KNIGY VOZNESENYA II

An apparent sequel to the similarly titled 'Книги Вознесения I', this early 2010 release takes the dark ambient styles of Russian one man project Senmuth to new extremes. A apparently seamless flow of dissonant and martial rhythms and soundscapes, the album is certainly one of the less friendly pieces that this experimental act has to offer. By creating a highly experimental and- at times- jarring experience, Senmuth has created one of his most challenging works to date.

Garbed in Egyptian album artwork, it's clear from the get-go that this is one of Senmuth's ethnic albums, a particular style that Senmuth has done to death on countless albums in the past. What makes the work on 'Книги Вознесения II' a bit different isn't even in the modd itself, but the dissonant nature of the music. The same instrumentation is generally used here, including tribal drum rhythms, ambient woodwinds and Senmuth's signature style of lead playing. The way in which these parts are used makes 'Книги Вознесения II' a bit of a more unique trip in the course of the act's music, Senmuth is certainly not afraid to make the ambient sound here very dense, featuring a number of different sounds at any given time. While this makes things particularly hard to concentrate on any single musical idea, 'Книги Вознесения II' will inevitably lend a slightly new experience with each listen.

The album can't be spoken much in conventional terms, there are very little melodies or recurring themes to clasp onto here, only a dense wave of sound and ethnically-derived noise to get lost in. An intriguing release from this ambitious artist.

Having to rewrite everything I will change to a disk review instead of going track by track.

First of all this is called "II" because Knigy Voznesenya I is an EP released in 2010 containing two tracks, one of those of over 20 minutes. Knigy Voznesenya means "Book of Ascension".

And "Книга" means book. All the 14 tracks are parts of the book of the Deads, chapters found in Egyptian tombs speaking about the Egyptian underworld, its geography, its architecture and the travels of the Sun-God Ra from East to West to represent Death and Resurrection or inside the 6 caves to face with punishment and rewarding.

This means that all the tracks are dark. There are tracks based on obsessive percussions with dissonances and weird noises in the background, others with no percussions and sublte keyboards that are darker because of the unusual sounds used and the background noises similar to human laments.

However, in order to appreciate the music it's better if you know what they are about, so here the "Books":

1) The Book of Two ways - Geography of the Underworld 2) Book of the ascending light - The metaphoric voyage of the sun from East to West. 3) Book of Am-Duat - Spells to help the dead in the Underworld journey 4) Book of the Worship of Ra 5) Book of Gates - The architecture of the Underworld 6) Book of Caverns - The journey of Ra through the caves of punishment and rewarding 7) Book of Breath - An addition from the Roman period. It seems to be the source for the murmun Book of Abraham 8) Book of Sacred Cows - tells a story that mixes magic spells with the exact details of the Divine Cow 9) Book of days (book of coming forth by days) - is a collection of magic spells and songs from the 13th century BC. 10) Book of Night - depict Nut, the sky-goddess, spread out across the heavens. 11) Book of Earth - Locales and beings encountered by the sun god during his nightly travels. 12) Book of Heaven - describes the sun's passage through the heavens. 13) Book of funeral rituals - How to make a mummy, more or less. 14) Book of Crossing the Eternity

Be prepared for this dark travel into the Underworld, meeting Gods and Demons, speaking magic spells and so on. More than a review this is a guide to enjoy the album that's the usual mix of heavy percussions, distorted guitars, electronics and ethnic instruments.

3 stars for the music only, but with the concept in mind it's a good experience.