It’s time to head off around the world on a journey of discovery akin a bit to the books of Willard Price if anyone remembers his adventure series where a group of explorers travelled all over the shop having thrills and spills in exotic places. That’s exactly what British nomads Ebonillumini are doing on their second album and indeed what they did on their first ‘Pacificum’ back in 2013. The group are one whose progress I have been following for a few years and considering they contain members of The Meads Of Asphodel, The Higher Craft, Worms Of Sabnock and (ahem) Baphomet’s Cunt that’s not surprising. This new epic musical travelogue is embarking from Florida and putting in a hell of a lot of miles visiting places Puerto Rica, Bermuda, The Celestial Equator, and The Arctic Circle before finally docking in Iceland. Luckily musically it doesn’t start off hot and run cold keeping us on our toes throughout the hour long plus running time.
You won’t be doing any pigeonholing particularly of the band they are as eclectic as the lands they visit chopping and changing genres like the cultures they immerse themselves within. The first thing you will hear is the twitter of birdsong and the creaking bow of a boat as we set sail from ‘The Coral Castle (Florida)’ The mysterious, mystical and enchanting voice of The Maiden beguiles and leads you in with a Gothic sounding refrain to her delivery that is going to inevitably have some comparisons drawn to Siouxsie Sioux. It’s a gentle start becoming more strident with drums battering away making you wonder if the ship is caught in a storm. There are elements of black metal and progressive music as well as a feel of the avant-garde all at play here and as things continue you will discover so much more. Keen observers of the aforementioned bands will also be able to pick up nuances from them especially The Meads courtesy of four of the group within the ranks. There are occasional male vocals within too but not from Metatron who leaves his other knights to joust within this group but from James Tate, The Monk Marshall of the band.
Songs are on the whole quite long and the album is dense with plenty going on in it, too much to comfortably go through on a track by track basis. You do however get some descriptive parts and sounds and flavours of where the journey is taking you between tracks, worryingly sounding like we are heading down to Davey Jones Locker as we hitch up at Lusca (Bahamas) for example. The music is not lost within all this though and songs are strong and well constructed even if they do sprawl out and occasionally inject something unexpected like some jazz style loose drumming or a spot of scat singing. It’s probably just as well that things go very strange at times too as this is no ordinary journey but one designed to unveil ‘lost forgotten realities, mysteries and legends.’
Do they succeed, ultimately yes but only if you are willing to give them time and let things grow on you as at first the album is a heady one that could well leave you feeling lost in some far flung uncharted territory, perhaps in the infamous Bermuda Triangle (and not the one by Barry pigging Manilow) where we end up at one point! You may even learn something too along the way, for instance I now know exactly where Baffin Island is and was more than thankful for this geographical brush up. Speaking of which I’m just about to pop over to Vinland, ‘The Land Where The Wild Grapes Grow.’ You should too, as this is a trip well worth taking!
(8/10 Pete Woods)
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