Current 93
Dogs Blood Rising

In cases like this, it is truly useless to linger in discussions. Certain music cannot be described: you either listen to it or it's impossible to imagine. If you know Current 93 for albums like "Thunder Perfect Mind" or "Soft Black Stars," clear your mind and gather your courage, because here only the apocalyptic atmosphere of their music remains, stripped of all melody and any hint of catchiness. A good measure to understand if this album might interest you are the horrific atmospheres of Diamanda Galás' early works, particularly albums like "Divine Punishment" and "Saint of the Pit." Music, therefore, not for all tastes.

Released in 1984, "Dogs Blood Rising" continues in the same vein as the previous "Nature Unveiled," the terrifying album with which the group, not even a year before, laid the foundations for a new way of understanding and making music. Their music, in which industrial sounds and the solutions of the iciest electronics take on the dark hues of an ominous ritual. Where the sense of mystery and anxiety is heightened by dealing with themes revolving around occultism and esotericism. A proposition, ultimately, capable of assuming true metaphysical and mystical connotations, as it relies more on the mesmerizing power and impact that the alienating atmospheres have on the listener as a whole, rather than individual musical passages and content. A bit less compact and spectral than the previous one, this work undoubtedly represents a further evolution of past insights and solutions, without losing anything in terms of expressive force. Here, indeed, the experimental component (especially on a vocal level) is accentuated, which gives the work a greater variety and a touch of avant-gardism that slightly (I said slightly!) mitigates the oppressive atmosphere and the sense of abyss that pervaded the previous episode. It is also possible to note, in the themes that intertwine and reappear in different forms, greater attention in the arrangement of the various pieces, providing greater cohesion and coherence to a work that would otherwise appear too expansive and fragmented. Therefore, there is not only room for fear and anxiety, but also for the mind, which, amidst shivers, finds some amusement. Demonstrating that we are faced with a group not limited to merely shocking the listener with gimmicks, but that also knows how to give depth and a complete sense to their work. Depth that we also find in the lyrics, never banal or predictable, but dense with often hard-to-decipher symbols.

It's useless to talk about the individual episodes. Long and intricate compositions alternate with shorter and more atmospheric moments (but always disturbing), in a continuous rise and fall of emotions, where, between voids and fullness, the tension is always palpable: the scenarios constantly change and outline a tortuous and unpredictable path. Our Charon is David Tibet, here more than ever in the role of the dark ceremonialist. His chilling and blasphemous voice, between invocations, whispers, moans, and desperate screams, is continuously subjected to the violence and manipulation of the machines: now slowed down to the extreme, now broken up and multiplied into a thousand echoes and reverberations, now minced and distorted, it constitutes a true song from beyond the grave, capable of alienating the listener and transporting them elsewhere, to desolate places, among hordes of demons and choirs of the damned. The sound corpus becomes more minimalistic than before, composed essentially of noises and samples, mostly Gregorian chants or rituals associated with Alesteir Crowley, the occultist whose philosophy inspires the music of Current 93. Here and there appear the dry percussion of John Murphy (known for collaborating with Death in June and Boyd Rice), the declarative voice of Steven Ignorant, the intervention of some gentle maidens, and the disturbing nursery rhymes of a little girl. The fundamental production work by Steven Stapleton (Nurse with Wound), who performs a meticulous operation of deconstruction and manipulation of sounds and samples in the mixing stage, makes the atmosphere, if possible, even more unhealthy and unsettling.

Adding anything else is pointless. It's sufficient to reiterate that we are faced with a truly extreme, challenging work, totally devoid of melody and composed exclusively of noises and laments. Something that resembles a black mass more than anything else we can define as music. At this point, nothing remains but to summon courage and dive into the listening. Not recommended for the easily suggestible. Forewarned is forearmed...