Elend
The Umbersun

What I am about to review is an album so dark and insane that it is quite difficult to find words to describe it. Perhaps I would do better not to write this review, to let this black gem pass unnoticed, forgotten, just like those cursed relics hidden by ancient sages, relics that guard powerful and evil energies and that, once discovered and opened by careless researchers, reveal themselves in their extraordinary and demonic destructive power.

However, I want to open this Pandora's box, I repeat, this review will certainly not do justice to the work, but I feel the irresistible desire to review at least one album by these extraordinary forgotten artists.

The authors of this work are Elend, a Parisian ensemble revolving around the figures of composers and multi-instrumentalists Iskandar Hasnaoui (French) and Renaud Tschirner (Austrian). The group began their journey back in 1994 with the magnificent "Leçons de Ténèbres," thus opening the triptych of albums that make up the "Officium Tenebrarum."

After the luciferian "Les Ténèbres du Dehors" in 1996, the French group concluded their trilogy in 1998 with this "The Umbersun," undoubtedly the darkest record of the three, depicting humanity's descent into darkness, a humanity scarred by divine fury due to that act of rebellion consisting of gaining awareness through the assumption of the fruit of knowledge. The album is the testimony of a humanity forced to leave the earthly paradise, because of its desire for omnipotence but also and above all, because of the desire to obtain the knowledge that the Divine wanted to preclude. A story which, put in these terms, quite closely resembles that of the Cursed Angel. And it is precisely of Lucifer that Elend speaks in their triptych, however, the group fortunately keeps away from the usual gaudiness of a certain musical scene; the Austro-French duo prefers to focus on the mythical figure of the Fallen Angel.

"The Umbersun" is the first album by the band to abandon the use of keyboards, replaced with thirty singers from the Joyful Company of Singers. During the recording, the choir was split into two parts: an "angelic choir" composed of sopranos singing the Latin and Hebrew parts, and an "infernal choir," interpreting the English parts and consisting of basses and contraltos.

The album consists of nine tracks, nine compositions with a total duration of sixty-six minutes. Sixty-six minutes of grim darkness, a journey through pain, misery (elend means misery in German), the celebration of darkness, hatred, and death.

The album is structured in three distinct moments, each composed of a reading, a response, and a nocturne. The three readings are characterized by a "Byzantine" choir (a sustained bass choir enriched by extended melismas performed by the soprano soloist). The second movement is based on the Revelation of John and is distinguished by a unique dodecaphonic choir. The nocturnes, on the other hand, are much more linear compositions, free of hellish or loud choirs, ethereal compositions embellished by graceful female vocalizations and inserts of sweet violins and keyboards.

With that said, it is easy to understand how difficult it is to describe the album in terms of sound. It would be reductive to label "The Umbersun" as an orchestral neoclassical music album; there is more here, and I am not referring only to the synthesizer synths that contribute significantly to creating that at times apocalyptic and infernal atmosphere and at other times coldly mortuary of this record. I am referring to that atmosphere of desperate madness audible as soon as you press the play button when we are hit by chilling female choirs and frantic violin scores, to which the piercing scream voice of the singer joins after a few seconds. The synths also create a sulfurous and dense atmosphere, full of horror. In the two subsequent tracks, the sound becomes less frantic and infernal, bringing out the calmer soul of the band: the violins weave funeral webs, the synths become spectral and ethereal, the female voices lull the listener like alienating sirens, the singer abandons screaming to “embrace” the listener with a more baritone and recitative timbre. But the horror will return, will re-emerge in the following tracks, and will be another nightmare made of infernal choirs, desperate screams, murderous violins, cacophonous synths, anguish, and agony; but this journey too is destined to end, the turbulent madness is destined to conclude, the album, in the last three tracks, will thus head towards an even darker, sadder, decadent, and desolate sound.

Thus ends this disturbing journey into the dark infernal depths, silence caresses every single part of the listener’s body, the sense of sadness and disorientation fades away, giving way to a strange sense of peace and serenity because, once again, a laborious and extremely difficult listening session has been completed.

In summary, an amazing album, full of emotions but destined for very few people due to its apocalyptic, terrible, and disturbed sound and at the same time, sad, icy, decadent, and almost catacomb-like.

I finally recommend acquiring the entire discography of this extraordinary band which, over the years, has produced always different and amazing albums, never banal and always inspired by many different musical genres (neoclassical, ambient, chamber, industrial…).