Dante Augustus Scarlatti – Worship at the Throne of the Oscillator C40

Auris Apothecary

Yet another phenomenally packaged release from the Auris Apothecary camp. They never fail to amaze me with their carefully crafted artifacts. I’m not familiar with the artist here but with such a great presentation expectations are set quite high.

I really like how the track lengths are listed on the back cover of the booklet here. It’s very helpful in deciphering the larger structure of the album. Breaching the Circuitry of Reason opens the tape; a noisy opener lasting only 3.5 minutes. The important part is that it opens up the listening space with a thick wall of sound – booming lows and searing highs – to prepare you for what is to come. The second track on side A is Ritualistic Invocations in a Monumental Stone Moor and it kicks off with an excellent somber melody mixed with hollow noise blasts. Eventually the melodic elements fade away leaving building noise textures and moaning industrial drones.

Side B contains only one track entitled Subsonic Cleansing of the Static Masses which begins with a rougher industrial edge slowly evolving into distant drones and atmosphere. The music is hypnotic yet with an underlying aggression that can’t be shaken. Vocal chants mix into the windy noise floor yet just when you are getting lulled into a trance there is a surge of screeching tortured scrap noise to snap the listener to attention once again. Finally there is some very subtle guitar notes make an appearance before the track dies down.

Overall and excellent release. Unrelenting in it’s forward motion and determined atmosphere with detailed compositional touches to keep things interesting. It’s clear Scarlatti is focused on creating a specific sound and he achieves it. Coupled with the excellent packaging this release is impressive to behold.

Composition:
Sounds:
Production Quality:
Concept:
Packaging:
Overall Rating: