Æthenor
Betimes Black Cloudmasses

So, there are a Swiss, an Englishman, and an American who... no, it's not the start of a joke: I actually want to talk to you about "Betimes Black Cloudmasses," the second album of the "transnational" project Aethenor, created between London, Geneva, and Oslo, and released in 2008.

The Swiss is a certain Vincent De Roguin (previously active in the - unknown to me - Shora); the Englishman is Daniel O’ Sullivan (Guapo, later a close collaborator with the more famous Ulver), while the American is none other than the sorcerous majesty Stephen O’ Malley, who certainly needs no introduction. The trio, aided by two drummers, Alexander Bable and Nicolas Field, presents an intelligent mix of dark-ambient and free-jazz where improvisation seems to prevail throughout the entire piece. That it's dark material is undisputed; there aren't many drones despite O'Malley's presence, or at least they don't play a dominant role, considering that the guitar is often left in the background or confined to embroiders or sweeping shadowy soundscapes. Instead, what prevails are the gloomy evolutions, the cosmic drifts (very much à la Tangerine Dream – along with Pink Floyd's “A Saucerful of Secrets” being the first point of reference that comes to mind), the sinister intertwining of a keyboard maelstrom entirely entrusted to the insights of O' Sullivan and De Roguin. Among all this, the percussion (never linear, be they single hints, isolated touches in silence or sudden, devastating epileptic outbursts) holds a crucial role in the final success of the product, as it is their infernal whirlwind that composes the chaotic crescendos that break between one (more or less extended) phase of meditation and another.

Then, there's also the Norwegian, and what a Norwegian: as a very very special guest in the lineup we find nothing less than the spectral voice of Krystoffer Rygg, voice/leader of Ulver (it is from these sessions that the partnership between the extraordinaire multi-instrumentalist O’Sullivan and the singer's band will be born). Although there is no legacy on this earth that doesn’t shine where Rygg has left his mark, in this instance his moans and mutterings (catacomb scribbles exquisitely rendered in free-style form) caught here and there in the restless textures of a substantially instrumental music, really don’t influence the overall outcome of the operation.

An operation that hits the target perfectly if the aim was to outline destabilizing scenarios that generate uncertainty and feelings of anxiety in the listener. So cerebral as to also tease the listener's brain. Three long tracks (totaling thirty-four minutes) that are, in truth, a single journey of despair through territories made of the very matter of the mind and the Unconscious: between the avant-garde of Terror and restless esotericism (a dark forest visited in the dead of night, stumbling in the dark, tripping over dry branches, sliding down steep slopes, surrounded and chased by dark Presences and mysterious forces), the best moments undoubtedly remain the slow and threatening orchestration at the opening of "I"; the sickly carillons left to vegetate after the percussive explosions of "II"; the desolate ivory keys found in the nothing of nothingness after the slow, creeping exhaustion of the guitar distortions of "III".

Lovers of black-metal or the droning doom of Sunn O))) brand will fall into a good trap, however; truth be told, not only is the language of metal not spoken here, but neither that of rock, despite the involvement of certain characters might suggest some strange prototype of experimental metal; of course, those who love to linger on macabre atmospheres continuously tending towards the Transcendental will feel at home. Who knows, perhaps even the avant-garde enthusiasts tout court might enjoy it (obviously where there is a morbid propensity to explore/probe the viscous folds of the darker side of music). The evolutionary significance of "Betimes Black Cloudmasses," however, lies entirely within the bounds of the Extreme (a further step forward compared to the bases laid years ago by O'Malley with his other projects, obviously in a direction stubborn and contrary to the smoky metal of his Sunn O))) and Khanate) and not, paradoxically, in the cultured drawing rooms of free-jazz, to which the disc in question, from a strictly stylistic point of view, certainly belongs.

Best consumed in small doses.