Abaunz – Ilunpean Arnas Hotsa Entzute

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WE ARE PLEASED TO BRING YOU,

ABAUNZ WHITE HOT DEBUT ALBUM,

ILUNPEAN ARNAS HOTSA ENTZUTEN.

Abaunz resides in a rugged landscape surrounded by Basque mountains.

This formidable environment may have played some part in shaping the moods within this release, raw and beautiful, intricate yet reduced.

The title roughly translates into English as: “hearing the sound of breathing in the dark”, hinting an eerie listen ahead. There is black metal blood in each track, arranged on an alter of adept programming. Blistering guitar textures, and drum blast sit in a bed of gaseous swirls and cinematic dread. A heavy atmosphere gives way to skeletal melody, funky dembow rhythms, and hair raising, barded wire synth stabs.

This work is set in a perpetual dawn on the edge of town where shadow and light trick, the eye and mind alike. Vocals twist and turn throughout these tracks, guiding the listening deeper into the mysteries of the night, while also casting and unexpected soulfulness. These blackened electronics excursions, are a unique and confident vision. Keep your eyes on Abaunz.

Album Review

From just southwest of the Pyrenes Mountain range, Abaunz, singing primarily in Basque, commands a raw & dirty mix of old school minimal industrial brutality, employing ancient drum machine programming, occasional guitar destruction, classic 80s stock synth tones, and tortured/chanted vocals; but overtop these elements is where it gets really interesting; Abaunz sprinkles in an innovative mixed bag of ambient texture, Euro-danciness, and even a skosh of Latin and Middle Eastern flavor, making “Ilunpean Arnas Hotsa Entzuten” (translation: Hearing the Sound of Breathing in the Dark”) a truly novel and inspiringly agitating, cohesive ride in unfamiliar (if not outright uncharted?) country.
- Jacob An Kittenplan
Cassette Gods
JULY 08, 2020