On the ruins of this world destroyed and on the brink of apocalypse (even though the inner one happened long before our births), the questions remain the same. What happiness is there in this body of bones that encases us? The wind pushes us over the dust, and, whistling through us, creates the melodies of the end of the world.

These melodies have been recorded and edited in a live album by Current 93. Anyone who has listened to Thunder Perfect Mind will surely remember the track "Hitler as Kalki (SDM)", both because it tackles atmospheres in a very different manner from the album (thanks to Nick Saloman's guitars), and because of its almost seventeen minutes, and the experience of participating in the destructive ride of a new Hitler reincarnated as Kalki. Those who were impressed and enthusiastic will surely have discovered a live album with this title in the endless discography of the current.

Opening the album (and also closing it) we find "Imperium V". Anyone who has listened to Imperium (the 1987 album which witnesses one of the first unions of industrial and folk and gothic atmospheres) knows that the tracks under this name are four. And here we find the fifth, which summarizes almost all the lyrics of the first ones (many of which are actually biblical verses, taken from Ecclesiastes 3) in a dark folk song format, typical of the year. And it's certainly the case because it closely resembles "Moonlight, You Will Say" from Of Ruine or Some Blazing Starr, a 1994 album: the music of this track (mostly composed by Cashmore) live will be used to create a piece with a very different spirit. 

After the first seven minutes of Imperium V, we get straight to the point. "Hitler as Kalki" (SDM) reproduced live in its entirety, in an impeccable performance. Although the sound quality and mixing are not superlative (in fact, this goes for the entire album), you can clearly hear the interweaving of the apocalyptic guitars. Let's recall that Tibet dedicates this song to his father, who fought Nazism, for whom the dictator was a reincarnation of absolute evil; we are far from the ambiguous atmospheres of Death in June. 

After this electric ride that always leaves you exhausted but diabolically excited, a third even more dreadful track begins. It's "Christ and the Pale Queens Mighty in Sorrow", the title track from the eponymous 1988 album. This time the reproduction is not faithful, as the atmosphere, with a crescendo of obsessions, becomes openly more industrial, with a Stapleton at his best. Much less electronic precision from the studio, a lot of live fury. Industrial percussion supports the noise of machines and crazy guitars, while a Tibet at his best declaims his verses about damnation and the end, for ten minutes of blows to the brain (thus ten minutes less than the original, which we now know is something else).

What could Current 93 offer now, if not another crazy and lengthy track from Thunder Perfect Mind? "All the Stars Are Dead Now" (another track that stands out in the original album for its length) here is proposed in a more intimate and quiet version (which does not mean it is not restless). There are fewer folk interventions than the original (like the flutes), but the reverberated voice of the damned minstrel always dominates, accompanied by John Balance's vocal choruses and the ever-splendid Rose McDowall. 

The conclusion brings us back to the beginning, with a stronger and less intimate version of Imperium V. And we remain desolate, sad, and probably alone (very few times have I listened to this group with anyone else, and I always feel uncomfortable when it happens).

The technical level of the recording and mixing, as I said, leaves much to be desired, confining "Hitler as Kalki" as an album only for fans and absolutely not for beginners (unless you love musical filth). A real pity for the arrangements of the tracks that are often better than the originals and truly fantastic performances. If you are a lover of dark folk or apocalyptic folk, it is absolutely an album to listen to. 

Tracklist and Lyrics

01   Imperium V (07:31)

02   Hitler as Kalki (SDM) (16:34)

These are the dregs
Of the last grains of the age
It may be the hourglass
Of earth covering earth
But not in Bethlehem
Not in Jerusalem
Not in Chorazin
And not in Bethsaida
We will not again see
God humbled on an ass
But see
See
On a white horse he comes
Blazing sword
In... in
Burning hand
Lo, I am become death
The destroyer of worlds
His hands are backed up
They're straining at his neck
What colour shall we rank in him?
What face shall we deliver him?
There may be the black dog
There may be the white dog

Hitler comes as Kalki
Hitler comes as Kalki
Kalki comes as Hitler
Kalki comes as Hitler
Teeth
Teeth
Teeth
Teeth

But meaningless lights
Still hold our attention
We think that the holy books
Are written in blood and fire
But what if it's water?
The fire's turned to blood
The blood's turned to water
And the water's turned to what?
Milk?
Piss?
Lies?
Dust?

Hitler comes as Kalki
Kalki comes as Hitler
Everything becomes emptiness
But goes through fire
Secret mother
Gsang yum chen mo
Secret fater
Gsang yab chen po
Hitler becomes Kalki
Kalki becomes Hitler

White horse and red horse
Christ twists on the cross
Hitler smiles
In the guttering rubble
He brings not peace
But a sword
And maybe the ocean roars immaculate
And maybe the stars fall incomprehensible
Oh these all tell me
Oh these all spell to me

Hitler as Kalki
Kalki as Hitler

Where's your God now?
I'll point out his varied forms to you:
One: He hangs on the end of a tree
Two: He's nailed to the arms
Of this self-same tree
And three: He spins
He spins and soars
And laughs through space
Oh one day the world sees
Oh one day the world sees

Hitler as Kalki
Hitler as Kalki

And he lies matted half in time
And half in space
Through the rising incense smoke
I see him in a crouded room
I see him crossing the mountain range
If we see man at his most bloody
If we see man at his most base
Shall we point then and there:
This is reality, this is his nature?
But what makes the pain
More real than the joy?
Both are so mingled now
And muddied together
To pull them apart
We butcher the essence
And cripple its meaning

God is on the cross
Or three Gods perhaps
If they are all one
Neither coming nor going
Neither waning nor waxing
But immense in their unity
Matter and space
He rides between the spaces
And he rides between the pain
In the secret heart of becoming
In the secret modes of darkness
His eyes are now shuttered windows
Oh man man man man man
Man with his claws and his lies
With his peace and his pain
With his love and his sorrow
With his candle of hope
That stutters and dies
No liberation through hearing
When the sound of the world's collapsing
Deafens, deafens, deafens, deafens, deafens our ears
And pierces our heart

Hitler as Kalki
Kalki as Hitler

Rolling and roaring
Snooping and soaring
Exultant and trembling
Sorrow sorrow sorrow
Where the eagle flies
Where the eagle shudders
Where the eagle drops
Where the eagle plummets
All things merging, dissolving
Then stars collapse
The vortex commences in space
The rubble collects
The debris gathers
Time starts to shiver
My hearts blood
If I dissolve into your body
If I hoped to find
White light in your soul
If together we fall into forever
Would we not notice the turbulence
That no longer waits?
First he comes
From on a hill
Then he's running
Throughout the town
Then he stands
Devoid of peace
Devoid of place
Devoid of pity
Oh my dear Christ
Carried broken from sad brown earth
Teeth, teeth, teeth, teeth, teeth, teeth, teeth, teeth

Hitler as Kalki
Hitler as Kalki
Kalki as Hitler
Hitler as Kalki
Hitler as Kalki
Hitler as Kalki

03   Christ and the Pale Queens Mighty in Sorrow (09:19)

04   All the Stars Are Dead Now (Wm. B) (08:54)

05   Imperium V (07:50)

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