Quite an unknown (read: underestimated) project, the Belgian act This Morn’Omina will celebrate its thirtieth anniversary later this year. Modestly productive since the end of last century, This Morn’Omina now returns with Insha, a fifty-minutes aural ceremony consisting of eight chapters. This time it’s a ‘major’ release, I mean, it will be available via two ‘bigger’ labels within the scene, i.e. Cyclic Law and Zazen Sounds (both have been working together a couple of times lately; think about Brotherhood Of Sleep or Undirheimar).
Anyway, the physical release is a six-panel digipack CD, printed in an edition of 300 copies. It comes with intriguing, mysterious artwork + design by Jacqui Moon: a hot-red lava flow alike stream in front of a black background. Simple and minimalist at first, yet quite in-depth and enigmatic in essence. It is the first full-length in about five years (cf. 2021’s The Roots Of Sarawasi) and follows shortly after the EP Omm Of Life (released in early 2025).
On Insha, the still-young core member Mika Goedrijk gets ‘assisted’ by no one else but Nam-Khar’s Konchong Gyaltsen. The word ‘insha’ is Arabic and means something like ‘willpower’, often used in a religious / ceremonial or philosophical / metaphysical context, though ‘origin’ or ‘creation’ too refer to it. Once more, this specific recording trans-morphs from the former efforts, delving into new dimensions of aural ritualism, and seeking inspiration in the earlier works as well. The recording is ‘the intent to be an invocation and observation of how sound operates as a transformative tool’ or ‘a sonic extermination of how intention becomes reality’. Insha implodes into the origins, and at the same time it expands towards unexplored auditive dimensions.
The short introduction, Heralds (03:24), offers an in-depth picture of what this album will sound like. This piece is like an amalgam of details from Electronic Music, Dark Ambient, Ritual and Deep Techno, first gloomy and dreamy, then transforming into eerie proportions with doomed beats, wretched voices and ghostly harmonies. Tephra (07:04) initially sinks into transcendental atmospheres, mesmeric, introspective and murky, yet soon it transforms into a sonic universe of fascinating sound-sculpting, with immersive drones, psychedelic dubs, intoxicating percussions and spectral soundscapes. It’s a mental manifest, an arriving and disappearing of noise and thought (another proof that both these elements are undeniable connected), dwelling in an orbit of both intermission and diversion. Also 7Sekhem floats in a kind-minded ocean of psychedelic, experimental and solemn dimensions, with a brighter, more zen-like and more energetic attitude. The electronic beats, post-industrialized textures and droning dubs create a modernistic effect, yet still the archaic origin of a, well, shamanic heart gets maintained (cf. the dynamic percussions and drums, the haunting synth-lines and the spheric vocals). Maňjuśrī (07:09) shows refined delicacy and methodic organization, injecting aspects from Oriental Folk, Ritual Electro, exotic Gothic and voluptuous Doom Ambient. Also Nalanda (07:06) and Excodus (04:27) flirt with this abundant opulence of sound-shaping, be it with a richer palette of eclectically electrified, industrial and psychoid elements; Nalanda, traveling deep into a preternatural universe of auscultating noise-(e)scaping, like a constant heartbeat and respiration; and Excodus being hypnotizing, summoning, yet also seductive. Sannyasin (05:19) sort of reverts towards the initial ceremonial-tribal concept, adding hints of Ritual Dark Drone Ambient and Martial Nordic Folk. The album ends with the delicate, esoteric composition Body Of Light (08:08), which starts with celestial arrangements and spoken words, eldritch tune-effects, rumbling pulses and deeply engineered drones. Eventually, it evolves towards a post-cosmic, almost levitating and trancelike experience, where analgesic harmonies and reverberating, echoing rhythms amalgamate into a continuously developing organism.
Insha is an experience, an encounter with the Self, and with the Unconsciousness. It’s an album that grows, impressive from the very beginning, yet totally revealing when one finally approaches the apotheosis. It’s an aural experiment that asks for, and needs, endurance, bravery, and open-mindedness. It’s a monument of fascination, revelation, motion, and illusion.
https://cycliclaw.bandcamp.com/album/insha
https://www.cycliclaw.com/music/p/this-morn-omina-insha-cd-/-dl-264th-cycle/zzs174
https://zazensoundspublishings.bandcamp.com/album/zzs-175-this-morn-omina-insha-2