In Menstrual Night

Durtro 020CD, 1986, Running time: 53:19

In Menstrual Night
  1. Sucking Up Souls (In Menstrual Night part one) - 21:08
  2. To Feed the Moon (In Menstrual Night part two) - 19:44
  3. Killykillkilly (A Fire Sermon) - 12:25

To say the least, this is a very unusual album. It’s experimental and ambient, but in a rather different vein than Current 93’s previous sound experiments. I personally think it’s rather fascinating, and in my opinion, quite a refreshing change from their previous Maldoror-themed albums. As a side note, I found the packaging to be rather humorous; the cover, inside liner, and back liner are dominated by images of death (skulls and bones and a broken cross). The image on the CD, however, is of two cute dancing kitties. Silly. But no lyric sheet.

SUCKING UP SOULS is an excellent and very subtle piece, great for falling asleep to (then again, depending on your state of mind, it might be deeply disturbing and nightmare-inducing). There are many many layers of sound: tinkling bells, a choir, the voices of several young girls, some strange military-sounding loop, cymbals, horns, and occasional low rumbling background music (which sounds to me like a slowed version of the “christus christus” theme from Dogs Blood Rising, though don’t hold me to that). Tibet’s sparse vocals are quite deep in the mix, and I couldn’t make out any of his lyrics. Though this track is rather long, I personally don’t find it repetitious, as there’s always something new to listen to, some layer to focus in on.

Appropriately enough, TO FEED THE MOON fades seamlessly in from SUCKING UP SOULS, beginning with mumbled chanting, a repetitive melody, and a drum track(!). With the exception of the drums, the sound is quite similar to the previous track, mixing the voices of girls with choirs and various samples and loops. Not quite as powerful as SUCKING UP SOULS, but still interesting.

KILLYKILLKILLY is rather more noisy than the previous tracks, including lots of distorted and screeching guitar. The usual religious choir is supplemented by some cultish-sounding chanting, and two samples from Barry McGuire’s “Eve of Destruction” are briefly featured. Unlike the previous tracks, David Tibet’s vocals are actually rather prominent in this piece, some in monologue-style and some in his punk-rock yelling voice (I’m told that Steve Ignorant may have contributed to some of those vocals on this track, though this has not been confirmed). It’s a rather disjointed and edgy piece, summed up with Tibet’s enigmatic final line, “we must not renounce our share of violence”. A very worthwhile album.

No epilogue.