A Death Cinematic - "Your Fate Twisting, Epic In Its Crushing Moments" (2011) [Simple Box Construction]

It is a shame that so many labels forego special packaging to save money. I mean, I understand why they must, but at the same time there is something unique and almost magical about getting a new album and noticing that the artist and label really "pulled out all the stops" (note: that's an organist's term - how about that?) to make the listener's experience transcend the mere sound escaping their speakers. When I get an album and it's in a jewel case or a digipack it's still great, I still get to hear the music, but when the artist puts together the packaging themselves and offers a little something extra, not only do I have the sounds the artist created, but also a personal piece of art, a labor of love. Arthouse label Simple Box Construction, run by Kamil of A Death Cinematic, offers many wonderful extras with each release, this specific one featuring handmade packaging, coated in polyurethane, a short poem printed on handmade Japaneze kozo paper, and 3 special water decals (NOT STICKERS) which you can affix to furniture. Ever want an A Death Cinematic drawer? Well now you can. These little things, which obviously took a very long time to do, are so much more meaningful than your standard jewel case.

The music on this rather long EP is as intricate as its wonderful packaging. A Death Cinematic's meandering, guitar-based drone is as harrowing and personal as it has ever been, pushing its already slight post-rock "swagger" even further into the background, instead favoring a bleak, shining drone, like a bone left bleached in the sun. Now, when I say "post-rock swagger," don't immediately think of the countless Explosions in the Sky and Mono ripoff artists that plague the world, rather something that draws upon said influences (I actually hear more Talk Talk and Bark Psychosis than EITS or Mono in this one) to create something with an atmosphere that is the polar opposite of the genre's normally ethereal, soaring sound. Envision a barren landscape, the trees are dead and dust as far as the eye can see. There is no life, it is completely inhuman; this is A Death Cinematic. These brilliant, apocalyptic guitar improvisations weave spider's silk over dark, churning drones. For one man with a guitar and an amplifier, this is the holy grail of drone.

Listen to this LOUD. Soak it in.

-Jon