Current 93
Inerrant Rays of Infallible Sun (Blackship Shrinebuilder)

"Inerrant Rays of Infallible Sun (Blackship Shrinebuilder)," released in the wake of "Black Ships Ate the Sky" (it's still 2006), is a split of two tracks that cements the friendship of David Tibet and Al Cisneros, formerly the bassist for the historic Sleep, and then founder, along with drummer Chris Hakius, of the stoner band Om.

Stoner? Apocalyptic folk? Something doesn't add up here.

In truth, right after the release of "Black Ships Ate the Sky," there were rumors of Tibet's own desire to collaborate with the formidable Sunn O))) of Anderson and O'Malley, a rumor that certainly did not leave the fans most attentive to the sonic evolutions of the Current indifferent.

And if to this day, alas, such an infernal plan does not seem to have come to fruition, we can console ourselves with this EP, where Tibet's recent enlightenment by the electric word finds a valid (and hopefully not last) outlet.

With "Inerrant Infallible (Black Ships at Nineveth or Edom)," the discourse effectively picks up from the guitar explosions that characterized the title track of the Current's last full-length. Besides, from the long-winded title alone, it is clear that the track in question constitutes an appendix to the latest discographic effort of Current 93, a very important work whose concept could not but leave room for further developments.

For the occasion, Tibet takes on practically all the instruments, with the exception of the bagpipe played by Catriona MacAffer, a priceless contribution to the economy of the newly embraced sound.

What will emerge is a tremendous journey, yet another, fearsome, ritual by Current 93: an impetuous and visionary crescendo where the apocalyptic poetry that has always distinguished Tibet's artistic vision is inserted into an unprecedented sonic context, without losing anything in terms of peculiarity, personality, and originality.

A rocky bass loop, seasoned with rusty bursts of electric guitar, is reiterated throughout the length of the track (almost ten minutes!), serving as the master axis of a fearsome sonic mantra into which new stratifications of guitar and MacAffer's hallucinatory bagpipe will progressively flow.

Tibet is a raving lunatic, seemingly returning to the times of the sublime "Lucifer Over London." His sermon (dotted, as always, with beautiful verses) is as apocalyptic as the mad singer has delivered in his career: harangues vomited by an obsessed preacher whose ramblings are lost in the roar of the waves and the splashes of a tumultuous sea of guitars and bagpipes that intertwine and blend into a triumph of oblique melodies and dissonant mixtures.

Today, the apocalypse is depicted with the black sludge of a deviant and psychedelic noise, not without drone contaminations: nothing other than the electric externalization of the folk/singer-songwriter heart of the band.

There's little to add: an experience to live through, more than to recount.

Simply honest, instead, is the track by Om, who, without too much distortion to their sound, package a substantial Sabbath-tinged stoner/doom, always their prerogative.

Distorted bass and drums, powerful riffs repeated ad infinitum, heart-stopping slowdowns, a paranoid voice that drags us into the soot and dust of a hell with a seventies aftertaste.

Nothing to argue with in the whole: "Rays of the Sun/to the Shrinebuilder" is an engaging track, with a good groove and smooth flow, but unfortunately lacking in bite: certainly not up to the standards that Cisneros and his associates have accustomed us to over time.

An episode that adds little to the duo's career and seems in no way contaminated by the proximity of a figure with the artistic stature of David Tibet.

Too bad, interesting cues could have arisen.

Conclusions: despite its brevity, "Inerrant Rays..." constitutes, in my opinion, a deeply inspired and decidedly significant chapter in the broader discography of the English artist, a possible beginning of a new fruitful journey of the tireless and unpredictable David Tibet (who, however, had vaguely embraced certain sounds years earlier, but not fully convincing, in "Horsey").

As for me, exhausted by the seventeen-minute duration of the CD, I insatiably press the play button and melt my brain once more.

Hopefully anticipating that next time, alongside the name Current 93, the magic word Sunn O))) will materialize!