Review: Hermetic Brotherhood Of Lux-Or - Anacalypsis

This is another album I've been looking forward to for some time, and another that doesn't disappoint. For some time now I've been banging on about 'Italian Occult Psychedelia', with good reason I may add, but now we are faced with the group that really puts the 'Occult' in that tag. Hermetic Brotherhood Of Lux-Or are a collective rather than a group who are based in Macomer, Sardinia and who run Trasponsonic Records "The Real Sardinian Shamanic Music Experience". Their output thus far has been eclectic and deeply rooted in the arcane and the ritualistic and 'Anacalypsis' sees this deep and dark approach amplified by the power of ten. On this particular outing the band is comprised of just two of the collective: MS Miroslaw - Sacred Horse Skull, Clarinet, Vocals, Percussions and Laura Dem - Bass, Synths, Samples, Ghosts. The album is released on vinyl by Boring Machines, a label whose mission seems to be to bring us the most interesting and challenging music coming out of Italy (and a label I could cheerfully spend all my wages on collecting the back catalogue!)

There are just the three tracks on the album, the first of which is 'Double Nature of Deity', a sepulchral, deep affair that at times makes Lustmord seem like the Spice Girls. There is an inherent heaviness in the track - the slow, purposeful drum beat seem to be a calling to some sacrificial ritual while the drones have a funereal vibe that is incredibly hypnotic. As the track progresses all manner of ethnic instruments are added to the fray which only serve to heighten the esoteric feel. It has the power to draw the listener in and envelop them in a dark, mystical blanket...great stuff! 'Metempsychosis' carries on in the same vein..the same lugubrious tempo and deep and dark drones but, if anything, has even more of a ritualistic feel; the same primal drumbeat is augmented by crashing cymbals and everything has the hushed threat of malevolence bubbling through it. The track grows in an almost orgasmic manner and by the time it reaches its climax, you feel like you have just been through an induction ritual. Both the first two tracks clock in at around the nine minute mark each but the third track is a twenty one minute monster. 'Phantasms of the Living' opens with more dense drones and spoken word samples but the mood is different...the funereal slowness is replaced by a dissonant mix of percussion, drones and shamanistic chants....if the first two tracks were spectral then this is demonic. The spoken word samples add a certain verisimilitude to proceedings, like the documenting of esoteric rituals. The disparate sounds attack you from every angle, making this an uncomfortable listen at times, but never 'unpleasant'. The track grows into the soundtrack of hell...almost apocalyptic, the antithesis of the albums title. By the time you reach the end of the twenty one minutes you feel drained...physically, emotionally, spiritually.....and it's a joyful thing to be affected so much by a record.

'Anacalypsis' is not an easy listen by any means, but like any music worth hearing, it challenges the listener. It is a heavy record that has the power to open a portal into to another world...a world populated by demons and spirits just waiting for you to fall prey to the rituals herein. I've gotta say...I enjoyed this record...I know that may sound a bit perverse bearing in mind the inherent brooding malevolence. As with a lot Italian music, this has the spectre of Catholicism hanging over it, but acts as a perfect foil, almost an antidote.....hallelujah! A great album from this, the most 'occult' of bands - forget all those death metal bands...this is the real deal. Another winner from Boring Machines. 'Anacalypsis' can be got on vinyl and download via the Boring Machines Bandcamp page here.