photo by Sven Marquardt
As 20 Buck Spin prepares to release Persian Pillars Of The Gasoline Era, the anxiously awaited new LP from Dominick Fernow-created project, VATICAN SHADOW, the label issues a new single, “Rehearsing For The Attack.”
For a decade now, VATICAN SHADOW, one of the many guises of Dominick Fernow has blurred the lines of rhythmic industrial, ambient, and soundscapes to weave throbbing frontline communiques of war, terror, media manipulation, and anxiety disorder. One of the most prolific underground artists of the 21st century, living his art down to minute detail, Fernow’s penchant for seamlessly spanning underground subcultures finds VATICAN SHADOW now aligned with 20 Buck Spin for the first time.
Thematically, Persian Pillars Of The Gasoline Era connects the dots of America’s under documented overthrow in Iran of one of the first advocates of self-reliance and democracy in the Middle East, to the bedrock of violence that would later erupt post-Gulf War and suffocate the world economy in 2001 on US shores.
On Persian Pillars Of The Gasoline Era, the deconstruction continues, with layers of collaged synth stabs, low end pulsing dread, and ominous sand-swept melodies. And where VATICAN SHADOW often sets a rigid musical focus with each release, here the full multi-faceted embodiment of the project comes to fruition from hypnotic dance floor repetition, cold metallic percussion, martial bass strikes, and dark melodic noise.
To further intensify the album, Fernow brought aboard Justin Broadrick (Godflesh, Jesu, JK Flesh) for the painstakingly detailed mastering process, adding the mysterious vibrancy of cold morning mountain light that presages a conspiracy about to unfold. The album is completed with photography by Anonymous Soldier.
Stream VATICAN SHADOW’s “Taxi Journey Through The Teeming Slums Of Tehran” via YouTube HERE and Bandcamp where “Rehearsing For The Attack” is also playing HERE.
The first VATICAN SHADOW album to be released on a domestic label after a very prolific decade of existence, Persian Pillars Of The Gasoline Era will see release on CD, gatefold LP, and digital platforms through 20 Buck Spin on September 18th.
Find preorders at the 20 Buck Spin webshop HERE and Bandcamp HERE.
An unquestionable heaviness permeates the organizational structure of VATICAN SHADOW, never more apparent than on Persian Pillars Of The Gasoline Era, and while prior devotees of the scripture will continue to find it approachable, here now the doors have been flung wide open to an entirely new realm of memorialist iconography.
From performances in the Balkans, the Middle East, Mexico, Tasmania, Russia, Georgia, South America to recent tours across Asia, Fernow’s VATICAN SHADOW is a global entity reflecting the network of power designs/products that spread indelibly from the War on Terror and America’s involvement therein returning to haunt the decaying edifice of the West.
Fans of Muslimgauze, Prurient, Badawi, Raison D’Etre, Tangerine Dream, Justin Broadrick, Haxan Cloak, John O’Neill, Marc Sageman, and the like, stay tuned. Watch for full audio previews, preorders, and more to see release over the weeks ahead.
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