The Ebony Tower — Les Rougon-Macquart
I was lucky enough to get hold of a physical copy of the release- and as we’ve come to expect from The Ebony Tower’s releases, it’s a classy looking homemade affair. With the six DVDR’s coming in a clear DVD case. This features a double-sided PC printed color cover, and each of the discs features brightly colored labels- the release's artwork takes in watercolor paintings from the period of Frances second empire. Also as part of the release is a t-shirt- this is white, featuring the projects name & the release's title over a complex line drawn family tree.
The Les Rougon-Macquart Cycle of books were originally published between the 1871 & 1893. The series follow the lives of two titular branches of a fictional family living during Frances second empire. The cycle of books is seen as key & important books in the Naturalism movement- which emphasizes observation and the scientific method in the fictional portrayal of reality. I’ve not read the books myself, so I guess I’ll be missing out on the connection between the walls, artwork, and books- but I’ll do my best to give you an idea of what to expect.
The release takes in twenty tracks, and each of these run between one hour-forty minutes, and just shy of four hours. Each of the tracks is themed around one of the novels in the cycle, and each is an extremely dense journey, with often textural shifts occurring within the thick weave of their epic lengths. It’s so far taken me around 4/5 months to play through three-quarters of this release, and as I didn’t want to delay this review any longer I’m reviewing it now- as I feel I have a fairly good feel of most of what we have here.
From the outset, the release pulls no punches, as it throws you straight into lengthy HNW composition- with the two & a quarter hours runtime of “La Fortune des Rougon”. This 'wall' opens with a blend of deep & blunt rumble, which is surrounded by loose/ grainy rushing. And as the track progresses we get some very subtle adjustments- for example around the thirty-minute mark, we’ve moved to a blend of grinding & descend low-end and skittering/skating static. And in the tracks finally quarter, as the low-end is slowly fading, we get a crisscrossing static grain building in power, which creates a most disorientating end to the 'wall'.
For the third track on disc two( or the seventh track in general), we have the nearing two & a half hours of “Pot-Boulille”. This has a slightly less subtle shift in it's length, as it moves between a blend of hazed constantly descending low-end choppiness, & spluttering ‘n’ jittering static meshing. Onto droning & billowing bass pressure, that’s surrounded by wiry cluttering & rattling. Before ending of twenty minutes blend of rushing shear & roasting low-end.
Disc four opens with the three hours & forty-six minutes of “L’Assommoir”- this begins with the urgent & caustically choppy mix of mid range hack ‘n’ gallop, swirling & liquid like higher pitched hacks, and muffled churn. And by around the hour or so mark we’ve moved onto a blend of muffled-yet-tight bass churns, which are ribbed with both insect-like hacks & hissing ear nerve points. Before shifting in its final hour into a mix of rattling & clattering low-end, which is weaved by a constant map of snap & click.
On disc five we have a threesome of three- hour plus tracks- starting off with the just shy of four hours of "Germinal". This 'wall' begins with an unbalancing blend of back & forth bass buffeting, which is edged with a weaving line of crisp jittering. Before moving onto a mix of rolling & descending low-end, which battered by a mesh of hissing rushing. Before in the last hour & ten minutes moving to a mix of muffled-yet-tight bass battening, that cuts by mid-to-higher pitch jitter ‘n’ rattle.
It really goes without saying that Les Rougon-Macquart is a mammoth undertaking for any listener- even the most hardcore wall-heads will find this release daunting. But through-out The Ebony Tower managers to present rewarding & often creative wall-craft, with real thought put into both the changes in the books texts & making balanced composition. I’m not sure if there are any of the physical versions of this release still available, but I’d say it;s well worth trying to track one down- as you get a nicely presented boxset, and of course the rather neat T-shirt. For those who wanted to go down the digital route the release can be found here