AL-WAHAAR DHIN "The Third
Power of Alfta" /
Fluttering Dragon 029
MARTWY
ZMIERZCH
Al-Wahaar Dhin is another side project of Drakhon (mainly known
from MZ.412). This time it deals with the Muslim spirituality.
While the idea of creating such a project is quite interesting,
but the musical side of it unfortunately fucks up the whole.
This CD is simply boring! Musically speaking we have here some
dark ambient parts (which are very good by the way, but there
are not much of them) and the drumming parts. Everything is
mixed with samples of Muslim speaking or singing. The drumming
parts are the weakest point of this music - and unfortunately
they are on the front of it. In my opinion they should have
been slower and more ritual-sounding. Maybe they should have
been in the background while the ambient parts would prevail...
Yes, it`d be much better. I also think that this music should
have been more varied - the ideas used here are nice, but after
listening to the whole CD, with a feeling that you listen to
one track the whole time, you can be really tired with it.
FUNPROX
Here we have another project of the prolific
Drakhon (MZ 412, Beyond Sensory Experience). This is the first
release under the monnicker of Al-Wahaar Dhin, an exotic name
which makes me think of Muslimgauze. In the press release this
is described as a 'cultural holocaust'. Most striking characheteristic
of this album is the combination of hard monotonous electronic
rhythms and the sampled voices reciting the Koran. The combination
of ongoing rhythms and the preaching voices have a ritual, mantra-like
function. At times it makes me think of This Morn` Omina bit,
though not so technoid and accessible. The
album contains 6 long tracks, ranging from 6 to 12 minutes.
Apparently the music can have the effect of bringing you to
a 'higher level of consciousness'. Well, it seems to work a
bit that way at the moment, but that can also have something
to do with me being sleepy after two nights of going out...
I quite like the (longest) first track 'Going through the Rationale',
the rhythms are repetive and hypnotizing, with variation and
some dark ambient breaks at the right moments. The ongoing beats
have something relentness, making me think of religious fanatism.
An hour full of effective trance-like music full of Eastern
spirituality, which tries to put you under its spell, while
remaining something of an unpleasant feel. I must admit that
there are some minutes in which my attention is drifting away,
but this is largely compensated by the good moments, like the
harsh 'Act of War'.
SEKUENCIAS
DE CULTO
Mmm…, is MZ.412’s Mr Drakhon jealous of all the
repercussion that his mate Mr Nordvargr has gained during the
last years with his innumerable – and ever-growing –
list of projects? Maybe he learned some things regarding creativity
freedom from the fruitful collaboration between both artists,
firstly on Fluttering Dragon and then on the resurrected LSDOrganisation;
together with that project totally unknown for me called Sublime
Musing. And it seems that we have another proof of Sweden’s
well-employed leisure time with this guy. Check our ‘News’
section if you can’t believe me and discover that immense
gem called Beyond Sensory Experience, whose popularity is slowly
growling and that we’ll review very soon for SDC. But
some months before, more precisely in August, another parallel
release saw the light on the mentioned Polish label passing
more or less unnoticed. With Al-Wahaar Dhin, this enemy of Christ
changes its point of view from satanic and heathen Scandinavian
mythology to the one of the Koran (!). Surprised? Ok, so that’s
not enough, since what you’re going to hear supporting
the infidel is faaaar from the Dark Ambient/Dark Industrial
side he has accustomed us to get from him, and, while retaining
the strong Ritual side of the founders of Black Industrial,
has constructed 57 minutes of monotonous electronic rhythmic
mantras. Let’s start from the beginning and let’s
dissect. The first track, ‘Going through the rationale’,
commences with an introductory loop during a minute until the
first attempt of beats appears. And it’s the kind of beats
you’ll listen during the whole release: a pure drum machine
product, so don’t expect traditional nor martial accompaniment
as other ritualistic projects employ. Strictly machine-like
sound, the effect produced is quite lineal according to the
pursued transcendent goal, and which lack of variety results
only broken from time to time due to the intersected Arabian
samples: without doubt the highlight of the construction. In
this fist case, the mantra is completed with a cyclic structure,
as the initial loop closes the piece. In the aperture of ‘Third
Power’, the following one, the Oriental charming sonorities
open the way for a pattern harder than the one in the previous
track, since we won’t find more than one or two rhythmic
schemes per song, slightly developed during the progression
of it. But anyway, we can expect a bit more of structure in
this case, and in the second half of the cut, speed suddenly
decreases leaving more room for some chants, and since then
the beats go progressively growing till the climax, with a multiplicity
of percussions that we could hardly find previously. However,
‘Harvesting The Fruits Of Fait’ repeats with an
initial sample and once more, the cadence enters, extremely
synthetic this time, since there’s no attempt of avoiding
that sort of electronic, artificial sound. A comparison between
this track and the first one can be made due to the long length
of both pieces (11:30 and 12:05 respectively) and, contrarily
to ‘Third Power’, because of the invariable general
tone during them. Of course, the song evolves, but without change
in the tempo making it look extremely simple. To be remarked
are the inverted intonations in the end as a good final anticlimax.
The fourth track, ‘The Alfta Connection’, has a
lovely tribal pounding. Timidly, some looped samples are added
to the background, quite low in the mix; although higher ones
are put in with the advance. And luckily, in the last seconds,
again another sublime anticlimax raises the general quality
of the track, with bells, voices and a relent of the vibes.
But if until now, save for ‘Third Power’, the mood
has been somewhat tedious in some moments, fortunately the last
couple of pieces change the situation leaving us a good taste
in our ears. ‘Act Of War In The Name Of Shaarli Al Tarciff’
illustrates an opulence of details in less than six minutes
– mostly provided by the Eastern tunes and recitations
– that all the previous extensive compositions. Tremendously
crushing and fantastically entertaining, we’re in front
of one of the more elaborated and inspired moments of the CD,
which keeps on and closes with these good manners thanks to
‘About Crazy Al Jaalar’: a blend of melodies, and
of course of rhythms as well, plenty of them. In fact it’s
nothing more than the initial samples intersecting the evolution
of pulse, but is fairly well-planned and the more or less absence
of a wider range of sounds is shaded by an engaging development.
In the end, where’s the problem with this release, if
there’s any? Well, finding the balance between hypnotic
repetitive sequences and an unsurprising product is obviously
the biggest handicap an artist can find when decides to confront
a task like the one that Al-Wahaar Dhin shares. And the truth
is that the project succeeds in a pretty nice manner with this
debut. In any case, I consider this an interesting, or even
better, fascinating proposal full of growing ideas, which assemble
an appealing first outline of what the project may be able to
develop in a closer future. The concept is original –
at least regarding the way it’s employed here, I suppose
most of you are thinking of Muslimgauze – and the imaginative
sources show the quality someone could expect from such a recognized
artist. But something makes me think that probably the final
product is not all the consistent and rich that he can offer;
and the proof is half of the tracks, which stands out from the
others. That’s understandable being this CD the emergent
reality it still is, and doesn’t mean that the other half
is bad at all. Actually, the release as a whole is nicely cohesive,
but I suppose the project has grown while the disc was being
made. So, what makes me curious now is what a second, more mature,
offering can present. Hopefully a continuation can bring us
a definitive confirmation of the vast amount of possibilities
that the idea can provide; so you better enjoy this while it
arrives.
