Death in June
The Wall of Sacrifice

THE REVIEW

The Wall Of Sacrifice may not be the best album by Death In June, but it is certainly the most anguished since, in the intentions of its author, it was supposed to be the last and thus end the career of Death In June, something that fortunately will not happen. The album was born from a dream-nightmare experienced by Douglas P. in which he saw a wall of blood (hence "The Wall of Sacrifice" which gives the album its title) where the fate of every man was tied to the melting and flowing of frozen tears on the wall. Each individual had the opportunity to choose the "path" of the flowing liquids within a certain time frame and, consequently, to choose their own fate. Surely a "concept" full of a decadent symbolism that confirms the stature of poet and last singer of the ruins of our time of this modern "Chansonnier".

The cover is one of the most effective, after all, Douglas P. has always wanted to meticulously curate the graphics of his projects: camouflaged by a mask and holding a blade and a rose with a grim black raven on his left, the visual impact is powerful and exemplifies the entire poetics of this artist, torn between beauty and death, between sweetness and violence, inspired in this theme by the Japanese writer Yukio Mishima. Another image depicts him while he is engrossed in reading the Brown Book -War and Nazi Criminals in, the book published during the Cold War by Soviet propaganda that named all the Nazi criminals who successfully reinvented themselves in the new West Germany.

The album is ideally divided into two parts. The title track is a long and gloomy martial-ambient piece in which various samples can be heard, including the SS hymns, and it follows in the vein of "Death of a Man" influencing subsequent artists of the martial scene like Der Blutharsch: this sound "collage" can remind of some early works of Current 93; after all, it should not be forgotten that during this period, the bond with David Tibet was very close, as he actively participates in the album as a guest along with the disturbing Boyd Rice, a sort of Angel of Death and destruction. The subsequent "Giddy Giddy Carousel" is one of the most effective tracks where, on the customary acoustic guitar chords, a style that in the long run will prove cloying but here still leaves its mark, the tragic epic of Europe, one of the key themes of Death In June, is uncompromisingly immortalized. The other strong tracks on the album are "Fall Apart" and "Hullo Angel", composed together with Tibet (which will also be replayed on Swastikas for Noddy by Current 93), which will become two classics of the group and apocalyptic-folk genre. The album closes with the experimental and noise-driven "Death is A Drummer", which manages to disturb with the usual military fanfare samples and is characterized by a putrescent and lugubrious atmosphere, and the very brief lullaby "Heilige Tod" (Holy Death) which already appeared on Brown Book.

In conclusion, it remains to be emphasized that listening to Death In June is always an extreme experience, the material dealt with is hot and uncompromising and will certainly not appeal to everyone, but I recommend approaching the music of this poet, often wrongly boycotted and misunderstood.