the bones, inhale the sulphurous vapours, blow the bone trumpets, stare into the sacred black flame dancing on the altar. The eight darkly ambient/occult tracks here have emerged from deep underground, from the shadowed spaces where celebrants enact ancient forbidden rites in the deepest and most secret of primordial caverns: places where the gods were worshipped before mankind had even come into existence. The sounds and textures here are truly subterrestrial, the exhalations of entities far beyond our abilities to comprehend. Washes of whispering winds and voices surface from even deeper regions, emanating from times and dimensions separated from us by vast temporal distances. As lazy as it may be for a reviewer to borrow a[n overused] label but the term Lovecraftian is perhaps the nearest I can get to encapsulating the aura this music stifles us with.

Even if it can be labelled thusly, perhaps it’s not the nightmare visions of the creatures themselves that are being conjured up – it’s the terror inherent in the idea that there are those humans who are willing to manifest them into material existence in the first place. These are the agitated harbingers announcing their imminent arrival. The poisonous, suffocating vapours seeping from the fissures beneath our feet are highly disturbed, their effects distorting and twisting. The weight of the imminent catastrophe to be visited on our reality crushes sanity, and heavy black atmospheres build up into gargantuan waves ready to break and submerge all. The world will drown, and the light will be extinguished.

Monocube are either issuing a warning or an invitation. Either way, it speaks of a bleak, dismal future, where the only light available is from a dim, cold, and dying sun. Even the stars will flee from the sight of a devastated earth, and a starless night will be our only companion. Warmth will abandon us, and in its place will be an imperative for survival. The prognosis, however, remains grim.

Essential listening for those times when you suffer the nihilist blues – this will set you straight back along the path of blissful doom and gloom. 

Psymon Marshall 2019.