Engaging with the art of Dehn Sora (Vincent Petitjean), regardless if it’s art of the visual or sonic kind, means entering a parallel world, a place that is simultaneously prehistoric and dystopian. The images and soundscapes that the artist creates get to you, exercising a fascination over the audience via a combination of strangeness, vulnerability and a feeling of slight unease. If you are a fan of underground music, especially French black metal, you might already be familiar with the artist’s name, but even if you are not, it’s more than likely that you have come across his visual art. He has worked with and created artwork for bands like Blut Aus Nord, Deathspell Omega, Amenra, Ulver, Manes, Yeruselem and many more. The image that left the biggest impression on me so far adorns the cover of The Signs of Spiritual Delusion by Cross Bringer form St. Petersburg, Russia, and shows a female warrior that underwent a mastectomy.
Besides creating intriguing, dark visual art, Dehn Sora is part of the Church of Ra collective and involved in numerous musical outfits ranging from drone over sludge to post and black metal. He is the sole member of Throane and Treha Sektori, the former being a black metal project, the latter an outlet for dark, ritualistic ambient soundscapes. The first album under the name Treha Sektori was released as far back as 2009. Over the years, numerous other releases followed, some solo and some collaborations with other musicians. Rejet, French for “rejection”, is the project’s newest album.
Rejet is a continuation of everything that came before, including a collection of artworks titled The Sensation of Being One of Them. The label’s release info says the album “is one step further in Treha Sektori’s strife to transcend its own limitations.” It also specifies the kind of rejection that is being thematized: “Here, rejection is imbued in the process of shedding flesh and replacing it with armour. Scales that no arrow could ever pierce without being absorbed. A body able to drink unscathed from puddles of purest poison; it is the rejection of the mortal cloak.” The project’s new full length thus contributes to further defining the prehistoric/dystopian world and its beings so often a focus point of Dehn Sora’s art.
Rejet, let me tell you, is quite the trip. Although there are similarities with the latest albums by projects like Yeruselem and Lustmord, the atmosphere created here is unique. Treha Sektori tell their own story, establish their own domain. If you immerse yourself in the album’s ambient soundscapes, a whole new world opens up, with places and beings so far unknown. You can imagine Sevorh Deh Armenh, the first of ten tracks, as a passage to a dark, foggy, unfamiliar realm, where, over the course of the remaining nine tracks, you will encounter all sorts of apparitions and creatures, see them passing by and watch them do their thing. You will witness strange rituals performed in an unknown language, armies will march past you, you will hear bits of muffled speech, desperate screams and the buzzing of a million flies. And strangely enough, this world has its own, terrifying beauty.
An extraordinary listening experience. If you like dark ambient music, Rejet is a must have.
(8.5/10 Slavica)
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