Here I am again, flying the flag of Current 93 all by my lonesome. What is it about this band that has kept them out of the public eye for over twenty years? Could it be that David Tibet's undying obsession with such unwholesome (and unholy) characters as Maldoror, Aleister Crowley, and the Antichrist has turned the average listener off?

My theory, if you're interested, is that Current 93 possesses two traits (excluding a general lack of promotion) that have prevented the band from becoming a household name: severely lengthy songs and an air of evil that hangs over David Tibet's creations. People are just too ADD and cowardly to handle the ol' C93. Yo.

Actually, the main reason for this band's obscurity is that the music of Current 93 does not always seem to qualify as music. The early stuff, like the album we're about to explore, consisted largely of very long soundscapes, cut-and-paste experiments that combined the charm of demon growls, Gregorian chants, lunatic poetry, and any number of annoying, scary, or downright unusual noises. If you're looking for a gay old beat, an easily remembered chorus line, and a simple three chord progression, then you're looting the wrong Wal-Mart entirely.

As you may have deduced or read in my other reviews, Current 93 is and was a one man show- with special guests. David Tibet, who at the best of times could pass for the Grim Reaper's stunt double, is the capo de capo of this here thing. His good buddies in Coil, Death In June, and Nurse With Wound typically help out with recording and live performances, but the project's guiding vision is solely David Tibet's. Which could be a pro or con, depending on whether or not you share the man's interests.

While Tibet is still releasing albums as Current 93, I have pretty much stopped following his odyssey. He's gotten a little soft for me (though "Faust" and "I Have A Special Plan For This World" prove that he's still got a little darkness left in his soul), so I tend to focus on his first few works, particularly "Nature Unveiled" and the beast we're about to meet and greet, "Dogs Blood Rising".

The year was 1984, and what David Tibet was hoping to accomplish with stuff like this is a mystery to me. He had apparently forsaken the hope of making millions to pursue a darkly artsy direction, but I cannot figure out what audience he was hoping to capture. Fans of "The Omen" soundtrack? People who enjoy listening to lengthy atmospheric muck about the Antichrist? Who exactly was into this genre?

"Dogs Blood Rising" was the first real Current 93 album, although the "Lashtal" record made waves in the infant ambient underground. "Rising" is a chilling ride through a world torn apart by inhumanity, where the only guiding light is the prospective arrival of an Antichrist who will really show us what evil's all about. Man, the world must have seemed bleak back in the heady days of early 1984. I'm glad it's stabilized since then.

One thing that Tibet has going for him is lyrical simplicity. If you can pronounce "Christus Christus", then you already know the words to track number one (not sure how the secondary title of "The Shells Have Cracked" relates). Of course, you'd need some serious vocal effects to replicate the feel. The only "music" on this song is what seems to be a backward Gregorian chant being used to sharpen a butcher knife. At three minutes long, it's practically an eye blink by C93's long-winded standards (but who am I, the writer of exceedingly long reviews, to say?).

Next up is the band's closest thing to a hit, and only in the sense that it's the one that a few folks remember. "Falling Back In Fields Of Rape" has to be the fifteen most disturbing and tortured minutes to ever touch vinyl. It starts off ominously enough, with the usual Gregorian chants, yells of "WAR!", a slow percussive pound, and backward hissing noises. An initially sensible British voice (provided by Crass singer Steve Ignorant) takes us away to a foreign town and land, where some seriously ugly things are taking place. Ignorant tells us of women and babies bleeding with the calmness of a veteran journalist, then becomes the very embodiment of righteous indignation. After all, what are we doing but standing around and laughing as the innocent are being massacred?

This chaos builds for four minutes or so, turns into a pile of operatic wails and feedback, and then gives way to the song's most terrifying part. I can only describe it as a demonic-robotic voice that keeps repeating the title to a background of distant explosions and a highly unnerving hum. It reminds me of that part in "The Terminator" where the machines are coming through on their seek-and-destroy mission- just a growing sense of approaching doom that begins to hurt the ears. I used to scare myself senseless by listening to it in the dark with headphones on.

And then- silence. And a female talking peacefully about being starved, castrated, raped, axed, burned with acid, killed by a firing squad, and thrown from a helicopter (talk about overkill!). The song finally ends with more chants and David Tibet talking about wanting to melt as the Rapture rolls forward.

After "Fields Of Rape" (which Death In June remade as an acoustic piece), the rest of the album can't help but be anticlimactic.

"From Broken Cross, Locusts" features some banging, a guy speaking French (which is plenty disturbing to me), an annoying series of "ANTICHRIST"s through a wall of effects, and Tibet sharing with us such pleasant lines as
"on the banks of the river of god- Antichrist" and "between the power and the glory falls the shadow".

On "Raio No Terrasu (Jesus Wept)", we are treated to female wails, Tibet groaning about a leper lord in bloody robes, some heavily-processed falsettos, and assorted fun and games with vocal effects. This track was recorded live on 11/25/83, which Tibet informs us in the liner notes was the thirteenth anniversary of Yukio Mishima's death through hara-kiri and beheading. Um, OK.

The last two tracks are somewhat expendable, especially after we've already been drained of hope by the preceding bits of grimness. "St. Peter's Keys All Bloody" has some mumble-singing, while "Dog's Blood Rising" is just another backward swirl of evilspook that is creepy but empty. Just Tibet trying to freak us out after we've already been scared to death.

Most of the tricks Tibet uses on this album were recycled on the following release, "Nature Unveiled". He continued on in this direction for a short time before steering the C93 sound into a more folky direction, which never really worked that well.

I would recommend this album on the strength of "Fields Of Rape" alone, which fills me with a visceral sense of horror every time I hear it. Tibet has fashioned the song time and again into different little versions, but this one was the first, most creative, and definitely the darkest.

I encourage anyone with an interest in C93 to start with "Emblems", the two disc compilation that introduces the listener to the twists and turns of Tibet's career. While the version of "Fields Of Rape" found on "Emblems" is heavily truncated, it still contains enough of the original's evil grandeur to keep freaks like me amused.

And that's what separates a true work of art from a piece of assembly line soullessness- it keeps the weirdos entertained.

Related reviews:

Christ & The Pale Queens Mighty In Sorrow http://www.epinions.com/content_182018215556

Nature Unveiled http://www.epinions.com/content_193074925188

Recommended: Yes