Memoria – The Axis of Sorrow
MEMORIA
The Axis of Sorrow (1996, Slaughter Productions)
Tracklist:
SIDE A
1) Spherican / Ascent
2) Descent The Cathedral
3) In Dark Waters
4) Endless
SIDE B
5) Kantorium Elegy
6) Slumber
7) Gateaway
8) Remembrance
Lineup:
Memoria AKA Jeffrey Noblitt
This is a very interesting dark ambient release from the legendary
Italian indipendent label Slaughter Productions (which ceased activity
in 2007, with the death of it’s founder and owner, the legendary Athrax
Morgue AKA Marco Corbelli). Like many other releases of this label, it
was issued only on tape in a limited number of copies and like many
other works issued on this label the tones are dark, obscure and gloomy.
Axis of Sorrow is a very tight work, it has been thought as a unique
flow, not like a compilation of different compositions.It’s entirely
instrumental.I’d call it a voyage through the alchemical process of
“nigredo”, the first stage of trasformation in alchemy, symbolizing
death as a necessary passage for a transformation to occur. The music
presented here it’s minimal, often driven by small, evocative and
catatonic synths, mixed with a spiral of tribal sounds, industrial noise
and ancient, gregorian-like, choruses. The atmosphere is suspended
between the transcendence of the Holy and the chaos and confusion of the
Chthonic, never solving itself in one of these two opposites, even if
there is a some sort of ascensional process through the cassette.
The music is brooding, repetitive, hypnotic and has a strong melancholic
feel in it.There is also space for mysticism, since there is an
invisible thread linking the different phases, apparently chaotic and
without a form, of this strange but fascinating voyage through the
underworld, in search of the light.
I’d definitely recommend it, it’s a very original and fascinating work of art.