FINSTERNIS

Album number 2 for the bizarre French band ALUK TODOLO which continues to exist in their own strange little world between the cracks of reality that utilizes no wave and Krautrock with extra helpings of dark ambient, hypnotic grooves and sinister sound effects. The album begins with "Premier Contact" which releases a steady and mesmerizing drum and bass beat that slowly builds up tension and allows haunting guitar distortion effects to drop in and out of the scene like poltergeists crashing a party on a secret burial ground. The hypnotic groove ushers in soporific tendencies only to be awoken by jarring contrasting and nerve racking Kosmiche guitar effects that dig deep into the psyche and then never let go.

As with the first album, the combination of the repetitive bass and drums with the spastic and jittery screams of anguish from the guitar that throw a stake in the heart of any passers as the rhythm sounds like a giant goblin parading through the darkened forest to slay unicorns. While musically this could be classified as a mix of no wave, noise rock and Kosmiche Krautrock, it really develops more like post-rock with all the accoutrements of the aforementioned with spastic little bursts of metal energy now and again exploding like little volcanic releases of tension. The production allows every little sound to pierce through the soul in controlled doses and yet somehow sounds raw and organic. Some of the percussive beats turn tribal as if the astral attack has set its sight on Native American sacred sites as the tom toms repetitively commence while the frenetic chaotic swirls of distortion and ambience radiate from every direction.

This is simply freaky stuff here and one that could drive you to collapse in fear if listened to in the dark or in a cold and questionable establishment. As with the debut, this is not musical composition per se but rather a beeline into the abyss of the sonic voids of space and then subject to the physics of the vacuum left behind as the sporadic guitar distortions suddenly appear and then fade away like a comet flying through the night sky. FINSTERNIS is a noticeable improvement over "Descension," not in that it has become more sophisticated but rather it has become more startling and haunting like a galaxy of pissed off ghosts have come to attack randomly. Creepy as hell but i'm a glutton for punishment and dig this sort of torturous experience.