Hear me, O Death, whose empire unconfined, extend to mortal tribes of every kind. Oh thee, the portion of our time depends, whose absence lengthens life, whose presence ends. (source: Thomas Taylor’s translation of Orphic Hymn 89 to Thanatos; fragment used from this collaboration’s biographical description)
It was an arousing message when being contacted by the majestic Slithering Black Records tribe: a collaboration came up, as a result of a partnership by two intriguing acts, being insectarium (not a capital ‘I’ on purpose, for what it’s worth) and The Black Monolith. Joel and John (respectively from the U.S. and Greece) created and executed this album together, resulting in a seven-track experience that clocks about fifty-three minutes. It’s a digital-only release (a physical edition would caress my soul for sure), taken care of by the young yet enormously uprising label Slithering Black Records. And before going over to the sonic content, first a word about the visual one. Artwork (plus design) were done by Omen North (very closely related to the label) and show a black-colored ‘picture’ of a snake, crawling around an egg, like a planet covered in venomous fog, revealing the essence of life, strangled and poisoned, or ready to rise up; a metaphor for the seasons, the cycle of life, and the philosophical approach of birth, life, death, and rebirth. The cover painting actually symbolizes the ‘Orphic Egg’, representing ‘Beginning’ or ‘Birth’, related to the mysteries of Eleusis (an ancient city close to Athens, now also known as Eleusina or Elefsina). These ‘mysteries of Eleusis’ were like a ritualistic gathering, celebrating seasons, agriculture and harvest, and the place of the human kind on a world ruled by the gods. It also deals – and then we’re focusing on this album’s concept – with the myth of Persephone and Hades (who abducted Persephone towards the Underworld), or the trinity katabasis – quest – resurrection.
Therefore, the working title Kykeon is a nicely chosen one. ‘kykeon’ was a potion in ancient Greece (as well as the Roman Empire, and probably some more areas), consumed by ‘average’ people (like a cocktail of water with herbs, honey, or other ingredients), as well as during rites; the last, for it was said, to have psychotropic effects (at least in certain circumstances, when mingled by fungae-carrying barley), able to open an inner portal towards the knowledge, or understanding, of life’s cycle (with death and resurrection as main theme). In Eleusis, during the so-called rites of the goddess Demeter (Persephone’s mother, also known as Demetra), it was said to be used ritualistically, known as the Eleusinian mysteries because of its mind-expanding capacities. FYI: this drink got mentioned as well in the books of Odyssey and Illias (by Homeros).
Anyway, a short (personal, and therefor subjective; but who cares?) impression of each single (yet cohesive) composition will follow here. This collaborative work opens with the lengthiest piece, Αγέλαστος Πέτρα (10:59), which means something like ‘angry stone’ or, dixit my Greek sources (thanks for the additional info, John), ‘the stone that doesn’t laugh’ (free translation-interpretation). That stone was the center of the secretive rites and ceremonial feasts, which were infamous as the ‘mysteries’ from Eleusis, as mentioned before. It is a raw and claustrophobic beast, gathering both projects’ raison d’être, i.e. a dystopian approach of Black Drone Ambient, Horror Industrial and Cinematic Dark Ambient. The track is based on icy waves of keyboard-laden manipulation, injected by disturbing, even dissonant additional field-recorded sounds. The mixture of rumbling drones and bleak ambience gets mingled with harsh, then again hypnotic industrial textures, creating an ireful atmosphere. ‘Αλαδε Μύσται (07:39) (dealing with the march from Athens towards the salted sea) comes with a more militant approach, offering a combative sound. The martial percussions and drums, the doomed drone-work, and the multifarious orchestral melodies result in a bombastic symphony of fortitude and determination. Oh, what an oppressive, enslaving hypnosis does it exhale. Next comes Birth. The Universe. Life Itself. (06:16), excavating deeper into dimensions of the psyche. Haunting harmonies and seemingly soporific noisescapes get injected by mechanoid additives and thunderous sounds, undefinable field-recordings and mundane loops, like a sci-fi-like soundtrack. This somehow goes for ‘Ιακχον (08:00) as well. Ιακχος or Iacchos was another name for Dionysos (sometimes also considered a son of Dionysos and Demeter), by the way. This (de)composition brings forth a Lovecraftian sound-sculpting (reminiscent of some Eighth Tower efforts) with a convincing Industro-ANW timbre. It is like a perfected symbiosis of eldritch Ambient Noise Wall and gloomy mechanics, envisioning a nebulous dimension of shudder and abomination. Muttering waves, reverberating notes and scuffy drones get canalized into a burdensome experience, sucking the last ray of light into its belly of all-devouring emptiness. With its length of just over five minutes, An Ear Of Grain In Silence Reaped stands for harshly militant energy, introducing repetitive buzzing snores, electronic mistreatment, pounding pulsations and eclectic / psychedelic principles. Despite its ‘short’ length, it’s quite an adventurous singalong, with towards the end an enigmatic and clandestine suffix of mesmeric, opiating estrangement. The Mystery Revealed (05:47) comes with a very ‘cinematic’ identity with some erudite countenance, combining long-stretched waves of intoxicating synth-deliberation and deeply droning spheres of hallucinatory height. The application of bizarre percussions, horrific components and pseudo-shamanistic obtrusion strengthens the core of arcanum and stupor. The final composition, ‘Ανοδος (08:38), which means ‘ascent’ or ‘anabasis’, deals with the hallucinatory visions after the consumption of ‘kykeon’, when secrets of death and the afterlife (or rebirth) got (get) revealed. It’s a transcendental, psychotropic aural trip, based on gloomy soundwaves, and accompanied by thunderous roars, sharp-edged sonic calamities, distant samples and percussion-sounds, astral winds floating by, and bleak ambiences from organic and, at the very same time, pre-artificial nature (whatever this might mean, haha).
Kykeon offers a soundtrack for occult ritualism, bare-footed and archaic in essence, yet bountiful and prodigal in execution. It is remarkable how both projects involved, The Black Monolith and insectarium, have been able to procreate such amazing work of intrigue, maintaining the necessary equilibrium in between archaic-ceremonial cultus at the one hand, mercilessly overwhelmed by an obscurity unsown, and a post-modernistic pursuance that gathers related yet modestly differing genres. The result is mind-blowing, manifesting new angles and substantiations with each listen. I’ll have another chalice of kykeon right now, when pushing the ‘repeat’ button…
https://slitheringblackrecords.bandcamp.com/album/kykeon
https://www.concreteweb.be/reviews/black-monolith
https://www.concreteweb.be/reviews/insectarium-omensworn-rojinski
https://www.concreteweb.be/reviews/insectarium
https://www.concreteweb.be/reviews/various-artists-idil-2024
https://www.concreteweb.be/reviews/kathodos
https://www.concreteweb.be/reviews/maris-anguis