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REVIEWS
Judas
Kiss
Written by Lee Powell
The
year was 1984 and Current 93 were in their
very infancy. David Tibet had already been
associated with the earliest incarnations
of Psychic TV, and had appeared live in what
would now be construed as “industrial”
events such as Dogs Blood Order in 1983. The
Crowley-influenced ‘LashTal’ 12”
surfaced along with the name change to Current
93 a year later, and the rest, as they say,
is history.
Of course Current 93 were a very different
group back then, especially in relation to
their recent formations. However, these earliest
incantations of Current 93 produced some incredibly
unique and innovative material, and to all
intents and purposes inspired, shaped and
helped to spawn a whole plethora of artists
and musicians who would fall under the umbrella
of ‘industrial’, or later ‘post-industrial’
if you must, and of course the now immensely
popular dark ambient genre. It has to be said,
Current 93 weren’t solely responsible
for helping to kick-start the whole genre
of music that has emerged since the release
of their seminal ‘Nature Unveiled’,
but along with the likes of Whitehouse, Psychic
TV, Foetus, Coil and Nurse With Wound they
were, whether they like it or not, a major
part of the second and perhaps most influential
wave of industrial music.
Yet to describe Current 93 simply as an industrial
band is just lazy, wholly inaccurate, and
it underrates them immensely, as back in their
early days their compositions were so much
more than a formulaic excursion into what
the likes of Throbbing Gristle had produced
before them. There was obviously some expansion
of the basic ideas that TG and co. had initially
unleashed onto an unexpecting public, but
these were reconstructed and formulated into
their own unique sound. Numerous other bands
and artists of the early 80s, offered nothing
more then avant-garde bizarreness for bizarreness’s
sake with little if any musical or artistic
merit. But, with ‘Nature Unveiled’,
Current 93 formulated one of the most important
and influential albums the industrial genre
has produced to this day, a beautifully dark
and unsettling exploration of sounds, audible
projections and strong religious influences
that combined into a nightmarish vision. This
album proved that Current 93 were so much
more than an industrial project in the common
sense of the word, but it still placed them
firmly, if not rather uncomfortably, within
the industrial genre of the time, along with
co-conspirators and like-minded souls Coil
and Nurse With Wound.
During this time, Current 93 not only had
ties with others within the flourishing early
80s industrial scene, but also with members
of anarcho-punk legends Crass and their co-conspirators,
who on initial inspection seem like odd bedfellows.
Yet delve a little below the surface of what
is expected of industrial and punk, and there
are numerous ties, in challenging the preconceived
natures of their own specific genres, and
in their use of music as a tool in general.
This coupling seems, if nothing else, to make
the feel and atmosphere that is projected
from the dense soundscapes, haunting aesthetic
and religious overtones that fill ‘Nature
Unveiled’ to the brim even more poignant.
Originally released as a vinyl LP in 1984,
and then re-released, again on vinyl, in 1989
before the first CD version surfaced in 1992,
it’s been a good number of years since
a version of ‘Nature Unveiled’
has been available in any format. So much
so that there must be a whole generation of
new(ish) Current 93 fans who have been lucky
enough to discover the band in the last couple
of years, yet who have never heard their more
industrial heritage and the innovative and
gripping compositions this era of the band
produced. Now, thankfully, David Tibet has
finally made ‘Nature Unveiled’
available again on CD. This time the track
listing has been stripped back, unlike the
previous CD edition, to feature only the two
original tracks that made up the vinyl edition
of the album. This is accompanied by a 16-page
booklet which reproduces the original inserts
and artwork from the album’s first issue,
as well as many rare and unseen photos of
Current 93 members at the time. The album
has been skilfully remastered to give a clear
and precise sound, and the first 1000 copies
feature a phenomenally impressive remixed
version of the album by Andrew Liles entitled
‘Nature Revealed’.
There is something unusually uncomfortable
with the atmosphere that emanates from the
immensely dark sounds produced throughout
the entirety of ‘Nature Unveiled’.
It has a quality, depth and intensity that
was years head of its contemporaries, and
it still stands head and shoulders above other
artists who inhabit the ritualistic outskirts
of the dark ambient and post-industrial genres.
Containing two long tracks ‘Ach Golgotha
(Maldoror is Dead)’ and ‘The Mystical
Body Of Christ In Chorazaim (The Great In
The Small)’ and clocking in at a little
under 40 minutes, ‘Nature Unveiled’
has an intense and almost confrontational
presence that is produced by the complex echoes
of sounds, the myriad textured noises and
drones, and Tibet’s otherworldly vocals
that add a sinister malevolence to the dark,
foreboding intensity of the album as a whole.
