Live Session
Here & Beyond Split
Vinnum Sabbathi/Comacozer
Here & Beyond/Live Sessions
by David Cortés Arce.
Two stoner-doom projects come together to erect massive and monolithic walls of sound backed up with epic narratives.
Here and beyond is a split effort between the Australian quartet, Comacozer and Mexico’s Vinnum Sabbathi. Starting off with “Sun of Hyperion”, the Sydney-based stoner unit begins with a succession of notes and samples, from which a guitar suddenly comes from underneath, erecting a building that shall be decorated with mystical flourishes and psychedelic-oriental nuances. By the time the track reaches its middle section, its atmosphere deepens, there is a change of register and the guitar returns to embroider that acidic, cosmic spiderweb giving us the tools to travel without worrying too much about the destination, but there’s certainty that the journey will be enjoyable.
When Vinnum Sabbathi’s turn begins, they expand upon their already famous HEX series --compositions based on the hexadecimal system-- filled with references to pure science which regularly appear in splits like this one. In "Hex IV: Cassini's last breath" there is a slowness that doesn’t come up frequently in the band’s work, but it is not without a heaviness that blooms as soon as the guitar strings are plucked. The spaces left by this instrument are filled by the drums and the samples; in the middle part, all the instruments are concentrated and with the entry of a new sample, this mist begins to descend, slows down time and even adds a certain groove to the end.
Tension is a word commonly used in the band's vocabulary, because that, and nothing else, is what they generate with this slow, repetitive approach that suddenly breaks the picture with a dose of aggressiveness that, calculated or not, is always effective. This is the case of "Hex V: X-15 research project" where the samples prepare us for an epic narrative, a solid wall of doom.
Live Session presents a studio session that had a physical release through a Polish label. Although it is not a split, all the tracks still belong to the HEX series, and all of them show the band in their best element: au natural. In "Hex I: The mystery of space", the sound of a radar hints at an ongoing search, and that "squeaky noise" helps to quickly build an atmosphere of uncertainty that reinforces the group's narrative through the use of samples. Meanwhile, a thick wall of sound is quickly built, note by note, becoming more solid, almost monolithic. Sometimes, this wall is erected in a more frenetic way; the whole thing accelerates, momentarily becoming more brutal.
"Hex II: Foundation Pioneers" begins as if we were in an old science fiction series, but the voice brings it closer to the grounds of a documentary; that is until a slow, overwhelming sound, similar to that of a gigantic monster that crushes everything, dominates the track. The music is slow, heavy; something seems to rise, but there’s an imminent feeling cracking that never ceases. That ending with psychedelic-spatial nuances is the last manifestation of that whirlwind that is the band when some speed sneaks in there.
As far as I’m aware, Vinnum Sabbathi has no discernible link to H.P. Lovecraft, but just as the works of the Providence genius hint at terrors that are never named but their presence is felt, the same rings true for the band’s sound: there is always an ominous air of mystery. "Hex VIII: The malthusian specter" is dense, like a cloudy nebula that sometimes breaks the confusion, but is never interrupted. Even when it comes to its end, it doesn’t mean that we are finally safe, it just means that we have been swallowed whole. As a result, there is the devastation and commotion that Vinnum Sabbathi invariably produces.
