Occasionally on Higher Plain Music, I like to feature something completely leftfield and abstract and that’s exactly what MMMΔ’s ‘Egoismo’ is. A collection of drones, bent strings and noises, chants and guttural bellows – it is a horror album for the forest of rituals.
‘Awogans’ opens the album as a slow-moving siren. It’s string and bass arrangement slowly twists and bends between two notes, slowly crossing over themselves. As they hit the lowest peaks, if you have the album on your speakers, the bass literally vibrates your bones. Distant anarchy radio noise can be heard in the distance but the focus is the meditative horror siren. ‘Egoismo’ follows the apocalypse strings method in a gothic dreading sort of way. The strings are taut but the melody is haunting. Throughout a subwoofer bass line is diving across octaves and giving you vertigo. It’s a fascinating feeling that gives way to dismembered whispered chants, tolling bells and a calming hush. It’s both disquieting and comforting in its own weird way and I found myself completely entranced with it. ‘Bouch An Lo’ takes these previous vibes and steps up the tension by adding in a higher-pitched whining string layer to them. From comforting darkness, the album seeps out nail dragging despair and confusion.
As the album moves into the second half ‘Verita Morr’ feels more hopeful. Distorted synths warble out like a floating distress signal over a lone bell and meaty drum. ‘Separasyon’ removes the percussion to enter a meditative state that settles you down. However, MMMΔ very gentle starts to move the chords around in the latter third of the track, adding in moves to uncertain sevenths or minor notes. What once was safety begins to feel a little unnerving which moves you into the nine-minute finale of ‘Iprokisi’. This song takes place so low down in the frequency of music that the opening few minutes are just as much felt as heard. The track evolves to return back to a melodic drone chant of voice, string and noise by the end and the closest I can get as a comparison is Phillip Glasses’ title track to the film ‘Koyaanisqatsi’. Both feature a low drawn organ-like sound, murmuring chants and a feeling of impending dread or doom. This is what this entire album feels like.
As a mood piece, this might be a hard sell for many but ‘Egoismo’ is utterly fascinating. This is a malevolent ambience masterpiece that uses sound frequencies to literally make you shake in your boots. Its clever minimalism brings about a cathartic emotional letting too, especially if you listen to this with little or no light and you are in a proper mood! A cult classic has been born.
Recommended track: Egoismo
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MMMΔ - Egoismo
