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Kapustin Yar, "Trithemius"
The first release from this Archieuthis Rex side-project, Trithemius drops much of the metal trappings and instead focuses on synthetic beats and bleak, mangled electronics resulting in an inhuman and aggressive piece of modernized industrial.
On "–ó–∫–∑–æ—Ä—Ü–∏–∑–º" the industrial vibe comes through the clearest, via aggressive, processed synthesizer, mangled guitar and heavily processed voice fragments.It just barely clings to a sense of structure amidst swirling chaos, and instantly reminded me of the b-sides to VIVIsectVI.Via overdriven thuds and rhythmic drum machine, "Collapsing Palace" goes for a more death industrial, Cold Meat Industry like sound, oppressive and bleak without being dull.
"Dirge" is an aptly named track, initially mixing pounding kettle drum beats atop grinding, scraping noise as what may or may not be human voices float up from the deep.Even when it becomes a bit more psychedelic and synth heavy in its later moments, it retains that malignant, funereal march throughout.
The simple rhythm and fuzzed out, memorable bass sound of "Red Altar" goes for more conventional, almost rock sounds, and the noise squall of the title track comes across as a bit more metallic, rather than spacey. With its wavering keyboards and feedback-laden guitar, "Antipalus Maleficiorum" resembles Jesu's more dissonant material, but even further removed from traditional music conventions.However, the subtle melody and gauzy feedback balances the light and the dark nicely.
Considering the recent resurgence in the popularity of minimal wave and synth pop sounds, I suppose a re-embracing of what industrial music became in the 1980s, is likely on the horizon, and I hope that more artists take the Kapustin Yar approach of integrating some of those genre tropes into an updated framework. Trithemius has moments of familiarity that take me back to my high school favorites, but still feels like a new and complicated work.However, the cynic in me fears that the world will end up with a slew of Front Line Assembly carbon copies…I hope I am wrong.
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