RAGNA-ROKR: WHEN THE SKY BECOMES CLOSER...(a brief analytical excursus in selenography of TMLHBAC)

INSANITY IS FREEDOM COMFORMITY IS DEATH

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RAGNA-ROKRR:
WHEN THE SKY BECOMES CLOSER...

a brief analytical excursus in selenography of
THE MOON LAY HIDDEN BENEATH A CLOUD

The power controls the world, changing it on its image and resemblance. And what was originally carrying a determination of given concrete history generality - folk, its life, traditions and rituals once, now carries a name of lobotomized state system - universal, filtrated, sterile, destructive and devouring...

"Europe has lost its simplicity, it has lost its activity centre, it has lost its life. (...) Europe presently - is an enourmous charlatan mash, compressing and shaking from the awe, on which nobody does not dare to declare openly, with the money instead of blood, with machines and factories instead of flesh and with newspapers instead of brains - a formless body, worrisome dashing from side to side, moving under the influence of doubtful and unknown power, which transform in powder anyone, who will dare to withstand them or at least try to avoid from their influences. All this - are the fruits of the praised west "civilization" (Julius Evola).

From the genocide of the 40-ies concentration camps to Croatia of 90-ies by Douglas P. (Death In June) and the Holy war by Boyd Rice (Non), it is sufficiently to analyse a row of the most interesting works of the "last wave", to pay attention to increasing interest in the revising of European history in its most dramatic times: mythraism, roman legions and romanian "iron guards" of Codrianu - Blood Axis ("The Gospel of Inhumanity", 1996), parables on the antifascist resistance - Les Joyaux de la Princesse on the last release "Die Wisse Rose" (1997), aryan cosmogony, occult anthropology and runic Mysticism - Inade ("Aldebaran", 1996), runes of the WWII history - solo-project of Albin Julius "Der Blutharsch" (1997), resurrecting of pagan cycle of spiritual mysterious poems of austrian runologist and courtier occultist of Hitler Karl Maria Willigut on "Gotos=Kalanda" of Allerseelen (1996), and finally, the already released compilation, the tribute to Leni Riefenstahl, and a compilation preparing now in Germany dedicated to Julius Evola (a bit earlier the interest in ideology of Evola was already marketed by Ain Soph on their famous "Aurora", 1992)...

Lit with the gift of own reincarnation on the historic ways of their own individual searching and realizing the processes of religion and state development on the background of dramatic fight for independence, blood strife for the mastery on the throne and tipsy feasts, simultaneously staying faithfull to the inherited ethics of folklore with its amazing time feeling, the austrian duo THE MOON LAY HIDDEN BENEATH A CLOUD coronated the year of 1997 with their next, deeply dramatical clot of revelations, named "The Smell of Blood... but Victory", as a new compilation of gloomy European chronicles, announced by Arthur's Round Table through World Serpent Distribution long before the beginning of june.

Limited to 1000 copies, the boxset with additional bonus-tracks on a separate mini-СD (maybe, that are not fitting in the whole concept of the main release, or, maybe, these are the remixed versions), on traditions of TMLHBAC was very minimal in the design and credits, affording a broad field for imagination and worshipping strictly the music itself: anonimous compositions of anonimous authorship with the anonimous history monument (on cover and on enclosed poster) at the head, hardly distinguished from socialist-realism monuments of grateful post-communist descendants to the furious colonial adolescence of their own fathers. Probably, the interest is presented in other - in the geography of some historical-cultural excursuses of TMLHBAC.

During the short summer Albin Julius and Elisabeth managed to release a new album, to produce the next works by german electro-body post-industrial formation P.A.L., and french formation Les Joyaux de la Princesse (in which they even used to participate), the debut album from Albin Julius side project under the name of Der Blutharsch and to proceed with the planned on the end of the year publishing of the compilation book of their texts.

