Mekigah are a solo-outfit (in the earliest days, it was a duo) by Vis Ortis, who has been helped once again by a whole horde of same-minded session musicians for this successor of 2014’s Litost, amongst whom Black Rhino / Serpent Pig’s Leith Carnie, who took care of production and mix of this album as well, Yippie Brain’s Thomas K. Bollinger, the Ziltch-diptych Axiam and Adamor, or Izedis Apirikubabadazuzukanpa, you know, that sweetheart behind exquisite acts like Static Goat or Enbilulugugal. Evidently, the mastering was done by Greg Chandler himself. The band takes care of the digital release (Bandcamp), and the physical one comes via the lovely Aesthetic Death sources, in a fine six-panel digipack edition, which includes an eight-page booklet with the lyrics.
When I wrote a review on Mekigah’s Litost-album, released at the end of 2014 (http://www.concreteweb.be/reviews/mekigah), I started my personal nonsense with: ‘Mekigah is an effusion of sounds emanating from a dark turbulent vortex… A beautiful blackened bastard child of diverse dark genres’. It was a correct way to start that review with, and it would do just fine with this new epos, weirdly called Autexousious.
Autexousious, which lasts for fifty-four minutes, differs once again from all former efforts, yet still with a very recognizable, characteristic approach. The opener, Eroding Will, starts with some ominous, droning guitar riffs, which constantly evolve, transform, morph into formless shapes. At about three minutes, everything turns darker, more oppressive, with gloomy, almost sacral keyboard lines and dark spells, like a narration, awaiting the final end, which one cannot escape from. ‘The silence erodes the patience – Bony fingers tear the chest – A flood of hatred fills the mind – Treading on the skin – A consequence of morality – All safety nets removed – Anticipating an exit – Never again’… Still feeling comfortable? The next track is the title song, and it starts so intensively morbid, suppressing, asphyxiating. Spooky machineries, Doom-laden Drone riffs, industrialised drum beats, eerie soundscapes and vile, bewitching growling voices (+ some spoken words, though weirdly performed), all this results in a monumental, occult and mysterious brain-fucker, injecting the weird, unhuman stuff with elements of Funeral Doom, Occult Black Metal, Dark Electronics and Dark Drone Ambient. Damn, this hurts, and at the same time it’s so satisfying. 'Eros Necropsique raped and reinterpreted by Woods Of Belial', wouldn’t that be a fine definition? Or what about ‘early Void Of Silence translated by Esoteric-on-mescaline’ (oops, sorry, I couldn’t control myself anymore – but hey, listen and you’ll understand…)? Another example of this project’s eccentric approach is Zmatek, which rather refers to scenes like Dark Wave / Electro / Gothic, yet of the darkest kind. Don’t be afraid; it’s a Mekigah interpretation, so do not fear catchiness… Or what about the esoteric, hypnotic, martial, frenzy, epic and symphonic fragments in a composition like Rejection Nostalgia, a true evocation of old-Necromantia-meet-Diabolos-Rising alike delirium… Further on, there’s Noise, Wave, Doom, Post Rock, Metal, Dark Ambient, Electronics, Death Industrial, Ritual Drone, abyssal obscurity, occult material, necrotic anti-elegance, schizoid neurosis, sonic schizophrenia, and lots of insurmountable horror… It’s like the tarot cards of Giger transformed into an aural un-physical body.
Occult Funereal Blackened Horror Drone Rituals, wouldn’t that be a fine description for these occult funereal blackened horrifying droning rituals?