Time and time again, subtle washes of sounds
and frequencies raise their heads and form
an intricate layer that is instrumental to
the album’s sound.
On the one hand, the compositions seem almost
minimal, yet at the same time massed with
layer upon layer of sounds and audible textures
with a rich multifaceted range.
There is also a fragile yet noticeable religious
feel to the album, which is unveiled with
distant washes of choral passages and manipulated
chants that are faintly inserted beneath a
cacophony of noises, sounds and treated vocals.
The atmosphere evoked by this addition of
religion adds a huge swathe of complexities
to the album’s content and feel, yet
injects a transfixing beauty and allure to
the hypnotically harrowing soundscapes that
take prominence throughout.
The second CD of this set is ‘Nature
Revealed’, a remixed version of the
entire ‘Nature Unveiled’ album
by longtime Current 93 and Nurse With Wound
collaborator Andrew Liles. And just when you
think things can’t get any better, you
slip on this CD and are blown away. Adding
a crystal-clear clarity to the overall sound
of the album, every single minute element
of the lush textural soundscapes is as prominent
as every other. It has an immensely calm feel
to it, which occasionally explodes into shards
of noise, with the production volume being
fantastically precise. It gives the album’s
sound a brilliantly fresh and modern feel
and presentation, whilst it still has one
hand firmly holding on to the early 80s aesthetic
that the original album embodied so well.
Also, there is an increase in the religious
references and connotations that can be found
throughout this remixed version, which mirrors
Tibet’s fascination with, and study
of, the Christian religion, and its fundamental
placing within many of today’s Current
93 releases.
As a standalone CD, ‘Nature Revealed’
is a stunning album filled to the brim with
washes of dark ambient soundscapes, religious
references and focal points, a hauntingly
dark atmosphere and ritualistic elements,
that would find a plethora of modern day post-industrial
fans eagerly embracing its majestic sounds.
Yet coupled with the original album, it brings
something else to the release as a whole.
It shows a different side to the same coin.
A modern take, or a more mature reflection,
of thoughts and ideas that were birthed so
many years ago, yet still hold an immense
relevance to today’s manifestation of
Current 93’s music.
Listening to this album now, some 20-odd years
after its initial release, it’s easy
to see how it helped to shape a whole plethora
of artists to this day, especially those who
skirt around the shadowy recesses of pitch-black
dark ambience. The list of contemporary artists
you could rattle off whose music has more
than a fleeting similarity to the sounds and
aesthetics produced here is as long as your
arm, and shows just how innovative, forward-thinking
and influential this early incarnation of
Current 93 has been. It goes without saying
that ‘Nature Unveiled’ is a phenomenally
important album, and as such is a compulsory
purchase, not only for Current 93 fans, but
also anyone who has any interest whatsoever
in early industrial music and latter-day ritualistic
dark ambient and death industrial.
For all its hugely impressive positives I
do have two very slight niggles with this
release. I question whether it should have
included the track ‘No Hiding From The
Black Bird’ and possibly Nurse With
Wound’s ‘The Burial Of The Sardine’,
both of which appeared on a 7” single
that accompanied the first 1000 copies of
‘Nature Unveiled. The second is the
packaging of these two CDs. Personally, I
would have loved to see them presented in
a plush digipack or some such lavish packaging.
However, they are actually housed in a 2-CD
jewel case, which serves its purpose well
enough, but just doesn’t seem to deliver
the lushness in presentation I feel this release
deserves. See, two very minor niggles and
both personal viewpoints to boot, so nothing
that reflects negatively on the album as a
whole.
‘Nature Unveiled’ is a truly remarkable
album, marking the start of the long and winding
journey of one of today’s most remarkable
and innovative bands, that is thankfully available
again after a long absence. A phenomenal release
indeed.
Brainwashed
Written by Lucas Schleicher
Sunday, 27 April 2008
After 24 years David Tibet's debut full-length
as Current 93 has been reissued in its original
form on compact disc. The audio has been completely
re-mastered to great effect, but the additions
available on the 1992 release from Durtro
are gone, replaced only in the first 1,000
copies by an icy Andrew Liles remix. That
remix rounds the album out quite nicely, but
the omissions are nonetheless annoying.
In England's Hidden Reverse David Tibet compared
the sounds on Nature Unveiled to the appearance
of shadows cast by a candle's flame. The exaggerated
dance of figures projected by the fire is
an excellent metaphor for the reverberated
moans and chants that jump and teleport throughout
"Ach Golgotha (Maldoror is Dead)."
