AN NCS PREMIERE: OPUS EST SANARE — “AXIS OF REGENERATION”

(written by Islander)

Searching through our site’s vast archive, I confirmed what I knew, which is that I’ve been following and writing about the musical activities of the cellist Kakophonix (Christopher Edward Brown) for a long time — since the fall of 2017, to be precise.

Over these last 7+ years, most of the attention has been paid to the Kakophonix solo project Hvile I Kaos (articles collected here), most recently in the context of premiering and reviewing the album Lower Order Manifestations, released last summer by Eisenwald and House of Inkantation. However, I and others here at NCS have also covered songs and records by other bands and performers in which Kakophonix performed as a guest musician (and there have been many of those).

As I explained in that album premiere last summer, Kakophonix has decided to lay Hvile I Kaos to rest; Lower Order Manifestations was the final work of that project, whose music Kakophonix labeled as “Cellistic Black Metal” or “Black Ritual Chamber Musick.” Although closing that book, however, Kakophonix has begun a new chapter under a new name — Opus Est Sanare — and has shared with us this “Mission Statement” for the new endeavor:

photo by by Francis Isais

Opus Est Sanare is healing of the self and others.
This is to be achieved by means of restorative vibrations directed at open wounds wherever
they may be found.
Every faith or creed seeks to reconcile the individual with the whole, and the flesh with the
divine. This is a humble attempt at that eternal struggle, one note at a time.
If you’re lost or hurting, this music is for you.
After separation, unification. After fire, growth. After the void, fulfillment.

What we have for you today, on the day of its official release in partnership with In Vitae Manifestatio, is the premiere of a new Opus Est Sanare song fittingly named “Axis of Regeneration“.

I’ve explained more than once in the past that I’m not the best possible exponent of the music of Kakophonix, because I have only a very superficial knowledge about classical music, whether written for the cello or for other instruments, and I’m no musician either. More serious students of the instrument and the traditions on which Kakophonix has drawn in his own compositions would have a far finer appreciation of the music and a more discerning ability to analyze it. All I’ve really ever been able to do is try to explain the varying sensations of the music and how it makes me feel, in the hope that you’ll then experience it for yourselves. And that’s all I’m about to do again.

Kakophonix has created his own chamber music ensemble for this piece, layering together multiple cello melodies. The slowly unfolding opening notes of the song, both low and high, create an elegant harmony — though it sounds like a harmony of heartache and remembrance, the melancholy experience of painful memories.

That opening phase is entrancing, even though it seems like the instrument is grieving. But eventually the mood changes sharply. Ancient-sounding percussion joins in, and when that primitive but vibrant rhythm appears the music flares and soars, like sounds of energetic striving, with one of the layers rapidly skittering, like a fever in the blood.

That sequence lifts the heart, but there’s a kind of tension in the music too, a kind of ardent wailing in the primary melody that sounds intensely yearning, but maybe has doubts about the outcome. It too is entrancing, heartfelt and heart-moving, and it will stay with you, not something I wanted to end.

Though there is an ending… and one in which the grief doesn’t seem to have vanished.

In short, this is a great new chapter in Kakophonix‘ new book, and I’ll be eagerly awaiting the next one.

“Axis of Regeneration” was entirely performed by Kakophonix. It was mixed and mastered by Ken Sorceron. The artwork was created by Michael Scholz, and the logo by Christophe Szpajdel. It’s available now at Bandcamp via the link below.

https://opusestsanare.bandcamp.com/track/axis-of-regeneration

“Axis of Regeneration” is the second song published by Opus Est Sanare. An earlier one, “Yore“, was originally released on the compilation Free Palestine by Forest Summoner, and was uploaded to the Opus Est Sanare Bandcamp last month. We’re including a stream of it below.