Seven Years＜Colored Vinyl＞

RITUAL HOWLSのCHRISTOPHER SAMUELS (シンセ、サンプル、プログラミング)とKIRILL SLAVIN (ヴォーカル)からなるUSデトロイトを拠点とするアンビエント/ポスト・インダストリアル・デュオMISSION TO THE SUNの3RDアルバムは、本プロジェクトの著しい進化を象徴する作品。アトモスフェリックなサウンド・デザインとスペクトラルなヴォーカル・セッションはそのままにメロディックな領域へさらに踏み込み、エレクトロニック・ノイズと暗鬱なテクスチャーとの完璧なバランスを成立させています。後期COIL好きも是非とも要チェックでお願いします。

Detroit-based duo Mission to the Sun is a collaboration between Christopher Samuels of Ritual Howls and Kirill Slavin, founder of the Detroit Industrial label/event series as well as a veteran of industrial/breakcore acts such as Fluxion A/D and DeLIEN. Their music together is a bleak, brooding fusion of darkwave and post-industrial, with Samuels haunting soundscapes forming the backdrop for Slavins dystopian poetry. His deep, stark vocals combined with mystical electronics bring to mind an imagined collaboration between Joy Divisions Ian Curtis and Coil. Seven Years is their third album together, and it largely continues in the same direction as the first two, although this one seems a little less noisy and abstract than 2023s Sophia Oscillations. Opener "Dead Friends" has a churning rhythm and dour synths reminiscent of Depeche Mode at their most gothic, with bursts of clanging percussion and pounding drum fills, along with lyrics expressing severe disassociation. "Cant Take It" feels both more forceful and more vulnerable, while "Black Hole Soul" has a heavier rhythm, with Slavin describing submitting to the void. "Please, Murder" is filled with harsh, crunchy beats, icy synths, and slivers of noisy feedback, and Slavins spoken murmurs are bone-chilling. The noises of "Time Amnesia" are fragmented and glitchy, as the blunt narrative cuts to the core. The more ballad-like "Infection" is both majestic and melancholy, sporting a gorgeous, expansive melody. Mission to the Suns quietly powerful music reflects on alienation, departed friends, broken dreams, and a dying world. ~ Paul Simpson