Vatican Shadow :: Ornamented Walls (Modern Love)

Ornamented Walls seems to have flown just under the radar, perhaps because of the harsh and hardened exterior it presents on a casual listen or sample-surf, but that initial impression doesn’t last long if it’s given a chance to sink in, whereupon it quickly reveals itself as one Vatican Shadow’s most substantial and creative works to date.

[Release page] Typical. You wait forever for a new Modern Love release and then three come along at once. Amidst the flurry of interest surrounding the release of Andy Stott’s nervously anticipated Luxury Problems, the Manchester label suddenly sprung this oddity on us with virtually no publicity at all. It’s the fourth vinyl release of new or previously cassette/download-only material from Dominick Fernow’s Vatican Shadow that sees him invading yet another label, following up earlier vinyl editions on Type, Blackest Ever Black and his own Bed of Nails label.

But for those wondering whether they need yet another release from Fernow, whose prodigious output under a variety of monikers is hard enough to keep up with anyway, it needs to be stated that Ornamented Walls sits quite some distance apart from his other Vatican Shadow releases. From its inclusion of new mixes of various tracks from other EP’s to the consistency and overarching atmospheric nature of the material, Ornamented Walls unequivocally declares itself an album rather than an EP, and thus becomes the first Vatican Shadow album to be initially released on vinyl.

The slightly ghoulish obsession with botched government interference, corruption and tragic military operations is still present both visually and in the strung out track names, but Ornamented Walls was apparently more significantly inspired by an album of Jordanian military music gifted to Fernow by a friend. The results are some of the most raw, distressed and caustic Vatican Shadow tracks yet, at times skirting the borders of Prurient’s extreme noise output.

The a-side is comprised of the three-part live mix rehearsal entitled “Operation Neptune Spear” created using Fernow’s live mixing technique whereby prepared tracks and stems are recorded directly to cassette and the tapes then used like turntables to create a complete live set. This technique is reflected in the linear narrative nature of the ensuing musical journey, a deep-focus mise-en-scene created through dense layering of Jordanian singing, the grinding of mechanical gears and the searing, white-hot drum patterns.

The gauzy, grit-strewn soundscapes of “Operation Neptune Spear” shift from one location to another sometimes abruptly, for example when the mutilated strains of “September Cell” momentarily burst through the squall of horns in part one, or stealthily creep up behind the listener as on the slow shift from echoing open air snares at the start of part two to the low hum of subterranean war machines and dusky Jordanian vocals. More vocals at the start of part three carom off the dusty, blasted walls of abandoned streets, occasionally swamped by a nerve-shredding, animal yowl until roughly seven minutes in when a quartet of stripped down percussive loops, each more aggressive and artillery-like than than the last rain down upon them. It’s relentless, head-pummeling stuff, with an intensity and ferocity unparalleled in Fernow’s Vatican Shadow work to date.

The flip side contains twice as many tracks, that consistently retain that same raw, cacophonous, claustrophobic depth of focus and chaotic distortion of “Operation Neptune Spear.” The original version of “Cairo Is A Haunted City” is an impeccably groomed exercise in dark, brooding and hugely evocative atmospheric industrial techno, but on the Ornamented Walls “Mythic Chords” version the clean lines and perfectly formed production have been blasted to pieces. The track is slowed to a crawl and clawed to shreds by a thick deluge of jagged debris, buried under gauze and the incessant sound of drilling, a narcotically compelling slice of brilliantly syncopated techno the orbit of which it is impossible to escape from.

“Nightforce Scopes” is another mix of dread-filled atmospheric beauty, a contorted vocal drone and zig-zagging gurgle creeping through the night before morphing into ricocheting percussive loops that become increasingly aggressive, leading into the violent “Yemeni Telephone Number” which approaches Prurient’s power electronics with its pummeling, gravelly drums. The percussive motif from “Cairo Is A Haunted City” crops up once again on “India Has Just Tested A Nuclear Device” whilst “Church Of All Images (Church Of The NSA)” is all gargled distortion, menacing growl and shimmering snares, although it drags for a little too long and lacks the drama of other tracks here.

For some reason, Ornamented Walls seems to have flown just under the radar, perhaps because of the harsh and hardened exterior it presents on a casual listen or sample-surf, but that initial impression doesn’t last long if it’s given a chance to sink in, whereupon it quickly reveals itself as one Vatican Shadow’s most substantial and creative works to date. Certainly there’s scant little VS material that’s as heavyweight and destroyed as this, making it a good fit for the Modern Love imprint. If you’ve previously passed on this one, you need to check it again. Seriously.

Ornamented Walls is available on Modern Love. [Release page]