Steven Stapleton's ability in the studio helped
to translate the entire record into an exaggerated
and frightening play of monumental blocks
of sound. The way different samples are lumped
together and cut irregularly is dizzying,
causing no little amount of disorientation.
That image of slowly undulating figures above
describes the entirety of Nature Unveiled
partly because of Stapleton's talent and partly
because of Tibet's monstrous and lucid vision.
The first groans of sound are as a rising
curtain and what follows is a nightmare puppet
show of light, wherein the Antichrist is summoned
only to be cursed and rejected by an adamant
and frightened Tibet. As various samples begin
to clash and blend into a supreme panic the
effectiveness of Current 93's approach on
this record becomes plain. Annie Anxiety's
truly awesome performance in "The Mystical
Body of Christ in Chorazaim (The Great in
the Small)" is one of her most memorable
and it heightens the play of human cries,
treated pianos, monastic chants, unidentifiable
stereo oddities, and defiant vocals that populate
both songs. The details are made more powerful
thanks to Denis Blackham's re-mastering job
and remarkably this album sounds more clear
and robust than many modern recordings made
by artists with similar palettes. It has been
24 years since Nature Unveiled was released,
but it sounds more powerful to me now than
it ever did.
Tibet's preoccupation with Christian imagery,
apocalyptic narratives, and both surrealism
and mysticism is evident throughout the record,
something made doubly clear by the revamped
liner notes. These same topics are eventually
addressed with greater maturity later in Tibet's
career, but conceptually Nature Unveiled is
surprisingly accomplished. The dual authorship
in the liner notes helps to emphasize the
dual nature of the record's subject matter,
drawing the album's many themes together in
the characters of Ducasse and Christ 777.
By reifying man's potential for evil in the
character of Maldoror and by emphasizing the
hope in Christ's return Tibet manifested the
phenomenology of fear and redemption with
a fairly amazing depth, even if immature lines
like "Fuck you, Maldoror" rear their
head now and again. The tension between Isidore
Ducasse's anti-God-man and Christ the God-man
bares fruit in the end and grants credence
to Tibet's synthetic approach. All of this
plays out, of course, with respect to "nature,"
a thing I can only imagine Tibet associates
with man. Indeed, closer inspection of the
conceptual work also makes clear some still
relevant political and social commentary,
which are couched in religious expectancy
and a sense of hopelessness concerning man's
fallen state. Current 93's early output is
often sandwiched into the industrial category
due to its abrasive qualities, but clearly
this recording was unlike anything else being
made at the time either sonically or ideally.
It is unfortunate that this reissue is missing
the additions from the 1992 CD version of
the album; with them it would be a near-perfect
release. In that 1992 edition six extra songs
were provided: "LAShTAL" and "Salt"
from the LAShTAL 12" on L.A.Y.L.A.H.,
"No Hiding from the Blackbird" and
Nurse with Wound's "The Burial of the
Sardine" from the 7" originally
given away with the record, and "Maldoror
Rising (Live in Amsterdam 1984)" and
"Maldoror Falling (Live in Brighton 1984)"
from two then extant bootlegs. To my knowledge
these songs are not widely available and though
they are of a lesser quality than the principle
material, they still compose an interesting
part of the early Current 93 canon.
To Durtro/Jnana's credit, the first 1,000
copies of the reissue come with a remix of
the album by Andrew Liles called Nature Revealed.
In some respects this remix deserves a review
all its own, especially considering the massive
alterations Liles makes to many important
parts of the record. His style brings an odd
iciness to the whole affair as he freezes
many moments on the record and casts them
into an uncomfortable stasis. He also increases
the presence of pure noise on the record,
which provides an increased anxiety and semblance
of destruction. Liles manages to summon the
Antichrist with bravado, but unlike Tibet
he seems happy with allowing his evil to brood.
Unfortunately this remix is only available
to the first 1,000 people that buy the reissue
and so in some time I imagine Tibet will have
to give due consideration to all the material
associated with Nature Unveiled.
Compulsion
A welcome reissue by Durtro Jnana of Current
93's debut full-length album Nature Unveiled,
originally issued on Belgium's Laylah Anti-Records
in 1984. With the exception of a brief limited
vinyl reissue in the late eighties and an
appearance on CD in 1992 in an expanded format
outside of the collector market Nature Unveiled
has largely been unobtainable until now. Nature
Unveiled plays an important role in the expansive
Current 93 discography as it represented their
first forays into eerie experimental soundscapes,
a style Current 93 would return to over the
years with varying degrees of effectiveness.