In 1993 The Moon Lay Hidden Beneath A Cloud started in the distant land of Austria from sinking into the past of Great Britain history - the logo and the design of the album came from traditions of medieval knight chronicles of King Arthur ages, (acknowledgement to that can be the name of their small label - - Arthur's Round Table). It was Britain's past with it's gothic and antiquity that for a long time stayed as a single source of inspiration on the background of nowadays chronicles of sterility of Euro-community, where medieval portals still catch the imagination on the background of nearby super-markers of todays European depersonalizing, destroying and wiping the borders of the individuality.

The following "Amara Tanta Tyri" was a culmination of dramatical way of Europe - of Austria and Germany, pushing listener into the abyss of "Malleus Maleficarum" - inquisition, pestilence, witch sabbaths, crusades, paganic sacrifices and wars. The beginning of the witchcraft mania in the Europe was connected with the "black death" (the pestilence in the Europe in 1348-49) and Centennial war. When the peopleare oppressed and wretched, violence becomes a psychological need, in prudish and repressed society particularly. Daemons, sabbaths of witches, tortures, burning meat scent... The Middle ages were the ages of faith, but as well as ages of war, poverty, diseases and beliefs in daemons, sin and suffering. The witches sabbaths had covered Europe: France XIV c., Austria XV c., Spain XVI c., Netherlands XVII c. At the beginning of XVI century the mania of persecution and hunts on witches had reached a top notch, in Germany particularly. Only in 1736 consisted the cancelling of the Act on the Witchcraft in England, having put an end to the witch persecutions on Misty Albion. "It's difficult to think about the murder of six million jews by Hitler, for less than 10 years, - wrote in his monograph on the occultism Collin Wilson, - but to visualize a picture of tortures and murders on length of four centuries is absolutly impossible. To say the truth, the executions of witches were less cruel, than bestialities of nazis; however we have to remember that each witch was tortured individually..."

The album name Itself was an italo-latin dominant-formula of demonic exorcism. But already there the distinctive lines of group sound were shown, finding their development and continuation on the following releases - the tales from the area of beliefs about good and evil: nation, dregs (or people), modern state and the state of the past - the lines of development and degradations, the crisis of the repressed system, the religious intolerance, mysticism, rationalism of authorities... The parables from beyond, like a phantom of the modern technologies, arised from the ruins of great dramatic way of history, and, having turned by their image to the mirror of that else quite recent (in the history context) events, the new culture of individual neo-searchings showed us the truth of understanding through the great magic prism of that times as a certain soundtrack to the final stage of the Dark ages, shadows of the past and harbingers of the future Golden age, confirming "irrationality of equality".

"With the gross of crusades, with the blood and scum of the processes on the dissidence the mythic "golden age" of "chivalry" met it's downfall. On traces of an esotheric albigoyan legend on "Graal from Mont Segeur", as a chalice of mystic knowledge, taking roots in pagan myths on the chalice of Joseph with the blood of Christ, murdered on the Golgotha, inherited from the breton cycle of legends on the 12 peers of the Round Table, Camelot and king Arthur, unknown shrines, hidden in the underground galleries, and realities of the history drama on children's Crusade in 1212, The Moon Lay Hidden Beneath A Cloud then have released two of their probably the most bright works at that time - the climactic "A New Soldier Follows The Part of A New King" (1995) and following by the year later single "Yndalongg". The question of correlation of medieval and new, the breaking point, that always impelled people in addressing to irrational, the crisis of the Middle Ages, that ideologically and spiritually destroyed the accustomed system of life for the people of that time, appearances against traditional public beliefs and customs...

"...When "ghostish" modern person will once again become real and when hi will restore the contacts and likings with the secret nature power, then "ritual", "symbol" and "magic" itself stop being only "fantasies", how name them today the ones, nothing on them not knowing, considering them as prejudices, superable by science; then person will know that might, which is the truth, the sanction of value, the natural attribute of integrated life, its organic, individual, integral part..." (Julius Evola)

From the idea of pagan knights crusades mors triumphalis, "withstanding to the early christianity and faithfull to the more ancient and more high traditions", subsequent to the history issue of traditions by the races that saved their spirituality from the West to the East, heroically outliving the world as a ritual sacrifice, the spiritual history of the West and folk mysticism, The Moon Lay Hidden Beneath A Cloud have continued their dramatic excursus to the land of Chechia, where in the small provincial place Kutna-Hora near Prague by year earlier, in 1995, they discovered The House of Bones (literal translation with czech) - Kostnice - with it's gloomy ritual ornament in tribute to the victims of Doomsday (Black Death, 1384), that catch the imagination of the duo and was placed then in the base of an exhaustingly powerful ethereal single "Kostnice".

