QUIET DAYS ON EARTH

There's Stately Beauty Here

Yes, it's undeniable. Some passages lead me straight to fantasy- an orchestra, ballet dancers, a vast stage. Stately chord progressions that grow and swell, then begin to subtly change key and direction, putting the listener on the alert- quiet anarchy.

Electric Mud in Pulsating Maneuvers

The name itself suggests something earthy, slimy, fecund...with electrical currents racing and zapping and bringing menace.

Where Once We Heard Rude Bass Tones

Hagen knows how to honk and grunt and bring the bass into new dimensions. THIS album slithers into synthesizer territory, electronica, wrecking- with grace and majesty and slyly demonic stylings- the peaceful, restful expectations being made.

Yes, Madness and Anarchy

You see, nibbling at the edges of this gently simmering pot of musical brews and stews are alien spaceship voyagings, other-worldly chitterings and creakings of insects, small critters from another galaxy gnawing away, and perhaps the through-line for Electric Mud music- the alienating intrusions of industrial wastelands and decaying superstructures that once held great promise.

Sure, We Get Seduced

The gentle acoustic piano, the rich Hammond organ sounds, the synthesized flute or (actual?) sax, the drums (programmed?), the surges and flows of fine compositions-

But Then

Oh yes, just as we settle back into lush ecstasy, we are silkily shocked by bleating bass sounds, hammering from some celestial forge, dragged from cathedral organ to an underlying dissonant tension of driving...anarchy... beneath it all.

Madness.

I thought the voices, the sentences spoken, the attempted conversations, the scratchy dirty record sounds, the tarnished tones added up to madness, just there, just a pretext, just a suggestion, just in hints and at the edges.

I Thought Hagen and Nico Inhabit a Dangerous World

And perhaps, so do we all- the beauty interlaced with menace, quietly percolating sometimes loudly intruding- anarchy.

My Rating

4.5/5 anarchic anvils.

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