Trepaneringsritualen is the solo project of Swedish noise artist Thomas Ekelund, known previously for his work with Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words, Nullvoid, and Th. Tot. He’s kept awfully busy in the years following the project’s 2008 inception, releasing or appearing on a total of 17 albums, EPs, and compilations (most notably on split releases with Deathstench and Sutekh Hexen). His latest work, Perfection & Permanence, was recently released by UK institution Cold Spring, and marks his most strangely listenable output yet.
Trepaneringsritualen christens itself “Götisk Dödsindustri”, or "death industrial", and the project delivers on thats promise by saturating Ekelund’s scrapings with gloomy, gothic atmospheres and a heavy ritual ambient influence. The songs are molded upon burly loops that shudder and sway beneath Ekelund’s perpetually mutating vocals. Laden with distortion and effects, hints of melody pulse ominously beneath the heavy synth lines and bludgeoning rhythmic core. It’s disturbing and appealing in equal measure, and its droning characteristics lend an almost psychedelic quality to some of the longer, more convoluted passages that litter tracks like the murky “Liken Ingen Jord Vill Svälja”.
“Venerated & Despised” opens the album carefully, lulling the listener into a false sense of security before revealing the true horrors it holds. There’s no lack of aggression on tracks like the menacing “Alone/A/Cross/Abyss” or the genuinely frightening “Castrate Christ”, which finds Ekelund’s vocals devolving into a nasty reptilian croak buried under noxious waves of distortion and reverb. Minimalist interlude “39 Lashes” offers a brief respite before the hoarse, repetitive abrasion of “The Seventh Man” kicks in. Even the relatively restrained “A Black Egg” seeks to unnerve with its skittering percussion, hovering, ghostly loops, and Ekelund’s strident spoken meditations on spectres in black and depravity. The songs are quite short, only surpassing the five minute mark on the ultra-distorted closing hellscape of “He Who Is My Mirror.”
Unlike so many projects that labor beneath the wide banner of power electronics, Trepaneringsritualen overlooks humanity’s sickness and instead concerns itself with matters of magick, religion, and the occult. The ritualistic feel to much of Ekelund’s output is no accident, and Perfection & Permanence delves bone-deep into the dark recesses that fuel his need to create. Bleak, apocalyptic dirges and mechanical menace abound. The most insidious aspect to this album lies within its accessibility and crossover appeal. As much as this project owes to noise and ambient music, there are similarities to the most extreme metal as well, especially in aesthetics and intent.
Trepaneringsritualen often plays gigs in and around its native Sweden with occult-minded black metal bands like One Tail, One Head, and even appeared at this past year’s Inferno Metal Festival in Norway alongside Watain, Blasphemy, and Mgła. He performs covered in animal blood, wild-eyed and violent; his long hair and beard stream with offal, and his brutally confrontational approach leaves audience members reeling. Ekelund’s sworn allegiance to distortion, decaying atmosphere, and all-around depravity mirrors a good deal of what many of black metal’s best new bands are doing. The two genres have long enjoyed a cozy relationship, and while Dominick Fernow’s now-defunct Hospital Productions enclave was perhaps the most obvious manifestation of the ties between raw black metal and harsh noise, bands like Trepaneringsritualen make it crystal clear that its effects were felt far and wide. Perfection & Permanence is not a black metal record, but it’s no coincidence that it has resonated so strongly with those who perform and consume black metal.
Culumatively, the album makes for a perversely satisfying experience. With Perfection & Permanence, Ekelund has created that most chimeric of beasts: an accessible, even what some might say commercial, noise album. The shadowy world of power electronics and by extension death industrial can be tough for a novice to navigate, but Trepaneringsritualen makes for an excellent starting point.
