Le Mort Homme
Douaumont

Attaquer Á L’Aube
Bois de Carnes

The French alias of A Challenge of Honour sees Peter Savelkoul return to the more laconic and neoclassical phrasing of the side project in a 12 inch extended play outing. While only clocking in at just over a quart of an hour, Le Mort Homme is a lustrous expanse of enveloping sensation.

Cello sweeps a sawing awning which invites the listener into the hearth where warm martial percussion heartbeats mingle an oneiric fancy as symphonic elements gracefully descend from the eaves in overflowing splendor in sadness; the title track, being the death of man, quavers sublimely. The fortress, 'Douaumont' steers tense moments from the pizzicato strings that pluck away the minutes, counting down until the shelling that would ultimately destroy the French fort in the Verdun offensive. The ponderous backbone of strings drives the track allowing only the briefest of interstices from each bow, like the constant bombing from German forces. 'Attaquer Á L’Aube' wends a morose journey of downwardly gloaming cello with the harsh meter of a solitary drum that whips a rondure of weeping violin. The last track rattles in shingles of percussion, buoyed by an accompaniment of horns seeking some egress through the sedges of darkness.

Released in an unusually designed gatefold cover, with the modern typographical artwork of Nikolay Saveliev, the artwork features unique geometrical colour and collage interspersed over the mottled ground of some precious swart stone.

NYR