:Golgatha: – The Horns Of Joy

by VITRIOL

Country:
Bandlink
Label: Trisol
Genre: Ritual, Folk, Dark Ambient, Soundtrack

Tracklisting:

01. Enchantment
02. Fertility
03. The Iron Rose
04. The Horns Of Joy
05. Hymn For The Fallen One
06. The Dogs Of War
07. The Sound Of War
08. Hammer Or Anvil
09. Body Of Wind
10. Nihil
11. Rising
12. Dukha
13. Death In Honour

:Golgatha: is a well-known project, recommended by its various, musically diverse previous releases, which have become landmarks in the genres of ritual ambient and folk. Utilising sounds such as ecclesiastical choirs, drones, atmospheric synths, catholic prayers and a plethora of sampled voices, they managed to create an amalgam of ambient music mixed with folkish elements, as well as several other experimental elements. The subjects of Germanic mysticism, Luciferianism, war, historical conscience, heroism, personal transformation are pre-eminent in their work. How are all these things linked, is the evident question the uninitiated listener will form. Fortunately enough, no easy way out of that question can be provided. This is deep, solemn music that needs to be listened to carefully, studied and pondered upon until its full meaning can become clear, and its vision be revealed. Its essence is, in my eyes, purely esoteric.

“The Horns Of Joy” is an assertion of :Golgatha:’s musical entity, a bold statement of what they are and what they want to express. Vocalists from While Angels Watch and Dawn & Dusk Entwined, who have collaborated with :Golgatha: on the “Sang Graal” album (2008) contribute to some of the tracks. The delightful mingling of different genres, which would sound distasteful in other cases but in this case is one of their strongest characteristics, has matured here in a cinematic composition. The desert sands rise to carry us away in search of oriental mysteries, while enchanting female voices give us a glimpse of the images to behold. Acoustic folk melodies with male vocals talk of war, humanity and the fall of the Morningstar. Steady ambient tones, martial drums and religious choirs make up the soundtrack to a post-apocalyptic landscape, a world decaying in its suffering.

The oriental element is more prominent here, emphasized by the ethereal female vocals and solid rhythms of tracks such as “Enchantment”, “Fertility”, and “Rising”. In “Fertility” catholic choirs combine with oriental chanting in a track reminiscent of Dead Can Dance, and just as good. “Gasping breath breaks the silence/ bright sunlight pierces your eyes/ fear is the aim of emptiness/ nothing is the answer you are told”, we are warned in “The Iron Rose”, the first of the acoustic folk tracks in the album. The rose has long been an occult symbol interpreted in several different ways. Here it is made of iron, perhaps to signify the hardened outer folds of consciousness, or the consciousness of the higher Self, having conquered and now become unbreakable.

“The Horns of Joy” mixes male with female vocals, ambient sounds and sampled voices in one of the album’s most effective tracks, while the rising of Lucifer is announced by the ominous trumpets and drums of “Hymn for the Fallen One” – “With a warrior’s heart/ with the horns of joy/ and the wisdom of ages”, the fallen angel returns to bring his light to the world, confirming his axiom as expressed in Milton’s “Paradise Lost” : Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven. The dynamics of conflict as a means for evolution, the consequences of understanding, the responsibility of being true to one’s nature, are what he administers. War is the father of everything, claimed Heraclitus, and it is true that in a universal scale, conflict instigates the spark of creation.

However it is the cause of torment for humanity, and that is what the next tracks, “The Dogs of War”, “The Sound of War” and “Hammer and Anvil” – which apart from the beautiful folk melody found in the two previous tracks, is also invested with an elegant piano sequence – are communicating. “Body of Wind” and “Nihil” maintain the neofolk tone in a more thoughtful, down-tempo manner, but in “Dukkha” the ritual aspect of the music returns. “Dukkha” is the Buddhist term used to indicate suffering. The four stages of suffering (ranging from the purely physical to the highly philosophical) are taught for the purpose of overcoming them, and reaching Nirvana. How is that end to be achieved? The final track, “Death in Honour”, is where the material and the spiritual converge. Unpleasant yet inevitable, in the sense that it has always been the preferred method of humanity to exceed itself. A pessimistic view for some, certainly, let us not forget however, that death can also signify rebirth.

Knowledge of the Self, spiritual development, a viewpoint of the world based on mystical experience and practice, are in no way unrelated to external events. European history is scarred with centuries of conflict, famine, war, hatred. Many radical changes have occurred as the result of that, and naturally enough, there are always two sides to every coin. Full understanding cannot take place without the acknowledgement of both. :Golgatha: could not have explored these subjects so successfully if it feigned ignorance of the external circumstances. Whatever personal opinions of these facts you may hold, it is an undeniable fact that entire peoples have been forced to redefine their identity time and time again. To seek your relation to the past, to accept your place in the world – in present and past alike – is a necessary step to self-development. Otherwise you are lost in introspection and fail to connect yourself to what is commonly termed as “reality”. Where do we stand therefore, after all these centuries of bloodshed – as individuals, citizens and Europeans? How can we truly know, unless we somehow make it possible to view our actions as a reflection of the inner Self? If we don’t know our true nature and Will, we fail to comprehend the actions of our fellow human beings, much less our own. We fail to comprehend history.

Rating: 5/5