Havohej - Hornbook Seytan EP (2008)

Paul Ledney has continued to refine his addiction to noise over the years, having long since abandoned the rigid black metal that anointed his cult classic Dethrone the Son of God album for a more raucous, experimental schematic that repackages the origins of the medium with a unique, visceral, haunting abandon. Hornbook Seytan is one of several short-play releases in his catalog, a two track journey into dementia released on 10" vinyl in limited quantities, and understandably, as there are very few people who dwell this far out on the fringe.

There are but two tracks here, with about 16 minutes of total music, but both give plenty of time to inhale their noisy nightmare fumes. "Hornbook" is an avalanche of dense sonic throughput smothering a rather weak drum beat and suicidal, terrifying vocals, interspersed with interesting breaks. At around 1:40, the break takes the form of tonal ringing and then even an abyssal, whale-like noise as the track cycles back into the waves of terror that feel like your ears caving in. After 4 minutes come the sounds of bedlam in the form of sampled pandemonium, like a vortex of souls has blown forward, a tornado interrupting the normal progression of the already hectic music. "Seytan" is a longer piece, with only faint traces of ambiance (no vocals) to guide the hoarse nuclear wind eruptions. I find this the more meditative of the two, but at the same time there is no surprise waiting beneath the surface as with "Hornbook".

Havohej is always fucked, it's simply a matter of varying degrees of fuckedness. The compositions of Hornbook Seytan are probably not the darkest or most disturbing that he's released, but they rank fairly far to the right of the scale. Despite their deceptive simplicity, both of the tracks operate at the most pensive level, as wellsprings of the macabre imagination. Perhaps more for fans of experimental noise than black metal, Ledney is one of the best in the business at finding a point between the two in which to carve his niche. The two tracks here make for a fine prelude to the great 2nd full-length Kembatinan Premaster, which follows a similar theme and has more to offer (over 30 minutes more), so if you've heard this and not been frightened away, seek that out, you won't regret it.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

http://www.myspace.com/havohejofficial

Havohej - Unholy Darkness and Impurity EP (1993)

You are not in Kansas anymore. You are trapped within the mind of one of the sickest fucks to ever commit himself to tape, New York's Paul Ledney. The date of these heinous crimes, 1993, the same as the birth of this, his most interesting body of work, the timeless traction that is called Havohej. Experimental from the start, this project was (and still is) an attempt to strip the expression known as black metal to its very core, a surge of godawful noise and vocal retching which could make a Virgin Mary statue weep feces and stir the flies for a thousand miles around. Ledney wanted aural crud, and he atteined it with his first release Unholy Darkness and Impurity, which defies all conventions and common sense at a mere 3 tracks and 6+ minutes of material...

Try and envision someone accidentally flushing a discman down a toilet with your head attached to the earphones, while Mayhem or something was playing. That is the quality of production on this recording. It's turbulent, messy excrement which crawls at you from the industrial waste surrounding you, with steady, monotonous drumming and bass so thick and caustic it should be made illegal. The opening title track is an exception, being an eerie choral synth piece of less than 2 minutes which transforms into an abomination in its closing seconds, a precursor to the 1:11 long blasting weirdness of "Behold the Prince of Peace". Yet, for all its ill intent, there is something fascinating about the bridge rhythm which pops up a few times here, a strange deviation which quivers like an extraterrestrial artifact discovered among sewer waste, shining its alien light across the bleak, blackened piss and poop-scape in which it has settled. "March of the 7 Priests of Mockery" utters forth a thick crust of bass which sounds like having your ear pressed against a jet engine, all shreds of sanity fluttering away, while Ledney's vocals rasp off into the shadows and an industrial bell tolls like a warning to lock your days and stay inside from the acid rain.

If this EP suffers anything, it is in brevity, for the music is so turbulent and disgusting that you cannot help but find yourself fascinated by its potential, and yet it is yanked away from you before you can attune yourself to its ungodliness. Somehow, despite the hostile sound and constricted breath of its composition, it was clear that Ledney was on to something, a genuine pulse he would later adapt and expand into full-lengths and EP recordings of greater substance. If you can appreciate this recording, then I'd certainly recommend you read further into his discography, as you possess the fiber of very few fellow beings.

Verdict: Indifference [6.25/10]

http://www.myspace.com/havohejofficial

Havohej - Kembatinan Premaster (2009)

Here's one I've been sitting on for some time, as the mood it creates is one that I only occasionally have the stomach to visit. Those of you familiar with Paul Ledney's work (in particular I speak of Profanatica and Havohej) know that he's always had a proclivity for engaging, disturbing material, a stark contrast from much of the USBM scene. If you've been following the renewed activity of this band (the Tungkat Blood EP in 2007 and Hornbook Seytan EP in 2008) you'll know that an increased use of ambiance and industrial noise has crept into the style. The primitive, vile black metal heart still pulses blood beneath this sheen of subterranean endeavor, and surely you will hear brief touches that recall the classic Dethrone the Son of God album (now 16 years old).

Kembatinan Premaster carries forward the torch of minimalist abrasion that fueled Ledney's past releases with this band, in a haunting and fascinating stroke to the psyche, a black spike of nihilism that will enter through the temples and snake its way down into the hearts, stomachs and intestines of those who behold it. This album is a bowel movement for taste, complexity and pretentious fuck all, derisive in its honesty and divisive in its affectations. The title track opens like an industrial defibrillator, before a driving beat thrums to life below a wall of hovering noise and Ledney's perverse rasp. "Pious Breath" continues the swelling noise with a faster, almost blasted beat, and "Bloud and Souls" feels like you're about to be slapped upside the head with Ministry until the tortured throat opens and the man summons oblivion. "Melancholike" is further dense, turbulent noise with the accompaniment of drums and grimness. One of the more fascinating tracks is "Sundowning (Destroie Men and Beasts With Lookes)", which feels like Tangerine Dream and Fenriz jamming while a vacuum sucks your brains out through your nose. I also fancied the piercing pangs and slugging of "Hatefull Unto God" and the brief, oily swell of dark ambiance that closes the album in "Homerica Medicatio".

This is truly a 'bedroom' style release, but I don't mean that in any trendy sense, just that an album like this can be recorded with a bare minimum of equipment and a simple piece of software. That does not render it any less profound or interesting. The noise elements here are actually accessible when compared to an artist like Merzbow, but there is just something so dark about what Ledney has accomplished. It fucks with you, it hypnotizes you, and it makes you hate all life, and yet, appreciate it...

Highlights: Sundowning, Pious Breath, Hatefull Unto God, Melancholike

Verdict: Win [8.5/10]

http://www.myspace.com/havohejofficial