Paul Chain — Opera Decima (The World Of The End)
This recent release appears on Minotaur Records- who over the years have been the main reissuing label of all things Paul Cross related. The two CD’s come presented in an eight-panel digipack- this a black backdrop & gold inked affair featuring a clear slip sleeve, and a mini inlay booklet that recreates the albums original handwritten notes.
The first disc features just two tracks "Dogma" & "The Face", the first track is the longest coming in at forty-four minutes, with the second being half that length. So first up we have “Dogma”- here we open with a blend of sinisterly hovering organ dwell and deep-to-spacy synth buzzes. At around the fourteen-minute mark a slow bashing & smarting cymbal is added to the mix, as well as Chains occasionally dark warbling vocals, creepy whispers & coughs- at points we strip back to down to just organ/ synth textures. Next we, of course, we have “The Face”-
here we begin with a blend of gloom cascading & spiralling church organ, hissing & chilling mumbled vocals, bubbling & stretching electronics. With the later addition of eerier field recordings, joining the mix of industrial textures & distant whispers/ children cries- with higher almost haunting harmonic key runs coming into play towards the tracks end.
Moving onto disc two, and this features six tracks & seventy minutes of music. The disc opens the twenty-three minutes of “Domino” which finds a mix of bleak rising organ tones, suddenly rushing & rattling ambient industrial tones and drifting vocal whisper unease. With latter shadowy skittering-to-watery beats, and sinister ritual keys been added into the mix for great effect.
Next, we have “SX Nevrosi” this nine & half minute track has a very much later Throbbing Gristle vibe, with its mixture of constantly stabbing & jitter electronics. Mumbled-to-bayed vocals, which have a very Genesis P-Orridge feel to them.
As we move on through the second we disc come jerking & snapping beats, buried vocals, and baying guitars of “Jungle city”. Through to the almost seared & sludgy synth-meets- hissing ‘n’ scrubbing beats of“Get Down” which has an almost pared-back Power electronics vibe about it. With the album been finished with just over ten minutes of “In The Days Of Snow” which blends creepily wow-wowing synth crawls, & gloomy church organ lines. With latter on more pronounced chilling harmonic key runs coming in, which sounds like they could be from a latter Nightmare On Elm Street score.
It’s been a year or two since Minotaur Records put out anything Paul Cross related- so it’s great to have this classy reissue of 1990’s Opera Decima (The World Of The End) , and if you're into the more electro/ industrial side of Cross's work this is a no-brainer.