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Seishinbyouin
[Cold Meat Industry]
We already knew Atrium Carceri's claustrophobic universe with "Cellblock" which was oppressing but fascinating because of the quality of its ambiences. This time, Simon Heath reveals himself a bit more through personal lyrics which confirm the author's obsessive paranoid crusade. Nevertheless, like a stalked animal, Heath tries to be a bit more "humane" on "Seishinbyouin" ("lunatic asylum" in Japanese) with numerous distorted voices' samples, probably coming from some Japanese drama that evoke torture or redemption when they're possible. But except for Hidden Crimes, Dark Water and Librarian where a piano plays some clear notes in the background, the unhealthy compositions, less rich in organic textures than on the previous album, are like echoes of the author's sufferings. Even if each track is quite easy to take in, all the clichés of the genre are present. Like on In Chaos Eternal with its dull noises, the blows, the wind and its stifled female screams, also on Illusion Breaks and its samples of dripping water, the pantings, the voices heard backward, the ethereal choirs etc. Far from "only" being a tormented sonic environment that could touch our affects, "Seishinbyouin" then becomes a soporific dark ambient exercise, a series of half-medieval, half-japanese sleazy sketches, without any real identity, nor any real lead.
Catherine Fagnot |
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