My first acquaintance with Desiderii Marginis was in 2007, when this project released its debut via mighty (and sadly, very sadly, defunct) Cold Meat Industry. As from then on I tried to follow this solo-outfit of Swedish artist Johan Levin as much as possible. Several other albums followed, mostly released via Cold Meat Industry, and two years ago Desiderii Marginis signed to Canada’s Cyclic Law, actually one of the greatest Industrial-labels around.
Hypnosis, the second album on Cyclic Law, turned out to be a double-album, after Procession. The material was recorded at the Solitude Studio once again, and it comes in an edition of 500 copies in so-called 8-panel digipack. The main concept (though there are no lyrics, as you might know) deals with dreams and nightmares, and the interaction with thoughts, experiences and their effect on / from the subconsciousness. It’s a fascinating point of view, of course, and it isn’t easy to translate this into a sonic experience. But with Hypnosis, Desiderii Marginis succeed to touch that dimension.
The first disc, lasting for almost one hour, opens with Black Feathers, which does set the tone for this aural journey with majesty. This floating Minimal Ambient piece includes samples (tortured shouts and crows, drops of water and who knows what else laying beneath?), but it does take you away to dreamworlds beyond nihilistic consciousness. And samples are, once again yet used in careful limitation, quite important within the oppressive, eerie or even horrifying atmospheres that characterise, and define, Desiderii Marginis’ Aural Art. That, once again, is the typifying result of a crafted artist, able to create a whole conceptual sonic dimension that makes the listener dwell deeper into his / her mind, and to travel further, crossing borders of the unknown. The whole disc ‘part one’ offers an integer soberness, a quasi-desolate tranquillity, yet at the same time an uncomfortable and confronting emotionality penetrates your spirit. It’s beautiful and, at the same time, confusing, creepy, asphyxiating. Don’t wait for some outbursts in the vein of Songs Over Ruins, Deadbeat or Strife, because Desiderii Marginis have never been this dark-hearted by composing such abyssal, icy, doom-minded soundscapes.
The second disc clocks just over fifty minutes, and the seven pieces in general sound little less minimalistic than on the first disc. Of course the approach is the same, but there’s more warmth, creating even more Arctic-freezing despair and fear. This material comes closer to the intriguing cloudiness of the early years (cf. the C.M.I.-era), undoubtedly referring to the most vicious, unpredictable and scared / scarifying subconscious levels of man’s mind. Especially with compositions like Temple Of Andromeda or Bright Dead City, Desiderii Marginis obviously lean back to this good ol’ times period, escaping from nihilistic emptiness, penetrating dimensions of transcendental ritualism.
There’s no boredom whatsoever, despite Hypnosis being such a lengthy experience. Okay, the individual creations are minimal and, if you want to, somewhat nihilistic (not ‘nihilistic’ as in droning noise-scape-Industrial). That’s remarkable, for Hypnosis isn’t the most energetic sonic adventure to experience. Neither is this an easy-listening lay-back album, but the lack of cheap repetititititivity, for example, or the lack on an overload on easily-found samples makes this whole recording more worthy than many (lazy / ignorant / unworthy) others within the very same genre.