THIEF ON THE CROSS- Waiting in Psychosis for the Great Return
Thief on the Cross is a new project from Ascending King's Aaron "Ruah" Kirby. Unlike Ascending King, which lies mostly within the realm of black metal, Thief on the Cross explores the experimental field of noise, sometimes called industrial noise. Very few bands in Christian music play this style- the only purist that comes to mind is the long-running German band Blackhouse. Some atmospheric post-black bands like Flaskavsae sound similar because the guitars, drums, and vocals have been turned into random sounds- like wind or waves.
Waiting in Psychosis for the Great Return, is likely to get a love/ hate response from the listener. Aside from the age old question of whether noise can be considered music, or even art, the genre does present possibilities, primarily for subliminal messages. Most of the tracks here are longer and unchanging throughout, with a lot of static and industrial or machine type sounds, with vocal passages coming through the static like an out of range radio broadcast. If you listen carefully, playing the cd all the way through, you might not find the soundscape changing enough to keep you tuned in. If you play it in the background while napping like one of those white noise machines or dream machines, you might just be awakened to piercing alarms ("Panic Frequency") or train whistles ("Shock Therapy Transmission"). To their credit, one has to go far off the beaten track to break new ground. Ruah just added a second member, Solomon Kane, for Thief on the Cross' next album. (Nosral Recordings) - 2.5 out of 5 stars
