For an experimentation, the new album of Danishmendt is unusually cohesive. In contrast to their first full-length which often exhibits the drive of Sludge, "Un Passe Aride” unfolds like various relations between the sharp contours of Blackened Doom and the channels of Ambient and Noise. As Danishmendt’s commercial name (Architect of Noise) suggests, harsh and hypnotic sonic axes and orbits join in for seven compositions and a relatively short break of non-metal sojourn. On behalf of culmination, the pressure of occasional intense riffs, hoarse vocal and restrained rhythm section is fundamental. Sounds of cold desolation in a forgotten industrial sight or pulsating electronics shine through. To describe how such effects precede, subside under or suffuse the heavier structural peaks throughout the album is to highlight the full force of the band.
La Source - the first track of "Un Passe Aride” – opens with a warped vibration, distant soft echoing and morose vocal introduction. Only parallels of simple chords and submerged vocal are deployed until a slight shift of edge and entering drums invite an extra of Black Metal riffs. Crushing rhythmic and ambiance become the accents of the second half of the song. While the instrumental interplay slows down to hammering cuts, the spetral sonority flows into Lumpen heros. Again the hard regularity of drums with heavy doses of guitars and vocal declaim rises to an epic level before a short take-a-breath-slowing-down. A wayward intensification of build-ups and discords draws the ending. The introduction of the next track (Chutes) is a long disturbing sequence of layered guitar work, diverse drumming and oppressive vocals. Suddenly everything drops down and regroups for the central theme. Soon the drawn-out vocal refrains, Black Metal riffs, mid-paced drums and ambient background reach maximum integrity. Then the vastness of anger and menace devolves into a strange atonal mess marked by prolonged quirky guitar leads.
Tribal drumming and controlled disorder are the main impressions of the fourth track in "Un Passe Aride”. From such perspective, Das Boot - a distant monotonous creaking punctuated by subdued factory pulse, whispers and speech, and Une Houle D'Un Siecle - a dragging dark dirge for sparse guitar chords, mournful tone and a screen of silence, form an interregnum in the album.
The anxiety of creepy dark ambient, aggravated vocal performance and the Blackened Doom trademark of the band are exhibited in a most rigorous way during the last 20 minutes.
Photography of deserted factories and a documentary about a dead city near St. Louis, Missouri, had been among the sources of inspiration for Danishmendt. The design of the CD release (digipack fold out form - 4 panels (2 folds) with a 10 pages booklet) and the lyrics (in French) host such visions.
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