Shava Sadhana: Yggdrasil
Tho-So-Aa: Missing Link
Echo West: Sein Name (Vatermix)
Sagittarius: Erio (Version 2006)
Sagittarius: Nihil Arisen
Sagittarius: Menuet Aus Den "Sechs Musicalischen Partien"
Rose Rovine E Amanti: My Catholic Europa
Rose Rovine E Amanti: Tempore
Rose Rovine E Amanti: Aachen
Shava Sadhana: Unity
Shava Sadhana: Eldfellshraun

Salon Décadence was released on the occasion of Neo-Form’s live festival at the Absintherie Sixtina in Leipzig this year on the 2nd and 3rd of June, a special compilation featuring mostly exclusive and rare offerings from the five artists involved.

Shava Sadhana begin this compilation with an odd voiceless electronic patterning of xylophone-like hammering, mottled bass, and percussive trance dedicated to the Norse tree of life. Following from this comes the organic ambience of Tho So AA, a watery soundtrack flecked with echoic drifts and blaring wooden chimes that extrapolates with error-like clipping a rhythmic backdrop. Sirens squeal and thawed percussion are the peristyle for the harrowing minimalist industrialism of Echo West with its fugal demagogue. Folk music strips the unsettling electronics of the first three tracks as Sagittarius lead with three songs, the first a gentle flute and piano duet, followed with piano, guitar, and symphonic strings, proving a counterpoise with its strata of light. The Imperial offerings of Rose Rovine e Amanti bring folk from the languid forests of Sagittarius to more traditional neofolk, guitar and vocals, supplemented with flayed whistles and the kiss of bells, before the final track that features on the recent Rituale Romanum from Cold Spring Records [read review here]. Finally Shava Sadhana come full circle to finish off the compilation, now blending spidery guitar and suppurating synth, the near-monotone vocals growling before the last track scrambles scenes of soiled instrumentation and pupating rhythms.

This compilation is no CDR, and comes with full colour four page booklet and silk-screened disc featuring the poster work from the two-day event; art nouveau stylism. A printing error incorrectly lists the tracks on the CD’s glossy cover, but thankfully a corrected sheet is included for the listener.

NYR