KAMI-NO-MITI

'Kami-No-Miti' (5/10)

While every Senmuth record distinguishes itself from the others in small subtle ways, there are a few records that leave more of a unique imprint on the listener, regardless of their relative quality and strengh as an album. While certainly not my favourite this far into Senmuth's discography, the album realizes one of the biggest musical jumps and developments the Russian one-man project has made since it's inception. Revolving almost solely around a mixture of atmospheric Japanese themes, ambient industrial and slower, almost doom metal guitar work, 'Kami-No-Miti' is undeniably a unique piece of work. While the musical ideas here and overall texturing does not measure up to par with some of the more challenging and intelligent albums this man has done, some of the bigger issues with Senmuth's music have been cleared up, and the album is blessed with a handful of great tracks that make 'Kami-No-Miti' worth a couple of listens.

The big trait with this release is certainly the heavy emphasis on Japanese/Oriental culture and sound, as well as the fact that this is the industrial metal based record Senmuth has released that lacks his vocal work completely. While the man behind the title of Senmuth is undeniably a very talented musical mind, his distortion-box style of singing has never appealed to me. In any case, the album's instruments enjoy a greater liberty without such frantic vocals overtop. The female Chinese operatic vocals that replace Senmuth's aren't incredibly pleasant either, but they mesh well into the music, meaning that it is easier to appreciate the music for what it is, rather than focus on less powerful vocals.

The track 'Idzanagi' is the standout song here. It is a powerful anthem fantastic rock instrumetal; driven by some very tasteful melodic leads by the main man himself. Underneath the soaring melodies is the typical electronic noise that permeates every Senmuth song for the sake of 'atmosphere' (to mixed results) and some tasteful traditional Asian instrumentation, which gives the music a very ethereal feel. To a lesser effect, the closer 'Shakjamuni' is an interesting piece of near-doom metal; it's heavier parts being interspersed by long droning sections that seem to get lost in themselves. While being another one of the more memorable tracks, this has alot of the same problems that are unique to 'Kami-No-Miti;' a seeming lack of melody to most of the music, were it could have been the missing key to make this into a much greater body of work.

While being a different creature than the ones Senmuth usually creates, I arrive at the same conclusion for this one as many of the others he has done in the past. While the music is worth giving a couple of listens, it is nothing special. However, for all intents and purposes, it is good to see Senmuth steadily improving his craft. And considering there are dozens of albums to go, improvement and development is likely the best thing an album could offer at this point.

After a short spatial interlude Senmuth returns to the fusion of ethnic/world elements with his industrial metal. This time his oniric destination is Japan. The adjective "oniric" came to my mind while I was listening to this album for the first time. I'm realizeng that what I have found appealing in his use of distortion and noise is that it gives a sense of "irreality" to his music also when the melodic line could be easy to follow.

Japan I was saying. A Japanese woman's vocalisms replaces his usual distorted screaming. This makes me think to the athmospheres of Blade Runner. Not that the Vangelis masterpiece has anything to do with Senmuth, I'm just thinking that this album could have been a good sountrack for that movie as well.

"Kami no Miti" appears to be a wrong transcription of "Kami no Mich" that means "The way of Kami". Its also the title of a book about the life of a shintoist priest, so the album "MAY" be inspired to the book.

"Tsukiyomi" (not Tsukiyosi, again a probable wrong transcription from Japanese to Cyrillic to European) is a shintoist deity, the God of the Moon, as well as "Amaterasu" is the Goddess of Sun. It's interesting how the male/female roles of Sun and Moon are inverted in shintoism, but this is another story. The music is very intriguing and gives more room to percussions than on the previous albums. There's also a nice guitar part in Amaterasu. The athmosphere is far from being religious, indeed. The typical background noise makes it very dark.

"Izanami and Izanagi" other than two short tracks, are two demons, brother and syster. Here Senmuth tries to give to the music a touch of grotesque. The two tracks are quite simnilar.

"no-Mikoto" is a minor God who built a sanctuary to her grandma Amaterasu. The less dark track of the album with an electronic part in the middle taht's pure electronic music.

Now the Buddah comes. Bodhisattva is one of the names of the Buddah and literally means "Illumination". Is it a canon? I cant say, but I assume that Kannon is meaning canon, not cannon. The shukiyaki sound is overwhelmed by the slow percussions and the usual noise but it's enough to place the environment in a Japanes temple. This is not the usual Senmuth. I think this track is close to some Krautrock. Still dark, anyway.

Effectively Shakyamuni is the founder of Buddhism as religion (The Gautama Buddah). This track is not dark as the previous ones and should be cathartic. As the album title suggests we have followed a path starting from the world of Shinto to the Buddhism. The end of this album is a beginning. Let's see if a follow-up will come.