Year: 2004
Genre: Ambient/Black Metal
Imagine a black operetta staged upon barren shores, or an island; the set is either an old, crumbling castle or a dungeon where they lock up the criminally insane. Hooks and metal chains dangle off the ceiling, and the stench of lunacy (that's even worst than the stench of death) hangs in the air. The insane, wretched, cloaked figures locked in this dreaded place pass their time in philosophizing, mad as they are, debating over the morbid philosophy of non-existence and the ancient methods of producing nocturnal, perpetual anti-light. The soundtrack, you ask? How about long passages of distorted speech that drag the listener towards the edge of a cliff, where a free fall awaits him followed by the gaping abyss of blacker-than-black insane and fast industrialized monotonic guitar riffing, razor-sharp and menacing, slowing down, picking up speed again, feeding the flames of psychosis with incessant, distorted sampling loops from hell, torturous and sinister vocals, tolling bells, whispers and martial, fascist-like spoken verses? At times the music is extremely emotional, at times cold (but at all times bleak), some of the time is it minimal and simplistic to the bone, and at other times, well, it is confusion and chaos made flesh. If music has got still a meaning, if individuality and evolution and experimentation are all still valuable terms in the realms of the art of making sounds, then anybody who still holds dear these values should embrace this gem of psychological darkness, of many illusions and nerve wrecking mysteries…
