INANNA

"Day Ov Torment" (reissue)

Cold Spring - 2007

CD

Cold Spring proceeds in its reissue program, this time bringing back to life one of the forgotten masterpieces of death industrial, Inanna's "Day Ov Torment". Originally released in 1993 by Staalplaat, this was the first full-length CD of Mikael Stravöstrand's solo project, and unarguably the best. Out of print for many years, it's now available again with a renewed artwork, using elements from the original to create an even darker and more disturbing graphic presentation.

If you are familiar with any other of Inanna's early releases, or with Mikael's former project Archon Satani, you probably know what to expect: this is the quintessence of death industrial, with thundering industrial percussions, bells, hereafter choirs, demonic voices and slow, distant gloomy orchestrations, evoking a hellish vision of the apocalypse, a hallucinated and nightmarish journey through an underground realm inhabited by beings too horrible to be described. Take Archon Satani, mix them with Memorandum, In Slaughter Natives, Megaptera and Morthound, and you will get an idea of the bombastic and astonishing sound of "Day Ov Torment".

The CD opens with the hypnotic ritual of "Zounds", built around a creeping subterranean bubbling soon towered by hammering drums, sheet metal cacophonies and sinister winds blowing. Towards the end, a church organ starts to play a funeral melody. Not less disturbing is following "Body Ov Light", with its forest of bells, doomy organs and sacral atmosphere. But, the most disturbing and effective composition of the album is undoubtedly "Her Essence", the perfect soundtrack to the awakening of one of H. P. Lovecraft's Ancient Ones, marvellously portrayed in music by the obsessive, thundering percussions, the anguished organ, the horrendous reverberated roaring and the distorted voice growling in the middle. This track couldn't be missed on a sampler with the top death industrial tracks of history.

Inanna would have definitely been a great addition to the original Cold Meat Industry rooster, and "Day Ov Torment" would have deserved to be released among the Swedish's label early masterpieces. Because of its lack of exposure, both the project and this groundbreaking CD never got the attention they deserved. Praise once more to Cold Spring for having resurrected this unforgettable cornerstone of the most haunting death industrial ever created. Strictly recommended to both those who had been looking for the original press for ages, and who hear about Inanna for the first time.

- Simon V.

Website: http://www.coldspring.co.uk

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