One of the aspects of this album that is so magnetic is the skill of HAMMEMIT to transport the listener to the darkest of Medieval times, no doubt one of the most fascinating and sinister periods of History. The term “Medieval” can be thrown around a lot when it comes to both Metal and experimental releases, but in this case it would be fair to say that HAMMEMIT has a genuinely Medieval ambience with an accomplished sense of historical vision. Overall the composition of the album utilizes modern electronic effects and techniques with simple structure and subtle Dark Ambience, yet the effect is colossal. I tend to think of Black / Dark Ambient as having a sort of “Butterfly Effect” when listened to; minimal yet profound and compelling in its execution. The tracks on offer here tend to feature what sounds like creepy Ambient soundscapes combined with unearthly strummed guitar effects, ethereal keyboard / piano pieces, monastic chanting, eerie spoken and whispered voices. There is an esoteric / occult religious theme running throughout the release in terms of both sound, lyrical content and aesthetics. I am by no means an expert on these matters but as far as I understand the name “Hammemit” is taken from the Egyptian Book of The Dead. One thing is for sure, this album is certainly thought provoking and fires the imagination. “Spires Over the Burial Womb” can lead the mind to themes of secret Masonic ritual, the Knight Templars, majestic ruins, alchemy, ancient magic and dark archaic wisdom, for example.

As HAMMEMIT have forged such an original sound, it is difficult to compare with other musicians or bands. However, the closest comparison would have to be to DARK AGES (Ukr), although DARK AGES tend to be inspired by pestilence and plague more specifically. Both HAMMEMIT and DARK AGES do however evoke nightmarish soundtracks to Medieval times using Dark Ambient techniques; in this sense the comparison is relevant. “Spires Over the Burial Womb” may appeal to those who appreciate artists such as VALEFOR, DARKNESS ENSHROUD, BLACK FUNERAL, VOMIT ORCHESTRA, AGHAST (Nor), BLACK SEAS OF INFINITY, EXTINCTION, etc. HAMMEMIT is an ideal choice of music for those who wish to find escapism in its most enjoyable and macabre form.

Nature Mystic, out today, consists of two separate ‘sides’:
Nature Mystic – June-November 2008. Storms / Nature’s Beautiful Ugliness / Night’s Alone with the Stars / The Persistent Call
Mysteries of the Church and Surrounding Environs – Late 2006-Middle 2007. How small they must have felt / Dreamstate Hagioscope / Mysteries of the Church . A Memory I Wish I had / Churchyard Tree / Beneath the Ancient Dust

Nature Mystic is now available for order, wholesale and select trades.

Note: We are making this podcast available on the same day Hammemit’s new full-length “Nature Mystic” is released. You can also see other Emit and Hammemit titles available in the Distro.

1. Anonymous – “Procurans Odium II”
   This track comes from one of my favourite versions of the Carmina Burana, brilliantly interpreted and performed by the Clemencic Consort. It was from recordings like this that I “studied” song structure when I first wanted to make my own music. I still often refer to tracks from this collection as a basic foundation, as with “The Persistent Call” for instance.
2. Anonymous – “Doleo Super Te”
   Purely vocal music is some of the most beautifully simple and uncluttered music you’ll hear. This version is executed with calm precision by the Hilliard Ensemble.
3. John Dowland – “Flow My Tears”
   Melancholia and the lute were all the rage in Elizabethan England and by combining the two with his emotional songs of unrequited love, despair, depression and death, John Dowland was a kind of 16th Century Morrissey figure, but not quite as homosexual. He experienced a resurgence in popularity recently with the release of a best selling CD of his songs recorded by former Police frontman Sting, much to the disgust of music elitists everywhere who want to keep Dowland for themselves. But if Sting’s anaemic and pretentious recordings make people aware of timeless music like “Flow My Tears” and perhaps be intrigued enough to look more deeply into so-called “early music”, then I fail to see the problem.
   This version was performed by Steven Rickards (counter-tenor) and Dorothy Linell (lute).
4. Perunwit – “Arkona”
   This track appears out of place amongst the others at first glance, but I used to listen to this album (“W Kregu Debow”) quite naturally amongst Carmina Burana CDs and such without the transition seeming too jarring. Perunwit’s debut album was a big inspiration for Emit, it conveys a lot using a few simple elements and is played with sincerity and feeling which overcomes the slight clumsiness.
5. Richard Coeur-de-Lion – “Ja Nus Hons Pris”
   Attributed to Richard the Lionheart, this song was probably composed in conditions similar to that of Burzum’s later albums and perhaps has a similar spirit as well though the latter is less focused on his immediate surroundings than the former.
   This version is performed by the Early Music Consort of London, from their “Music of the Crusades” album.
6. Anonymous – “Hymne a la Muse”
   Ancient Greek music is something of an enigma. All we really have left of it is a few fragments here and there and so in reconstruction is patched together with gaps of silence and educated guesswork. In other words, this is the audial equivalent of those broken jars in museums that are held together with blank clay filling in the missing pieces. Incomplete it may be, but in its use of silence as an instrument is similar to that of Hammemit: the silences reveal and shape the music as much as the sounds themselves.
7. Tobias Hume – “My Hope is Decayed”
   One of music’s early experimentalists, Hume would include unorthodox instructions in his manuscripts such as for players to “hit the strings with the bow” to achieve a particular effect.
   Despite the title, this is an energetic, uplifting and even humorous piece that seems to spit in the face of adversity rather than wallow in it as Dowland might.
   Jordi Savall, who performs this piece, is one of the world’s greatest players of the viol (an instrument often passed over in favour of the lute) and perhaps the foremost “early music” musician alive. Listening to this intimate recording where you can hear each swish and breath of the bow is like having cask-strength experience of life poured direct into your ears.
8. Mohammed Saleh Abd Al-Saheb Lelo – “Taqsim 1″
   The oud is the Islamic world’s equivalent of the West’s lute, and Mohammed Saleh Abd Al-Saheb Lelo, an Iraqi expatriate, is a master player of it. Here he’s performing a Taqsim, which is a mainly improvised instrumental piece. According to the Islamic calendar this track was recorded in 1418 (1997 to us Westerners), meaning that our friend Mohammed is actually living in the 15th Century. Makes you think about the so-called certainties of progress and historical timelines doesn’t it? Empires come and go, ours included, but it’s still 2009 if you want to think so. Even if when you go backwards, the years start going back up again after 0AD. Maybe in a couple of centuries we’ll reset the calendar again?
9. Richard Edwards – “Where Grypinge Griefs”
   “Chaotic violence in my eyes
   This whole world moves backwards
   Peace, another sign that lies
   Life today is not worth the pain” (Sepultura, 1991)
   These are words not likely to have been written by Richard Edwards, as they are words conceived from observation of a civilisation in more obvious terminal decline, but he may have agreed with the sentiment. As death metal informs us: by exploring the darker side of life and not shying away from it, we can embrace existence more deeply and more fully.
10. Rytis Mazulis – “Cum Essem Parvulus”
    Someone who’d heard the Hammemit album got in touch with me and sent some material by Lithuanian sound artist Rytis Mazulis, thinking it might be of interest. I include it here for purposes of comparison with the previous tracks. He composes in a similar way to how I often used to, using overlapping layers to create a disconcerting and disturbing track out of elements which by themselves would equal something quite different (and more listenable). It’s a fitting end to this little musical journey: deconstructing what went before at the bleak apparent deadend of history we now find ourselves in.

