Almost two years ago (at this moment of posting), Brotherhood Of Sleep released their first album, Devotional Hymns To A Brilliant Flaming Sun (via the mighty Dutch label Winter-Light). I was enormously impressed by the result, which I labeled in my personal files as ‘obscure and hypnotic Deep Trance / Ceremonial Drone / Dark Ritual Ambient’ (I can’t help it that my autistic alter-ego adores making lists of different things, hehe). Earlier this year, this project came up with the sophomore album, called Enter The Nuummite Cosmos. As for the aural content and the release itself, I will come back to this immediately. And Beyond The Nuummite Cosmos has been released just a couple of days ago, but that’s something I will come back too soon.
First a word about this outfit itself. It is a pretty new channel by Bart Piette, especially known from the magnificent act Dead Man’s Hill (amongst some others, like Experiments in Darkness or The Earth King). This side-project was born as a reflection of, and I will quote the bio, ‘the Astral Temple that feeds on the massive energy of a Violet Sun, whose rays continually activate the crystals and skulls in the Temple and keep them in their highest, most powerful energetic state’. The sonic creations under this moniker, therefor, must be seen as a reflection of the powers and energies that dwell around in this mystic temple, and by extension as a spiritual, somewhat introspective and symbolic expression of inner strength, knowledge and revelation.
Which easily brings me to the title of this album: Enter The Nuummite Cosmos. A ‘nuummite’ is a kind of dark-colored rock, especially to be found in some areas in Greenland (hence the name, derived from Nuuk language). The ones found on this island often come with a golden or even blue crystalline pattern. This kind of metamorphic stone is often attributed to spiritual experiences, as a portal towards the Inner Eye, and in expansion towards the whole universe. Used as amulet, as pendant, or as relic, this stone refers to philosophical, religious, ritualistic, meditative and transcendental purposes. Also medical powers are attributed to nuummite stones, but it is not my goal to mock superstition, for in a metaphorical way (and with the so-called placebo-effect) the spiritual importance of objects and elements, powers of nature, etc., are of undeniable importance for both mensa and corpus.
In the case of this Brotherhood Of Sleep album, the ‘nuummite’, cf. the former paragraph, and the ‘temple’, like described in the second paragraph, come together. It’s about that Astral Temple, with a gigantic nuummite-crystalized wall. That wall is like a portal towards reflection, with reflection being a dimension were the spirit (of those who trespass this gateway) integrates with space, with the endless All, in order to become the Eye of the Storm.
Once more, the devotional hymns (got it?) are very lengthy, from over eight to thirteen minutes. The first noise-experience is the lengthiest, for Opening - Radiation Of A 1000 Violet Suns clocks 13:01 minutes. And as from the start, one’s being gets transported towards a universe of unphysical, undefinable purity. Deep mantric chants and eerie drones arise from the abyss; a depth where powers of Nature, from the beginning of Time, were formed. After four minutes, the turbulence of creation mounts from the purity of Origin, when mesmeric soundwaves, gloomy percussions, transcendental sound effects, and spectral ambiences, towards an intoxicating Inner Journey. An amalgam of ritualistic voices, mystical melody-lines and additional (percussional) elements transports one into, or towards, a passage of insight and (ancient) knowledge.
Energetic Metamorphism (11:10) [metamorphism is, when talking about rocks and stones, the transformation from a prototype, the so-called protolith, into a new type of structure) starts with esoteric chants too, though of a more devout core, and veiled in a mist of ominous, portentous harmonies. Despite an occult nucleus, one feels an energy behind, or beneath, the surface. This ‘song’ includes hints of Dark Industrial and Ceremonial Trance Music, connecting to the mystic Void represented by this aural ceremony.
Black Mumia too lasts for 11:10 minutes (a coincidence) and initially presents a rather militant approach. Martial drum patterns, epic harmonies, a combative drive and uncanny structures initially fuel the energetic advent. A gloomy, almost meditative, etheric and illuminative intermezzo follows, yet slowly everything evolves towards another scarifying, almost asphyxiating level of Doom Ambient, with these ghastly sounds, fateful beats and cursed noise-waves.
Also Aligning With The Nuummite Cosmos lasts for exactly 11:10 minutes (still thinking about a coincidental occurrence?) and offers a Lovecraftian attitude as well with these dismal drones and frightening texture. It’s like a trespassing of unworldly, astral dimensions. After about one third, everything seems to evolve into a dimension of spiritual guidance through ancient tradition. I mean, things slowly yet remarkably morph into a rather Nordic Folk oriented approach, with shamanistic drums and chants, intoxicating soundscapes and, eventually, mind-twisting textures. The devotional voices and spectral synths result in an illusory experience.
The album ends with Blessed Are The Anointed Human Vessels (08:27), at the outset holding out the deepest, most claustrophobic genus of bleakness / blackness / nothingness. Monotonous yet decadent patterns, reverberating effects and repetitive sounds at first paint a mostly desolate, isolated yet pure landscape. After a while, things evolve into proportions of arcanum and concealment, with somehow ethnic percussions, sedative sound-floats and enigmatic melodies.
This second Brotherhood Of Sleep record is released on CD (a four-panel carton-board edition) via Zazen Sounds, which is not completely strange, since Dead Man’s Hill’s latest offering, Born From The Black Caudron, saw the light (and the many shadows around that light) via the very same Greek label in early 2025. The cover artwork (unfortunately I have no idea who created it) is the absolute visual definition of this album’s aural artistry: a turning wheel (not exactly a sunwheel) in an astral environment; a cosmic circle surrounded by distant stars and white nebulae, done through a marvelous color pattern.
PS: there is a new Brotherhood Of Sleep release called Beyond The Nuummite Cosmos, released very recently via Dark Odyssey Records (digital + jewel-case compact-disc with two-panel insert), in case of interest… It is evident that a review will follow soon(er or later).
https://deadmanshill.bandcamp.com/album/enter-the-nuummite-cosmos
https://www.concreteweb.be/reviews/brotherhood-sleep
https://www.concreteweb.be/reviews/earth-king
https://darkodysseyrecords.bandcamp.com/album/beyond-the-nuummite-cosmos