HR118 - Everlasting Happy Life - Pagan Rites/Repeated Stabbings - C60 — 1989
Program A: PAGAN RITES
Your Siliva Has Been Taken By Me The Ground Trembles Bubbling Stream Prayer Nightmares Summoning The Novice Expelling The Child Spells, Prayers And Power Pagan End |
Program B: REPEATED STABBINGS
Show in Three Parts Restoration Circus These Violent Delights Soul and Spirit? In God's Hands |
REVIEW by Jerry Kranitz
Everlasting Happy Life was the duo of Chuck Collision and Kris Fuller. Each side of the tape is represented as a ‘Program’, with Program A titled ‘Pagan Rites’ and Program B titled ‘Repeated Stabbings’. The credits include multiple track titles on each side but both flow as 30+ minute experiences.
‘Pagan Rites’ starts off as an ambient-industrial workout, with clattery but determined percussion, machine moans, scrapes, and the occasional dog bark. There’s a tension between the knockabout beats and effects, which all feel like they’re occurring on some dead planet wasteland. After a while the percussion recedes and the scenes segue through a succession of drifting ambience, waves washing lightly ashore, cut-up collage experimental, voices from beyond, lost anguished souls soundtrack, and all the above at once. Yet the entire journey is mostly quiet, subtle, and elusively complex. More of a stroll through avant-garde limbo than Pagan Rite. But after about 20 minutes the percussion kicks back in and the music takes on a more overt soundtrack feel, like a spacey goth take on Goblin’s music from a Dario Argento horror flick. And, finally, the last several minutes recall some of the dreamier sequences from Pink Floyd’s Atom Heart Mother. What a trip!
‘Repeated Stabbings’ is a different beast altogether. It starts off as a grinding Industrial dirge. I like the narcotized, mechanic rhythm that’s colored by raining psychedelic squalls. But after a few minutes there’s a dramatic shift: Busy clattering, noodling guitar licks, and other effects, and then dramatically theatrical half sung vocals: “I take a breath of fresh air, my final curtain calls. And in the audience seated, waiting for the show.” The remainder is a fascinating avant-soundtrack that’s at times like a cross between The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari and The Residents Mark Of The Mole, and others a high intensity Industrial Grand Guignol production.
Everlasting Happy Life was the duo of Chuck Collision and Kris Fuller. Each side of the tape is represented as a ‘Program’, with Program A titled ‘Pagan Rites’ and Program B titled ‘Repeated Stabbings’. The credits include multiple track titles on each side but both flow as 30+ minute experiences.
‘Pagan Rites’ starts off as an ambient-industrial workout, with clattery but determined percussion, machine moans, scrapes, and the occasional dog bark. There’s a tension between the knockabout beats and effects, which all feel like they’re occurring on some dead planet wasteland. After a while the percussion recedes and the scenes segue through a succession of drifting ambience, waves washing lightly ashore, cut-up collage experimental, voices from beyond, lost anguished souls soundtrack, and all the above at once. Yet the entire journey is mostly quiet, subtle, and elusively complex. More of a stroll through avant-garde limbo than Pagan Rite. But after about 20 minutes the percussion kicks back in and the music takes on a more overt soundtrack feel, like a spacey goth take on Goblin’s music from a Dario Argento horror flick. And, finally, the last several minutes recall some of the dreamier sequences from Pink Floyd’s Atom Heart Mother. What a trip!
‘Repeated Stabbings’ is a different beast altogether. It starts off as a grinding Industrial dirge. I like the narcotized, mechanic rhythm that’s colored by raining psychedelic squalls. But after a few minutes there’s a dramatic shift: Busy clattering, noodling guitar licks, and other effects, and then dramatically theatrical half sung vocals: “I take a breath of fresh air, my final curtain calls. And in the audience seated, waiting for the show.” The remainder is a fascinating avant-soundtrack that’s at times like a cross between The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari and The Residents Mark Of The Mole, and others a high intensity Industrial Grand Guignol production.