TenHornedBeast / Marzuraan – The Law Of The Needle / Into Countless Battles

This split CD comes in a very beautiful package that for me was the highlight of this release. It consists of a single cardstock sheet with a very old public domain drawing of two fellows sawing another fellow in half. The center panel, which is the front, focuses on the two bound legs and the saw that is working so hard to set them free from one another forever. On the two flaps, which fold back over the compact disc itself, we see the two gentlemen who are wielding the large saw in their own respective flap. Each man has a die-cut symbol over him, one an upside-down “Man Rune” signalling distress and the other I do not recognise. The texture of the paper is very nice, and the package overall is very handsome, while still being true to the informal nature of this release. Each group gives us one very different, and very long, exhibition of their talents apiece. If this were 1998 this might be a 12'', but it is 2008 and at least it is not a download. Since you cannot flip it over, the first thing that you will hear is Tenhornedbeast. While not the soul destroying beast of nations prophesized in the Revelations of St. John the Divine, the much more innocuous name Christopher Walton does not do justice to the dark forces lurking inside this young man's brains. “The Law of the Needle” is somewhat akin to what you might hear for the first 30 minutes or so after death. It sounds like it was recorded by the ghosts of the Moors Murder victims in Dracula's castle, featuring background assistance from the Gregorian Monks Choir of 1532. And since they are all dead, everything moves very slowly. As far as what it looks like, you get up to the twenty-minute mark and tell me that you can't close your eyes and see visions of Wallachian Forests, Carpathian Mountains, and Boschian Hellscapes. This is a much better listen the third or fourth time, as the music grows in your brain and gives you time to appreciate all of the subtleties. There are no rhythms, nothing to hold your hand in the darkness. This is the soundtrack to a world where the angles are deformed and beasts enslave man.

Marzuraan, chums of the Tenhornedbeast, are a rock and roll band. Guitar, bass, drums, and a vocalist. Their contribution, “Into Countless Battles,” has a much more upbeat tone than I was expecting after the first track. Although they are a rock band, their delivery is unusual for that genre on this song in that they play the exact same riff repeatedly over and over again at a very moderate tempo for about 20 minutes. There are some vocals that come in at some point, but they are recorded and performed at a very low volume compared to the rest of the music. The riff that is heard is a fairly nice one, very dramatic and reminiscent of 90's emo music such as Still Life and Sunny Day Real Estate, but delivered in a more droned-out manner. This is a very well put-together package, and the groups are quite a contrast. Fans of dark electronics should certainly keep an eye out for Tenhornedbeast.

- Heathen Harvest (reviewed 2008)