The work of Endura represents another experiment in industrial-organic synthesis, and a very successful one too. I knew I was going to like Endura as soon as I saw their newsletter, Liber Secretum, and I was not disappointed. My first actual encounter was with their contribution to the 'My Castle' compilation (Onore Alle Arti) but that was quite a focused piece, whereas, in their own CDs, tunes and songs drift in a soundscape of industrial and ritualistic ambience.
Stephen Pennick and Christopher Walton were formerly known as AbRAXAS but changed to Endura and reworked part of their Hexe cassette to produce the Dreams of Dark Waters CD (1994 Nature & Art). This has been followed by contributions to a number of compilations and three other CD albums. Owing to circumstances beyond their control, these albums have all ended up being released in 1996. The reviews below are in order of creation (see the discography ).
Chris provides Endura's occult inspiration and describes the central theme of his vision as "the magickal symbiosis of Stellar Space, Psychic Space and the Watery Space of the world's deep places," and he is especially fascinated by "the images of the nightmare creatures that lurk in the abysses of phenomenal and noumenal experience, the Leviathans." Stephen provides the electronic and musical ability and his attitude to the occult is quite prosaic. Their talents combine, however, to create a unique sound and theme.
Stephen is also pursuing a solo project, Ontario Blue, and the duo run their own tape label, Enlightenment Communications.
DREAMS OF DARK WATERS
Dreams of Dark Waters was inspired by a strange and disturbing concept which Chris explains:
"I used to live in a house in the town of Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. My house was on the edge of the town, under the moors. These moors form part of the Pennines, a ridge of hills that roll up the middle of northern England, it was on these moors that Ian Bradey and Mira Hindley buried the children the children they killed in the early 1960s. These crimes still have a very powerful influence on the Pennine towns of Yorkshire and Lancashire. One night I was lying in the bath when a thunderstorm broke out. As the lightening flashed I imagined the children still buried on the moors, and their physical and psychic residue slowly leaking into the water supply, tainting the water and being swallowed by the people in the houses below. These children had become part of the Witch tradition of the Pennines, they were the gate, the intermediary between words."
To say the music is dreamy would be an understatement. It has a very rich soundscape masterfully combining elements of whispering, trickling water, heartbeats, demonic laughter, a distant bell, and eastern-sounding incantation, while a synth strikes in here and there. Coming as their first major work it is a remarkable achievement.
THE DARK IS LIGHT ENOUGH
The Dark is Light Enough (1996 Allegoria Records) picks up themes from their earlier CD and "expands out into a universe of cosmic strangeness".
'The Stars Are Right' (track 1) begins and ends with very deep-voiced mutterings and a scattering of industrial noises, but the main part is a powerful and haunting tune with an overwhelming feeling of inevitability. This would make good theme music for a deep, tragic drama. 'In Nevers Gift' (2) a squeeze box sound introduces powerful synthesised orchestration and, buried within that, acoustic guitar and a song in the style of Sol Invictus.
'Listen Like Wolves' (3) features tribal rhythms and snarling vocals, while 'Ubbo - Sathla' (4) and 'He Knows The Gate' (5) are more formless and to my mind less interesting. 'Nu Silence Rite' (6) is a sustained shamanistic ritual with rattling bones and reminiscent of the songs performed by Brendan Perry of Dead Can Dance.
'In The Sea My Lord Lieth' (7) is devoted to Leviathan, an Endura leitmotif as indicated above. Leviathan was a draconian sea-god or monster in Mesopotamian mythology and was later borrowed into the Hebrew religion where it occupied a somewhat ambivalent position.
'When I Was Dead' (8) is a song, while the concluding track, 'The Dark is Light Enough' (9), is a heavy industrial finale with vocals. If rock-drills could march this is what they'd sound like.
LIBER LEVIATHAN
Liber Leviathan (1996 Aesthetic Death) is all ritual-ambient and dark mutterings. It's very atmospheric but it uses a musically minimalist approach, without the more focused songs or tunes which feature on the other CDs. It's difficult to write very much about it, suffice to say that this is music for solo contemplation - not the sort of thing I'd play to friends at a social gathering.
BLACK EDEN
Black Eden (1996 Red Stream) is "necromantic" and represents a musical attempt to raise the coiled one from the deep.
'Satanas Ex Machina' (1) is one of those infernal factory soundtracks with busy industrial noises but it also features a good synth orchestral background. 'The Left Hand Of The Dead' (2) has more deep voices but I'm not so keen on too much of this.
'The Devils Stars Burn Cold' (3) is an epic orchestral piece with the echoed/phased title-line repeated continuously, so it's easy to remember the words. It has that urgent and compulsive character which never fails to excite.
In a change from the deep-throated vocals, 'When God Was A Snake' (4) features hissy voices, obviously the 'Word of God' in its original form. 'The Sun No Longer Sets Me Free' (5) has the sound of pumping air on the left stereo channel, which, when listening on headphones, gives the impression of someone or something breathing into your left ear!
'A Golden Heresy' (6) has a deep-throated voice drone and a strident electronic march. This is the music to accompany the imperial battlefleet as it plunges into deep space for the final confrontation, although the authors may have had a more aquatic image in mind.
Rik - 24 August 1996. Amended: 27 May 1997.
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