VELEHENTOR: Ceremonial Death 7”ep Vegvisir Music

VELEHENTOR: Ceremonial Death  7”ep Vegvisir Music

Neat little 2 track EP here from the Russian artist Velhentor; it’s hard to say a lot on reviews when it comes to 7” vinyl because of the lack of scope for length of listening, however the mere fact someone still releases this format nowadays is good thing to shout about in itself.

‘Ceremonial Death’ relies solely on ritualistic drones and cavernous Dark Ambient as its approach; with icy textures rolling around in a black fog of sound this artist knows his craft well.

There is a touch of the ‘olde world’ within this release, remarkably organic and rich; this a perpetually black introduction to Velhentor, for me and this more than whetted my appetite to hear how he copes when it comes to producing a full length album.

High scoring on quality, context and the factor this has been released on wax.

8/10

VELEHENTOR | VISHUDHA KALI | CLOSING THE ETERNITY: Ishopanishad CD Vegvisir Music

VELEHENTOR | VISHUDHA KALI | CLOSING THE ETERNITY: Ishopanishad  CD Vegvisir Music

An artist collaboration here in one the most awkward digipak’s I have ever had to get a CD out of; however, the packaging looks unique and equally artistic with its nice spot varnish touches.

If the press blurb is to be believed this lengthy three-track affair has been conjured up with live acoustic instrumentation for the most part and centralised around the bastardisation of the ancient text ‘Isha Unpanished’; literature based around the concept of human values, disregarding karma and the strengths of the human condition, solely concentrating on the realities of our modern life.

Musically I expected something a tad bleak given that the last piece of work I heard by Velhentor was the impressive ‘Ceremonial Death’ EP; the first section of this album focussed more around arcane sounds, which thematically are not in turn all bad, however I was put off by the almost tantric vocalisations at the end of track one, in turn flowing into and throughout track two. If truth-be-told, this side of the ambient and drone scene does make my fists itch somewhat.

Thankfully, the last track on this album is a beautifully pleasant ambient piece clocking in at just over 21 minutes; spatially aware with a blissful air like quality, this not only came as a godsend to the proceedings, but was expertly composed to boot; if only the rest of ‘Ishopanishad’ had followed this path the entire release could have been a mini classic.

All in all this is a stable album appealing to the ritualistic drone enthusiast on the fringes of the genre; for me though this just isn’t entirely my bag as far as this scene goes.

7/10

VAZHES: Sayyid CD Vegvisir Music

VAZHES: Sayyid   CD  Vegvisir Music

An ancient shamanistic culture is explored here; centuries ago the Sami moved northwards under the constant pressure of other nations and ‘Sayyid’, is the musical reference point to this story thematically.

Sound wise a lot is covered genre speaking, with droning, lightly distorted electronics, heavy air rumblings and ritualistic thundering martial compositions.  The latter has been approached in a fashion I haven’t heard that often; the beat sounds more like a creation of bass ridden muffles of sound and wire like electronics slide over the top adding a psychotic slant to the affair, leaning on old industrial ethics.

The final output is once again something that I didn’t expect to hear after the tracks before; from the opening sound of sheep bleating, the final chapter of ‘Sayyid’ is a blistering visceral montage of power electronics that literally tears at your ears.

Overall, this is an interesting and solid piece of work from start to finish if you are a fanatic of everything this blend of genres could possibly throw at you; rather than following one linear path Vazhes has exploited the opportunity to play with a variety of sounds, showing more than an ear for works from his peers.

7.5/10