Bindrune Recordings: Woodland Denizens unite!

Judas Kiss (Simon Collins)
The first vinyl release from American label Bindrune Recordings brings together two well-matched funeral doom projects, with each of them filling one side of this record with a single 17-minute track.

First up is Celestiial. This is the Minnesota-based band's second release, following 2006's debut album Desolate North, also released by Bindrune. Celestiial is the solo project of Tanner Reed Anderson, and Celestiial's side of this release is entitled 'White Depths Dove The Red-Eyed'. The song opens with breathy forest atmospherics of birdsong and dripping water, unfurling into a low, buzzing keyboard drone which gradually builds in volume, cut through by keening flute notes repeating a mournful refrain. This section is virtually dark ambient, but after a few minutes a slow, shambling beat and anguished vocal cries usher in the doom. The guitar has a warm yet engulfing presence, with smooth transitions between notes which make me wonder if it was e-bowed. The overall sound is organic and earthy, yet brimming with melancholy, as if the forest were singing a lament for its own destruction. The guitar and drums fade out to what sounds like a bowed cello (the record insert offers no information on Celestiial's instrumentation), before the beat is picked up again with a faster, more urgent section of busy double bass drum work pounding away behind the cello and gasping, sobbing vocals. Then the drone which opened the track wells up again, obliterating all the other instruments and creating a void which is filled by an archaic plucked harp melody as the track concludes.

According to Bindrune Recordings, 'Celestiial was created to mirror mysticism in nature,' and this nature mysticism is readily apparent here. 'White Depths Dove The Red-Eyed' is a complex and accomplished piece of funeral doom which augers well for the next Celestiial album, whenever that might appear – although Tanner Anderson works slowly, so don't hold your breath. According to Wikipedia, Celestiial's follow-up to Desolate North will be produced by Chet Scott (of Blood Of The Black Owl, Glass Throat Recordings etc.), so apparently the collaboration between these two musicians extends further than this split release.

Flipping the record over, we come to Blood Of The Black Owl (BOTBO hereafter). BOTBO was originally the solo project of Chet Scott, but for this limited-edition split release, Chet was joined by guitarist and vocalist James Woodhead, who also plays with Chet in The Elemental Chrysalis, and the lyrics were provided by Daniel Ellis Harrod, who also wrote the lyrics for BOTBO's second full-length release A Feral Spirit (reviewed elsewhere on Judas Kiss). As with many of the projects and releases associated with the Glass Throat Recordings label, there's a distinctive tight-knit tribal feel around these artists and their various interlocking and overlapping collaborations.

BOTBO's side of this split release contains a single track entitled 'Contemplating The Death Of An Old Friend'. As usual with BOTBO and Ruhr Hunter releases, a rich array of instrumentation is used on the recording, including guitar, dulcimer, flute, drums, rattles, gongs, organ, harp and environmental recordings. The track opens abruptly with a sudden dissonant explosion of sound, trundling along on a solid foundation of mountain dulcimer, with wooden flute notes floating eerily over harsh, reverbed vocals. This section has a trancy, timeless atmosphere, the relentless fusillade of dulcimer notes seeming to create a shimmering veil behind which time and motion are suspended, but this energetic opening fades away to leave only a field recording of birdsong. A tolling bell heralds a section of sombre organ and the high, ethereal vocals of James Woodhead, which provide a nice counterfoil to Chet Scott's hobgoblin growl. The eventual return of bass and drums beefs the sound up into a doomy dirge with a clammy, oppressive atmosphere, as Chet recites the morbid lyrics in a theatrical, rasping whisper: "No spirits remain… No ghosts reside… Only do they live… As the wind blows… Cold… & the earth is still… & silent."

Chet's vocals for BOTBO have attracted some criticism from various quarters – personally, I prefer the frenzied shouting style he employs in BOTBO's noisier moments to this kind of declamatory style. After this vocal-dominated invocatory section, there follows a kind of shamanic breakdown, with antler rattle, horn blasts and throat singing leading into a low pulsing heartbeat drum, the reverbed vocals eventually fading out into silence.