This edition presents Nature Unveiled in its
original format, consisting of two tracks,
with reproductions of the original inserts,
related ephemera and photographs of the individuals
that comprised this formation of Current 93.
As a bonus to mail order customers, the first
1000 copies include an extra disc of reinterpretations
by Andrew Liles, the noteworthy sound experimentalist
and present member of Current 93.
With a dog eared copy of Lautreaumont's Maldoror
and a penchant for apocalyptic biblical texts
Tibet and Current 93 who at this time comprised
John Murphy, Annie Anxiety, Nick Rogers, Killing
Joke's Youth and Nurse With Wound's John Fothergill
and Steven Stapleton they set about creating
a series of unsettling soundpieces that continue
to reverberate today.
'Ach Golgotha (Maldoror is Dead)' creates
an oppresive black atmosphere, centred around
a loop of Aleister Crowley chanting "Om".
Added to this are Christian chants, repeated
heavy piano stabs, and some heavy droning
adding texture. Tibet's frequent and unsettling
cries of "Maldoror", are stretched,
teased and treated adding further layers to
the unfolding oppressiveness. It all may sound
so simple but Nature Unveiled is an effective
release, largely due to its construction by
Nurse With Wound's Steven Stapleton who skillfully
builds the sound up binding drones and frequencies
to Tibet's heavily manipulated vocal before
breaking into silence and starting up again,
often with the addition of further elements.
Towards the end you have the full gamut of
sounds: Crowley's mantra, Tibet's possesed
cry, and lashings of frequencies and bursts
of percussion. The unsettling presence of
'Ach Golgothat (Maldoror is Dead)' is largely
due to its pace and structure, and despite
its general uneasiness and Tibet's occasional
lapses to juvenile insults it, like the flip
side 'The Mystical Body of Christ In Chorazaim
(The Great In The Small)', displayed a coherence
that was sadly lacking from the successive
release Dogs Blood Rising.
'The
Mystical Body of Christ In Chorazaim (The
Great In The Small)' opens to the strains
of a Biblical epic soundtrack, gently morphing
into massed Christian chanting. The tone is
heightened by the rabid tongues of Annie Anxiety,
adopting a distressed persona her character
delivering what sounds like a frantic prayer
at the end of the world. Stapleton cleverly
weaves the disparate textures creating an
otherworldy aura. Disembodied wails and moans
surface as orchestral sounds continue to imbue
the music with unsettling religious and mystical
overtones. The overall subdued tone of 'The
Mystical Body of Christ In Chorazaim' has
ensured that it has aged well. Only the electronic
frequencies accompanying Tibet's anguished
cries that appear towards the close are reminders
of the time. Listening to this now it is something
of a neglected piece in the vast canon of
Current 93.
The same can't be said of 'Maldoror is Dead'
a track that has figured prominently in the
work of Current 93. David Tibet has noted
that it was written during a particularly
depressive period, folllowing the abortion
of his child and his close proximity to a
friend's death. These episodes undoubtedly
had a profound effect on Tibet so much so
that he has returned time and time again to
the track. It featured on the first ever Current
93 tape, Mi-Mort, reappeared as this version
on Nature Unveiled, and was scheduled to appear
on Thunder Perfect Mind in an acoustic format.
Early Current 93 were intent on setting a
mood, an atmosphere and on Nature Unveiled
they certainly achieved it. Even 20 or so
years later Nature Unveiled remains a potent
and powerful work, characterised by interests
that still obsess Tibet to this day. Little
did he know that Nature Unveiled would summon
a legion of imitators, and spawn a whole host
of dark ambient and ritual industrial albums
that would cite Nature Unveiled as their prime
source of inspiration.
The accompanying Andrew Liles remix, Nature
Revealed, is a worthy reinterpretation of
the original release. 'Ach Golgotha (Maldoror
is Dead)' is stripped apart and reassembled
to produce an altogether different but powerful
form, each section separated by the sudden
crash of breaking glass. Liles proves adept
at creating an atmosphere taking the listener
through passages of gothic chants, layered
drones with bells and suspended piano chords
before introducing the voice of Tibet, culminating
in a climax of frenzied noise. On 'The Mystical
Body of Christ In Chorazaim (The Great In
The Small)' Liles places greater emphasis
on the biblical type soundtrack, adding a
weeping violin score to the religious music.
