Album: Speculum Diaboli
Artist: Corona Barathri
Label: Speculum Diaboli Records
Catalogue no: SDR001
Tracklist:
1. Expulsio
Sancti / Anathema
2. Iter
Violentiae
3. Invocatium
Diabolorum
4. Speculum
Diaboli
That I am reviewing this
Satanic/dark/death/black/ritual/doom ambient from Russia’s Corona Barathri on a
very hot, sweaty day appears to be entirely appropriate – if nothing else it’s
a provident atmospheric backdrop, something to get me in the mood, so to speak.
All joking aside, CB caught my attention earlier this year when I accidentally
caught a video on Youtube featuring one of their pieces (I forget the name of
it though) and then I recently reviewed a Black Mara label compilation (Palaces of Darkness) which featured a
song of theirs called ‘The Kingdom of Nav’. And now, thanks to Ilya Affectvs, I
get the chance to review their latest effort, Speculum Diaboli, which is due for launch on September 13 2019.
If you’re not familiar
with Corona Barathri’s work, then this is as good a point to acquaint
yourselves with it as any. It truly is a unique sound, resting somewhere
between the blackest of dark ambient atmospherics along with the spoken word, massed
choirs, guttural black metal vocal stylings, and even a bit of deep throaty singing
for good measure. Occasionally you’ll hear traditional instruments like
acoustic guitar and flute, plus that favourite instrument of the devil, the
organ, in addition to subtle embellishments from electronics and deeply
seismic, subterranean rumblings and drones.
Rather than describing Speculum Diaboli’s individual tracks, in
this review I am going to essay the overall mood and ambience. This is solely
because the music is complex, ever-evolving, constantly metamorphosing and
shapeshifting, as well as being incredibly intense, and therefore has to be
experienced fully and immersively, preferably on headphones. It’s a nightmarish
trip into the belly of the earth, where the temple is some grotto deep
underground, the celebrants are faceless and hooded, and where sulphurous
vapours smoke out of fissures, while deeply reverberating rumbles echo
endlessly. Each of these four pieces of music is part of a series of long
canvases, depicting a journey through an extremely dark underworld, a nether
region that the diurnal world never touches, let alone is aware of.
Voices speak in languages
thought long-dead, the individual words invested with immense power, perhaps
the reason why these tongues were hidden in the first place so they could not
be spoken by the profane. The intonation of each syllable sets off bursts of
convulsive potential and dynamism, drilling through rock and soil to shake the
foundations of the world. Entities, malign and composed of bubbling chaos,
answer the calls, roaring, howling, and wailing their approbation. Conduits, long
disused, open and become carriers of pent-up currents that have waited
patiently for release for far longer than man has been around.
If it’s truly chthonic
vibes you’re looking for, then this (along with Corona Barathri’s other
releases) will fulfil that need several times over. This is music of the lightless
depths, the crawling abysses, and of the kingdoms of the dead. Here fires burn
blackly, the flames animated by demonic forces that are beyond mortal
comprehension. Chasms of rock as old as the earth vibrate with an unholy power,
a welcoming trilling from the dormant but now reawakened gods and demons of
pre-antiquity. This is mind-numbing, gut-wrenching, intestine-twisting stuff, and
not for those who fear to tread upon
the dark paths.
A very limited deluxe handmade
wooden box which, as well as the CD, also contains a black candle made from wax
and soot, an evil incense pouch (Artemisia, Juniper, Sulphur), and a consecration
blade and black parchment (Sacrificium), with all materials consecrated with
witch oil, in an edition of just 10, is SOLD OUT. Other editions of Speculum Diaboli (a digital download and
a CD in envelope) will be available via Bandcamp from September 13th
on the link below:
Psymon Marshall 2019.
1 comment:
Great review.
Hails!
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