Review of LUCIFUGOUS (X'HO + ARCN TEMPL) by Senile Dementia

“Wisdom that will bless I, who live in the spiral joy born at the utter end of a black prayer.”

— Keiji Haino

3 distinct but related streams of dark energy converge to birth and unearth a Great Beast; X’ho’s “daily mantras’ founded as much on his forays into black metal, industrial/neo-folk and other dark esoterica/magick as from his sheer disdain for our Uniquely Singapore way of life, black ambient artist Ara Ophidia’s soundscapes/electronics, and ARCN TEMPL’s vision, empathy, instrumentation, arrangements and production.

Most certainly not a case of ‘X’ho and friends’ or ‘ARCN TEMPL feat. X’ho’, which might have sounded that way in previous X’ho works where Voice and Word dominated the proceedings. This Great Beast is true alchemy in excelsis; transmutation of Voice, Word, Sound and Musick into Being.

Being as Darkness, moves as One, as Thing. Darkness not as Void, but as dissent against Void. Void as the sheer numbing blankness of existence, eyes blinking, patiently awaiting to score cherished Hello Kitty and Minions (indeed). Well, sometimes Void gets angry and also develops Being but that’s when the opiate runs out and the manager gets blamed. The look which asks “Why U So Like Dat?”. Void as matter-of-fact recognition of ‘trade-offs’, ‘constraints’ and ‘survival’. As inevitable as the outcome of a deer caught in the glare of oncoming headlights. Darkness thus dissents but will the deer choose otherwise…….

This Great Beast sometimes brings to mind the work of other venerable Beasts; the black light districts built by Coil, Current 93, Nurse With Wound, but with a rip-roaring (joyous?) sarcasm delivered in an almost Iggy Pop-esque tone. He remains Uniquely Ours (ah, the oxymoronic arrogance). Stunning, most stunning is our Great Beast’s re-interpretation of a “Lamb” by black metal minimalists Von. May your humble serpent kindly describe the act as “tearing a new (black) hole in it”. Your humble serpent also remains floored in awe at the sheer majesty of “Lord Of Mirage”, where the truth of Void

Existence is revealed amidst the turn and churn of the wheel of life and death.

Lucifugous, You make manifest most sublimely, yet in no uncertain terms, to those among us who feel much better in the dark…………

Consume, ye shall, at http://arcntempl.bandcamp.com/music