[mn025]
Chaos as Shelter / The Hollowing
Heavenly Letter

1. ..
2. The Message [ mp3 excerpt ]
3. Baptism by Blood [ mp3 excerpt ]
4. Flagellum Dei [ mp3 excerpt ]
5. Plague [ mp3 excerpt ]
6. Heavenly Letter pt. 1
7. Heavenly Letter pt. 2 [ mp3 excerpt ]
8. Heavenly Letter pt. 3
9. Seraphim
10. ...

Total time: 70:55 min
Format: CD-R, heavy A5 cardboard cover in a PVC sleeve, 100 copies
Release date: January 23, 2005
Sold out

Appearing at times of despair and plagues across Europe, the flagellants believed in punishing themselves in the hope that God would not. Their processions of self-flagellation lasted 33 and a half days, matching the number of years in Christ's life, and served as penance for their sins and those of others.

The Heavenly Letter refers to the text that they believed was a direct ultimatum from God himself: humanity, failed and corrupt, had one last chance at reform before the destruction of all life. Denounced as heretics by the Church, they were persecuted and driven underground. During the Black Death in 1348, the same letter reappeared with an added paragraph that addressed the plague, and became the manifesto of a reborn flagellant movement. As times went on and the world didn't end as expected, enthusiasm for self-scourging waned and the movement dispersed.

The work here isn't easily digested and is often demanding of one's senses. Slow, churning drones collapse into clattering bells, wheels of noise rotate themselves to oblivion and disembodied voices accompany the procession on its way to absolution. Sound throbs as one writhing body, and then explodes into morsels of granulated flesh, purity found once again.

[ buy now ]