There is something fascinating about obsessive artists and their artistic obsessions.  On Black Ships Ate the Sky, Current 93 explore one of David Tibet’s apocalyptic dreams, setting his “vision” against a soundtrack of suitably beautiful and melancholic armageddon folk; yet, instead of presenting the dream as a linear musical narrative, Tibet and company treat it as a set of themes to be revisited and re-examined with fanatical, desperate zeal.  For example, the song “Idumaea” appears on the album eight times, each version featuring a different vocalist and a new musical backdrop.  Similarly, expect frequent references to Caesar, Black Ships, and eschatology as the obsessively mined themes of the record.  The overall effect is a mood of urgency; the implication is that there is something within this collection of dream imagery, some cryptic secret that must be unearthed to avert catastrophe.

There are no comments yet. You could be the first!