FLUXEUROPA: ELIJAH'S MANTLE: ANGELS OF PERVERSITY

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ELIJAH'S MANTLE

Angels Of Perversity
1993
CD
DNDC 001 CD

ANGELS OF PERVERSITY by Eliljah's Mantle starts with a bell followed by a haunting synth and a haunting, deep voice. This is in fact the 'Prologue' so it's short, but it sets the pace for this CD.

'Benedictus' is deep and haunting with the sound of a xylophone adding a magical feel. As for the vocals, they're two voices fastly twining round each other and are constant throughout the song.

'Misere De Profundis' is haunting in a slower, more hatefilled sounding way. It brings a feeling of misery. There is one voice this time and it is repetitive, adding to the devilish feel.

'Es la Perdicion' has a more industrial feel with its fast, hypnotic, Suicide-style synth and heavy synth drum beats. The vocals are rougher - almost in Laibach territory - but not as angry. It's strange as it's quite poppy in a sense and there's a sample about Catholicism somewhere in the middle too.

'Paradis Iac' was co-written by Brendan Perry. His presence is certainly felt as this is in Brendan's Dead Can Dance style, and although it's instumental you almost imagine the voice of Brendan coming in at any moment. It goes on to become less musical and more strange. Having started with a deep, repititive bass line with string accompaniment, it later fades into an ambient noise!

'Sanctus' consists of an eerie keyboard sound and deep, dark vocals. It's pretty nerving and edgy, and builds up and gets slightly faster as it goes on. It brings to mind the shower scene in Psycho!

'Quem Di Dilicunt (Part one)' is dreamy but dark with its haunting synth and piano. It's relaxing but I suggest you don't fall asleep as I've a feeling this is actually a nightmare! 'Part two' has a much quicker pace and this again is co-written with Brendan Perry. This has a powerful classical feel and there's a lot going on here too. Sounds come at you from every angle, and it's certainly an awakening from the dreaming before.

The CD is brought to an end with 'A La Gloire De L'Homme'. This epilogue is very ambient - there are even bird noises! A faint keyboard sound enters as does a croaning voice, but as soon as the song starts it ends.

Overall, the CD manages to capture different moods and styles. I'm not sure about the lyrics as I don't understand the language, but this didn't affect my listening enjoyment and, if anything, added another dimension to it.

JOHN MARSHALL - 1996