Band:	An Axis Of Perdition
Album:	Urfe
Style:	Dark Ambient, Industrial black metal
Release date:	January 2009

Disc I
01. Grief Of The Unclean I
02. Grief Of The Unclean II
03. Grief Of The Unclean III
04. Grief Of The Unclean IV
05. Grief Of The Unclean V
06. Grief Of The Unclean VI

Disc II
01. The Great Unwashed I
02. The Great Unwashed II
03. The Great Unwashed III
04. The Great Unwashed IV
05. The Great Unwashed V
06. The Great Unwashed VI

The exploration of the Homo sapiens psyche through musical medium is one of continual and ever more impressive evolution (and sickening transgression), no more so than when expressed through the rotting, psychological blasphemy of England's The Axis Of Perdition. Previous incarnations have seen them embark on vague, uninhibited forays into post-apocalyptic themed, dank, depraved industrialised spewings and harsh, ravaging brutality inspired by Silent Hill (enriched with samples from the games themselves) and Lovecraftian mythos. The dual CD'd, concept outing that is Urfe marks a more focused, dare I say, thoughtful, approach without diluting the sound they so violently carved for themselves.

Whereas before, they have relied entirely on a visual palette to convey the process, Urfe shifts the focus to the spoken-word, narrated brilliantly by English actor Leslie Simpson who regales, with a concoction of cold deliberation and manic intensity, the story of the eponymous "Urfe" and the otherworldly being known only as "Pylon" as it guides Urfe through a city of shit-filled nightmares, debilitating pain, misery and sexual subversion. Bleak? You haven't heard the half of it. The featured language is particularly graphic and spares no expense in detailing every vicious, putrid event and emotion throughout its discourse.

The music is superlative; dark ambient has never sounded more appropriate as it sways back of fourth, undulating around Simpson's word play, interspersing itself with deceitful piano inflections, unidentifiable metallic discordance and machinery incarnate; the state of a diseased metropolis imploding in on itself. Not entirely devoid of more traditional black metal musings; on the second CD we're treated to almost Blut Aus Nord-ian metallic dirges, serving to break up the potential monotony of the story (it's a lengthy album) before returning to its stylistic origins to conclude the hellish tale.

Nevertheless it's not without its detractors: the baffling seclusion of the printed lyric. It makes little sense to develop a piece of music specifically around a narrative (and one so esoteric) and not give the opportunity for the listener to fully understand its full implications. Though the general tone can be easily deciphered, the voice often disappears into a void of sound and you're left with a longing for clarity, not just a cursory glimpse into a maddened hypothesis of a broken mind. The second gripe, relegated entirely to the second disc, is the abrupt shifts in tone from ambient to metal. Though the variety is welcome, the change, not only lacking in continuity, is potentially painful for the listener; if like myself you had the volume cranked to its peak in order to hear every word (or at least try) then you'll likely be deafened by the ensuing guitars. Despite these shortcomings you'll be hard pressed to find something as intelligent and dark as this and though it may take more effort to appreciate given the demand for full attention, it's well worth dedicating your time to.