[since I did promise to write a review once in a while for bands and / or projects and / or artists and / or labels and / or distributors (etc.) that I do adore (personally and / or musically), I will finish this older one, which I did prepare a while ago, but which never got finished. This one is for Bart, this one is for Mark, this one is for you!]
I am pretty sure that many of you do know Dead Man’s Hill, a Dark Ritual Ambient project by the very sympathetic Belgian multi-disciplinary musician Bart Piette. At the very end of December 2024, this act was part of the M.A.D. V sampler (part of the annual Music Analysis Discussions Records compilation series; the sixth effort got released very recently and includes both a Brotherhood Of Sleep and a Loki Patera track once more), with the track Experiment1, which is a collaboration with another very sympathetic guy from Flemish soil, Loki Patera (who’s not as pretty as I am, but that’s another discussion) [this intervention is purely informative]. Bart has several other projects going on, in the past and right now, like NDE, The Earth King, Experiments In Darkness or Kinderen Van Moeder Aarde (amongst several others). And not that long ago, Bart started a new solo-outfit, called Brotherhood Of Sleep. And it is the first release under this new moniker that will be highlighted right now.
Why? Well, because of (1) the guy behind it, because of (2) the label involved, and because of (3) the Aural Art that characterizes this album. It’s simplistically called Devotional Hymns To A Brilliant Flaming Sun (what’s in a name). When it comes to the first cause, the musician, I’d like to refer to the former paragraph. I will come back immediately to the third reason, i.e. the sonic side of this release. Yet first a modest word about the label. Winter-Light is an organization from Dutch soil with releases within the Dark Drone / Dark Ambient / Ritual / Industrial scene especially. It’s home to fine acts like Ashtoreth, Kloob, Nam-Khar, Onasander, Gydja, RNGMNN, Rapoon and many others, always searching for the perfected balance of craftsmanship and elegance at the one hand, and exploration at the other. Expect some more reviews in the (near) future.
But first things first, and that’s this specific recording, the third ‘because of’. Devotional Hymns To A Brilliant Flaming Sun is a monumental work, divided into five cohesive chapters. It clocks almost forty-five minutes and was written and recorded entirely by Bart himself, with mastering duties taken care of by Ronald Mariën (not a stranger to the label, for he did work with e.g. Ajna, Talst, Onasander or Aetherium Nebula as well).
Since I do consider The Sacrifice as one of my most sonically beloved recordings within the mystic-ritualistic orbits – it was the last Dead Man’s Hill offering preceding to Devotional Hymns To A Brilliant Flaming Sun – I am truly thrilled to notice that Brotherhood Of Sleep ripples along comparable spheres of sound and energy. Conceptually it differs, since Mother Gaia and Nature might not be the main theme; then again the spiritual world of shamanistic transcendence takes over intumescence and notion.
Energy directed through the opened mouths of the singing skulls, facilitated by mantra and multiplied several times by vocalisations [sic] through the mouths of other singing skulls that are placed on the stupas throughout the Temple…
Initially, Opening: Filling The Dome With Astral Light (07:25) sort of reminds me of Corona Barathri, for what it’s worth. After a deep-rumbling, even macabre drone and additional shrieking sounds, meditative-like gongs and bells enter, revealing the orifice towards dimensions of mystique, introspection and invocation. Slow but convinced, noises crawl forward, while injecting the semi-levitative percussions with mesmeric and mantric waves of sound. The last third of this first hymn also introduces secretive, almost devout and pious chants with a mystic, sermonizing timbre, as well as other enlightened wind bells (including some Buddhist-like identity).
The Great Alignment (06:22) delves into more sinister, ominous territories through its obscure sound structures. Flashes of forbidden ceremonies and occult rites through the listener’s soul, caused by the oppressive synths with their suffocating character, and the addition of gruesome percussions and undefinable sonic elements.
The title track (12:33), then again, initially seems to fade into an untouchable vastness of blinding colors (no, I haven’t been smoking anything), yet as soon as the militant drum patterns enter, a universe of illustrious fairness gets unveiled. Majestic chants, rhythmic percussions, mighty layers of darkened ambience and eerie drones create an atmosphere so harsh and abundant, and so unobstructed as well. Then everything seems to fade away, as if the dust has settled. A fragment of inner tranquility seems to arise though long-stretched, somehow gloomy lines of quiescence, yet the adjuvant sounds and the increasing dark-droned sound-undulations cover the whole in a ghastly yet benevolent nebula.
Also Activation Of The Portal Of Singing Skulls (12:09) surrounds the listener with hypnotic grandeur, but it’s a deluding passage towards illusory realities never uncovered before. Spectral soundwaves, minatory drums, morbid whispers and conjuring sound-sculpting, eventually penetrated with eerie throat chants and demented percussions, result in some structurally non-compos elegy, both asphyxiating and manifesting. …manifesting visions unsightly and confronting. The tension permanently magnifies, while abrasive noises and other tormented components conflict with contemplation and comprehension.
Infinity (06:14) is, like the title says, the climax of an aural voyage to one’s Inner Eye, staring into the infinitude of one’s presence, the enigma of essence and existence. Returning towards rather serene proportions, the song is based on hypnotizing, somber synth-lines and chords in basic. The addition of warm yet dismal, Gregorian-inspired chanting and murky, sorrowful keyboards create a mysterious, idiosyncratic palette of fairness and confrontation at the very same time.
This shady mixture of Dark Drone, Ritual Ambient and everything in between is more than a masterwork. Devotional Hymns To A Brilliant Flaming Sun is the expression of Piette’s translation of man’s universe behind the heart and the spirit; the search for an equilibrium in between the consciousness of life and the knowledge beyond death. The result turns out to be(come) a majestic album that characterizes the mind of obscure and oppressing, yet beautiful and delicate Aural Art.
Devotional Hymns To A Brilliant Flaming Sun was released as a six-panel digipack with inner sleeve. it is a limited pressing (only 300 copies were printed, if I am not mistaken). It does come with exquisite artwork (cover and design) by the hand of no one else but Abby Helasdottir, who is not a stranger to the label at all. She took care of other releases’ visual artistry, and she’s the damsel behind Gydja as well. The cover shows the temple with the stupas, surrounded by the skulls and enlightened by the brilliant flaming sun. but it is the amount of in-depth details that makes the paintwork, going for both the cover as the whole visual concept, so meticulously magnificent. And oh, it does fit so smoothly to the sonic content.
https://winter-light.bandcamp.com/album/devotional-hymns-to-a-brilliant-flaming-sun
https://deadmanshill.bandcamp.com/album/devotional-hymns-to-a-brilliant-flaming-sun