Loved the last two Aethenor albums. The creepy, creaking industrial dronescapes that this all-star band of avant-rock artists have been crafting on their

previous releases were dark, alien-sounding fields of organic ambience and strange percussive formations that didn't really sound like anything else that I

could put my finger on. Their sound has definitely changed, morphed, taken on a new cast for their third album Faking Gold & Murder, which sees the

core trio of Stephen O'Malley (you know, Sunn O))), Khanate, KTL, etc etc etc), Daniel O'Sullivan (Guapo) and Vincent De Roguin (Shora) joining with a number

of additional musicians, not the least of which is David Tibet from Current 93 who contributes a terrific vocal performance to what had previously been a

primarily instrumental project. The band also teams up with guitarist Alexander Tucker and percussionists Nicolas Field and Alex Babel, and the resulting

sound on Faking Gold & Murder is quite different from the Aethenor of before, and not what I was expecting when we first threw this on. The band

still weaves their shadowy drones and sheets of occultic ambience around massive prayer-bowl resonances and strange percussive scrapings and clattering, but

these four lengthy tracks also move into structured melodies and rhythmic passages that reveal a dark prog underbelly to Aethenor that wasn't apparent on the

last two albums.

All four tracks are untitled and reach upwards of ten minutes, and each track unveils an expanse of black starlit heavens hovering above heavy waves of

harsh distorted drone and crushing guitar rumblings, endless high end drones strafing the darkness and ominous melodies unravelling against the clouds of twinkling electronics and Rhodes piano. These rich dronescapes are blazed by sudden eruptions of powerful free-jazz drumming from Field and Babel, whose complex bursts of percussion contrast with the majestic black ambience and add much to the tension that runs all through the album. Tibet wanders through these mysterious fields of black drift and infernal melodies, singing and proclaiming above it, sounding something like a preacher giving a feverish, nightmarish sermon over clusters of electronics, clanking atonal piano and glockenspiel, flurries of cascading chimes and the furious free-jazz percussion, and O'Malley's rolling waves of distorted doom. There are similiarities with Current 93 of course, since Tibet's vocals and delivery are so distinctive, but Aethenor invoke a much heavier sound, dark and asbtract, sometimes pushing forward on thunderheads of manic drumming, riding on slow-motion surges of crushing riff. Best stuff yet from this continually impressive outfit, and definitely their heaviest. Comes in a beautiful black Stumptown style six-panel gatefold, decorated with mystical symbols and artwork designed by Nicola Todeschini and Vincent De Roguin and printed with metallic gold ink on the black letterpressed jacket.