Their great way to the East was continued in the same year on a way of regaining the features of nation and state in suit traditions and national roots, by taking the theme on one of the most hot spots of modern Europe - Serbia-Croatia, further thoughts on fate of which lie in the roots of appearance of the balcani-oriented folk (as Marten Sahlen has exactly characterized this work) of "Were You of Silver, Were You of Gold".

The two further emotional technological collaborations - alliances with belgian techno-ritualists Hybryds and swedish deep sound occultist Lina and his Deutsch Nepal became then a little respite in the field of the last creative innovations: the individual cogitations and internal personal visions were mixed in these sampler releases, more experimental, made as a preparation for the run on the next historian-ideological distance.

And finally their most recent monument of liberty of the taste of blood (Serbo-Croatian? Austrian? Slavic?) with two observable samples in a sadly melancholic ambient-context - a folk ukrainian song ("Harness, guys, the horses!.." - after the short intro, totally unexpected for the listeners from the former USSR the next creation of musicians is starting) and russian-languaged soundscape - maybe a tale, maybe a parable, reminding me, in particular, of recent work on the poetry of Arseny Tarkovski by a british project The Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus "Mirror" (1991-94). Is it a coincidence? Go figure...

...magic, sleepwalking, total eclipse, doomed by the sadness song of Elisabeth; tractile, colourless dumb insanity... the prelude, the background, the prologue to the next rampage in the riverbed of modern academic opera, reminiscent of a long waltzy jump in Verdi, arising out of nowhere and carrying one away into nowhere male and female vocals... the dramatism of post-industrial, painful pulpations, stigms, statically narrating Elisabeth's vocals - unfinished, fragmented, as always... a fragment from a gloomy lenghthy hit of the 60-ies in the Spell riverbed (Rice and McDowell), striking rhythm, electronic noise amplitude of Albin in background, newly exalted mutating reflection of Liz... only voice, only pagan folk, once again song... minimal ballad, spoken word on Deutsch, choruses, strings - between scottish bagpipes and Balkan gipsies... sad hermecy, fullmoon, wolfs... copper, pulsing rhythm, trumpet call, sacrifice... Balcani again, symphonism, rhythmic power, fatal post-industrial obituary, cognate with Laibach and their "Krst pod Triglav / Baptism"... farewell with the Native land... pause... - this is a far off incomplete spectrum of painful sensations, received from "The Smell of Blood... but Victory".

Subsequent to Balcani, the possible expectation is that so called "slavonic way" will become a new idea for The Moon Lay Hidden Beneath A Cloud, which is yet fated to pass. Creating not music, but mood, always staying for me untold on their next release, without the characteristic rationalism of the West, they look into the East Europe today, as in the mirror. They are not a political group; however they never did tend to be one. But not ceasing the sound being not less political, once upon a time they will help us to realize, what's happening with us? For East Europe draws and beckons them on the fetters of their mission. And the energy of the powers, directed unto all of these by The Moon Lay Hidden Beneath a Cloud in this new work is obvious.

"The West knows all on chains, on blood and on sickness - but nothing on the liberty. Shout on the liberty, which is possible to hear all over - is a shout from the prison. This is the howl of the beasts behind bars, this is a voice of bottom. The modern "voluntairism" - is not a will, but rhetoric of despair, replacing the will; the mental perversion, directed on the imputing itself that, what is not existing" (Julius Evola).

Igor Vaganov

(* quotings:) Julius Evola: "Pagan imperialism" "Demonology of the epoch of Reviving" (collection) Colin Wilson: "Occultism"