Dominick Fernow, known for iconic projects such as Vatican Shadow, Prurient & Rainforest Spiritual Enslavement is back with a full length album under his Vatican Shadow Alias. This is the first album he is releasing on the American label 20 Buck Spin, and it’s fully mastered by his long time collaborator Justin K Broadrick. Read below the full story.
For a decade now, Vatican Shadow has blurred the lines of rhythmic industrial, ambient, and soundscapes to weave throbbing frontline communique of war, terror, media manipulation and anxiety disorder.
Definitely he is one of the most prolific underground artists of the 21st century, living his art down to minute detail, Fernow’s penchant for seamlessly spanning underground sub-cultures finds Vatican Shadow now aligned with 20 Buck Spin for the first time.
On the new full-length album titled \’Persian Pillars Of The Gasoline Era\’ the deconstruction continues, with layers of collaged synth stabs, low end pulsing dread, and ominous sand-swept melodies. And where Vatican Shadow often sets a rigid musical focus with each release, here the full multi-faceted embodiment of the project comes to fruition from hypnotic dance floor repetition, cold metallic percussion, martial bass strikes, and dark melodic noise.
Thematically, ‘Persian Pillars…’ connects the dots of America’s underdocumented overthrow in Iran of one of the first advocates of self reliancy and democracy in the Middle East, to the bedrock of violence that would later erupt post-Gulf War and suffocate the world economy in 2001 on USA shores.
To further intensify the album Fernow brought aboard Justin Broadrick (Godflesh, Jesu, JK Flesh, etc) for the painstakingly detailed mastering process, adding the mysterious vibrance of cold morning mountain light that presages a conspiracy about to unfold.
An unquestionable heaviness permeates the organizational structure of Vatican Shadow, never more apparent than on ‘Persian Pillars…’, and while prior devotees of the scripture will continue to find it approachable, here now the doors have been flung wide open to an entirely new realm of memorialist iconography.
From performances in the Balkans, the Middle East, Mexico, Tasmania, Russia, Georgia, South America to recent tours across Asia, Fernow’s Vatican Shadow is a global entity reflecting the network of power designs/products that spread indelibly from the War on Terror and America’s involvement therein returning to haunt the decaying edifice of the West.
20 Buck Spin will release \’Persian Pillars Of The Gasoline Era\’ in CD, TAPE & DIGITAL formats on September 18th, 2020.
Cover Artwork.
Artist. Vatican Shadow
Title. Persian Pillars Of The Gasoline Era
Format: LP, CD, TAPE, DIGITAL
Label: 20 Buck Spin
Cat. No: SPIN134
Release Date: September 18th, 2020
Tracklist.
1. Predawn Coup D’etat (Schwarzkopf Duffle Bags Of Rials)
2. Rehearsing For The Attack
3. Uncontrollable Oasis (Real Life Spy Mystery Ends With Scientist Hanged In Iran)
4. Taxi Journey Through The Teeming Slums Of Tehran
5. Moving Secret Money
6. Ayatollah Ferocity (The Refinery At Abadan)
Credits. The first Vatican Shadow album to be released on a domestic label after a very prolific decade of existence. A project helmed by Dominick Fernow of Hospital Productions Assisted via mastering by Justin Broadrick (Godflesh, Jesu, JK Flesh) Gatefold LP w/ full color print inside the pocket FFO: Muslimgauze, Prurient, Badawi, Raison D’Etre, Tangerine Dream, Justin Broadrick, Haxan Cloak, John O’Neill, Marc Sageman, etc Produced by Dominick Fernow Mastered by Justin Broadrick Photography by Anonymous Soldier
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