MITOCHONDRION – VITRISEPTOME 2LP (Profound Lore Records)

Within the vastness of all, music stands alone in its ability to mesmerise. It’s not just the hypnotic sound of music that’s so compelling, but the conception, creation and execution of it, that rare, elevated gift of certain creators to transcribe this unique art form from abstraction to reality. Listen to the most enthralling recordings, the ones that move you most, and – if you haven’t already – ask yourself ‘where the fuck did that come from?’…

Those who are utterly obsessed know only too well how much power music carries to enrich and influence life on a level that simply defies logic. ‘Vitriseptome’, the long-awaited third full-length from Canadian alchemists Mitochondrion, is one of those records that boggles the mind and leaves the listener in awe time and time again. Over a decade in the making, this vast offering of occult, obscurantist Death / Black Metal presents paradoxes aplenty, not least the fact that such savage sounds can simultaneously deliver deep and thought-provoking existential musings that extend way beyond comprehension (mine, at least).

Painstakingly and with precision, each individual song and the work as a whole, has been pieced together with passion, obsessive compulsion and fanatical conviction. Meanwhile, the ideas and brilliantly-crafted lyrics that flotsam together across time and space into an immense overarching narrative of life and death and what lies between, before, beyond, after and concurrently, are magnificently masterful and meaningful in their own right.

Who are we? What are we? Why are we? Where are we? Are we? Is everything revealed to the protagonist or does he find only nothing(ness)? Is there a protagonist at all? Humans cannot of course resolve the great imponderable mysteries as by design we do not have access to all the information needed to decode such an omnifaceted puzzle. Thus, it should come as a surprise to absolutely nobody to hear rumours of automatic writing during the creative process of ‘Vitriseptome’ because, well, where the fuck did that come from?

This album is so vast that it’s nigh on impossible to become familiar with it all. Thus, each new listen is hugely rewarding as it offers a different and new experience. Despite consuming these songs ravenously for months, they still seem fresh to me. What chicanery is this? As Mitochondrion have invested so much of themselves into what stands as a truly monolithic exhibition of inexplicable dark-art conjuration, it seems only fair that a considerable investment of time and undivided attention is also required from those who approach it and wish to partake of its portents.

Set some time aside. Put the fucking smart phone down. Spend some quality time absorbing this masterpiece properly, in its entirely, from start to finish, and marvel at what Mitochondrion have accomplished. I’m sure that at some point in the future they too will wonder how, as mere mortals, they ever pulled this one off.

Evilometer: 666/666