CRUELTY Presents:
Artist...: Burial Hex - Zola Jesus
Album....: Split
Label....: Aurora Borealis
Size.....: 53,9 MB
Source...: Vinyl
Playtime.: 38:42 min
Genre....: Lo-Fi
Release..: Aug-28-2009
Encoder..: LAME V3.97 -V2 --Vbr-New
Quality..: VBRkbps 44,1Hz Joint-Stereo
TrackList:
01 04:46 Burial Hex - Go Crystal Tears
02 14:26 Burial Hex - Temple of the Flood
03 19:30 Zola Jesus - Julius & Ethel
Release Notes:
Burial HexÆs side of the record features two tracks, the first being
the relatively short æGo Crystal TearsÆ, which evidently represents
something of a new musical direction for Burial Hex. ItÆs much more
musically conventional, in terms of having a recognisable song structure,
in which brittle, brooding synthpop is combined with tormented black
metal-style vocals. The music here is almost darkwave, with a distinctly
80s feel to it, and I've seen John CarpenterÆs horror film soundtrack
work and Dario ArgentoÆs band Goblin specifically cited as influences.
ItÆs startlingly different to anything I've heard from Burial Hex
before, and it takes some getting used to, but itÆs really good.
The second track, æTemple Of The FloodÆ, was recorded during the same
period as the material on Initiations, and sounds much more like what
I've come to expect from Burial Hex û fourteen minutes of incredibly
dark industrial ambient and æhorror electronicsÆ, an unclean army of
dirty, sinister little sounds which skitter, scrape and pulse under a
stormy sky full of booming percussion and low-end drone. ItÆs not too
dissimilar from what the Edinburgh band Wraiths (whoÆve also been
released by Aurora Borealis) do. Elizabethan composer John Dowland
gets a credit for the lyrics. For some strange reason, John Dowland
seems to be all the rage at the moment û I've recently reviewed albums
by Damiano Mercuri and Werkraum which both used lyrics or music by Dowland.
Around the midpoint of æTemple Of The FloodÆ, the analogue electronics
give way to tribal hand-drums and church organ, a campy gothic combination
which reminds me of early Alice Cooper, specifically the track æBlack JujuÆ
from the 1971 album Love It To Death. (Alice Cooper, incidentally, like
The Rolling Stones, gets totally underrated simply because heÆs gone on
for about 30 years too long. If Alice had quit after, say, 1973Æs Muscle
Of Love, heÆd be a massive cult figure now. Things really started going
downhill when Alice Cooper stopped being a group and started being just
one guy.) The final section of the track adds some pensive piano, the
sound of dripping water, and more electronic squibs and burbles before
everything is reduced to a warm, purring wall of circuit hum and a
final blast of organ.