For anyone who didn’t read last week’s Conjuration of the Sepulchral, the focus of this column is old school death metal, specifically unlauded releases of the late 80′s and early 90′s. I had a hard time deciding what classic underground act I should place the spotlight on this week, but as of now I’ve picked the Bavarian one-man project Traumatic Voyage. The mastermind behind the band, Mark Astorian, has put out 6 increasingly strange albums since 1992, and is supposedly still active, though nothing has been heard from Traumatic Voyage since 2005. Right now, I’d like to direct your attention toward’s Astorian’s first effort, entitled “Traumatic…”.
If I had to make a judgement about Mr. Astorian’s personality based on his music, I would say that he is a very sick man. That, or an erudite who has explored the darkest and most primal reaches of the human mind. Traumatic voyage is usually categorized as progressive/avant garde death metal, but in my opinion psychedelic death metal is a more apt moniker. “Traumatic…” is a hypnotic, melancholy journey through the subconscious, paying homage to a broad spectrum of negative emotions, as well as a sense of dark esotericism. This is reflected in the lyrics, which paint a dark picture of reincarnation, out of body experiences, and existential angst. An excerpt from the first song, “Shadowconscious”:
“As I walk among the mental corpses of “god’s” children…
Trapped in a dreamless ghagarious sleep
My hallucinations become reality…
Sleep on, mankind… …sleep on…
…And never awake!
Implated pictures of the future
A golden cage… where the mind decays!
Profanced hands writing the book of life…
The machinery spreads its soulless chimeras!
A etheral shot in the head opens my eyes forever
Shadowconscious… evening falls inside…
The psychic metamorphosis into a life’s-trauma…
Returning to the graves of birth
Shadowconscious… above the fear...”
I think drugs probably played a role in the creation of this music, and not solely because of the nature of the music. As other commentators have noted, song titles like “Cannabis Indica” and “Hallucination” seem to suggest a psychedelic inspiration for psychedelic music.
The music is centered on mid paced riffing, generally focusing on evil tremolo picking and heavier more “lurching” riffs accompanied by drumming that sounds very Swedish d-beat at times. If there were tuned a step lower and had a different guitar tone it might sound like a more cerebral Entombed or Dismember. Both clean guitar and clean vocals are present, but employed properly and not taking away from the death metal-ness of the album. The clean vocals are a pained wail that Astorian seems to use only to interject a forlorn “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH” here and there. The clean guitar shows up occasionally, punctuating the mind altering chaos with an ethereal strain of lucidity. This is progressive death metal, but do not expect Death or Atheist.
Traumatic Voyage’s releases can be bought here, but most of this album can be legally downloaded on last.fm, along with chunks of several other albums. “Traumatic…” is also on youtube in its entirety. If you like it, look into the second album “Traumatized…”. The rabbit hole only gets deeper.
