Sunday, December 16, 2012

Nov/Dec Issue

Alright everyone just like we promised here is the Nov/Dec issue of Cryptic Inscriptions.It's not as huge as the previous issue,but it still has a decent amount of material for you guys to check out.We hope you enjoy:

Reviews by Joe:

OM "Variations on a Theme" LP, ISIS "Oceanic" LP and Remains "Ruin Repeat" Demo

Reviews by Masami:

The Current Group "Plateau Meridians" LP and Memoryhouse "The Years" LP

Poems by Joe:

Self Proclaimed Martyr,As the Dead Walk Among Us and An Ocean Drift

Poems by Masami:

Therapy, As Stray Stars Wander About,The Woods of Abandon and Puzzled Pieces in the Pipers Paradox

New issue is being conceived.That's all for now see you in 2013 maybe?

Puzzled Pieces in the Pipers Paradox




Puzzled Pieces in the Pipers Paradox

Beasts in heat beat their aching breasts, Suckling like children off the nipples of mother nature, Blissful as the wandering hermit who sits alone in a damp cave beside the rising mists of a flowing waterfall, His body still as the earth beneath our feet, With eyes serenely shut as the floating gaze of those who gently sleep..... Awakened! By the bellowing voices of pounding drums, & they dance ecstatically around the crackling flames of this roaring fire, Wildly chanting in echoes the goddesses sacred name, & a priestess stands before the foggy veil of these rising fumes of smoke, Drifting..... A visionaries mask painted across her ancient face, Ingesting the sacrament to view beyond time & space, An internal lycanthropy, a mental transfiguration, atavism of a primal essence. That feral fox flying through a forest of mirrors, but slowly they dissipated into a foggy shade. Black as the waters at the bottom of a lagoon. That darkening cynicism cloaking us like nuns from that bare paradise we'd once called Eden...... & Scribbling these notes in a little black book that he'd kept close to his breast.He captured these memories through an opened lens, That doorway these strangers had left ajar, Flowing with rhythms & riddles enigmatic as this scene. Waking up in a cold sweat to realize it had all been a dream......

An Ocean Drift




An Ocean Drift

As I immerse into the ocean drift letting myself go on my own free will. Connecting with the elements around me I float to a better place. Away from the constraints and the chains that hold me back I break free with every stroke that I take. Seemingly endless waves block my paths, but I break past the intensity. Calmly I embrace things that are to come, challenging obstacles head on with the water as my guide. The place where life began.  Should it end?  There’s never really an end, just a new beginning. Waves crashing on my face, I submerge in a state of unconsciousness.

The Woods of Abandon




The Woods of Abandon

The sky is clear today, & What sobering beauty was felt through this open horizon! Yet your center was distant... For in this sphere I feel so far from the hand of warmth! With a touch so tender... & a soothing voice calm as the cascading waves of this azure ocean, Magnetize my mind with the simple grace that is your natural charm..... So kiss this evening goodnight, As you tip your hat to the moon, & You radiate with a quirky aura of laughter, Glowing like the earth beneath this golden sun, Humbly bowing as the crimson mountainsides, With that sense of serenity felt as you spin in circles amongst the trees,Deeply inhaling those fresh aromas of sap, oak, & pine..... & Oh how childhood hours of darkness led me to wander in these woods of abandon! Where not even the crowscould perch upon our upturned brows.....

As the Dead Walk Among Us




As the Dead Walk Among Us:

Parading the streets, eyes locked in a gaze mesmerized by achievements that are far off pipe dreams in the land of atonement. Paralyzed by an illusion, the stones are set in place as the gatekeeper holds onto the keys of everlasting happiness. A key that we all have, but yet are unaware of, material needs are but only tangible objects filling the void of the intangible that we all fail to see.