Direct link to this Podcast.

We are finalising the layout with the printers for Hammemit’s next release, Nature Mystic. This CD contains some of the most recent recordings by U.I/Malachi M. Intended originally as a vinyl release, the Side tracklist is preserved along with the gatefold design layout (crafted by Malachi M).

Side A – Nature Mystic was recorded between June and November of 2008.
Side B – Mysteries of the Church and Surrounding Environs was recorded between late 2006 and the middle of 2007.

Watch/Listen to a sample from the record, set to an Ipswich sunset.

A second Hammemit album is also 50% complete and may see a 2008 release.

You can view personal updates from U.I. here, also note the link to anXpm where you can sample a couple of tracks from the forthcoming EP which we have previewed.

If you managed to get a copy of the Ante Cryst tape you will be aware of the musical side of an earlier incarnation of this band. This tape does not prepare you for the cavernous natural sound and intense vocal performance that the ‘new’ Ante Cryst deliver on their forthcoming release, a 4 track EP coming in 2007.

The band’s lineup has shifted considerably over its relatively short existence:
“The Gaunt Hill” demo, 1998
“Malicious” demo/rehearsal 2005
Originally a project of Hygegeomor and Wyrm, the second recording “Malicious” saw Unknown Ikon of EMIT join as guitarist. The lineup for this new EP is without Hygegeomor and Wyrm. U.I. is joined by Adiatrikon (drums) and Old Koth (session bass). Adiatrikon is a member of a revitalised EMIT but also of the devout REVERORUM IB MALACHT.

During the recording of this EP in Sweden, U.I. caught an illness at Uppsala and the resulting vocal performance is understandably, naturally and painfully Sick! (The same vocal infection can be heard in Adiatrikon on a future Reverorum ib Malacht album, “Urkaos”.) They are strained, only just managing to vomit each line and in the final song as if recited under hysteria. Ranging from animalistic growls to the wails of a sanitarium patient with as much variation on the delivery, you really get the impression this was an almost unbearable strain.

It was recorded at Reverorum ib Malacht’s studio (Urkaos 1350), if you’ve heard their material you already know the bizarre, melting atmospheres they are able to create.

In order to gain some inspiration for the recording the members visited Falu Koppar Gruva, an old copper mill in Falun. Deep and extensive, sounds riding and crashing around like violent waves. Ante Cryst is not reproducing the ‘RiM sound’, but the impact of both members and equipment from RiM is strong. That is not a bad quality, RiM can be utterly mesmerizing.
The old Ante Cryst is not lost among the shifting lineup and altered recording process. It opens with “Where Corpses Hang” from “Malicious” and the ‘FULLMOON-guitars’ are still as strong. Losing most of the raw harshness of that tape but replacing it with a thicker, more expansive atmosphere. Guitars are a glowing furnace of aggressive chords; warm grinding reverberating for a thousand miles, drums well played and varied with the production softening/humbling them to stay almost in tone with the guitars.
Everything combines into a solid, perfectly balanced total with tidal movements existing and destroying within.

Look for this in 2007 on the French label Niessedrion. Emit maniacs will already know Niessedrion for the great DLP release of “A Sword…”, also look for the vinyl version of the Emit / Vrolok split from him at some point in the future.