Current 93 is a music group from England that has been creating experimental music since 1982. Though the band only has one constant member, its founder, David Tibet, a number of other musicians have recorded and contributed to Current 93’s Discography, including Simon Finn, the psychedelic folk artist that I listened to last night, and I really enjoyed the experience. The genres listed for the group on Current 93’s Wikipedia page include apocalyptic folk, experimental, psychedelic folk, and post-industrial. The discography for Current 93 is quite lengthy; the group has released 26 full-length albums since 1984, and as recently as 2018. This album, Dogs Blood Rising (1984), is the group’s second release, and looks to have received decent reviews. Wikipedia lists the album as industrial, so I’m pretty interested and excited to give this album a listen. With that said, I’m going to jump on into the music.
“Christus Christus (The Shells Have Cracked)” begins with a really eerie medley of sounds that sounds like a mixture of Gregorian chants and spacey, ghostly sound effects, while what nearly sounds like a steam engine slowly chugs along in the background. Wow, this is pretty sweet. I’m reminded a fair deal of Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails, though this album predates the formation of Nine Inch Nails by four years. The soundscape seems vaguely psychedelic through its mixing of industrial and spacey sounds in a sort of hauntingly experimental manner. Great track, and I’m excited to hear more.
“Falling Back In Fields of Rape” slowly fades in with what sounds to be some haunting, ghostly Gregorian chants, which swirl around in a distant breeze near a haunted mansion in a dark forest. I really dig the single snare that has a bit of a bouncy, 80s rock sort of sound. The time signature seems like they recorded in 4/4, then slowed it down just slightly. There’s a really interesting reversed sound that seems to suck from one side of the soundscape to the other. Holy smokes, the song enters the next movement, and now there’s an Englishman narrating a story of some sort in a manner that feels very post-punk with a haunting, industrial backdrop. Oh wow, there’s a female opera singer in the background, which blends eerily well with the vulgar narration and industrial instrumentation.
Holy smokes, the instrumentation and narration fades away, and is replaced by a child singing “Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush”. Oh wow, the industrial instrumentation gradually fades back in. Holy smokes, the child singing “Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush” fades out, and is replaced by the same (vulgar) narration from earlier in the song, except it is narrated by a child this time.
Wow, the song has entered another movement that nearly has a krautrock sort of sound with a blend of droning tones, prog-like structure, and what sound to be some psychedelic undertones. Wow, there seems to be some narration again in this section in the song, except it sounds narrated by some sort of gang of demons from the underworld.
Wow, everything fades away for a moment, and then a droning bass synth fades in with some distant Gregorian chants in the background. Oh wow, an Englishwoman narrates a new section for a moment, which then fades away in lieu of some interesting vocals from what sounds to be the same Englishwoman that narrate the same thing that’s been repeated from earlier in the tune, with an interesting effect that make it sound like she’s singing in a fan of some sort.
Holy smokes, there’s another narrator at this point, narrating what sounds to be the same thing from earlier with slight variations. Wow, this track reminds me a lot of “Disgustipated” by TOOL with the different, dark narrations and effects. Great track.
“From Broken Cross, Locusts” begins with what sounds to be a priest or someone else repeating a prayer, with each prayer ending/starting with an industrial sounding drum beat. Holy smokes, there are some droning, strange vocals that vaguely resemble the sound of swarms of locusts if the swarms could somehow speak. Oh wow, there’s a really interesting, heavy sounding shaker that comes into the soundscape. The track, and overall album so far for that matter, reminds me a lot of the C.A. Quintet album, Trip Thru Hell (1968). This song feels like some avant-garde medley of Marilyn Manson, Coven, TOOL, Nine Inch Nails, and darker psychedelic rock bands from the 1960s. Wow, super interesting song.
“Raio No Terrasu (Jesus Wept)” starts out with super interesting vocals that sound like they were recorded from an old, abandoned, metal playground structure in an old tube that you might have crawled through when you were younger, except the surrounding darkness in the soundscape almost causes the tube to fill with blood as you try to get through it. This track sounds like a hellish cacophony that could be the score to an exorcism in real life. There’s vivid religious imagery produced through the music in the album.
Oh wow, everything but a large rumbling fades away, almost sounding like a large storm steadily approaching a village in medieval eastern Europe. I’m vaguely reminded of Primus and Les Claypool with the dark, nearly evil sounds, though this doesn’t really sound very rock-oriented at the moment, but rather a dark, avant-garde musical composition. It’s been a while since I’ve heard something that was this overtly dark; this song sounds like it could have been used in one of the movies from the Annabelle (2014) series. I’m half expecting crosses to turn upside down as the music continues. Super sweet track.
Holy smokes, “St. Peter’s Keys All Bloody” starts out with a demonic-sounding narration of Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence”. Holy smokes, a really sweet vocal line gradually comes in from the background singing “Scarborough Fair” that begins to drown the demonic vocals. The demonic sounding voice nearly seems to attempt to mock the sweet vocals for a moment, until only the sweet vocal rendition of “Scarborough Fair” is all that remains as the song comes to close. Wow, great track and an awesome way to end the album.
Holy smokes, this album is super sweet. This listening experience has been very unlike anything I’ve listened to lately. The closest thing I can probably think of is the late 1960s rock band Coven, but this album nearly sounds like the musical version of an exorcism. The industrial and experimental sounds range from the Nine Inch Nails to TOOL, with flavors of dark psychedelia from groups like C.A. Quintet laced throughout. If you’re into very dark, avant-garde, experimental, and industrial music, then you might want to consider checking out this album. If you do decide to give this album a listen, then I sincerely do hope that you enjoy the listening experience at least as much as I did.
-A