Skullflower - Strange Keys to God's

Skullfower “Strange Keys to God’s Firmament”, 2009
(neuorot)
Exercises in excess aren’t necessarily a bad thing.  That extra burger, for example, will taste as good as the first and ensure the hunger is filled and that your stomach stops rumbling at potentially embarrassing moments.   Skullflower have taken a huge risk releasing a double drone album with the hope of quenching a listener’s thirst for more of their music.

The music consists of feedback loops and monotonous guitar fuzz not miles stylistically away from the dirge of Sunn 00))).  Even with the differing song lengths, it’s incredibly difficult to discern one song from another over the course of the two discs. “Blackened Angel Wings Scythe the Blowing Void” will take up back if you can remember the days before 24 hour television as it sounds TV static turned up as loud but with cement mixers churning in the background.  Water being blasted to clean a decade of gunk build up off concrete as holes are powerdrilled is what comes to mind listening to “Chaotic Demons Fly Into My Eyes”.    There’s a feeling that something might actually happen is conjured in the fourteen minute “Gateway to Blasphemous Light” with its Iommi tone and sparse drumming.  However I’m left twiddling my thumbs.

While “IIIrd Gatekeeper” had a captivating drum and bass sound and the tracks had definite beginnings and ends.  murky monotony of sound buried deeper than necessary on “Strange Key’s to God’s Firmament”.   The drum sound is barely present as it has been muffled into oblivion and the tracks just go on for far too long without any real changes This album really only proved useful after a day of  drinking about fifteen cups of coffee plus more than a few Cokes, I reached for this album knowing that it  would be the ideal antidote to a sleepless night. On the negative side, the two discs are near impossible for anyone to digest in one sitting.  If Skullfower’s goal was to make an album very few would manage to listen to right through this album is a success story.

1/5

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