As Stray Stars Wander About



As Stray Stars Wander About


There lies a hidden temple beneath the black earth. Concealed within the forgotten chasms of this third eye. A pyramid arched towards those vague constellations where stray stars wander about. As Anubis points his pale finger to the shadowy depths below,these cyclical sands sifting upwards & downwards, like the bellowing lungs of hungry tornadoes caught in this shifting hourglass, & as the hour peaks its head over the lands they scurry like a million mice over the plains of this barren desert..... & bloodstains the sands, Placing a Promethean gift in your upturned hand.Set slashes the throat of Osiris,that radiant heart of the sun. Only to have his breast pierced by the spear of Horus, oh how the cycle rolls on like a gamblers pair of dice. For when Pandora's  box has been opened this reflection will no longer appear as a recognizable recollection.....

Self Proclaimed Martyr




The Self Proclaimed Martyr

 Begging for attention, begging for salvation, leading others on the blind leading the blind, the reaper sows the fields of everlasting contradiction. Seeds of millions grow to repeat the same foolish mistakes.

Therapy



Therapy 

Wearing lab coats white as a cut bindle of blow, the circle of doctors diagnosed, casting curses of a prohibition on the trembling hands of a fiend & gazing through double bladed spectacles they critique his madness behind this one sided frame of glass. As he rabidly foams at the mouth with a bloodshot glare... Gnawing at these padded cell walls within this creeping paranoia crawls,that venomous arachnid that numbly nestles throughout your veins. Screeching like violin bows scathing along broken strings! So dig your sharpened nails into the bleeding walls. As they silently sooth these aches with the trepid symphonies they sonder.....

Remains "Ruin Repeat" Demo Review




Remains “Ruin Repeat” Demo

Jacksonville Drone/Doom metal trio, Remains is a recent discovery for me. I stumbled upon their 2011 demo which features 4 songs of dark post-apocalyptic drone. The dark keyboard and pain anguished screams of Clay, together with the mix of Jack’s tight rhythmic drumming and Mike’s drone soaked guitars make this one project to check out. The droned rhythms are very trance and psychedelic in nature, and with the tortured screams and keyboards, it makes for a pretty unique sound.  I like how the band manages to keep the pace but somehow throw you off with weird guitar bends and tasteful drum fills.  For me, my favorite moments were the clean, melodic guitar line on “Apetra,” along with the keyboard solo and drum pickup in “Eschaton.”  What a great way to end off this little 4 song album!  I would definitely recommend this for fans of Earth, Sunn O))) and Barn Owl. From the ashes and remains, will a new beginning rise?...

Memoryhouse "The Years" LP Review




Memoryhouse "The Years" LP 

Ontario, Canada's Memoryhouse are a fairly recent musical outlet having started about five or so years back. This creative outfit consists of the dual effort of artists Evan Abeele & Denise Nouvion. Originally this project was intended to be a collaboration between film, photography, & music. This entity eventually evolved into a different state, while still retaining the essence of these elements. On their first recording, “The Years,” one can't help but be enticed by the dream-like reveries captured by Nouvion's silken voice & Abeele's liquid rhythms. When you listen to tracks like “Lately” you can imagine yourself drifting with the tide as memories past flutter behind your closed eyelids. As for songs like “Sleep Patterns” or “To The Lighthouse,” the poetry of the lyrics create vivid pictures of emotion through nature, surreal imagery, & everyday occurrences. A somber sense of nostalgia is felt in each word as it's beautifully backed by the calm melodies that flow in their wake. So on a closing note, Memoryhouse's “The Years” will sooth listeners senses into a surreal pillow of clouds, as they gently float above a calm sea of dreams.

