First this: I would never try to conquer my passion for fleshly lusts (my wife would never forgive me, haha…)…
…this said… No, seriously, just ignore that personal introduction, for this review deals with a much deeper content. You might know it (or not) that Polish Noise-artist Przemysław aka Sadox is a deeply faithfull person. Despite his physical illnesses, belief / faith works like a healing process, almost like a spiritual / ritual therapy to get through, I thought (but the guy explained me that it is about much more than 'religion'; it's all about connection with a Higher Power, rather than following any [monotheistic] religion). If it works for him, I can only pray to my gods (they might not be the same as his) that this curative ideas gives him the strength, persuasion and power to continue…
Another therapeutical given – and here we do share mutual thoughts – is the power of Aural Art. Music does work as canalization to continue. Emotions, reflections, thoughts, sources of both inspiration and introspection, creativity, passion, productivity and so much more; ‘Music’ can guide each human being, at least when he / she is sufficiently open-minded to let himself herself be accompanied by the vigour of in-depth sonic creativity, through one’s mental state of mind.
Or, in short: these two subjects, Faith and Aural Art, have been the reason for Przemysław to start a new label (or if you want to: a sister-label for Gates Of Hypnos) in order to combine both of them. Religion has been part of ‘Music’ throughout history, but in this case, the kind human behind it wanted to deepen, to explore, the relationship in between both. Militant Liturgy is a Christian-themed label, that focuses on ‘the real content’ of Christian / Orthodox belief; no heretic or totalitarian ideologies, no stupid ‘TV-preacher’ themes; just a means to reflect creed through sonic expression.
As productive as his main label Gates Of Hypnos, Militant Liturgy seems to be able to release one recording every single day. Yet until now, I have the impression that it does not focus on quantity, yet on quality. Of course, one cannot but appreciate this! Anyway, after releases by His Haunted Humming (another outfit by the label-master himself), Theophany, Holy Hermit Humming, and Warrior Priest, the über-productive project Sado Rituals joins the crew with its one thousandth release or so, called Conquering The Passions Of The Flesh. It’s a digital release, of course, coming with truly stunning cover artwork, which totally fits to the conceptual content: a monk, reflecting in mind, sitting in a desolated, abandoned natural landscape; all this covered within gray color-palette (lilac, deep-grey and black).
Conquering The Passions Of The Flesh is a one-piece effort that clocks exactly forty minutes. It is ort of an improvised composition, dedicated to fasting and overcoming the temptations of the flesh in order to open the spiritual (dixit the bio). Despite its length, Conquering The Passions Of The Flesh is a continuously alternating track, even-though the ‘core’ might be somewhat monotonous in essence. Actually, that monotony gets caused by a permanently pulsating rumble, like a self-repetitive wave of thundering droning. Yet as said, it is much more than one single boring noisescape, of course. That pulsation I mentioned works very mesmerizing, even transcendental. I mean, if there was a sonic frequency to procreate (both mental and physical) levitation, these echoing effects would / could / should work.
This soundtrack gets permanently injected with intelligently elaborated details: some modest glitches (very limited, which I think is excellent; an overwhelming glitchy approach would unfortunately displace the ceremonial message), overwhelming doomed drones, mechanoid piercings, sibilant crackles and crunchy sounds, distant industrialized machinery, and oppressing, hypnotic pitches. The result enters, or trespasses, a rather parsimonious and tempered identity of Death Industrial, Ambient Noise Wall, Power Electronics and Black Ambient by covering the whole in a nebula of introspection and serenity.
https://militantliturgy.bandcamp.com/album/conquering-the-passions-of-the-flesh
https://sadorituals.bandcamp.com/album/conquering-the-passions-of-the-flesh
https://www.concreteweb.be/reviews/sado-rituals
https://www.concreteweb.be/reviews/sado-rituals-0
https://www.concreteweb.be/reviews/carrion-sado-rituals
https://www.concreteweb.be/reviews/sado-rituals-mass-graven-image
https://www.concreteweb.be/reviews/gold-sado-rituals
https://www.concreteweb.be/reviews/filthy-nebula-his-haunted-humming
https://www.concreteweb.be/reviews/his-haunted-humming
https://www.concreteweb.be/reviews/crepuscular-rituals
https://www.concreteweb.be/reviews/crepuscular-rituals-0