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A STORY OF RATS  Thought Forms  LP   (Eiderdown Records)   19.98


I was blown away by A Story Of Rats when I saw him open for Wolvserpent in Baltimore around a year ago. The solo project of Seattle musician Garek Druss, I only knew him previously for his contributions to Pussygutt's (who of course later changed their name tro Wolvserpent) Sea Of Sand Lp and the drone-metal group Tecumseh. Set up with only a rack of synths, Druss proceeded to construct a wall of black-hole ambience for nearly half an hour, moving from gorgeous cosmic drift to absolutely terrifying black ambience that seemed to swallow up the entire room. It was a perfect lead-in to Wolvserpent's ritualistic performance, and I was instantly lusting for more of Druss's music after that set.

Thought Forms is the most recent recording (and vinyl debut) from A Story Of Rats, and it's a minor masterpiece of pitch-black kosmiche music. That live set that I witnessed had some truly monstrous moments, but for the most part is hewed much closer to a classic space music sound than this album, and I couldn't help but be reminded of the darkest corners of 70's cosmic music (Tangerine Dream's Zeit, etc) once his set was finished. Here, though, Druss delves far deeper into the blackness, crafting two massive side-long tracks that drift ever so slowly through cavernous spaces deep beneath the surface of the earth, glacial feedback creeping in geological time above layers of grit and static and almost imperceptible subsonic rumblings. Above this minimal black dronescape, Druss introduces steady pulses of metallic thrum and distant-sounding growls, the occasional flash of a voice way off in the darkness, and various random environmental sounds. Obviously from that you can glean that this is very much in the vein of classic early 90s Lustmord, and this album really nails that totally desolate vibe that albums like Heresy and The Place Where The Black Stars Hang, especially on the first side. On the b-side, though, Druss does allow some light to creep into the desolate drift, bringing together rhythmic metallic drones and blurred choral voices with huge rumbling drones, creating something similar to the crepuscular industrial drones of Troum...

Eiderdown's release of Thought Forms comes on grey colored vinyl in a limited edition of three hundred copies, beautifully packaged in a textured screen-printed sleeve with artwork by Druss.