aRternative

Reflections of our world in the broken mirror of music

  • Take heed and bear witness to the wonders of music

plunging into The Ocean

Posted by Attila Korsós On 5:01 PM 4 comments

When it comes to my musical taste, people often ask why don't I like mainstream pop bands if I admit that their music is catchy or even to my liking. The reason is that almost every time I recognize a popular song as being good music, I find that there is no real emotion or self-expression driving it. Popular songs are usually assembled by professionals with the sole purpose of entertainment for the masses. That's anything but art in my opinion.

The bands which I consider to be of highest value and which occupy the topmost places in my imaginary list are examples of pure self-expression, sometimes so sincere and bereft of decoration or disguise that they leave me shaken every time I listen to them. And there are also some bands which I hold in highest esteem either because of a complex ideology represented in each and every part of their existence or because of the conception they follow through a song, through an album or through a lifetime.

A very good example for a band with conceptions is the international formation The Ocean (or sometimes The Ocean Collective) based in Germany that has speedily become one of my favorite bands once I listened to their beautiful two-disc epic monstrosity, Precambrian. That unprecedentedly versatile and diverse piece of art had the conception of telling the history of the birth and childhood of our planet. Each of the songs bear the name of a prehistoric era, following each other in succession and trying to paint the image of the given age upon the canvas of our mind. That was a good three years ago by now, so it was high time the band produced a new piece of art. A lot of things around the band's house have changed since Precambrian, the greatest change being the replacement of the singer. Thus, all the band's fans and critiques awaited the release of the new album. At first, it was planned to be a two-disc set like its predecessor, but later, the band decided to release the two discs separately, one in April, one in October.

The conception behind April's disc, Heliocentric is accurately hinted at by its title. The album deals with the heliocentric idea proposed by Copernicus and the battle it had hopelessly fought against religion. As the songs progress, the theme's range is expanded into the greater opposition between creationist and evolutionist beliefs.

The band handles the topic with superb songwriting sense, all of the songs telling exactly what their titles propose, chapter after chapter in human ideologic history. The music is unbelievably different from that of Precambrian, having the same sludge/doom/hardcore roots but being far more softer and filled with clean vocals.

The lavishly packaged album is a marvellous sight to behold, black and silver dominating the meticulously designed box covered in the constellations of the sky. The song lyrics come printed on nine separate cards each illustrated with William Blake-ish paintings of metaphysical aspect.

Grandiose and epic both on the outside and on the inside, Heliocentric is a masterpiece to behold. Months of careful and attentive listening await those who seek full knowledge of every little nuisace of this disc. One can only wonder what surprises will October's Anthropocentric present.

Firmament
The First Commandment of the Luminaries
The Origin of God

dry sand, cold scales

Posted by Attila Korsós On 4:29 PM 1 comments

In today's manifestation of the whirlwind of genres and songs inside my skull, I will guide you to a land that you might find surprising to be a source of dark music. Take my hand and follow me into the vast and endless desert sands of Egypt, into the dusty and skin-crawling gravevaults of pharaohs, and to the soothing balm of the oases' waters.

One of the world's leading and most succesful death metal acts chose Egyptian culture as the guiding idea behind their music. Their name was taken after one of the most central and determining elements of ancient Egypt's life, their mighty river, the Nile. The band's lyrics and artwork is mainly built up of themes from the culture's history and mythology, often dealing with the gruesome aspects and events of (after)life. Their song titles are peculiar in that some of them are unusually long and most contain some Arabic or ancient Egyptian words. Just to mention a few: Kem Khefa Kheshef, User-Maat-Re, Yezd Desert Ghul Ritual in the Abandoned Towers of Silence or the longest one, Chapter of Obeisance before Giving Breath to the Inert One in the Presence of the Crescent Shaped Horns. The legends of this ill-fated civilization however, are not only represented in the band's imagery and textuality, but also in the music itself. Although most of the music is pure death metal of extreme skill, lightning speed and unusual brutality, intros and intermezzos of traditional Egyptian instruments like the baglama-saz help create a sinister atmosphere of North African folklore.

The source of this deep affection towards Egypt is the singer-songwriter-guitarist and amateur egyptologist, Karl Sanders. His love for this mythology and history is so obsessive that he eventually decided to create a creative outlet solely for traditional Egyptian meditative folk music. He has already released his second solo album under his own name, the first entitled Saurian Meditation, the second Saurian Exorcisms.

