If you were ever to endure one of those frustrating delays at an airport terminal, the least comforting soundtrack to the occasion might be worriedaboutsatan’s new album, ‘Arrivals’. Put together by Gavin Miller and Tom Ragsdale, it’s a record which deals with wide open spaces and frightening, disorientating atmospherics.
‘Evil Dogs’ is the ideal antidote for bland Enigma records, with beautifully eerie foreign voices circling ominously overhead like swooping vultures as thudding beats prod lightly but persistently on your brain. ‘I Am A Crooked Man’ evokes ten minutes of steadily-approaching evil and ‘History Is Made In Night’ feels like darkness closing in as the music becomes increasingly claustrophobic. Venuring further into this most bleak of journeys, ‘Pissing About’ sounds like a vidiprinter stuck in a panic-stricken loop and ‘All Things But You Are Silent’ features the glummest of guitar passages.
Much of the music within ‘Arrivals’ reminded me of the early Bark Psychosis track ‘Manman’ accompanied by the weird samples of the last Avrocar record. The only track which seems to escape from the gloom is ‘You’re In My Thoughts’ where a lovely chiming melody pierces through the darkness; in the context of the entire album, it’s the one ray of hope that there is humanity in worriedaboutsatan’s world. Otherwise, it’s bleak but undeniably captivating stuff.
‘Arrivals’ is not without its fragments of beauty but it’s usually accompanied by impending doom and unsettling layers of music. Even though it has a cinematic feel to it, it’s a very deep record which is designed to be equally rewarding when rediscovered a few years later; if ever one feels curious to experience these oddly comforting, nightmarish visions again.
Web Sites:
worriedaboutsatan MySpace
Gizeh Records Label and Shop Site
Further Listening:
Bark Psychosis, Avrocar, Phobos 3
Leonard's Lair Music Reviews 
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