Spite Cathedral – An Uncontrolled Democracy (cassette)

Spanning over 15 tracks of varying length but of similar sound palette and shared overall brooding mood, “An Uncontrolled Democracy” is probably the most consistent and homogeneous Spite Cathedral recording. Gone are the more mainstream electronic influences and the discrete sense of humor one would often find in Mortazaviʼs usual output. Instead, we are being offered a more minimalist body of work that leans on the post-industrial and harsher side of Spite Cathedralʼs music. Despite its darker and noisier tone “An Uncontrolled Democracy” often reaches contemplative meditative realms in the more ambient leaning tracks like opener “FF”, the string-heavy “Curtains of Sand”, the desperation-soaked vocal-driven “Girls in a Dead Manʼs World” or the cold melancholia of the penultimate track “Empty Your Love Into The Eternal (Cry Like A Persian)”. The slow-burning noisescapes of “Through Barbed Wire Fences” are a great companion to the not less atmospheric stripped-down beat-based tracks like “Morde” (which unfolds in almost 15 minutes) or the pair “Feather Merchant” and “Heresy at Dawn”, whose percussive elements seem to perfectly complement each other to tell a larger and more complex story.
“An Uncontrolled Democracy” sees Spite Cathedral more focused than ever. In these 70 minutes of music heʼs the closest heʼs ever been to truly revealing what lurks in his head and is driving his creative explorations further.