Drones reverberate below. It's like listening
to a requiem for end times. The fervent babble
of Annie Anxiety and sound of children flicker
through the imaginary dreamspace. Mammoth
shifting tones signify destruction as sirens
wail heralding the end of the world. An alarm
clock rings as it descends into silence before
reawakening with the frequencies and rhythms
of the Current 93 debut release Lashtal.
Nature Unveiled remains a fantastic release,
and with the accompanying CD of Andrew Liles
remixes it is more than recommended.
Judas
Kiss
Written by Lee Powell
This
limited 2-CD version of ‘Dogs Blood
Rising’ is the sister release to the
2-CD reissue of Current 93’s debut album
‘Nature Unveiled’, sharing the
same reissue format as ‘Nature...’.
The first CD is a remastered version of the
original and seminal Current 93 album from
1984, complete with a 12-page booklet reproducing
the original sleeve notes, artwork and photos,
as well as a collection of previously unpublished
photos from the same period. The second CD,
included with the first 1000 copies of the
album, is a remix CD featuring a completely
reworked version of the entire album by longtime
Current 93 collaborator Andrew Liles entitled
‘Dogs Blood Ascending’ Both CDs
are housed in a double CD jewel case.
Now for me, ‘Dogs Blood Rising’,
the second full-length album by a then fairly
new(ish) Current 93 is absolutely stunning.
It has a pitch-black atmosphere that is genuinely
unsettling and confrontational. It has a strong
religious sentiment that can be construed
in different ways, depending on the listener’s
religious perspective, and it sees Tibet and
co. producing a wonderfully innovative sound
that is deeply complex, claustrophobic yet
ridiculously compelling all at the same time.
It was one of the very first Current 93 releases
I heard, and it has remained one of my favourite
releases by them, although it captures a very
different sound to what’s come to be
expected from them nowadays. It’s also
a release that seemed to hit a chord with
me straight away, and it inspired me to get
my one and only Current 93 tattoo in homage
to the band, and the wonderfully unique music
and vision Tibet projects through it.
Again, as with their previous album ‘Nature
Unveiled’, the musical compositions
that are contained herein are breathtakingly
innovative, especially considering that we’re
talking about 1984 here. Their reverberations
can be felt through a whole range of contemporary
music, spanning not only the post-industrial
and dark ambient genres, but also touching
upon black metal and doom. Utilising a wonderfully
heady mixture of drones, manipulated soundscapes,
distant choral passages, tiny waves of noise
and vocals delivered in a plethora of styles,
the sound and atmosphere created is dramatically
bleak, but also captivating, invigorating
and immensely powerful. It’s the sort
of album that is immensely gripping, with
every minute detail of it perfectly executed.
It emanates a pitch-black atmosphere that
is awash with religious connotations and references.
It’s harsh, yet inviting. Difficult,
yet at times simplistic. Its nature and presence
shift from element to element, as you travel
the expansions of sound and dense structures
that Tibet and his collaborators have produced.
At times, it’s immensely difficult to
penetrate, then the next second you’re
lost in a swirling vortex of darkly haunting
sounds and textures, deeply stimulating and
containing a harrowing warmth whilst never
being opening inviting.
Opening with the looped and repeated reverberated
echoes and haunting distortions of ‘Christus
Christus (The Shells Have Cracked)’,
the album sets a compellingly dark atmosphere
and tone almost instantly. You get the impression
you’re about to experience something
unique and tenebrous, yet have no idea just
how correct your assumptions are, although
all is revealed on the album’s pinnacle
track, the epic ‘Falling Back In Fields
Of Rape’.
With a running time of almost 15 minutes,
the album’s second track, the remarkable
‘Falling Back In Fields Of Rape’
is, in my opinion, the album’s high
point, and it typifies the innovative and
challenging nature of the album as a whole.
It also demonstrates how diverse Current 93’s
sound was at the time, and how Tibet, even
then, wasn’t afraid to push boundaries
and blur genres with his compositions.
The track consists of thought-provoking and
analytical spoken word monologues set against
a background of slow drumming, warped sound
manipulations and dense droned noise and soundscapes,
which create a wonderfully imaginative and
captivating intensity that carries you through
the track’s entire length. Sharing sound
and structure similarities to Crass’s
fantastic political statement ‘Reality
Asylum’, it demonstrates that the music
and social influences that Tibet drew from
at the time far outstretched the majority
of other artists who inhabited this early
phase of industrial/experimental music, which
Current 93 found themselves an integral part
of. So it comes as no great surprise to learn
that Crass’s Steve Ignorant was part
of this formation of C93 and appears to play
an important role throughout the album and
especially on ‘Falling Back…’.