ISIS "Oceanic" LP Review




IsIs: “Oceanic” LP
  
  Atmospheric Post Metal outfit, IsIs has been very influential in the genre that they helped expand,with each album, the band has showcased their need for progression and evolution of the standard song structure. Their sound is far from generic and boring. Something I have noticed with this particular band that makes them stand out from the typical underground metal outfit is that each album deals with a theme and a story.  It doesn’t stop there however.  Each album seems to coincide with one another, like a novel with many chapters.  On “Oceanic,” the theme centers on a man who finds his true love and is driven to committing suicide after he finds out about her incestuous love affair with her brother. Guitarist/singer Aaron Turner definitely knows how to express his emotions through both angst and tranquility.  The combination of harsh and melodious clean vocals are complemented with heavy sludge-ridden riffs and melodic post rock guitars.  Isis is the perfect blend of sludge/post metal, post rock, electronica, and ambient.  To me, they sound like the heavier version of Pink Floyd, especially with the way the songs seem to flow together. I like the fact that Isis can take a set of songs and create this one long track broken into several parts. That definitely makes for a sonic masterpiece. It’s a shame they broke up, but at the end of the day, they came, they went, and they left an imprint in the music scene that won’t be forgotten.

The Current Group"Plateau Meridians" LP Review



The Current Group "Plateau Meridians" LP 

The Current Group's 2009 record “Plateau Meridians” has to be one of the most
abstract & artistically original pieces I've recently stumbled upon. The album's downloadable off the bands label Close / Far, which is home to all kinds of otherinteresting records and bands, but I recommend ripping this one personally. The record begins with the track “For All Time” which emits a meditative & ceremonial vibe. The song drones on with down tuned guitars that create a liquid presence, backed by whispers & the echoes of chants. On “Silver Equine Heart” the ambiance is a bit different. The track slowly builds with the sound of dark jazzy trumpets, percussions that have the aura of some monastic eastern practice, & surreal poetics that are gently sung that seem to emit from a place of darkness & light.So as the poem ends the songcomes to an abrupt stop only to fall back on the jazz like sounds that bring to mind a darker Coltrane type tune.With “Thine Eyes” that meditative aura is captured once more putting the listener in a trance. The tribal percussions throughout the song are as mesmerizing as the sounds of ticking clocks & raindrops that trickle like shifting rattlesnakes. On “December 21, 2006 (For All Longing)” a very haunting aura was realized. The percussion’s sound, like a room taken over by a playful poltergeist as you imagine drawers opening by themselves and doors opening and shutting quite frantically. The voice over it sounds either like a lonesome specter calling out or the ravings of a madman in an asylum, repetitively shouting “Don't forget to come back!” On “Meridians” the listener feels themselves becoming mentally disembodied in the  depths of space as they float along an invisible current of dreams. With “Nek Chand” you fall back into that strange world of percussions that sound like chains and poetics that seem to vocalize from ten different mouths. While in the next track “On The Salem Plateau”the electronic effects seem to hover over the listener's head as the guitars create an atmospheric vibe felt throughout the song. Another one of the more bizarre tracks on the record is “Boxcars (Story Version)”, which starts with what sounds like an anxious mind thinking in silence as eerie synth effects begin to envelop it. The breathing grows heavier as the lyrics twist in strange directions and the sounds follow suit all climaxing into a paranoid piece of perfection. On “Thine Eyes II” that schizophrenic voice returns disturbed as ever backed by percussion’s ticking like the hands of a clock and melodious guitar rhythms. The final track on this masterpiece is“Under The Dogwood” which flows with cascading sound effects of shifting sheets as you twist and turn in your bed in a state of slumber. While all the while holding that peaceful tranquility felt in a summertime dream.   

OM "Variations on a Theme" LP Review





OM: “Variations on a Theme” LP

The three song debut LP of Oakland California's doom metal duo OM, definitely solidified the band’s position in the doom/stoner metal scene.  The one thing that really drew me to these guys was the fact that the band only relies on bass and drums.  While some might think that this would take away from the overall sound, it doesn’t. The solid drumming of Chris Hakius and the crushing bass lines and meditative soothing vocals of Al Cisneros (both members of respective Doom/Stoner outfit Sleep) together makes a good sounding album. The opening feedback and bass line on the title track sucks you in, and with each song, you become accustomed to the initial theme of the band that is both meditative and spiritual. For me, the album is both heavy and soothing, as well as aggressive and passive.  After playing through several songs, it seems refreshing and good to me each time I put it on. I would love to see this live.