Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Review: Current 93- The Moons at your Door


Image result for current 93 the moons at your door zip

I know I'm probably a little tardy to the party on this one, but I feel like I need to talk about this album, because it's already earned a spot on my 2016 top ten. Current 93, throughout all its lineup changes and genre fluidity, has always been known to deliver some of the most challenging and experimental music out there, and this deserves to be heard way more than it is probably going to be.

I have only come into David Tibet and Current 93's music within the last year or so, thanks to the talking up it got on the channel of a Mr. Myke C-Town (you should totally subscribe to him by the way; I'll leave his channel URL in the comments). I needed to listen to this band, and see what he saw in them. He was also the one to convince me to give black metal a shot as well, so if you ever read this, thank you. 

Going into a Current 93 album, you're never really sure what you're going to get. In case of The Moons at your Door, you get some of the creepiest, most unsettling sounds you'll ever hear. I love how this record builds a mood, and slowly escalates in volume in instrumentation. The music here is very eerie; just some cascading waves, some gull calls, and some rustling through the tall grass. And then, very subtly, this raspy voice and strange sounds come in and give you this immediate feel of dread. "If you do not come to me, I will come to you", this voice says, in probably the creepiest way possible.

The voice is not hear again for quite awhile, instead waiting patiently while the mood and atmosphere grows thicker and more claustrophobic, and you begin to anxiously anticipate the next utterance from this character. And then a wood block, or some other percussive instrument starts pounding away; slowly at first, but building in speed and intensity. The voice returns, preceded by some unsettling audio, which kind of sounds like Joanna Newsom singing a twisted lullaby, followed by a startling thud. I don't want to spoil every unsettling moment of this record, but needless to say, this is some of the scariest stuff you'll ever hear.

I love how David Tibet and company can create so much with so little instrumentation. This mood has such a palpable atmosphere, and I really suggest listening to this in the dark, at night, alone. This record will haunt your nightmares; but you'll love every minute of it. I thought the new Swans record later in the year would be the highlight for me, but Current 93 set the bar extremely high with this dark horror.

Out of a total of five stars, I give this:



What did you think of the record? Are there any records that you're excited about? Feel free to let me know.



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