Allerseelen – Fr​ü​hgeschichte IV

Allerseelen – Fr​ü​hgeschichte IV

The fourth in the series of early Allerseelen soundworks re-issues is another gem for lovers of dark ritual and rhythmical music who also highly appreciate a beautiful visual presentation. This digipak comes in a limited edition of 300 copies with photos of blue flowers, black wood and translucent tears, a poetic text about the background of this Allereelen cassette that was released in 1989 by Gerhard Hallstatt, the musician behind Allerseelen who back then worked under the name Kadmon, and a poem by Rainer Maria Rilke about wine and bitterness.

Allerseelen were at this time not the music group that people are aware of nowadays with its numerous live performances all over Europe. It was still something “prehistoric” or “embryonic”, the acoustic and alchemical vision of one person. None of these unique recordings have ever been performed on stage.
The first three releases in this series of re-releases – Schwartzer Rab, Requiem, Autdaruta – were inspired by alchemy, death and shamanism. The main inspiration for Lacrima Christi were a dangerous experience – or hour of truth – by Gerhard Hallstatt inside the crater of the Italian volcano Vesuvius in his youth and a sweet Italian wine named Lacrima Christi. Self-built xylophones made of bones and wood are creating an archaic and melancholic aura to remind the listener of the fragility and transience of life.
The eight works on Lacrima Christi are not songs in the strict sense of the word. The dark loops that are intertwining each other in a hypnotic way appear rather like the soundtrack for a movie that was never made or never finished. A movie without actors: There are no lyrics, not even titles. These ritual rhythms and loops, combined with the sounds of ashes and fire, rocks, breath and wind, create a feeling like being inside the crater, the caldera of a volcano that is not dead but dormant.
The sweet wine Lacrima Christi that grows on the ash grey slopes of the volcano Vesuvius refers to a Catholic myth about the tears of Christ in the time of his passion. To symbolize the co-existence of sweetness and bitterness, of light and darkness, of life and death, these recordings were enriched with rare voices, choirs, sighs, shouts of birth, lust, desire.
There is something timeless in this music. Not only the sound itself, also the way how it came into existence appears incredibly anachronistic, almost “prehistoric” nowadays: Computers and internet were more or less science fiction, the internet was unknown. Just one small sampling keyboard served to create some loops. Everything else was done by using three tape recorders. The music was digitally re-mastered in a very careful way by Soundtempel Studio to preserve the authentic aura of the original recordings. For those who are keen to listen from time to time to something “against the modern world”, these recordings might be a perfect choice.

Digipack cd, AORCD 21 / IST 094 CD

Aorta / Indiestate Distribution 2015