From the most recent official newsletter issue LIBER LXVII AARNI vel Apparitio Scindi:
:: M.W.’S WORDS ::
Dear pithecoids,
1) The release of the Aarni/Persistence in Mourning Split album draws nigh: the official date has been set as the 1st of April 2012 in the Gregorian Reckoning! In other words and to repeat, the release of the Split album takes place on April Fools’ Day this year of their Lord.
We, the authors of the album, decided that the date in question would be most auspicious for our purposes, mainly due to certain astro- and scatological factors, whereof it has been deemed unlawful to speak.
An arcane tome destined for inclusion in the Index Expurgatorius could be written about the uncanny graphical artwork of the album, yet suffice it to say that Mr Alessandro Falca, a veritable Renaissance visual universal genius; a blue-blooded atavistic descendant of the Glory that once was Rome; a sovereign Porphyrogene of the Pictorial Arts, has himself delved profoundly into Alchemical imagery and Nature’s sublime processes, whereby he has completed that most dear Opus; transmuting his hard-won wisdom into the eye-fondling extravaganza thou canst witness gracing the earthly shell of the CD. Forsooth the V.I.T.R.I.O.L. formula completed to the utter dismay & delight of the Crowned Heads of Europe and the rest of the Globe!
Yet, if it be thy will, thou canst preorder the CD from us via the usual methods, especially those of you who physically exist (however tentatively) inside or near the Europa Fort. Dwellers in the Colonies should direct their inquiries to the New World-based Witch Sermon Productions.
In any event, entities (pre)ordering this meistershysterwerk from Aarni can do so for a mere nice and round 11 euros inside the Europa Fort, or for 13 euros for those fortunate enough to be situated without. As apparent by these ridiculously low prices, the April Fools’ Joke must be on us…but hey, what’s a dime to a millionaire?
We have a limited stock available, but they are all special Japanese import versions; moreover each copy features a stylish Obi, as well as 10 extra tracks for a sum total of ten on the CD! You see, the pressings of the album outside of Japan consist of a blank compact disc, for neither Aarni nor PiM had the heart to feature our original planned songs after all. They were shit. So luckily for you, this Japanese version has the ten extra tracks, all of extremely high musical quality and each a veritable masterpiece, worth the album’s low price in and of itself!
On a special note, one of the album copies features a rare glitch made by the CD pressing factory: the tray card is set upside down, making the copy an ultra rare collector’s item and sure to fetch a high price on the free market! Whosoever receives this rarity can congratulate hirself on being very, very special indeed and Mummy and Daddy (or Wolfman and Daddy, as the case may very well be) love thee so very, very much! So better place thy order post and fast, as thou mayest just get lucky…
2) Of Aarni’s songs on the Split:
First off, we have ’49 Angeli Boni’, which gives thee a nice exercise in basic numerology. In this case the number seven. As thou canst deduce from its title, the song concerns the De Heptarchia Mystica of Dr John Dee and the lyrics consist of the list of “49 good angels”, whose names all begin with the letter ‘b’. For an insight into this matter, study the Tongue Angelickall a.k.a. Enochian. Interestingly enough, many important words in English also begin with this letter, for example ‘booze’, ‘butt’, ‘bud’, ‘boobs’, ‘bubonic’, ‘bathos’, ‘Babalon’, ‘Bob’ and ‘blather’.
Musically this song repeats the same pattern of seven power chords for seven verses, and has the danceable (especially if thou art epileptic) time signature of 7/4. Despite its brevity, not necessarily a radio-friendly song…maybe an aquired taste to fully enjoy. But as the old Aarnian adage goes: live and learn, die and teach.
The second track is ‘Emuu’, a “kalevala” folky instrumental. The Finnish title seems hard to translate into inferior languages, but could be rendered as “the genitor spirit/god of a species”. In this case the species is Man, alluded to by the swan calls present in the song. See Fenno-Ugric mythology on the role of waterfowl in the creation of the world and all that resembles it.
The third track ‘Land Beyond the Night’ may come across as needlessly mainstream, but is highly autobiographical in nature, detailing a typical day on the Astral plane for Yours Truly. The lyrics also contain a number of references to more or less classical songs by influential bands. Genius Albert Frankenstein once again guest stars on the vocals.
The mostly Swedish-language ‘Lemminkäinens Tempel’ serves as the fourth song and deals with the palaver of Ior Bock, the late great lunatic of pot’s creation and scion of pre-Atlantean heritage. The track’s musical content has been intended to reflect this, in a somewhat Black Sabbath fashion.
The fifth and final Aarni song, ‘Goetia’, deals with…well, a true Inept of the Ars Magica calling up Goetic spirits – all in God’s name, of course. The Latin lyrics present a dialogue/battle of wits and willpower between the two parties. Guess who wins?
Musically speaking, this song has “dissonance” or wossname, groovy riffs and not-so-groovy ones. The schizoid doominess should make for a charming transition into PiM’s half of the album.
We have not the clearance to speak of PiM’s material, but in short it could be described as being atmospheric in their special idiom…distorted guitars, slow pace, Theremin, bottom-heaviness and general goodness (not to be taken in a metaphysical sense).
Lyrics (and English translations for the same) for Aarni’s songs can be found on our webshite, as usual.
Rant King 