Current 93
Dogs Blood Rising

The Current 93 are undoubtedly a unique band that, over time, have been able to evolve, transitioning from their early strictly esoteric and experimental phase to becoming the pioneers of the so-called neo-folk genre. The group then managed to stylistically renew themselves, moving from a subtle and refined minimalism to psychedelia. The first albums are often defined as industrial by many, but, upon closer inspection, they are religious music. David Tibet has always been a dark figure with great charisma: he infused the band with his diverse and numerous religious and literary interests. He initially embraced the dark esotericism of Aleister Crowley, eventually arriving at a unique "vision" where Buddhism and Christianity converge. Equally important were the literary influences: Tibet is a devotee of fantastical narratives and British writers such as Arthur Machen (honored in the trilogy of "The Inmost Light"), the master of ghost stories Montague Rhodes James, Eric Count Stenbock, and the modern representative of "weird" fiction Thomas Ligotti with whom he actively collaborated on the albums "I have A Special Plan For Those World" and "In Foreign Time, In Foreign Land."

"Dogs Blood Rising" is part of the early period of the Current and is their most sinister album, filled with a devastating potency: even today it shines with a sinister light, hellish glows, and satanic litanies full of an inverted religion, an anti-Christianity influenced by controversial figures like Aleister Crowley and Lautremont, the latter being the French author of "Chants of Maldoror", a highly influential text in the "philosophical" conception of the early David Tibet.

"Christus Christus", the opening track, immediately plunges us into an infernal circle atmosphere thanks to the Gregorian chants - interspersed with elements of noise music - that incessantly recite an obsessive and esoteric litany laden with a grim mystical power. The following "Falling Back in Fields of Rape" is a sort of "pièce" of grotesque and macabre theater where repressed nightmares of violated children, serial killers, and priests who have now embraced the coming of the Antichrist find voice. In "From Broken Cross, Locusts", we hear a Tibet possessed and tormented by apocalyptic nightmares: in the background, the narration of what might be a priest branded as "heretical" can be heard: the catacomb-like atmosphere of this track is chilling.

"Raio No Terrasu" is instead an extreme experience: it’s a track recorded live at Bar Maldoror on the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of the death of Japanese writer Yukio Mishima: it is undoubtedly the best "para-religious esoteric collage recorded by the Current," where a Tibet in the throes of apocalyptic visions incessantly recites the word "Anti-Christ" supported by choruses of Gregorian chants and industrial-ambient noise which are as incisive as ever. "St. Peters Keys all Bloody", is a "popular" text by Simon & Garfunkel where the lyrics are twisted in a macabre style, while in the title track that closes this nightmare, we hear the usual noise and malevolent "loops."

It should be emphasized that much of the credit for this cornerstone of the esoteric-industrial genre goes to the skillful "mixing" by Steven Stapleton of Nurse With Wound. Excellent and indicative of what we are about to listen to is also the cover depicting a Gargoyle watching over Paris, foreseeing the imminent end of the human race. In a CD reissue by Durtro, one can also admire a painting by the Italian painter Luca Signorelli which can be admired in the cathedral of Orvieto ("Rule of AntiChrist").