I’m not doing a proper review of this album here because some will be best dealt with in THE MICK in more detail...

The man who now makes intensely artistic records, with the emphasis on intense, under the unwieldy name of Choronzon made these Veil Of Thorns recordings back in the mid to late Nineties and in his accompanying letter to me states, “I finally have the Veil Of Thorns experience encapsulated. It’s with more melancholy that I hear it now. We could have done so much more.”

True enough. This is a record which comes through the ether of Industrial and firm Ambient intricacies. It keeps its beats simple, its guitar intent on stamping out quite a fierce identity, and the songs are pretty precise. In fact they usually take what could be an attractive song, then distend it, pulling at the overall edges, and placing some gritty ingredients at the centre, but offset those with sweet melodies or plaintive vocals. 

‘Nothing Is Real’ still stands head and shoulders above the rest, which is why I popped it on a Hex Files compilation, so you may remember that, but there’s plenty of other material which could interest you. It would help if he had a more amenable website of course, but mark these words. By actually being ahead of their time, this compilation sees them not too far off today’s beaten and abused track, but with very much their own character rather than any stolen ideas.

DIES-EASE
THE ENCHANTING DEAD
CRYPT ANALYSIS
SURGE OF BLOOD
CROSSING I
ASYMMETRICAL RED CHAMBER
CROSSING II
JUSTIFIED
CROSSING III
ORNAMENTAL

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08/01/04