My Castle of Quiet

What sets Anthony Saunders' sonic creations apart from the hundreds of other performers using a table of pedals and mic'd-up metal accoutrements? For one, an intense performer's energy (which almost burst when I tried to make a few gig announcements—sorry, man, I still feel terrible about that!) Add to this a lifelong obsession with brutal sounds (including being one-half of Dataclast), combined with a true musician's meticulousness and finesse. The tentative, delicate passages in Explosive Improvised Device make the crashes and clusters that much more arresting. Power electronics to be sure, but informed by Bayle, Parmegiani and Varèse.

EID's My Castle of Quiet session will likely be released on tape or vinyl in the near future, but with Anthony's obsessive cutting, layering and EQing, there's almost no chance of the final release sounding quite like it does here ---

Thanks to Glenn L for making it all sound extra-purty for the airwaves.

Thanks to Tracy for making my crap photo of Anthony look like a still from Begotten.

EID's performance on WFMU-FM's My Castle of Quiet is shared by way of a creative commons attribution-non commercial-no derivatives license.

Every time I stare into the maw of black metal I find something new. That mainstream media can't seem to get past the genre's origins of sensational murders and church burnings in Norway is I guess no surprise, but such tunnelvision neither accounts for, nor does justice to, the evolution of powerfully inventive, genre-bending artists such as Malkuth.

I feel fortunate to have been able to present NYC's two finest black metal bands (first Liturgy last October, now Malkuth) on My Castle of Quiet within only a few months' time.

This was quite a monumental session; Malkuth played ultra-hard, and tight as a hangman's noose, their epic songs filled with wild time-signature shifts and snaky, melodic riffage. A good brain cleansing with steel strings, drums, and screaming.

Much credit must go to our own Jason Sigal who made sure that Malkuth's mighty set turned out a mighty audio document. Thanks also to Daniel Blumin and Gabriel for popping up to the Castle and helping me out.

As several songs were rendered in continuum mode, Malkuth's six-part live opus is presented here in three distinct chunks, and labeled accordingly: