Review: Dark Sky Burial ‘Solve Et Coagula’
For the second time this year, I find myself joining Napalm Death man Shane Embury on his continuing personal meditative journey through dense, ambient experimentation. Over the course of the project’s existence and incessantly prolific output, Embrury has spoken of the liberating process behind the undulating sonic landscape that he has traversed, freed of expectation, the multi-dimensional nature of Dar Sky Burial has given him the liberty to explore ‘themes of hope, sadness, search and loss, dreams and nightmares’.
These themes in particular have played out over the course of what has now become named The Maze Quarology, which has comprised of releases of varyingly complex titles (which I won’t include here just to bolster my word count, instead check out the review section here or Dark Sky Burial’s own Bandcamp page) and now draws to a close the most experimental of the projects phases with latest entry Solve Et Coagula.
The ending of this saga(?) brings to Embury a ‘satisfying wholeness’ which echoes in the number four being the number of wholeness and lends itself symbolically to the journey that the music has taken over the course of the comprising acts.
Reviewing Dark Sky Burial albums has become a bit of an art form if I am honest. When confronted with an album of ten brand new bangers from, say Napalm Death for example, you can work through each one, stack it up against previous efforts, compare it to the contemporary scene, dissect the lyrics in the context of global events and make some flippant remarks to show that you are simultaneously the font of great knowledge, yet still down with the kids (as well as vamp to pad out the review if you like the sound of your own voice). But when the album is the sound of an artist continually searching through sonic meditation with what could be described as a spartan format, it becomes a more complex venture to describe.
For instance, I can tell you that opener The Jewel In The Toads Head starts out with a scratching upbeat glitch with frantic skittering notes that feel like a nagging tick, or that Vexations To The Spirit has an earworm synth stab that builds like a drone shot over an empty city of skyscrapers as the sun goes down (which strangely captured the disconnected feelings I had sat several stories up in an office in Bristol when I first heard it), but what does it actually mean as an album?
Featuring four tracks written in collaboration with Mirai Kawashima of Sigh back in 2005, Solve Et Coagula is the most collaborative of the works released under the Dark Sky Burial banner and as such it carries a slightly different edge to the previous building blocks of the Quadrology.
There are still the trademark light touches that mean Veiled Energies Inherent works around creeping beats, almost alien sounds and fuzzy pulses and Vulnavia has a tingling, ringing progression over the floating synth that feels like it wants to drive ever onward. However, elsewhere Island Of The Dead has gentle percussive sounds and a bassy hum that clashes with jangling metallic notes that ring out from the deep resonance. This time the abrasive fuzz brings jittering beats and trip-hop lite passages.
the most varied and layered Dark Sky Burial release yet…
Other new dimensions include the darker A Forest Within A Biscuit Tin, the horror movie feel of To Set Free The Invisible Shape and the title track, Solve Et Coagula, has a robust bouncing beat and Blade Runner-esque swell that could almost sit on a Nine Inch Nails album. Contrast that to the woozy tribal chants of The Cage Where You Live Is In Your Thoughts helps make this long-player the most varied and layered Dark Sky Burial release yet.
Even the film score like nature of The Harbinger Of Discipline feels vital in the building complexity and with Embury drawing this phase of the project to a close, the march towards some sort of completeness (again, reflected in the significance of the number of pieces) seems to permutate the music.
In previous releases, even the recent And a Moon Will Rise From My Darkness side quest, that sense of searching has been evident throughout the sometimes tentative explorations and transformations the music has been through, Solve Et Coagula feels more complete and less afraid to make bold strides, the result is one of the strongest albums Embury has produced for the project.
Circling back to my point earlier (and indeed my previous review for this year’s earlier release Tantrm Religio Potuit Suadere Malorum), Dark Sky Burial now boasts a collection of music that is impressively sizable for something that began as little more than a personal project, and its very nature means that this is far from a conventional ‘band’ to be looked at on an isolated case by case release. Dark Sky Burial feels more like the latest episode in a long running story arc that only really reveals the whole plot when you step back and consider the larger piece.
It is clear from the dedication and drive that Embury places on the project, this is a passion that will not be abated, and as a spiritual and personal investment in the journey, he is reaping the rewards. Each insight into this isn’t going to be viewed as vital in the same way as other people might view his day job, but that’s not the point here.
Solve Et Coagula is probably the peak of The Maze Quadrology in terms of how it can be consumed, the increased variations and dare I say the songwriting, feels sharper, more accessible and more assured. Closing the door on this chapter, the man himself promises the opening of another.
It feels at this point like Embury has built a platform to where he can take this project in whichever direction he now feels and with it, a greater purpose.
Label: Extrinsic Recordings
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Scribed by: Mark Hunt-Bryden
