...on the Subject of Mortality

Prologue

In the last two weeks after I ended my listening session with the previous Panopticon masterpiece "Collapse", I wondered what was to come next. I wondered in which direction Austin will go in his musical career. "Collapse" was a significant improvement over his glorious debut album, even if it is only slightly better in the overall experience. The implementation of a more, let's call it folksy soundscape and the addition of pure bluegrass sections was something completely new for me although they were clearly separated from the angry black metal parts of the songs. What seemed confusing at first few listen had made sense in the end due to the great songwriting Austin could achieve. Although he was at risk of not being understood, he ultimately managed to keep it as natural and exciting as possible.

But what's next? These questions can only be asked by those who does not have a personal vision of music they could create on their own because they are not musicians themselves, or by someone who is captured in a labyrinth of genre-thinking. Or such a question will be asked by someone who is unbiased, which is always the best case.

Somehow, I am neither of these two stereotypes. I would not call myself a musician because I have only written a handful of amateurish songs in my life and I can barely play the guitar I like to use, but I have enough knowledge about music to be able to imagine certain things. But I am not a person who has to put everything he hears and sees in a certain genre, I love it when music takes a more open-minded path than just unfolding within the given framework. But as far as Austin Lunn's music is concerned, I never know where the journey will take me with every new album, single or split. In a way, Austin Lunn is the Devin Townsend of black metal, even if he doesn't seem to be as megalomaniacal as Mr. Townsend.

To make it clear it is by no means meant negatively, on the contrary, I adore Townsend and his work. He is really visionary! But what ultimately awaited me on "...on the Subject of Mortality" was a bit surprising, because despite all my efforts to imagine where the journey might go this time, I had not expected such a turn. But one by one...

Illusions (Immortality Unleashed)

If you look closely, "...on the Subject of Mortality" is not a full-fledged album but a compilation, since it was originally included on two split albums, both released in 2010. The first three songs were released on a split with When Bitter Spring Sleeps, the remaining three songs followed on a split with Skagos. The musical effusions from Panopticon contained on these two splits were respectively titled "...on the Subject of Mortality Part 1 and 2". Shortly afterwards, Austin decided to combine the two contributions into a complete album, and the successor to "Collapse" was officially born. Since Austin was very unhappy with the sound of "...on the Subject of Mortality" and the successor "Social Disservices", both albums were quickly remixed, remastered, and in parts even re-recorded and re-released as the 2 CD compilation "Revisions of the Past".

Regarding "...on the Subject of Mortality", Austin wrote on his Bandcamp page: "The album "...on the Subject of Mortality" has been painstakingly completely reworked, re-amped, cleaned up and remixed by Spenser Morris as well as remastered by Colin Marston to sound the way the album was originally intended. For many who have heard this album before, it will be like hearing the album for the first time. The album suffered from terrible production due to the head space I was in when I recorded it, the equipment (or lack of) and complete lack of recording knowledge I had during its recording. To me, this is the album as intended and the definitive version of the record!".

I only heard the "Revisions of the Past" version, so I am unable to comment on the original one. But as far as I can tell, nothing here has been polished that it would sound like a piece of plastic. At first it wouldn't fit the Panopticon sound, and I don't think Austin ever aspired to that either.

If you take "...on the Subject of Mortality" to heart, you will face yet another musical upheaval. While the debut album still sounded very raw and was mostly anchored in the american black metal, the successor "Collapse" had the same intensity despite the bluegrass influences. "...on the Subject of Mortality" is very variable and completely different. Austin does not stand still in his musical vision. "...on the Subject of Mortality" is a very surprising development. It feels like a recalibration, a whole new beginning.

Basically, the basic tenor in this case is not black metal or bluegrass but post-rock. "Panopticon" and "Collapse" breathed the post-rock in abundance, but it were not the main component. The black metal and bluegrass influences always predominated, which is not the case with "...on the Subject of Mortality". In turn, increasing the post-rock was a logical step in my eyes. By increasing the post-rock level Austin has been able to make this sad mood that pervades the album as tangible as possible. Post-rock as a form of expression is perfect in the case of "...on the Subject of Mortality". The folk and bluegrass passages, on the other hand has been completely removed from this album.

The keynote of "...on the Subject of Mortality" cannot be described otherwise than with the word sorrowful. The riffs are consistently melodic and shows their black metal affinity through and through. The black metal frenzy is often replaced by samples and post-rock passages that complete the overall picture and allow the album to grow into a thoroughly understandable piece of music. Personally, the basic mood touches me deeply, I literally jump on it. But this only happens if you can identify with the music. I think Austin Lunn's music is actually honest and therefore has a very universal effect, otherwise it wouldn't evoke any emotions in me.