'Contemplating The Death Of An Old Friend' is the longest track from BOTBO to date, but it splits into four distinct sections. I feel it needs more of the raw metal of the opening section – the energy raised at this point is dissipated through the more restful middle part of the track. BOTBO's aspirations to fuse shamanic, pagan and environmental themes with heavy, aggressive music are admirable, but it seems like they haven't achieved a perfectly coherent fusion just yet. Still, you can feel the fierce passion in this music, and I'll take something that's passionate, primitive and true over cold, classical perfection any time.

This release is strictly limited to 500 copies, and the tracks will never be available on other releases or formats. The 180g black vinyl comes housed in a high-quality sleeve with moody brown and black artwork and a colour insert. An unspecified number of copies come with silkscreened patches for both bands. Both James Woodhead and Daniel Ellis Harrod have now joined BOTBO as permanent members, and the third BOTBO album, entitled A Banishing Ritual, is currently being recorded, and is due for release in 2009.

Aquarius Records
A high concept split lp from two aQ faves, two different bands, two different sounds, their bond being that of nature, both expressing their visions of the world around them, of their place, and our place amongst the living things that surround us, forests, plants, animals, insects, it's that natural force that infuses the music of both of these groups, and thus links them in such a way, that this shared 12" could almost be the work of a single entity.
The first side features a single extended track from naturalist doomlords Celestiial, their track of course begins with the sounds of birds, of water and wind, insects, a forest at dusk most likely, before from below, rises deep ominous swells, rumbling drones, distant moaning melodies, a deep dark ambience that soon gives way to a big blown out doom, but, a very spacious, spare, airy sort of doom, not heavy as much as abstract, spaced out, the guitars not crumbling and downtuned, more like chiming and ringing out, somehow weirdly processed to make them seem like they are being stretched out, moaning and then fading out, before exploding in another burst, the drums and percussion sounds industrial, the vocals howled and buried in the mix, everything strangely harmonized, sounding a bit alien, near the end the drums speed up into an almost blast beat, but the music gets more and more melodic, minor key swells keeping time with the beat, unfurling a mournful melody, until the music fades out and the track finishes as it began with deep drones and the sounds of the forest.
The flip side features a long three part track by Blood Of The Black Owl, who begin proceedings with a plodding, almost metallic dirge, but backed up by a haunting chiming high end jangle, as well as distant flute like melodies that sound distinctly Native American, the vocals howled and industrial sounding, a bit like Swans or Cop Shoot Cop. The second movement begins with birdsong, deep, slow rubbery dubbed out bass, soft ethereal reverbed vocals, very medieval sounding, until the track switches gears and transforms into something more post industrial sounding, a doomy plod but with haunting mysterious melodies. The side ends with a very tribal sort of ritualistic piece, all simple hand drums and shimmering low end ambience, growled spoken word, very minimal and haunting, almost like some ancient rite, being captured on vinyl for the very first time. Gorgeously packaged. Incredibly thick vinyl, thick sleeves, full color inserts, and most likely quite limited...

Doom-Metal.com (Oscar Strik)
Two Bindrune labelmates join forces on this 12" split LP, and deliver a fine taste of doom metal from the US vanguard.

Blood of the Black Owl is the project of Chet W. Scott (Ruhr Hunter, The Elemental Chrysalis), where he explores the harsher side of his musical expression. Be that as it may, even in this raw music, mixing raw doom and black metal, Chet incorporates the ambient and folk moods that are the focus of his other music. This makes for a fascinating musical mix, that hasn't found a perfect form of expression yet, however. Like the self-titled debut album, I find this effort by BotBO captivating and promising, but still somewhat lacking in compositional coherence. The blend of metal, folk and ambient sounds isn't seamless everywhere either. All the same, I think this is a good track featuring some gritty, heavy riff parts, and intriguing tribal ambient pieces, also featuring acoustic guitar by James Woodhead (also of The Elemental Chrysalis). Also notable is the somewhat Native American atmosphere in many parts. So, while I'm still waiting for the project to completely convince me - perhaps on the second upcoming album? - here's a fine track to go on until then.

