Dominick Fernow, the musician behind Prurient and a whole host of other noise and electronic projects, has insisted that art should be about asking questions, not necessarily finding answers, and that's especially true with Vatican Shadow, his industrial techno outfit. Political figures and conflict are referenced in album design and song titles, but the music isn't political per se, working instead as a meditation on the labyrinth of politics. His insistence on this principle, in a time where we're asking the same questions over and over with little, if any, progress, may be more incendiary than the fact he's used Nidal Hasan on the covers of four releases. It's vital for Media In The Service of Terror, his latest album, and it validates this principle by providing an attention to structure and consistency not always prevalent in this guise.
Media carries a lot more of the overarching darkness from Games Have Rules, his collaboration with Function, and the ambient tracks from his six-tape set Death Is Unity With God. It's Fernow's slickest work as Vatican Shadow; gone are the haphazard percussion sounds and the hazy production qualities that matched his dedication to the tape format. “Ziad Jarrah Studied Mathematics” opens the album with lush, nocturnal synths that sound as home on a black metal album's intro as they do on here. Under a bassy current lies small peaks that ebb and flow without totally dominating, like some sort of inverted organ. There are metallic drops, but they're buried in echo, not brought to the front.
Remember Your Black Day, what Fernow considers Vatican Shadow's full-length debut (he does not see Ghosts of Chechnya or Kneel Before Religious Icons as albums) didn't quite nail his gift for making cohesion out of disunity, a huge part of Prurient's major albums, and while some of the songs were among Vatican Shadow's best, it also felt somewhat directionless. Media is carried by the chokehold ambiance rather than the beats themselves, an inversion of what one expects from “dance” music, and ultimately what makes the record come together. Deep synths plunge “Take Vows” into Lustmord-gone-dub territory, pulsating ever so slightly. “Wherever There Is Money There Is Unforgiveness” reintroduces explosive beat clashes, and like in “Mathematics,” their bombast is sanded down and consumed by the clinical, cold spread. Media does not wear you down by sheer force; it's more interested in instilling consciousness you might be doing your damnedest to repress.
There isn't an outright banger here like “Enter Paradise” from Remember. Media still has a galvanizing track in “More of the Same,” simultaneously one of his clubbiest and bleakest tracks. Three minutes in the melody finally enters, and as brittle as it is, it provides the late charge to elevate it from beat workout to a righteous dance track. The melody is prime Fernow, imbued with an iciness prevalent in his more synth-reliant pieces. Like Prurient's “You Show Great Spirit,” when his focus on Vatican Shadow bled most into his main project, it's equally appealing whether you know how fucked things are within or not. It's the romantic gloom of New Order, driven by a Discharge-like cynicism, both ruled by Fernow's distinct touch for making decay sublime.
The set ends with two remixes of “Same” (suffixed “Tunisia”—the cover image is taken from a memorial following last year's Sousse attacks) and “Vows,” (“The Inevitable Bitterness Of Life”) both of which place more emphasis on rhythm while maintaining the suffocating atmosphere. “Tunisa” is more immediate, arriving at the main melody quicker, making it feel even more on the brink of collapse. The remixes represent the cyclical nature of struggle, here and abroad—even with slight change, for better or worse, shit feels like nothing's changed. Fernow's pretty tight-lipped about what Vatican Shadow really means, so it's not clear if that's his real aim. With the repetitiveness so crucial to dance music, even his esoteric variety, it's all too appropriate.
