Tenhornedbeast - The Sacred Truth [Cold Spring Records - 2007]The Sacred Truth is first slice of sonic darkness from this new project from Christopher Walton one half of the now defunct ocultic dark ambient, neo-classical & ritual percussion project Endvra. Thankful this doesn’t try to recapture Endvra's past glories instead this has it’s own grim identity that summons up a quite an organic mix of dark ambience, drone blackness & doomy/ blackened mettlic guitar tone. Oppression Sacrament stars the album off with musty, deep clunking dark ambient tones that rather brought to mind more Yen Pox’s at their more active,with swirls of blacken monk chanting and guitar feedback- it feels like one is carefully entering a vast black Cathedral lit by blood red light, sinister chants emitting from the lower levels, as the floor bellow your feet moves like dead black skin. Next up is Our lady of the lighting bolt which revolves around slowing dark and deep ambient tones downward descent with guitar tones and dark cinematics drifting here and there as it makes its slow 18 minute fall into pitch blackness. On track four In the teeth of the wolf the doomy guitar and blackened feedback elements take on a bigger role as they slowly roll like shadows tongues or sinister waves out of your speakers- painting your listener space with their airless blacken tar vibes. At about the ten minutes mark fuzzed and ritual percussion moves in like a procession of sinister mourners surrounding you, as it seems to get even more claustrophobic and grim almost having a slowed black metal feel about it all. A debut that though in places sounds a little samey is darkly rewarding & shows Walton stepping away from the dark if a little synthetic sound of Endvra into tenhornedbeast’s uncurling dark & organic nightmare world. Roger Batty
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