Once more into the breech dear friends, well that place called Aokigahara the Japanese Suicide Forest at any rate. This is the 3rd time in as many weeks I have traipsed down its shadowy paths and I feel like a spectre looming out of the mists. There’s no denying the fascination the place holds in Western society let alone those closer in geography to it and it is a compelling subject matter, quite a unique place that could possibly only exist where shame culture is a driving factor on society. For those that have an insight into funerary traditions, specifically from the dark waters of J-Horror films following the success of Hideo Nakata’s Ring (1998) you are probably aware that a Yūrei is a ghost doomed to roam the earth until certain rituals are performed allowing eternal rest.
Tying these themes musically together we have Eclipsus, the work of Virginian musician Coughin Wraught aka Connor Randlett also of SerpentShine. The 5 track titles all follow the “steps of entropy through an individual’s path to suicide” in this somewhat mystical place and they are all quite varied in construction. We start in the state of the ‘Desperate’ and it is a mournful acoustic melody summoning towards oblivion and a deluge of harrowing and introspective blackened doom. The vocals are very much the cries of the damned, shrieking and wailing as remorse is sounded off in the music, not so much forming words, perhaps the time for these has gone and it is all too late. A funeral dirge of sorts but it is some time before any remains will be found as this place is thick with areas well off the beaten path, so it is said and a body can be lost within them for quite some time before it is reclaimed and laid to rest. Its all rather piercing and strident, the tones are sharp and the production shrill making it all the more unsettling and eerie. The twilight tones of ‘Mourning’ settle things down and temper the vociferous timbre momentarily. Cymbals shake like wind in the trees and things build around them, the wretched vocals contort as our subject mourns the empty life and considers what has led them down this route to nothingness. The depressive air hangs heavy and leaden as the drums thump and tones reverberate, no doubt like the will of our anti-hero, beaten into submission by life.
It is time to ‘Surrender’ and a piano piece similar in melody to The Doors classic The End is heard. If that is in your head on hearing it, no doubt the lyrics will be too and how fitting they are. We are back to jarring guitar work though and that penetrating sound flurrying into a weaving deluge. Maybe this was the final necessary step as the music gets jauntier and if anything has an upbeat air of victory about it, too late to turn back now that the final steps have been taken. But there is something odd about this and certainly following track ‘Weightless’ (a title not needing deciphering); and once the guitar sound unravels it doesn’t sound like we are in Japan but bonnie Scotland. There’s a distinct sound of bagpipes about it all and a large amount of background chanting. This throws a definite curveball both musically and thematically into proceedings. I like this track particularly as it is not anywhere near as depressing but I’m not sure what to make of it. The thunderous drama of ‘Unending’ is the final segment of what seemed straightforward but turned into a bit of a puzzle along the way. Concluding what I can look on only as a recent trilogy along with Lifeless and Suicide Forest this is, I hope the last venture into Aokigahara for a while as although an absorbing subject it is time to let things there settle down and some much necessary peace and tranquillity to be restored.
(7.5/10 Pete Woods)
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