Words on Faking Gold & Murder
Boomkat
A third blistering full-length from avant-metal supergroup Aethenor - and on this one the line-up just got that little bit more starry thanks to the presence of David Tibet
of Current 93 and guitarist Alexander Tucker.
They join the ranks of Stephen O'Malley (of SunnO))) and KTL), Daniel O' Sullivan (of Guapo and Mothlite) and Vincent De Roguin (from Shora) whose sinister sound sculptures sound utterly unique within whatever genre you choose to lump them in with. Not quite death-ambient, not quite sludge metal - if anything you could identify an influence from modern classical music, both in terms of the instrumental timbres used and in the manner of the recording, which seems to eschew the aesthetics of studio editing and post-production. On the second track, the gradually unfolding combination of twinkling sonorities and nebulous atmospherics suggests a Messaien influence, but there's always a dark cloud overhead, and harsh, sustained waves of drone soon take hold, only for David Tibet to wade in alongside clanking piano and meandering glockenspiel. The addition of percussionists Nicolas Field and Alex Babel is a significant one, and the duo bring a sense of dynamic variation and counterpoint to the stately swell of doom that dominates the record otherwise. The first piece brings frantic chimes and free-drumming that draws on jazz rhythms, whilst the third begins with the incredibly delicate flutter of hand-played drums, only to erupt with organ-fuelled discord and dark incantations from the Current 93 frontman.
Faking Gold And Murder is a real step forward for both Aethenor and underground metal in general, transcending genre conventions without detaching itself completely from that all-important heart of darkness. Highly recommended.
Aquarius
Not sure how it happened, but the last Aethenor full length completely passed us by. We had it in the shop, but just never got around to reviewing, not cuz we didn't want to, or because it wasn't awesome, it was, it's just that we get so much stuff, as hard as we try, we can never seem to get to it all.
Well we won't let it happen with this one, Faking Gold & Murder, the latest from the 'supergroup' known as Aethenor, featuring one Mr. Stephen O'Malley, who plays in a few other bands you've probably heard of, as well as guys from Guapo and Shora. Oh, and that David Tibet guy. Current 93, you know. Anyway, the sound is maybe not what you'd expect, eschewing the roiling crush of O'Malley's other groups, and the wild psych prog of Guapo. Instead, Aethenor traffic in some sort of otherworldly avant abstract prog, or something, black ambient free folk drift maybe, it's actually pretty difficult to describe.
Four long songs, numbered instead of titled. The group offering up a lush backdrop of rumbling guitars and keening high end, bursts of dense drumming, billowing clouds of cymbal shimmer, moaning minor key melodies, very abstract but not minimal, a very active, roiling sea of sound, over which Tibet does his thing, singing, speaking, testifying, hard not to compare it to C93, maybe if Current 93 were way heavier and splattered with wild drumming, but the same sort of primal alchemical vibe. The tracks do occasionally coalesce into something more propulsive, offering up grinding slow motion riffage, weird looped soundscapes, clattery almost free jazz, thick crumbling distorted walls of guitars, woozy minor key piano, wheezing organ, plenty of bombast and bluster, but also plenty of hushed whisper and delicate drift, all presided over by Tibet, whose high priest vocals perfectly suit the strange blackened backgrounds. Cool stuff. Fans hankering for that old Current 93 sound, well some of this might be the closest you'll get these days, and anyone into the dark and droney, the mystical and mysterious, the heavy and abstract, enter the temple and bow your head in reverence, the ritual has begun.
Gorgeous packaging, super thick three panel, metallic gold on black, letterpressed cardstock sleeves.
A third blistering full-length from avant-metal supergroup Aethenor - and on this one the line-up just got that little bit more starry thanks to the presence of David Tibet
of Current 93 and guitarist Alexander Tucker.
They join the ranks of Stephen O'Malley (of SunnO))) and KTL), Daniel O' Sullivan (of Guapo and Mothlite) and Vincent De Roguin (from Shora) whose sinister sound sculptures sound utterly unique within whatever genre you choose to lump them in with. Not quite death-ambient, not quite sludge metal - if anything you could identify an influence from modern classical music, both in terms of the instrumental timbres used and in the manner of the recording, which seems to eschew the aesthetics of studio editing and post-production. On the second track, the gradually unfolding combination of twinkling sonorities and nebulous atmospherics suggests a Messaien influence, but there's always a dark cloud overhead, and harsh, sustained waves of drone soon take hold, only for David Tibet to wade in alongside clanking piano and meandering glockenspiel. The addition of percussionists Nicolas Field and Alex Babel is a significant one, and the duo bring a sense of dynamic variation and counterpoint to the stately swell of doom that dominates the record otherwise. The first piece brings frantic chimes and free-drumming that draws on jazz rhythms, whilst the third begins with the incredibly delicate flutter of hand-played drums, only to erupt with organ-fuelled discord and dark incantations from the Current 93 frontman.
Faking Gold And Murder is a real step forward for both Aethenor and underground metal in general, transcending genre conventions without detaching itself completely from that all-important heart of darkness. Highly recommended.
Aquarius
Not sure how it happened, but the last Aethenor full length completely passed us by. We had it in the shop, but just never got around to reviewing, not cuz we didn't want to, or because it wasn't awesome, it was, it's just that we get so much stuff, as hard as we try, we can never seem to get to it all.
Well we won't let it happen with this one, Faking Gold & Murder, the latest from the 'supergroup' known as Aethenor, featuring one Mr. Stephen O'Malley, who plays in a few other bands you've probably heard of, as well as guys from Guapo and Shora. Oh, and that David Tibet guy. Current 93, you know. Anyway, the sound is maybe not what you'd expect, eschewing the roiling crush of O'Malley's other groups, and the wild psych prog of Guapo. Instead, Aethenor traffic in some sort of otherworldly avant abstract prog, or something, black ambient free folk drift maybe, it's actually pretty difficult to describe.
Four long songs, numbered instead of titled. The group offering up a lush backdrop of rumbling guitars and keening high end, bursts of dense drumming, billowing clouds of cymbal shimmer, moaning minor key melodies, very abstract but not minimal, a very active, roiling sea of sound, over which Tibet does his thing, singing, speaking, testifying, hard not to compare it to C93, maybe if Current 93 were way heavier and splattered with wild drumming, but the same sort of primal alchemical vibe. The tracks do occasionally coalesce into something more propulsive, offering up grinding slow motion riffage, weird looped soundscapes, clattery almost free jazz, thick crumbling distorted walls of guitars, woozy minor key piano, wheezing organ, plenty of bombast and bluster, but also plenty of hushed whisper and delicate drift, all presided over by Tibet, whose high priest vocals perfectly suit the strange blackened backgrounds. Cool stuff. Fans hankering for that old Current 93 sound, well some of this might be the closest you'll get these days, and anyone into the dark and droney, the mystical and mysterious, the heavy and abstract, enter the temple and bow your head in reverence, the ritual has begun.
Gorgeous packaging, super thick three panel, metallic gold on black, letterpressed cardstock sleeves.
posted by D::OS:: at 12:35 AM
1 Comments:
Hello there, thought you might be interested to know that we've featured Faking Gold & Murder on Hard Format, our website dedicated to remarkable music-related design. Hope you like it.
All the best, Colin.
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