Häxa Komät - One Void Ceremonial Program I

Released: January 26

One Void Ceremonial Program I is a ritualistic religious experience disguised as a short album, presumably performed by the One Void Collective and recorded by Häxa Komät (this is unclear however). What is clear is the enveloping nature of the album in its use of soft yet bizarre percussion and droning ambiances to create a trance-inducing atmosphere that is otherworldly. When we speak of mystical experiences, we often imagine bright colors, feelings of bliss, and visions of heavenly splendor. What we have here is not indicative of any such experience. Rather, it feels more akin to reaching out to spirits otherwise indifferent to your existence in an attempt to communicate with them for purposes unknown outside of some attempt at enlightenment. 

The whole album such be listened to in the order presented as it opens with "Zulo," a track which is saturated by long metallic drones, deep gong-like sounds, and small metallic clanks all presented together in slow and rhythmic fashion. This sets an eerie tone to open that is replaced by something less eerie but far more energetic in "Rinna." The faster pacing of the meditative beat is seemingly not made to make one move, but rather to almost feel paralyzed. "Induction" begins to slow things down once more under "Destructive Genesis" brings us back to the languid rhythms and eerie harmonics that the ceremony began with. "Call in the Seeds Bounty" completes the ritual with a steady beat from a single drum as strange and disorienting harmonics swirl around with the twisting sounds of unfamiliar entities ringing through. It is a rather dualistic experience in total, as it seems to be both uncomfortable and serene all at once.