THE HUMAN QUENA ORCHESTRA : THE POLITICS OF THE IRREDEEMABLE
Crucial Blast
The Human Quena Orchestra is the brainchild of Ryan Unks, previously of Creation is Crucifixion. On this second full-length, he has been joined by former bandmate Nathan Berlinguette, although while such biography gives you context, personality is largely unimportant to the awesomely huge machine that this project has become. Incorporating aspects of grind, blackened ambience, industrial and drone, “The Politics of the Irredeemable” strikes one first as a feat – that such an epic yet sparse monster should be created so fearlessly.
Although the tracks on this release are, for the most part, dauntingly long, The Human Quena Orchestra manage to imbed a lot of structure into their individual compositions, and also the album as a whole, which moves from the deep, swelling “Progress”, through the two distinct parts of “Mores”, into the bursts of sound that characterise “Aspiration” before once again entering another two-part creation, “Denial”. The sound is more textured and full, less abrasive, than I was expecting. The howled, buried vocals, the slabs of distorted guitar and the ambient buzzing which threatens the ears on “Mores (Part Two)” are challenging and hostile, but repetition makes such elements hypnotic, and adds to the meditative, evocative flow.
There is also, as the band themselves point out, a quest for beauty, which amply achieves its goal in the sparse, spooky atmosphere of “Denial (Part One)”, and in the swirling, soaring synths that punctuate tracks such as “Aspiration”, suggesting an astral element amidst the devastated landscapes which the tracks otherwise evoke. Indeed, whilst much dark ambient and industrial music summons images of machines, subterranean labyrinths and houses of horror, and there is no doubting that there is a futuristic and oppressive, pummelling aura to much of THQO’s approach, “Politics” also seems like an album that ranges into outdoors spaces too, albeit picking its way across wastelands our minds not currently be able to comprehend.
Many existing critiques have ended by suggesting that The Human Quena Orchestra may struggle for an audience, but I think that’s wrong-headed; upon listening, I immediately thought of four people to whom I have to recommend this disc. Sure, black ambience doesn’t have the audience of more commercially-driven genres, but its fans are a close and talkative community, and when something special comes along, news of it spreads like wildfire. I suspect this will certainly be the case with “The Politics of the Irredeemable”.
80/100
ELLEN SIMPSON
