We do get the odd bit of strangeness into the Ave Noctum presidium now and than. Which is always welcomed by one or other of the scribes. A bit of avant-garde noodling, some abstract noise, some Satanic jazz salsa; whatever it is someone will open their id and ears to give it a go.

So here I am listening to dark ambient/drone/hip hop/trip hop rap. I won’t pretend to know either of these gentlemen (Black Saturn (USA) provides the words and the voice, Grosso Gadgetto (France) the soundtrack but even the press release describes it as improbable.

It’s best to take a deep breath as I write, as this does not lend itself to a track by track breakdown, more a piece defines by six ‘Projects’ from 00 to 05.

We are led in by some dark, glittering, space sounds, as the voice of Black Saturn, a rich timbre, invoking Project Earth. A journey, a creation, imagination to redefine yourself seems the thrust. It’s strangely relaxing, the music a deep but somehow supportive drone. It may have a dark sound, a touch of the eerie, the cosmic, the twist of hypnotic philosophy but with the words it seems to seek to encourage internal growth rather than instil fear.

The rhythm here is a slow, trippy little slide that is accentuated by little squalls of sound, a juddering sound of a metallic ripple or a rattle and a dependable snare anchoring the beat. Imagine a gentle Godflesh remix, a slow chill out but with words that come at you with layers of message in the clear diction but then echoed and looped. It muddles the thinking whilst at the same time the drone and the beat bring on the nod and a meditative relaxation. Once in there, with the insistent basslines pulsing, I felt myself being pulled in opposing directions; the compelling, certain vocals delivering the message, the thought, the manifesto but all the time the music urges me to let go and simply drift until voice becomes the music too and the words, heavy with meaning, become a maze and I realise I have drifted far from the path.

Somewhere within this is a curious and compelling industrial sound, teetering here and there on EBM, the aforementioned Godflesh and the like. Stay focused we are urged but it’s hard as the trip hop waves riding the deep rumble engulf you.

When it ends, urging me not to look back, I am… Calm. Very. At peace even. Repetition, drone, pulsing, words that seem to urge self-discovery, improvement, movement and in an easy, rich rhyme.

It’s a curiosity for me, yes, but for a mood, for a time, for those moments when you need to chill, relax, drift, this is rather cool.

(8/10 Gizmo)

https://www.facebook.com/Black-Saturn-136279903058718

https://www.facebook.com/GROSSO-GADGETTO-177114126373

https://grossogadgetto.bandcamp.com/album/ep-earth-project-black-saturn-grosso-gadgetto-may-2020