Read the original review on Igloo Magazine

With a constant passion that has never wavered over the years, Raffaele (alias Sonologyst) from Eighth Tower Records has promoted pioneering and catchy works from the (post)industrial music scene worldwide through numerous reissues—alongside spectral musique concrète and dark, rumbling cinematic music by various contemporary sound artists. Capricorni Pneumatici belongs to this old wave of Italian industrial music experimentalists, alongside Sigilum S, Giancarlo Toniutti, and Die Sonne Satan. If I’m not mistaken, this is the fourth album to be released via Eighth Tower.

The conceptual background of IX TAB spans a wide range of esoteric beliefs and ancient mythologies from what was once referred to as the New World during the era of historical conquests. In this work, the focus is on the Maya civilization—their relationship with the divine and the natural world, expressed through collective rituals and austere ceremonies. As a result, the album carries an intriguing blend of ecstatic and mystical elements, offering immersive, spiritually charged, and darkly absorbing atmospheres. Musically, it is built on narco-neuronal electronic textures, manipulated vocal fragments, shadowy, echoing percussive patterns, and abstract, raw, analog-like synth lines.

All in all, IX TAB is a strange and uncompromising voyage through a hazy mist of organic, abstract soundscapes and heavily manipulated, auratic driftscapes. It offers obsessional, psycho-active incantations in sound form—sure to appeal to fans of music that draws from musique concrète, repetitive structures, and gloomy industrial atmospheres, akin to the work of Zoviet France, Muslimgauze, Halfer Trio, Contraste, and other artists once featured on the now-historic Soleilmoon Recordings and Staaltape.

Philippe Blache