Shock Frontier - Mancuerda Confessions

Dear friends, me and you, most of us are living in a very comfortable world, world of justice and safety. I am not talking about third world countries or others which slowly turn to be a third world. The society is quite tolerant today towards its enemies if compared to situation 5-6 hundred years ago. People became too weak and not prepared to what destiny can suddenly offer. The art of torture was forgotten and many of today's crimes could have been prevented if one could feel inevitability of an extremely painful operation as a punishing sword of justice.

But it seems that one person does understand the importance of resolute actions and puts the theme of torture as a baseline of his music creation. US based resident Robert C. Kozletsky discovers the whole world of "Mancuerda Confessions" through the act full of wide atmosphere with sharp edges (Mancuerda was a method of torture many years ago). This time I am not sure about the exact definition of the music that Mr. Kozletsky cultivates through Shock Frontier project, but it seems that a fusion between certain elements of dark ambient and death industrial genres works fine for him and leaves a lot of space for sound manipulation.

The opener "Paroxysm" pulsates with noisy waveforms and anxious background effects which are very common for those who suffer from this symptom of head injury. "Angels Upon Iron Horses" has a lot of visions to offer through heavy layers of machinery electronics reminding of some kind of working plant full of scratches, drills and other industrial jerk offs leading to what I think to be the best track on this diverse and colorful piece of plastic.

"Blood Eagle Zealot" is a total, a simply massive masterpiece of deep and gloomy electronics that captures my imagination from the very beginning. As I already mentioned, the theme of torture is carved deep into the origin of the album, that's why I explore the next step in a torturing craftsmanship with a Blood Eagle, a method of execution that is sometimes mentioned in Nordic saga legends. It was performed by cutting the ribs of the victim by the spine, breaking the ribs so they resembled blood-stained wings, and pulling the lungs out through the wounds in the victim's back. Salt was sprinkled in the wounds. The track starts with a main figure, a zealot, that suffers a lot but he still has some power to struggle with the pain, though his life force drains slowly and leaves him one on one with an endless pain. The composition has a great dominance, creating a deep mental and sensual landscape with each and every drop of blood.

What confessions can you possibly hear from a person whose mind is affected by a physical pain? What dirty secrets are hidden behind an innocent shell of human mind? If you dare to explore them, then take a step forward through "The Confessional" and towards "Controlled Atmosphere Killing", because on this point you will discover another method of slaughter in North American poultry slaughterhouses where air trembles with electrical splashes, its sharp edges hit every living form causing a total limb malfunction, when the music becomes a sensual reflection of those images. SF's mastermind shows his cinematic side with the six track and this composition is full of sampled voices, dirty background and slowly moving layers of sound. I cannot feel the connection of this track to the atmosphere of the album, and its length confuses me as well because somehow I see a mismatch between the main ideas. Anyhow, it is there and I just try to skip forward to "Decrepitude Approaching" that can definitely turn to be an act of mental or psychical torture for the person which is not prepared. Wide, deeply personal and still extremely dark visions, that's how Robert feels the process, but it's a pity that the action is too short, only of 5 minutes running time. I would have preferred it to be much longer to show the whole drift towards inevitability of the life cycle, feeling withering of a physical cell, and decomposition of mind once bright, falling into depth of desperation, approaching perception of death.

My faithful reader, you have passed a long road until now, I am sure that it was not easy, but here you have to focus on "Mancuerda" that has its own identity, breathing with musty breath into the face of a person who was unfortunate enough to find himself executed through this cruel method of torture. Drumming beat hammers nails of pain into every cell of the body, waves of suffering bite deep into the mind with a drilling effect of highest frequency when it seems that there is no way to escape. After passing all circles of hell, you are in the end of the journey, the body collapses, all the senses drift away and "This is Paradise" smooths the final minutes of your miserable life. Dense and complicated, but still atmospheric and spiritual composition finalizes this long soundscape full of sharp truth, strong images, and brutal reality.

I remain very confused when the last tunes of the album fade away. On one hand, I have 3-4 amazing and deeply emotional tracks which simply blasted my imagination. But on the other hand, I couldn't hear a good connection between them (except of the common theme) and I feel that some tracks are just filler in between, or maybe the problem is in me, because such an abstract music evokes subjective memories and images. Anyhow, despite those points, this record has a lot to offer in exploration of human nature. The complexity and non-conformity of the sound passages have a big impact on an overall impression and brings a lot of fresh air into the music. Shock Frontier shows a constant drift towards more atmospheric side of death industrial and power electronics scene that can be seen during last few years. And once again, Malignant records continue a tradition of signing bands with a strong creative factor and a great potential. Dec 09 2013