released August 15, 2012

Written by: Nick

There are very few things I become genuinely ecstatic over when I hear about them. Maurerische Trauerdrohne has been something that I writhed around hopelessly about from the moment I heard of its inevitable release. I was quite literally chomping at the bit when I heard it would be available at Gilead Fest. I told fellow writer, Todd, when we got there that I hoped no one knew who they were because I didn’t want to have to battle for a copy of this tape. The first table I went to was Pesanta Urfolk‘s to try and snag a copy.

I wasn’t ‘around’ when the self titled tape surfaced three years ago. I missed that bus and quite honestly, it angers me. Elu of the Nine instantly became an addiction for me the moment I heard them. Many a band attempt the combination of genres and fail miserably but, this is where Elu of the Nine reign. Their mixture of some of the most excruciatingly slow drone, caustic noise and doom elements is well above par.

Maurerische Trauerdrohne is one track. One track that spans literally five seconds shy of two hours. There isn’t a moment within these two hours that you will ever feel comfortable. Noise pierces thick layers of rumbling, eternal riffs achieving an other-worldly atmosphere that chews at your senses. There is nothing that I love more than music that makes me feel. I have always imagined my death taking place in the most extreme of slow-motion scenarios. I imagine feeling every millimeter of flesh shifting, changing texture and temperature. My blood escaping slowly from hopelessly shriveling veins as my ears pop, my eyes well, and my body tenses, contorts, and eventually succumbs to the forces which brought it to this point. This very well could be the soundtrack to my descent from this Earthly existence.

This isn’t just a noisy drone album though. After about twenty minutes of the unnerving discordia we solemnly step foot into sluggish funeral doom riffs that spew sorrow and mourning. The interesting thing is how amazingly beautiful these somber chords are. They sway us, weeping on their own until the full extent of the band joins forces. A distant, faint vocal can be heard amid the powerfully driven song structure but it is anything but weak. The voice sounds of someone that is truly tortured as it exchanges from ear to ear in a haunting pan. Slow, lumbering drumming holds a steady ground as the riffs develop; continually becoming more expressive before digressing back to the low rumble that brought them here. Keep in mind, we’re only a half hour into this monumental piece.

About thirty-three minutes in we’re met with some twisted guitar noise and high squalls of feedback. If you listen very carefully, you can hear the return of the aforementioned tortured scream tucked beneath the many layers. This is followed by rapid picking that I’m not even going to bother labeling genre “A,” “B,” or “C” because it would be pointless to try and pigeonhole their efforts. It doesn’t matter what genre it falls into. The only thing that matters is that it’s here and among the layers of static and noise it works to no end. It brings the claustrophobic walls tighter around you, assaulting your senses and continues your skin’s motion. The cacophony of noise that follows I can only imagine as being the insanity spewing out of the individual who has become encased in this torrent of distressing sounds. Again, we find the return of easily heard vocals accompanied by their funeral counterparts. This is then followed by an unhallowed ambiance that wraps up the end of the first hour of this massive expanse. The exchange of noise, drone, and doom leaves you on edge, awaiting their respective return to fulfill our salivating desires.

I could continue to write for another hour about this because it is constructed so well that it supplies an endless amount of rambling descriptors but, why take all the fun out of it? This will inevitably be toward the top of my list for ‘best of’ this year. The inept review from a certain Nation on Elu of the Nine’s first album is downright shameful to readers and writers and musicians alike. I hope, though I do not promise, that this review puts a comprehensible idea into your minds that other review sites have failed to achieve in regards to the entity that is Elu of the Nine.