The layering of sounds and aural textures
over treated vocals is carried on throughout
the remainder of the album with impressively
stimulating results. Often alarming, uncomfortable
and threatening, the atmosphere produced by
the album and its lyrical content is still
as upfront and demanding as it was at the
time it was written. It’s aged immensely
well, and the strong religious connotations
and wordplay the album contains seem as poignant
and relevant as they did back in 1984. This
is demonstrated perfectly on the album’s
second long track, the almost 14-minute ‘Rio
No Terrasu (Jesus Wept)’ which sees
the phrase “Jesus wept” manipulated
and repeated to near nausea-inducing lengths,
whilst layers of sounds, operatic-style female
vocals and warped choral verses are reassembled
in a jigsaw of sounds, making the track somewhat
uncomfortable to endure in its entirety, but
equally rewarding for those who feel they
have the fortitude to work through it.
As mentioned, the original album is accompanied
by the remix album ‘Dogs Blood Ascending’
by Andrew Liles. Whilst sharing a lot of similarities,
as you’d expect, to the original, it’s
interesting to hear a modern take and representation
of the album as a whole. Again, the smallest
element of sound is perfectly clear and crisp,
thus ensuring that even the minutest detail
plays an important and necessary part. It
pays tribute to the original immensely well,
whilst adding a new dimension of sound and
aural texture, which project an evolving kaleidoscope
of imagery, enhancing that constructed on
‘Dogs Blood Rising’.
I’ve always felt that the atmosphere,
style and presence of some of the compositions
that make up ‘Dogs Blood Rising’
have remaining exclusive to this release as
a whole, and haven’t been utilised or
reworked on subsequent Current 93 releases.
As such, ‘Dogs Blood…’ is
a truly unique, wonderfully distinctive album
within the ample canon of releases that Tibet
has produced, and is therefore, as you’d
expect, an essential and intricate part of
Current 93 history that needs to be re-explored
and revisited time and time again. It goes
without saying that this release is an essential
purchase, especially if you’re able
to get hold of the two-disc set. So don’t
delay, track down a copy now. I guarantee
you the album will go to great lengths to
impress you, and impress it does. A must-have
release, and a fantastic insight into the
earliest embryonic stages of Current 93.
Brainwashed
Written by Lucas Schleicher
Sunday, 27 April 2008
Released the same year as Nature Unveiled,
Current 93's second full-length record is
more uneven than its predecessor and less
coherent. Time has been kind to Current 93's
debut, but Dogs Blood Rising feels a little
like Tibet's leftover thoughts and ideas forced
onto record. It nonetheless boasts of several
outstanding moments and marks Tibet's first
obvious movement away from the trappings of
the so-called industrial culture.
Everything Nature Unveiled expressed with
brevity and eloquence is unnecessarily confused
and extended on Dogs Blood Rising. All the
familiar symbols and references to Christianity,
Satan, redemption, fear, human impotency,
apocalyptic trauma, and positive biblical
fables are present, but without the strength
of a unifying esthetic. "Christus Christus
(The Shells Have Cracked)" begins well
enough with looped chants, abstract and breathy
tones, and a sense of direction. It is an
invocation of Christianity's dark side, a
dimension characterized by death, burning,
God's terrifying judgment (who will be saved?),
and humanity's capacity for evil. "Falling
Back in Fields of Rape" continues that
promise of a new direction by solidifying
it with a distinct meter, evenly recurring
and reversed percussion loops, and a seductive
chant deep in the background. Nature Unveiled
was not without its structure, but at the
beginning Dogs Blood Rising seems more thoughtful
and coherent by virtue of its more conventional
form.
Steven Ignorant's opening lines a few minutes
into the song arrive unexpectedly, breaking
the song's established vocabulary, and with
his words Stapleton simultaneously increases
the audio frenzy. The sequence of audio events
presented in a short time is impressive. A
metallic and vertiginous crash realizes the
act of falling suggested in the song's title,
then there is a moment of near silence before
the now familiar words "In a foreign
town / In a foreign land" are delivered.
Ignorant's tone is initially narrative-like
and it maintains the structure suggested by
the song's opening moments. However, his delivery
is quickly made ferocious, his voice reaches
a feverish pitch, and in no time at all the
music becomes equally crazed. The song is
then transformed and a child's voice becomes
the focal point, and then again another change
occurs as a deranged and slightly forced growl
makes its way into the mix, and then yet another
change. This time a woman recites various
cruelties to which humans are subjected while
an organ slowly drones away beneath her voice.
Over and over again the song mutates without
warning, almost as though it were punishing
the listener for expecting any kind of order.
