Stream: Breathe in the Abject Horror of Vessel of Iniquity
Last year, black/noise mainstay SP White unfurled his vision of torment before the world in a digital-only distribution of his Vessel of Iniquity‘s self-titled EP. Thanks to Xenoglossy Productions, you now get the chance to purchase this little piece of hell physically. Perhaps after giving your sanity to the daemonic bauble you’ll display it proudly on your mantle like some perverse family heirloom. Whatever you choose, we’re pleased as hell to give you chance to stream all of Vessel of Iniquity in full once again.
Mantric and miasmic in nature, Vessel of Iniquity is a disquieting journey through the blackest depths of the human psyche, a downward spiral of churning blast beats and coiling electronic swells. As you head deep into the darkness, you’ll bear witness to audible atrocities and nameless terrors. Riffs reminiscent of the xenosapien utterances of Portal and Impetuous Ritual call to you from the yawning chasm beneath your feet, ever beckoning you in alien tongues to take that final plunge. Those abusive riffs, those oppressive drums, those choking atmospheres are fraught and punctured by tiny little voices of human terror that echo out of the rank clouds from unseen highs and lows. It is those vocalizations, perfectly buried beneath the black density of the songs themselves, that tear at your sanity; these teetering shrieks and throaty growls and inane chants remind you of the minds that broke in this very place.
The difficulty with music like this is that all that horror tends to blend together into a single fog of spooky noises as an entire full-length drags on and on. Inevitably, you find yourself not kicking and screaming but rather wondering if some new terror will eventually present itself. Thankfully, White cleverly avoids this pitfall by keeping the album trim and lethal, limited to only three outstanding tracks of mephitic pitch. Opening track “Void of Existential Terror” opens with a battery upon the senses but toys with the listener by delivering you into an obsidian sonic void, leaving you all the more vulnerable for the burning riffs of “Where Even Nothing Is Something.” Album closer “Choronzon” ensures with its malevolent coda of arcane chanting that the final nail has been driven.
As you can tell from all that hyperbole, Vessel of Iniquity is very much my thing. It delivers the same creeping fear of Miserist and Spektr but keeps the run-time smart and concise to ensure every track presents a fresh new mind-flaying terror. It’s about as perfect an EP as you can desire.
Keep an eye on Xenoglossy Productions’ Bandcamp page for release. Vessel of Iniquity is due out on tape and vinyl on January 19th through Sentient Ruin, now adorned with new art from “Le theatre des bons engins” by La Perrière. Many thanks to White and Giuseppe from Xenoglossy for sharing it with us!