On these two albums, droning ambient sounds draw up the background, either of instrumental or digital source and even special low-tone throat-singing techniques are used to set the atmosphere. Onto these, the guitars conjure an Arabic world of melodies, mostly being acoustic but sometimes distorted. Electronic distortion might sound out of place in case of music trying to visualize an ancient world, but Sanders' highly professional skills create short solos and droning that perfectly blend into their grim surroundings. Unlike in Nile, there are no vocals on the solo albums of Sanders, hence there are no lyrics at all. Most songs contain some drums or other traditional percussion.

The title of Saurian Meditation suggests a calm, relaxed and comforting atmosphere that can form the base for meditation, but there are some songs on the disc that are far from comforting. The song The Elder God Shrine for example creates an emotion of excitement like that before a battle. Its choirs resemble soldiers taunting each other to get into the state of mind required for war. The second album, Saurian Exorcisms is even further from pleasant moods and relaxation. Songs like A Most Effective Exorcism Against Azagthoth and His Emissaries wield guitars and percussion in a fearful and unsettling way. Shira Gula Pazu is similar to a forbidden, primitive, and pre-human desert ritual for the summoning of a nameless god.

If you, by some perverse reason, happen to enjoy the burning heat of sun-scorched sand, the cold touch of reptilian skin, the color of ageless, dry stone and the sight of the endless, unknown desert, Karl Sanders is the choice for the soundtrack to your dreams.

wolves in the concert hall

Posted by Attila Korsós On 9:18 AM 0 comments

All you dark-hearted and open-minded lovers of the colder aspects and infrequently treaded paths of Mother Nature must be quite excited by now, for next Monday, a trio from over the seas will grace our humble city with a celebration of the womb we all came from and of the darker and more twisted creatures originating from the same source. This undoubtedly underground, but unquestionably prominent band hails from the Cascade Mountains in Washington state and is known by the name Wolves in the Throne Room. Their latest release, Black Cascade has been unleashed upon the civilized world in 2009, but the tour celebrating that recording has eluded the interest of Hungarian fans. This year brings the compensation for our grim-loving hearts.
On the 10th of May, those who will be in Dürer-kert should prepare to step on a path leading to the darkest and most foreboding wildernesses of nature. The cold home of moonlight and mist sifting through dead branches of pine trees awaits. We will tread on the way of dry, dead ground and wet, cold air, twigs cracking under our feet, wind combing our hair. We will enter the nest of cawing crows and the lair of howling wolves. Mother Nature will embrace us with skeletal fingers and breathe freezing air into our lungs. She will comfort us with solitude, she will cover us with dry bark. We will be wanderers above the sea of fog. We will stand on mountain tops, screaming our anger toward civilization into the endless aether and we will curl up in mossy caves, whispering our anguish to the flocks of mushrooms.

All this will be conjured by veil-thin and fragile guitars, atmospheric and eerie synthesizers, monotonous drums teeming with ancient, primitive power, and timeless and instinctive harsh vocals. These wolves surely won't leave anyone untouched. Their unique blend of the original Norwegian black metal atmosphere (á la Burzum) and the ancient American way of life yields a most outstanding and lasting experience for all listeners.

However, there is more to this band than screaming and noise. They are well-known for the serious ideology behind their art. They support ideas most collectively referred to as radical environmentalism, but more precisely defined as eco-spiritual and eco-anarchist vision. They respect nature above all, and do so in a most spiritual way. Not many people would expect serious affection towards our planet and environment from a black metal band, but those few, who know where to look for values, know that beauty sometimes stands right by the side of horror.

The American priests of our planet will be supported by a Hungarian band of no smaller spiritual attitude, The Moon and the Nightspirit. The core of the band is the duo of Mihály and Ágnes, who write and play shamanistic folk music on traditional Hungarian folk instruments. Each of their performances is like a trance the old tribes of Europe experienced around the fire on obscure nights of spiritual activity. They conjure the deepest and most primeval feelings and instincts up in the listener, comforting him or her to the point where he or she almost feels as if becoming one with the greatest spirit of them all, that of the Earth. Fragile, melodious, ancient and powerful are these songs, touching every being with a sensitive soul.

So, to all of humanity, you who have the possibility and the affinity, be there on Monday at Dürer-kert. The music will take you closest to Mother Earth's closed spiritual eye and cradle you in Her loving flames. But beware, for when Her eye opens, you might see things that your feeble human mind will deny to accept. She might have created the beauties and wonders of life, but she also did call into existence some creatures of horror lurking behind the human threshold.

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