An unnecessary drum machine briefly makes
an appearance before Tibet's dry and unnerving
voice enters the fray, calling to mind his
performance on I Have a Special Plan for this
World. Unfortunately the song attacks the
listener almost too literally, inspiring frustration
more than fright, sympathy, remorse, or any
other emotion. What could've been a new direction
for Tibet and Stapleton instead devolves into
a less powerful version of everything presented
on Nature Unveiled.
Neither "From Broken Cross, Locusts"
nor "Raio No Terrasu (Jesus Wept)"
improves the album much. The former is a consistent
song in both tone and structure, but it quickly
becomes dull. For much of the song Tibet simply
repeats "Antichrist" over and over
again; his voice is amplified, distorted,
and extended in various ways with little more
than a martial and repetitive drum-beat to
accompany him. The latter is, for some reason
or another, dedicated to Japanese author,
playwright, poet, philosopher, essayist, nationalist,
and imperialist Yukio Mishima. Perhaps Mishima's
literary and personal emphasis on the body
inspired Tibet, but making any definite connection
between him and the album is nearly impossible
and suggests that Tibet was, at the time,
juggling too many influences to make anything
definite and powerful of them. Most interesting
is the concluding piece, "St. Peter's
Keys All Bloody." In a conversational
tone Tibet greets darkness by way of Simon
and Garfunkel's "The Sounds of Silence."
It's an especially interesting musical reference
considering the song's generally accepted
message, which touches on the absence of love
in public life and lack of communication between
individuals, public or private. In any case,
the song also signifies Tibet's interest in
more structured music, especially folk music.
As the lyrics to "Scarborough Fair"
while away beneath Tibet's scathing delivery
I'm reminded of Tibet's synthetic sensibilities
on Nature Unveiled. It's clear to me now that
while Tibet worked initially within an industrial
(or at least experimental) mode, he was from
the start trying to break away from it. Simon
and Garfunkel were almost the complete antithesis
of what was happening in London's more underground
venues in 1984, yet their influence appears
on this record.
Also included in the first 1,000 copies of
this reissue is a complete album remix by
Andrew Liles titled Dogs Blood Ascending.
It is in every way an improvement upon the
original. The sudden and unappealing shifts
of "Falling Back in Fields of Rape"
are transformed into a unified and explosive
expression of anger at the loss of innocence.
The song, in its remixed form, begins with
the child-like voices that populated the middle
portion of the original and then proceeds
to Ignorant's spite-filled diatribe. It's
as though, by a simple rearrangement and some
improved atmospherics, the entire album is
given a perspective and force that it originally
didn't have. War is clearly declared on the
evils of the world, the pounding of drums
that were previously wimpy synthetic thuds
assume a meaningful dimension that they couldn't
have had in the original, and all the musical
changes that bogged down the original are
given new life because of Liles' determination
to maintain some semblance of unity within
the song. The percussion on "From Broken
Cross, Locusts" also benefits from Liles'
careful hand. Instead of being monotonous
and ineffective, they achieve a truly martial
status that reminds me more precisely and
fully of a fascist dread marked by the terror
of marching and perfectly polished boots.
Tibet's Antichrist-chant is invigorated by
various effects and benefits from being truncated
slightly. The song is thus made into the whirlwind
of hatred I suspect it was intended to be.
"Raio No Terrasu (Jesus Wept)" is
given the most radical transformation. On
Dogs Blood Ascending it is a quiet, subdued
piece, emphasizing the somber quality of Christ's
sacrifice. It's a real tribute to Liles' talent
that he managed to latch onto the record's
major themes and improve upon their presentation
without rendering the album completely unidentifiable.
It also shows that all the necessary pieces
to the puzzle were available to Tibet in the
crafting of this album; they were ready to
be assembled in a powerful way, but simply
weren't realized as well as they could've
been. The remix ends with "St. Peter's
Keys All Bloody," but this time a musical
accompaniment that approximates "The
Sounds of Silence's" melody is the main
feature. Tibet's vocals appear, too, but the
contrast between the toy-box melody and his
pronounced groans adds a depth to the song
not present in the original.
Compulsion
Released concurrently with the reissue of
Nature Unveiled is Dogs Blood Rising another
Current 93 release from 1984. Once again this
reissue reverts to the original track list
with the first 1000 copies coming with a remix
CD by Andrew Liles. Dogs Blood Rising is by
far a more abrasive recording than Nature
Unveiled, making greater use of huge swathes
of frequencies and drones. Many people have
found it to be a powerful release but it's
one that I've never been completely convinced
with. Some of the tracks appear to be carried
over from Nature Unveiled but less thought
out. Words are quite often just reduced to
one or two phrases, and Steven Stapleton's
effects are less effective and much more visceral.