Celestiial is the brainchild of Tanner Anderson (Autumnal Winds), who has also released his debut album on Bindrune, the excelent Desolate North. This new track is another fine example of this man's organic funeralish doom, mixed with more ambient and folk parts. The track starts with a dark ambient bit, mixing drones, field recordings and native american flute. This great threatening mood bursts into action after about 5 minutes, when the bleak funeral crashes begin, carrying that cold but organic sound that is typically Celestiial. This plods on slowly for a while, but is spiced up in the end by an uptempo drum solo. It might sound out of place, but it works great in this context. The track is ended by another atmospheric piece of ambient, this time featuring a short bit of Anderson's excellent harp playing. Another fine track by this project that makes me hunger after more of this stuff. There is a definite improvement going on compared to the debut album, so I'm quite anxious about future releases.

All in all this is a fine release by Bindrune, on 180g black vinyl accompanied by sleeve and insert in tasteful brown artwork. Strictly limited to 500 copies, so get yours while they're there...

Heathen Metal (Erik Davis)
There is a great glyph on the back of this mighty split LP of grim forest after-metal, a rune beast that looks like figures I’ve seen on Scandinavian rock art. It, and the name of the label—Bindrune Recordings—is already an invocation of sorts, and it both charges and seals the storm of lament in these analog-only grooves. One side is devoted to “While Depths Dove the Red-Eyed,” a 17-minute tune from the shadowy and superb one-man act Celestiial. Now I’ve sifted through a fair amount of gothic ambient music, forest metal, and dark folk looking for this sort of sepulchral traditionalism, this sense of ancient mysteries seeping up like clammy moisture through the moss underfoot, and most of it is as corny as clove cigarettes and black nail polish. In contrast, Celestiial’s haunting and glacial Desolate North album made me feel like I was alone and paddling into a dark fjord toward some ancient whale cemetery that was way spookier than the one I vaguely remember from that Disney movie I saw as a kid. I finish listening to this record feeling cold and clean.

“While Depths Dove the Red-Eyed” claims to have been captured “in sunless houses…” and I certainly see little light in the dark pedal tone that sounds continuously beneath a wash of frigid mist during the opening section. A distant horn sounds a melody, like a loon’s lament for a warrior. Or a god. Or a biosphere. Cause that’s what I hear in the wordless scream that rides across the slow flailing riffbeast agon this song becomes: a primal scream for the gone world, for the wilderness that is barely possible as a category of thought, let alone a real territory of the unfucked-with, of unmanaged wolves. And that’s what makes this music more than a pagan soundtrack. This scream is not trying to frighten. This scream is in pain, but not for itself. In the outro, we hear a dark rumble and then a bewitching olde ayre plucked on what sounds like a medieval harp, as birds twitter in the background. It is unutterably sad, and the sadness sounds strangely like home. In these days of ravagement and extinction, nature mysticism only announces itself in memoriam. Perhaps such eco-laments are rear-guard, counter-productive, proto-reactionary. But as the emotional dimension of a soundworld that so well recalls nature’s hoary old correspondences, Baudelaire’s foret des symboles, they sound true.

The funereal cast continues on side two, with Blood of a Black Owl’s equally epic “Contemplating the Death of an Old Friend.” Blood is a band from the Pacific Northwest, and I discovered their sometimes crude but atmospheric self-titled album along with Celestiial and listened to it about as avidly. A dawn chorus of birds decorates an almost Eno-esque drift of melancholic bass and organ (second side of Before and After Science to be more specific). The tune grows into an almost Isis-like slab of slow space metal, like some Sigur Ros Nordic sunset soul reborn in the clammy fogs and perpetual rains of Washington State. Drifting off course into more contrived sense of drama, the song’s barked lyrics become a sort of Spook Theatre radio play monologue about lost souls. Throat singing, mournful horns, and shamanic antler rattles keep the textures rich and resonant, and a steady drum beat subtly introduces America’s aboriginal paganism into the tune. Though the band don’t hit the ambitious mark they have set for themselves—they declaim more than they contemplate—there is a raw sense of organic integrity to this music. Recorded during the Autumn equinox, and completed during the following full moon, it is an authentic heathen metal dirge—garage shamanism.