Artist: Defenestración
Title: Dungeon Hymns For Those Who Refuse To Kneel
Type: Album
Label: Digital / Sokol Keep
(Please note this is the A Side only – Side B, rarities and b-sides, is on the physical release only)
It is sometimes difficult to completely unthread the fantasy atmosphere of dungeon synth from real world themes and in the case of this wonderful artefact, it is all the more so as it more than hints at such threads. Resistance comes in many forms but art has always stood in the front lines and paid the price.
‘La Señal del Injusto’ (The Sign Of Injustice) opens with that almost perfect old school dungeon synth feel. W’e’re are talking that deep, rich, hypnotic and slow gathering of synths and solemn deep drums of emerging Mortiis and strange ambient of Endvra. A moment of spoken word so deep in the music and the still and ominous world we find ourselves in. There is an oppresive feeling of… of malevolence here. Not personal, but all enveloping. An injustice that covers all, hurts all and yet to the individual striving against it, it will always feel so personal.
‘Sobre los Ojos del Opresor’, which I think might translate as something like ‘in/over the eyes of the oppressor’ begins as though some warrior is in preparation for the fight. A wary but still rousing melody, a gathering of souls who believe as one that it is the time to fight. Its drops to a simple moment, a sparse melody as though picking out the individual in the army. The resistance is many, the vision shared, but the act is individual. It never should be forgotten that every soul like this brave warrior has ddecided that this course is nescessary and the wonderful, understated manner in which this is conveyed is so very, very moving…
‘En el Borde, la Sangre’, on the edge, the blood? A gentle piano ushers us in. The sound of the music on an old instrument in an empty room, a solitary performance for the musician alone. But thoughts intrude, slowly whispering in the shadows and the music becomes apprehensive. The weight of decisions weigh down, perhaps. But the resolve though rippling with these thoughts does not falter. The percussion has a sense of that determination. It leads to a place of quiet, maybe a gathering of realisation and of the inner strength that rises as the music grows more strident, deeper, beating with a firm heart.
‘Vigilia’ is indeed a vigil. Like the opening track the feel is deeply born of the old school. That vibrant and stoic feel to the percussion as the synths catch torches lit in my mind and the faces of warriors waiting what is to come.
‘Ecos’ is the eerie, the coming of something expected that echoes around every part of the resistance; thouse there, those who came before and fell beneath the sweeping hand and the evil intent. The horror that take all, and yet only can because weak and selfish people are responsible for every echo that has brought you to this. A moment of past and of present and perhaps of the reckoning.
‘Defenestración’. ‘Death by defenestration has a venerable history’, a quote I know not the origin of and yet, it is redolent with the last act of defiance when hands seize the oppressor and their last act is their descent towards the feet of those they have brutalised. But this closing is not one of violence or of joy. Instead it calls back to moment we have walked thorugh, added the richness of their memory to the finality. It is solemn and bittersweet. Sometimes when resistance overcomes it is not a celebration it is remembrance of those who helped bring it to this place. Those who yet live and those who perished alone and in dark places. This is the feeling of the warrior collecting themselves, knowing what is done and what must come next when the rightful order is restored but perhaps that time is not for them. Perhaps it is simply the moment that many must reflect and walk back into the crowd.
They did not kneel. They did not submit. They helped the world to be righted and their name being remembered is not important; the ones who fell in the struggle are.
A deeply, deeply moving album. It made me think and connect to names I know who have fallen in the struggle against dictators and tyranny whether powered by arms or money, artists I admire who stand firm. And simple people who decided that ‘no more’ was their quite moment of purpose.
As always lessons from the past, and from the realms of fantasy, entreat us to listen and to remember. I can’t recommend this highly enough
Gizmo
Walking The Liminal Space 