Album: Palaces of Darkness
Artist: Various
Label: Black Mara
Catalogue no: BM-22
Tracklist:
1. Sol
Mortuus – Muv-Anki
2. Corona
Barathri –The Kingdom of Nav
3. Nubiferous
– Xvarenah
4. Mrako-Su
– Autumn of Time
5. Ad
Lucem Tenebratium –Spirit of Water
It is only through darkness
that light is revealed, a fact that many are reluctant to acknowledge. Our
whole existences are intertwined with dualities: light/dark, good/evil,
Heaven/Hell, up/down, and light/heavy. Without the presence of these opposites,
we wouldn’t be able to comprehend the world. But it’s not quite as clear cut as
some would have you believe: the ancient Chinese realised that reality isn’t
delineated strictly through black and white, but there is an interdependence
and connection between them, and that the conversation flowing between one with
the other is what constitutes the basis of the reality we live within – hence
the philosophical conception of yin and
yang.
Darkness, as a result, is
often misconstrued, in the mistaken belief that its only attribute is concealment.
But, as this five-track ritual ambient compilation from Russian label Black
Mara attests, it also possesses the capability of revealing. As a prosaic
example, on a clear, cloudless, and moonless night the darkness announces the
glories of the starry heavens, bestowing upon the observer the only
comprehendible view of infinity we’re ever likely to understand. In the same
way, the temples of the mind, built within the darkness of the inner world, can
only be revealed in all their magnificence against the black backdrop.
We are ushered into the
act of constructing the foundations of the spiritual temple through the
auspices of Sol Mortuus’ ‘Muv-Anki’ – it begins at the moment when the sun has
set and the sky has begun purpling. It’s the time when the world subsides into
quietude, the interval before the occult forces of creation and conception stir
themselves at the behest of the officiants. Slowly, with infinite deliberation,
the materials for the manifestation of the Palaces of Darkness and Night
coalesce into being.
If ‘Muv-Anki’ is the
prelude to the creation, then Corona Barathri’s ‘The Kingdom of Nav’ is the
invocation, a declaration of purpose and intent to the gods themselves. A
woman’s voice calls out, evoking the genius
loci into manifestation, seeking its cooperation in the task. The plea is
answered: subterranean breaths and twisted drones emerge from the very soil
beneath her feet, and a tribal rhythm materialises, creating both the blueprint
and the framework for the work ahead. Lights shimmer, waver, float, and pulse
randomly, perhaps waiting for a signal. And then, under some secret direction
from an unseen and unfelt source, lines of force begin marshalling and the
blobs of light attain purpose and function, moving intently to assigned places.
An astringent metallic
ringing drone then pierces through, announcing that it’s Nubiferous’ turn to
delineate the evolving architecture. The word ‘Xvarenah’ has power here,
establishing and inviting an indwelling spirit to take up residence. A
resonating, chiming bell is that invitation, a strange attractor to which an
entity will gravitate. Without its power, the building is nothing more than an
empty shell, a pretty façade with no other use. By the time we reach the
epilogue of the track, we get a sense that such a guardian deity has assented
to share its power and assumed residency.
‘The Autumn of Time’
begins with a solitary flute, around which faint drones interweave, the palace
now almost complete. Power is beginning to accumulate, their vortices swirling
and coiling around its metaphysical columns and cloisters, and then funnelling
into the Holy of Holies inhabiting its centre. Power isn’t something that
amasses in an instant – it builds up gradually, and only attains its apotheosis
through the energies of its adherents over time. Mrako-Su’s contribution builds
up subtly, evolving into a quickening heartbeat, incrementally filling the
esoteric spaces with pulsing function and potential.
Ad Lucem Tenebratium’s
‘Spirit of Water’ is the conclusion, the final consecration when all the
forces, both physical and mystical, converge and manifest fully. Chanting now
occupies the palace’s internal spaces, resonating through all the multifarious
planes of existence and confirming it as a nexus of spiritual power. Energies
spark and flicker, gravid with life and possibilities, ready to congregate in
the name of some greater purpose.
All five tracks together
form a kind of esoteric narrative, an inner one that has its parallels in the
real world: it’s almost a spiritual manual for building the inner temple. The
palaces referred to here aren’t the dwellings of earthly kings and queens, but
of the spiritual entities where the real power exists: those streams of
energies which, focused on an arcane singularity, exert enormous if unfelt and
unseen influences on the world around us. Each of these pieces takes a chapter
of this mystical story, delineating the stages one goes through in order to
achieve whatever goal is ultimately focused upon. It also warns us that
darkness is as essential to the understanding of those forces as light is,
thereby creating balance. Too much of one creates imbalance and chaos to the
detriment of the other.
Taken together, this is a
deeply mystical journey through the dark recesses of power and alignment, the
steps necessary to manifesting one’s own Palace of Darkness. If nothing else,
it emphasises that darkness should never be shunned, but incorporated along
with the light into every part of one’s life.
Available as a digital download
and CD with a hardcover A5 book, attached photos, and a pendant smelling of
juniper and spruce – purchase from link below:
Psymon Marshall 2019.
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