This is without a doubt the most ritual release I heard this year. This album is entitled “Waste Land”; the title couldn’t be better to describe the musical contents. This is no uplifting energetic song-oriented music, no…this is oppressing cinematographic ritual music!
Although it’s easy to compare this project with diverse Cold Meat bands, there’s a difference in instrumentation. Of course there are synths, but also African drums, Japanese gong, Siberian head-voice, and so on. Admittedly, this makes the ritual sounds on this release far more interesting. Another plus are the dynamics in volume; it ranges from almost nihil to very loud.
The first highlight for me is Eternal Kali Yuga, in which the sound is enriched by nice violin parts, speech samples, and crowd samples. This reminds me a bit of Svartedauen by the Swedish band When, taking the listener to some plague-infested medieval village where you stroll around at dusk..
Shadowland is the track where the monks enter: ritual singing backed up by loud drumbeats, Echoes from the past consists of acoustic guitars which create the necessary variety.
Another surprise is The Clash (no, not the band…), a great track with ritual singing, speech samples and rhythmic percussion. I can even imagine people dancing to this track.
14 tracks in total, ranging from quiet to loud and almost harsh. The sound quality is clear, the music is convincing. Very good release!
[editor’s note: the first official :Golgatha: cd “Kydos – Reflections on Heroism” is out now on Athanor.]
