It’s not every day that I receive an album that comes with instructions; under normal circumstances I would find that rather patronizing but on this occasion it is much more understandable. The Black Industrial Grimoire arrived in a most curious black box-set, with what appears to be a woofer attached to one of its covers (which I have yet to fathom out but apparently it connects to a stereo – technology is not really my forte). The set contains a black mirror and a pop-out unicursal hexagram, which is designed to be set up as a kind of display with an assortment of candles and incense within a circle in a darkened room. My life has been so hectic recently that I haven’t had the chance to indulge in such a ritual as of yet but I imagine listening under such ambient conditions would be quite a unique experience.
As I’ve come to expect from this interesting label this is a veritable headfuck of an album and is definitely not for the meek. Compiled by Nordvargr of Mz412, this is essentially made up of 13 tracks of the black industrial variety from acts such as Gnaw Their Tongues, Melek-Tha, Tele S. Therion and Mz412. Expect this to be an unpleasant and unsettling listening experience that will try its hardest to shatter your soul and leave you in a quivering heap in the corner. Drakh start things off with ‘Numerevil’ which generally protrudes with an air of foreboding that sets the tone for what’s to come. ‘Bleeding Like Dogs’ (Gnaw Their Tongues) comes scraping and clattering to the fore making an ungodly and rather horrific racket within a sea of hideous distortion while the screams bellow out like tortured demons in the fiery pits of hell. The discordant layering of noise tries its best to invoke terror, before ‘Invocation Of Mehrim’ (Steel Hook Prosthesis) descends into a simply dark ambient piece that is far more subtle and lulls you into a state of hypnotic hell.
‘Haborym’ (Melek-Tha) slumps along with a lugubrious aura, a clanging industrial beat steadily moves along through recurring shrieks that really have me in a trance before long. ‘Lemegeton Placenta’ (Batcheeba) is one track that gets my mind working and wondering what the fuck is going on – being perfectly honest it sounds like a roaring lion being attacked with a sword, while ‘Invocation To Ahriman’ (Michael W. Ford) brings an Indian flavour to things and sounds rather like an ominous Middle Eastern séance in the desert with tribal drums, dancing round fires and warbling ritualistic chants. ‘Grimoire XII’ (Tele S Therion) naturally jumps out into your psyche to well and truly rape what is left in there and really sounds like some malevolent spirit has been unleashed through the incantation. ‘Curse In The Name Of Enki’ (Mz412) has a real ominous kind of repetition to it that just keeps on going and a kind of apocalyptic pomp that sounds like it belongs in LOTR with orcs and uruk-hai marching through Mordor building up to a real sombre end.
Okay that’s all 77 minutes of disc one over with, phew! Disc two is supposedly a recording of the lower frequencies from the main disc, playing out as one long noisy track. This feels a bit like being on the underground with all the windows open, in a dreary carriage by yourself…that noise as the wind scrapes through the windows as you pass through a darkened tunnel with the mundane ch-ch-ch-ch as it skates along the rails. Yes, it is a bit of an endurance test but it is also good to have on as background noise if you don’t want anything too distracting. I am curious to hear how the two sound played coterminously in the acousmatic style they are designed to be listened to; it’s something I haven’t got around to yet. Interesting stuff and this is a genre I need to explore in much greater depth including some of the weird and wonderful acts thrown together here. Check out this and more from the label below…
http://www.radicalmatters.com/asp/cd_cdr_catalogue.asp
Luci Herbert
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