Today we embark on an unusual collaboration with the German band Ingurgitating Oblivion and Willowtip Records, the label that will release their new album Ontology of Nought on September 27th. What we’re doing is hosting the first of three music premieres for the album — and all three are for the same song.
That song can stand the attention. On its own it’s the length of a typical EP — roughly 18 minutes in duration. And it’s not just the song that’s long, so is its title: “The barren earth oozes blood, and shakes and moans, to drink her children’s gore“.
Each of the three premieres features a part of this song, unfolding in the same sequence as the music unfolds. As it happens, “The barren earth…” is the final track on Ontology of Nought. The preceding four are also long, and so are their solemn titles:
photo by Ava Bonam
1. Uncreation’s whirring loom you ply with crippled fingers (14:39)
2. To weave the tapestry of nought (18:47)
3. The blossoms of your tomorrow shall unfold in my heart (11:06)
4. …Lest I should perish with travel, effete and weary, as my knees refuse to bear me thither (10:24)
5. The barren earth oozes blood, and shakes and moans, to drink her children’s gore (18:18)
These are all formidable clues that although Ingurgitating Oblivion are known as a technical death metal band, Ontology of Nought is a different breed of cat (“Avant-garde Death Metal” is closer to the mark). It is also the result of a powerful amount of thought and work by a powerful number of talents, and we’ll explain that in detail below, but we should turn first to the music we’re presenting today.
Ingurgitating Oblivion‘s technical prowess is still evident on this song excerpt, but their songwriting adventurousness, already increasingly on display through their previous releases, has reached a new peak.
Wind seems to whisper coldly at the outset, backing a mournful melody as if from a piano dimly heard from a distance. Without warning the music erupts, drums discharging like automatic weaponry, the stringed instruments crashing and smashing in a dense war-zone of destructiveness, vicious gnashing vocals convulsing. But even that doesn’t last long, replaced again by flinty pinging tones and woozy warbling moans.
These are the first signs that the music is constructed to throw listeners off-balance — and that continues happening, repeatedly. The music explodes again in an absolute barrage of barbarity; murderous growls and howls come for our throats; the guitars maniacally writhe, scream, and dart; the percussive rhythms pound and jolt; weirdly wailing guitar-leads freakishly spiral toward the rafters. So many moving parts, moving in so many directions!
But the music also shifts again, frolicking and becoming jazzy, all the instruments (including the piano) darting and dancing in glee. And it ends too soon — because it’s not really ending at all, but only pausing until the song continues.
As we’ve written, there are two more parts to this song. We will be premiering them in August and September, respectively. For now, so we don’t prematurely give away the game, we’ll just say that what happens is even more bamboozling in its instrumental pyrotechnics and stylistic/textural variations, even more unpredictably packed with decimating, deranged, and seductive surprises. Collectively, they make the full song a real stunner, worth every minute.
Now for some more details about a truly remarkable album. First, we’ll quote the bands preamble to Ontology of Nought:
“You have fully delineated the subject of a universe of finiteness and change as well as the knowledge derived therefrom // Why should you be despondent in spite of all this, thinking that you are undone?”
And here is the further comment the band have provided:
Ontology of Nought is the result of approximately five years of incessant work. It documents whatever has been instilled into Ingurgitating Oblivion and the two minds pulling the strings behind the scenes: Norbert Müller and Florian Engelke.
Trying to pinpoint some trite conceptual undercurrent would be to defile the beauty of creation. It feels alienating to us talking about our music and lyrics, as these stem from dichotomic dynamics of meticulous planning on the one hand and perfect intuition on the other. In like manner, the lyrics cannot be explained further here, but listeners are invited to do some work themselves and take a plunge into what could potentially encapsulate the world or denote nothing at all.
Musically, we just do our own thing, celebrating our Death Metal heroes, more progressive Rock, jazz, folk, classical music. We do not strive to stand for any particular brand, but we simply enjoy being torn down the torrent of haphazard ideas, premonitions, and visions.
And that’s that.
photo by Ava Bonam
As mentioned above, a large number of people were involved in making Ontology of Nought a reality. Of course, Norbert Müller (rhythm and lead guitars, sound engineering, mastering, all recording logistics) and Florian Engelke (lead composition, rhythm and lead guitars, vocals, Tibetan singing bowls), but also the following impressive cast of session and guest musicians:
Lille Gruber (Defeated Sanity) – Drums
Ava Bonam – Vocals
Chris Zoukas (Mentally Defiled, Sacral Rage, Violent Definition) – Bass
Céline Voccia – Piano
Daniel Agi – Recorder, Flutes
Jan Ferdinand – Vibraphone, Guitars
Tom Fountainhead Geldschläger – Guitar Solos
In addition, Silke Farhat read portions of the poem “Je ne sais pourquoi” by Paul Verlaine (1844 – 1896), which appear in tracks I, II, and IV, and Mehdi Lachini read portions of ghazals 33 and 61 by Ḥāfeẓ (1315 – 1390), which also appear in those same tracks. (No, this isn’t a typical technical death metal album.)
The front cover artwork was prepared by Dmitriy Egorov, and it includes an inlay painting called “Giuditta che decapita Oloferne” by Artemisia Gentileschi (1593 – 1656).
Willowtip will release Ontology of Nought on September 27th, on CD, gatefold 2×12″ vinyl, cassette, and digital formats. For more info, check the links below.
PRE-ORDER:
Willowtip ► https://bit.ly/ontology-willowtip
Bandcamp ► https://bit.ly/ontology-bandcamp
INGURGITATING OBLIVION:
https://www.ingurgitatingoblivion.com/
https://www.instagram.com/ingurgitating_oblivion/
https://www.faceboom.com/ingurgitatingoblivionofficial