Perhaps the use of harsh electronics is down
to the involvement of John Murphy, his rhythmic
efforts certainly form the basis of 'From
Broken Cross, Locusts'.
'Christus
Christus (The Shells Have Cracked)' is awash
with manipulated chanting shadowed by shrill
electronic undertones. 'From Broken Cross,
Locusts' simply comprises looped ceremonial
voice, with percussive flourishes and crashing
cymbals, and Tibet's heavily distorted voice
growling "anti-Christ" throughout".
'Raio No Terrasu (Jesus Wept)', likewise,
is stripped to constant reiterations of "Christus,
Christus..", and "anti-Christ, anti-Christ.."
above a series of shrill and piercing effects,
looped sound sources, before being sucked
into elongated droning. Tibets' vocals are
given similar treatment to Nature Unveiled.
Dogs Blood Rising is best represented by 'Falling
Back In Fields Of Rape' and 'St Peter's Keys
All Bloody', two diverse tracks that contained
formative traces of motifs that Current 93
would rely heavily on through subsequent releases.
'Falling Back In Fields Of Rape' appeared
to be a comment on the banality of evil and
man's capacity for violence: a modern apocalypse.
It featured variations on the now famous lyrics
"In A Foreign Land, In A Foreign Time,
Reaping Time Had Come". The track opened
with chants that would be quickly enveloped
by a hammering drum beat, backward processing
spliced with the recurring cry of "War".
With the hurried diatribe bellowed by Steve
Ignorant of CRASS - "It could not happen
here" - it took on an accusatory and
defiant tone, mixed with the extended lyrics
that would later be edited by Douglas P. to
better effect on 'Behind The Rose (Fields
of Rape)' by Death In June. Percussion threshes
manically and cuts to a child's recital of
the nursery rhyme 'Mulberry Bush', and then
amidst spinning backwards processing a child,
Ruby Wallis, intones the recurring lyrics:
"In A Foreign Land, In A Foreign Time,
Reaping Time Had Come...', a distant voice
gruffly recites the lyrics over a hovering
drone. It cuts again to Diana Rogerson delivering
a litany of atrocities, before a singing melodically
over incongrous drum machine. At last Tibet
takes his turn intoning the lyrics in his
refined, nasally tones. Here though the words
take on a religious dimension as if Tibet
is conversing directly with Christ. It is
a tremendously powerful track, carefully constructed
and a fine example of Current 93's nightmare
sounds.
Much simpler but no less effective is 'St
Peter's Keys All Bloody', a sinister reading
of Simon and Garfunkel's 'The Sound of Silence'
whispered by Tibet, juxtaposed against a male
recitation of the ballad "Scarborough
Fair". Layered behind is the voice of
Tibet delivering curt statements on the impermanence
of life.
Although Dogs Blood Rising shares an affinity
with Nature Unveiled it is a far darker, more
crepuscular release and indeed possesses an
aura of malevolence. It is quite a unique
release amongst their work but it does however
signal the introduction of children's voices,
nursery rhymes and old English folk music
touchstones for later Current 93 material.
The first 1000 copies include Dogs Blood Ascending,
a remixed version of the original by Andrew
Liles. Liles has done a fantastic job here
- remixing and reinterpreting the elements
to attain a clarity and coherence absent from
the original recordings. The key passages
of 'Falling Back In Fields Of Rape' are reassembled
to stunning effect, and threaded with constant
droning it becomes far more cohesive than
the disjointed collage of the original. Fresh
tones and textures are added to the heightened
percussive interplay of 'From Broken Cross,
Locusts', and with some frantic edit cuts
it becomes much more focussed and forceful.
'Raio No Terrasu (Jesus Wept)' is completely
overhauled and rendered in subdued ominous
drones with Tibet's overlong "Christus,
Christus..." words left lurking in the
shadows. 'St Peter's Keys All Bloody' is reduced
to a toy-box melody accompanied by the recitation
of 'The Sound of Silence' by Tibet, while
the old English ballad is caught in a morass
of voices. On Dogs Blood Ascending Liles has
maintained the atmosphere but altered the
focus significantly to create a version that
is more refined and approachable but nonetheless
remaining a foreboding piece of work. Dogs
Blood Rising has never been a necessary purchase
but with the addition of Andrew Liles beautiful
remix this is well worth seeking out.
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