ALLERSEELEN

"Cruor" (reissue)

Ahnstern - 2006

2 LP

Ahnstern is proceeding in the reissue program of Allerseelen's early sold out CDs on luxurious double LPs with various bonus tracks. It's now time to see back the light for "Cruor", the Austrian project's very first digital output, originally released in 1994. Someone who started to listen to Gerhard's music in the last ten years would hardly recognize his hand in this collection of minimal and raw compositions, labelled as "archaic ritual chamber music" by the author himself. That definition fits quite well, as the frightening feelings of ancient rituals, devoted to obscure deities long forgotten by mankind, is what you can find along the whole album.

The first side features four unreleased tracks assembled in 1989, which present the same profile as those featured on the original CD: distant, haunting backgrounds of noise or gloomy keyboards, disturbing primitive and ritual sounds, such as bone percussions, Tibetan horns and flutes play repetitive and hypnotic patterns, sending freezing shrivels down your spine. No vocals at all can be found in the whole record. It's particularly interesting to notice that the majority of these sounds would have been used one year later to build the songs of "Gotos=Kalanda", putting some order and cold logic in this primordial chaos of whisperings woods, cavemen's ceremonies and human sacrifices.

This vinyl reissue of "Cruor" is dedicated mainly to two different categories of listeners: those who couldn't find a copy of the CD release, sold out since many years, and the vinyl collector who's buying all these luxurious editions for the bonus tracks or for their highly esthetical value. It's not unlikely that it would also appeal to several cultists of the old-school ritual industrial scene of the 1980s' (very early Psychic TV, 23 Skidoo, early Ain Soph, the Nekrophile Records releases, etc.). On the contrary, lovers of Allerseelen's more recent kraut pop sonorities should pay attention, because they may be disappointed, although it could be interesting for them to give a listen to the prehistory of Gerhard's sound.

- Simon V.

Website: http://www.geocities.com/ahnstern

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/allerseelen

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