This New Zealand group goes underground to summon some nefarious entity to the earthly plane, torment it a little bit for fun, and then banish it back to the void from which it came. None of that is true, of course, but it’s the sort of vivid imagery this strange, dense recording produces.
What is true, however, is that the group used battery-powered generators to record this material outdoors. The locations sound suitably subterranean for work so pleasantly claustrophobic. The album is one ever-shifting, continuous flow that’s divided into six track designations that are almost more reference points than anything else. The markers aren’t arbitrary and delineate very definite change, yet they aren’t completely necessary since this is an album best suited to listening in its entirety in a single sitting.
The first track begins with an ethereal drone that sounds like the humming of alien beings while raspy machinery whirs and clanks in the background, punctuated by light harmonic shimmers. Underneath the drones on the next track are clattering bottles or pieces of metal and unearthly groans. It’s not clear exactly what’s happening, but it hints at something fairly sinister. Someone in the group plucks an instrument on the fourth track and the group builds their clanging into a rhythm as their ritual gains momentum. Whatever prey they have in their sights surfaces dramatically on track five, emitting grotesque growls in whatever passes for language in its native realm. A burst of static erupts in track six, as if their enemy’s prowess has been underestimated, but cooler heads prevail as the band manages to get rid of the entity for good.
Make no mistake, this is no Lovecraftian homage, but rather one of the most fully-realized, unique recordings I’ve had the pleasure of coming across in a long time, making me eager to hear what they do next.
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