If you just listen to the instrumental masterpiece "To Make an Idol of Our Fear and Call It God" which is pure melancholy pervaded by a few samples, you know that it comes from the heart. Seldom has a comparatively minimalistic instrumental piece of music been able to sweep me away. No lyric, no chants or screams are required, the music alone tells more in this case than words ever could. Another highlight is "...Seeing...", which is reminiscent of "Aptrgangr" from "Collapse" and the grandiose "...Speaking..." from the debut. Most of the vocals still seem to come from the background, far away. Screams that your subconscious is most likely sending you every day, screams that would make life impossible for you and that are therefore suppressed. This album should be heard in full, it is a total work of art, and in this form it is a masterpiece. "...on the Subject of Mortality" consists of so many twists and turns that you can only fully understand it by listening intensively.

The lyrics are a big centerpiece, words and the music fit together perfectly and give each other the handle. Austin is a gifted lyricist and he reflects his universal views in his lyrics. He means well with his audience and wants to convey a picture of spirituality that creates a better understanding of everything that is. The fear of death and the nullity of that fear is just one of many topics that Austin deals with. A line of text from "...Seeing..." says: "We've no need to kneel again unless to feel the earth to drink from the streams again". I can't fathom what that might mean for everyone because you can interpret the texts in many ways. Basically I only read one thing out of it, namely that we do not have to adhere to fixed norms in order to be able to live well. We should free ourselves from the matrix around us, think for ourselves, and only kneel down to help someone up, for example, and not to kneel in front of someone. I find the lyrics of Austin to be very wise and I hope that everyone can learn something from them, or that they will open the eyes of some people.

Epilogue

The aura that surrounds Austin Lunn's latest release "...on the Subject of Mortality" is more subdued than his previous releases would have foreshadowed. It is a hell of a record that seemingly challenges its listeners from a philosophical standpoint while delivering these themes via some great music that hits the listeners with a plethora of sounds that can be mood affecting, and, ultimately, it is these effects that draw me back to the record again and again. However, it is difficult to compare each of his albums because they all represent a different take on the same foundation. I recommend anyone interested in Panopticon to have intensive listening sessions with each album, as every single detail wants to be heard because it adds another little piece to the overall picture. "...on the Subject of Mortality" may be the toughest album in Austin's discography yet, but I promise everyone it's well worth the time invested. I have the feeling that Austin gets new heights with every album. Austin Lunn, I kneel in front of you... uh... to drink from the stream... and then I get up to shake your hand!

The songs on this compilation are originally from split albums that Panopticon did with two other USBM bands Skagos and When Bitter Spring Sleeps. Ideally listeners should get both splits as Skagos and WBSS are good bands whose agendas are nature-oriented - WBSS very much so as their first album was recorded entirely outdoors in a nature setting - but the two bands may be fairly obscure compared to Panopticon who has been attracting a lot of attention for his music (a mix of black metal and melodic post-metal influenced by bands like Godspeed You Black Emperor) and politics which lean in an anarchist direction.

As expected, there's a great deal that angers or interests Panopticon man A Lunn and which generates the force and passion that power his music: sorrow at the transience of life, religious brainwashing and how it infantilises people, the challenge of throwing off one's psychological shackles and finding one's place in the natural world and the universe, and a eulogy to two individuals which also exalts all human connection to life on Earth and in the greater cosmic order. The music takes a leaf out of Lunn's heroes GYBE's play-book and is by turns melancholic and nostalgic, angry and aggressive, often within the same song a few times and even at the same time. Throughout the album the music plays second fiddle to the lyrics which are often very moving in their emotional intensity.

The first three songs come off the split with When Bitter Spring Sleeps and meditate on the fear of death as the central crisis of human existence, the wonder of life and how paradise is not to be found in some abstract and imaginary concept of something far off in the sky but here on earth in nature. The music slips between shrill and frantic black metal on the one hand and on the other passages of sorrowful piano and cold shadowy ambience. "Living Eulogy" in particular is a forceful track of pummelling drums, raging guitar noise and detours into expansive post-rock melody. The title of the third purely instrumental post-metal track, "To Make an Idol of our Fear and Call It God", summarises the aim and concerns of this first half of the compilation.

The second lot of the three songs from the split with Skagos is a challenge to both purveyors of false religion that brings false comfort and people generally to abandon false idols and comfort and find the answers to existential questions in themselves and their connections to one another through love and to nature and the universe through immersion in nature and nature-related activities. The music in this second half of the recording isn't very different from the music in the first half: it's still very much a mix of black metal, post-metal and melodic rock elements. The only major differences might be that the music is noisier and buzzier, the singing more tortured and some of the more melancholy instrumental passages remind me as much of that Canadian post-rock band Do Make Say Think as those other Canadians I mentioned earlier.

On the whole this is a good solid recording though not very outstanding or distinctive for Panopticon: there's none of that melodic country flavour or bluegrass influence that gives his music a real identity and context for the artist's beliefs. The six songs have a generic melodic post-metal quality and lack individuality.

I think some of the film soundtrack samples might be from the famous Ingemar Bergman film "The Seventh Seal" but at this time of writing I haven't seen the movie so I'm not really sure.