Lurking, murky attempts to Kraut drones; drums a hypnotising steady beat, mekanik but deprived of all life and groove, wandering in Sisyphean circles, the bass does little but to tag along the minimal plodding, only now and then breaking free into equally repetitive and haunting ostinati. Confused noises from deceased guitars and elsewheres are jittering, tittering, pouncing on the unsuspecting listener like rabid ghost raptors, spectres molesting the haplessly sleeping.
Compared to this album’s predecessor, Finsternis is far more hypnotic and mesmerizing than Descension. Where Descension consisted of four equal and individual songs, four steps down into the abyss, Finsternis is rather a spiritual journey, a nightmare Spaziergang through a damp and lightless Netherworld. A shaman terror-quest through a dreaded limbo forest filled with forgotten things you’d rather not see, colourless and lightless.
Imagine a NEU! suffering from necroticism, depression and leprosy, the retarded and wholly malevolent little sibling of a Kosmiche Rock Kollektif, or imagine perhaps GUAPO’s steadfast trod of the Twisted Stems EP in an EGA skeleton phantasmagoria, or ABRUPTUM sans all metal. ALUK TODOLO is not metal, despite the short explosions of black riff flurries and the occasional blastbeat spasm, it’s hardly even rock – deprived of all groove and will to life, this album is a last bastion on the landslide where minimalism slowly crumbles into nothingness. Some of the darkest music I have experienced, mind-bending, depleting your soul of strength and vigour, leaving only a dry flaking mummy of the listener. This album startled my cat when I first listened to it; being a creature naturally inclined to the Spirit World, it did not welcome the Guests that were brought by ALUK TODOLO that I could not see.
Terrifying.
And for your information, this is the XIIIth part of the URSK libations, where the artworks are created by Stephen Kasner; a previous instalment is found here.
-aVoid
VITALS:
Release: MMIX
Label: UTECH Records
Avantgenre: Rock In Decomposition
Duration: 38:29
Origin: France
Official site: http://www.myspace.com/aluktodolo
Review online since: 17.08.2009 / 11:32:41
| TRACKLIST:
I. Premier Contact |
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