Ksyatriya & Animi Vultus - Discrimination (2017)
It's been too damn long since we heard
from either Ksyatriya or Animi Vultus (three years and change since
the former's most recent release, and over five years for the
latter), so it comes as not just a delight, but a relief to get word
from the groups that this split had been put together and was ready
to be shared with the world.
Ksyatriya lead the way on the digital
A-side, opening with the ~10-minute “(R).egimented (A).utocratic
(C).ontrol (I).n the (S).ubdivision of (M).ankind”, a slabby
mountain on which the band puts to work samples of diatribes by
Malcolm X over craggy riffs and shuddering, thickly-reverbed tones.
“Rise of the Femme Order: Bigot Cleansing” makes up the second
section of the duo's record half, retaining the heavy bass presence
while introducing the words of Emmeline Pankhurst for the ideological
component. Both tracks feature careful development of the
instrumental shaping, taking the droning thrum and directing it with
nudges and anglings of the pulse, and there's a feel not unlike a
sociologically-minded take on Bell Witch's “Beneath the Mask”,
though the brothers of Ksyatriya give it much more distinction than
that simple description suggests.
Animi Vultus' 'B-side' consists of just
one track, the sprawling “Joy of Existence”, which clocks in at
just over half an hour. In that space, the band grows their titan
from quiet beginnings to deep snarls of doomy resonance, on through
interludes of quiet menace, and into some violently energized
rampages. There's a lot of discrete sectioning, with moments like
their defiant digging deeper and deeper into a vein of sustained
riffage that gets spikier and meaner with each pass, or the frenetic
drumming so fast it's (almost) certainly programmed, or the nasty
rumble that sinks, and sinks, and sinks still more. There's some
real power and direction behind the voiceless doom they provide, and
it finishes the split off on a decisive drop into the void.
It's been a while since I've heard an
album, even a single-artist affair, that managed the kind of focus
and completion of purpose that this one achieves. The two groups
complement each other damn nicely, leaving listeners to guess at how
much communication between them went on behind the music's
construction, and the tension stretch of the last few minutes comes
at a time when the musical handling should have attentive ears
dangling on its string. Expect this one on the year's best releases
list.
~ Gabriel
For Fans Of; Bell Witch, Bongripper,
Major Kong, Sunken, White Darkness
~
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