“As much unlikely as it could be, this album from Mythos will plunge you for sure up until at the door of your perceptions of theatrical fear”
1 Rose X 8:13
2 Trust No One 5:32
3 X-Cursion 5:41
4 The Truth Is Out There 6:16
5 Mythos X 7:29
6 I Want to Believe 7:54
7 X-Traterra 7:27
8 Zombies´S Supper 4:18
(CD 52:52) (V.F.)
(Theatrical dark EM)
Mythos is quite a character, nearly a living legend if we consider his roadmap, in the universe of EM who likes to touch all the phases of his visions and developing complex works with his panoply of electronic toys and assorted instruments. From rock to Krautrock and to EM, everything he touches ends to be something quite tasty. A studio recording has no secret to him. Just throw an ear to his albums in the best years of the German psychedelic times and you will observe this intense and very enveloping musical structure which feed all of his compositions. And this THE DARK SIDE OF MYTHOS is no exception. And if tenebrous EM with a zest of satanism has a power of attraction on you, tell yourself that you are at the right place here.
It's directly from depths of the infinite hell that Rose X opens. Latin chants surrounded by lugubrious animal tones circulate around metallic beatings which click like the clock of the death. The beat is mainly ambient with anvil hits which shape the clock of a tenebrous world. It rests so on a lot of metallic noises as well as crying from beast or tortured souls. Dead moments feed short atonal phases where we guess a soul being sacrificed...or murdered. This is creepy like hell. The beat returns with a series of clinking which are flooded by monk's prayers and by mooing of unknown beasts. But don't get me wrong. The beat is very atmospherical and moves through a mechanical chain which clinks and resounds among strange moanings and howlings. This will be perfect for Halloween to afraid the sneaky ones who want candies. We can imagine the worst, so much the music and ambiences which nest all over THE DARK SIDE OF MYTHOS flirts with the satanic neurosis. Trust no One follows the same paths to darkness on a so smooth sequenced move which make waving its key, some of them are organic and other are in anvil tones, in an ambient setting convenient to the satanic rhythms. This is great horror picture music. X-Cursion is quieter and also more musical, even with its sinister and disturbing sound effects, with a good sequence pattern which knocks a slow beat beneath a dense horrific soundscape. We are indeed in the very dark side of Mythos. The moods are heavy and a nice Mellotron flute emerges to charm our ears with an almost sensual chant. This is a very nice passage. The Truth is out There follows this path of indefinite structures of rhythm. In fact, the beat is slow, almost absent, and beats through organic sequences which gurgle in a dense uncomfortable mood. Master of the ambiences and of the places, with his systematic and much chiselled approach, Stephan Kaske keeps us on the alert with slow and mesmerizing rhythms which move surreptitiously in tortuous atmospheres that he draws in order to lead us in halfway between fright and charm.
Let's take Mythos X and its lento staccato effect. The mood is totally frightening with those diabolical whistles which float on a floating structure of rhythm a bit jerky. Intense and dark, the track evolves subtlety in a more musical approach worthy of a movie where the gentle soul runs breathless, his beloved nearly turn into a vampire, in a cemetery fills of mud up to her knees. Scary but quite bewitching. This is the best part of this ode to terror. The moods and rhythms of THE DARK SIDE OF MYTHOS go quieter and nicer as we advance on the album. Always dark, I Want to Believe turns out to be a really nice ambient carousel. The movement reveals two parallels, and paradoxical, lullabies which slowly turn around in a deep setting of fear, thanks to thunders, violin mist and a sneaky march of sequences. The more the music gets in, the more we are enchanted. This fascinating spiral swirls delicately on a movement which takes its intensity in its tone, like an inverted bolero. A totally divine moment which pursues its intriguing charm with X-Traterra and its gloomy ambiences where are fighting segments of dark harmonies which sparkle like lonely shooting stars in a foreign universe. I sense a bit of Software there as the movement goes near the doors of cosmos. It's impossible to avoid any links between the music of this album and the apocalyptical music of Mark Shreeve, or yet some big Redshift but in a less improvised setting, and of course Jim Kirkwood. Zombies´S Supper ends this ode to terror with a nice melodious approach stuffed by keys with shimmered tones which swirl and swirl, such as an unfinished melody. Unmistakably, Mythos wears the clothes of a Phantom of the Opera new genre with this album, all the same intensely theatrical, which is THE DARK SIDE OF MYTHOS.
In spite of the very dark moods, the music survives thanks to finely wave-like rhythms. And no! Stephan Kaske denies not at all his rather melodious approach which floats like a balm on these ambiences of film terror of which the sound effects bring us near to the imaginary Satanism. A music ideal for Halloween, or for your murders and mysteries evening, THE DARK SIDE OF MYTHOS will blow you literally away and brings you also towards the depths of your child fear. Fans of Jim Kirkwood and Mark Shreeve will love this one!
Sylvain Lupari (October 20th, 2014) *****
Available at Mythos