INSIDE THE BENT

40 miles from Giza there's a complex of pyramids, but they are different and more ancient than those well known in Giza. The "Great beginning of Dahshur" is this: the start of the Egyptian greatness. This is why this unusually melodic tune starts at low volume to grow sowly. It represents a beginning. The mood changes suddenly with the second track. The sound of percussion like metal hammers (I think it's a Sistrum) give the idea of slaves working in the building of the Snefru Pyramid, the first with the known shape. No more big stairs. Just a bit more than one minute.

This travel through the Egyptian history proceeds entering the buildings of the ancient kingdom which started around the 2700 BC. Quite old, isn't it? The track starts with low volume sounds, like a sort of wind. The listener can imagine an archeologist entering a building for the first time. It's an electronic track, we could call it a drone, but the sound of a hammer gives it a dark atmosphere, sounding like a deadly bell. The track fades into "Descending Passageway", just to remain in the shoes of the acheologist. Also in this case there's no track of melody: just percussion and drone keyboard. The continuous sound in the background, is likely the Senmuth's 7 string electric guitar which after 1.30 minutes raises a melody, but without loosing the atmosphere created previously. A good track with changes in tonality not as disconnected as sometimes happens with this artist.

"Antechamber" brings us back to the darkness. Hammers again, over a windy background. Percussion are added to the hammer and the track is transformed in a sort of percussion solo giving the idea of a tribal rite. After 4 minutes the percussion stops leaving only the windy dark background.

It's clear that now we are descending into a tomb. We enter "Chamber I". Still driven by the percussion with almost nothing else than a background of guitar end keys, with the guitar playing long bass distorted notes. Listening carefully there's also some melody hidden behind the guitar. The key to this track is concentrate on that melody letting the percussion hypnotize you until, after 3;30 minutes, this long track intro is done. SInce now on this track which scores 8:40 minutes alternates different moments, all of them dark.

A "Connecting tunnel" made of a single chord arrives. All those "chapters" could be considered a single long suite as there's no much variance. The "Portcullis" is a sort of gate, door. To open it our archeologist has to try two different configurations. The first has chords and melody introducing another piece of percussion driven track which later calms down and goes back to a melodic section which lasts until the end. The Second configuration opens something. It's a mixture of ethnic music and electronic, quite usual for him.

Finally inside. The Corridor of Dead dust...how would you imagine the music here? I think the intro couldn't have been different. Then it proceeds more structured. "Nebmaat" is a synonym of Snefru. So the pyramid's owner. In his sepolcral room we think to have finally reached the core of it all, but there's some more: the second great chamber. This is a track that can live standalone, while still being part of this sort of suite.

Now our archeologist has seen everything. It's time to reconsider this descent. In "Atmosphere of life and death" the hammer is back. Again it's drone sounds and the hammer plus some tapes here and there and accents from a heavily distorted guitar. A 13 minutes track that could have been recorded by Phrozenlight, if it wasn't for the guitar which plays some notes which becom a sort of repetitive melody. Quite Berlin school.

The closer doesn't add much to the album. It's so silent that I can say that it doesn't add anything. But its title "The Stone Dust of the Millennium" says all.

In brief, it's an album which requires its moment and the wish of getting lost in its mood.

Senmuth says:

"The album was written after visit the Bent Pyramid of Dahshur by the "ISIDA Project" expedition in 2012"

It explains all.