Wyatt E. conjure forth the first half of a planned double album, it’s a bit good!
If I was to say to you, Shamanic Droney Doom music, what would you imagine? I’m going to take a couple of things for granted here, the first thing, is that by reading this review, you have a generally good taste in music (as by visiting this site, I take that as a given!) and the second thing, is that you know enough about genres to know what I was talking about. Good, I’m glad we now understand each other as I wouldn’t want my opening sentence to sound like a bunch of made up words.
OK, enough waffling, let’s get started. Zamaru Ultu Qereb Ziqquratu Part 1 is the third album by mysterious Belgium-based band Wyatt E.. The title translates as ‘music from inside the ziggurat’ and expands on previous efforts by exploring ancient Babylon through the eyes of exiles from Jerusalem. Now, please don’t worry if that all sounds overly complicated, by far and away the most important thing to remember about this album is that it is absolutely brilliant and you don’t need to delve into the concept behind it for you to listen to it and say “bloody hell, this is a bit good eh”, but just know it’s there if you feel the need to dig deeper into the themes behind the album (and it is very much recommended, as it’s fascinating by the way).
Right, imagine standing in the middle of a desert, sand dunes as far as you can see in all directions, shimmering from the suffocating heat of the mid-day sun. When out of the corner of your eye, you catch a distant shape, at first difficult to make out if anything is there or not. This shape slowly comes into focus, from an indistinct ripple of dark shapes to a human figure, walking slowly towards you, in no hurry, oblivious to the fury of the sun. You are unsure of its intentions, hostile or friendly but the shiver of expectation slides up your spine. Now, take that imagery and project what it would sound like in sonic form - that is what this album sounds like.
Sounds, building from a solitary drumbeat, upping the ante, slowly, relentlessly adding to the pyroclastic flow of Doom moving towards you. Hypnotic sounds playing with your emotions; are they benign? Hostile? Or something else? It’s the unknowing sense of things which is the key to this album, constantly evolving, morphing into something else, droning with relentless energy, slipping away, soothed by the lulls in proceedings only to be snapped back to reality with a thud.
Mostly instrumental, stunning vocals are scattered throughout the runtime like an oasis for you to pause and draw breath before setting off into the sandy wasteland. Middle Eastern instruments, lyrics and symbolism all combine to take you out of the mundane, the ordinary drudgery, point in example, I was listening to this on a hike recently and so swept away was I with what I was hearing, that by the end of the album, I’d walked a few miles and I could not tell you a single thing about what I saw, the real world melted away, replaced by this sense of other worldly fuzz, blanketing everything with a layer of sand and imagery.
This really is a stunning album by a band hitting its stride. Wonderfully, this is only the first part of a planned double album, and if this is anything to go by, the whole album will be quite the thing, thoroughly brilliant and well worth joining the voyage this album takes you on.
