[Reviewed by Peter Marks]
The realm of Numina is a desolate place; these seven pieces orient and then guide us through the remnants of times long gone. People you have known, lives which at one point you interacted with raise up before your very eyes; a valley of slowly lifting mist which ebbs and flows not based on physical constraints but by the subtle nuances only grief and loss can provide. Do not play this in hopes of being taken to a better fate. One drifts endlessly with nothing but their own regrets to anchor them. If you’ve seen the classic horror movie ‘The Beyond’ then what Numina have crafted will make perfect sense.
This is where souls without a home wander, where there is no sun and yet somehow an eerie pallor is cast over the land.
I think he’s somehow been within this void and put his experiences there down in aural form. There’s quite a bit more to what’s on here besides what the overpowering drones and elusive shards of melody would indicate. A vast, formless wasteland in which the phantoms of the dead wait for the next phase of their existence only to have that door slammed in their face again and again. No one is coming to make this end, what is before you is what will endure; I’d like to believe that this sort of place is where all the faithful who haughtily claimed to know the mind of their god are going to wind up.
No, there will not be torment and endless gnashing of teeth… just the dull, maddening passage of millennia trapped in between the states of life and death. Welcome to oblivion, now enjoy the view. Have any complaints? Scream as long and as loud as you like, no one will answer. Given the state of our world where everybody has to stay in constant contact and demands instant replies, this is the worst possible outcome imaginable ; I do not expect that there’s much of a demand for this kind of material but Numina continue to provide it and I think I can work out why.
A little dose of poison everyday accustoms one to it, allowing the individual to endure and embrace what would kill anyone else. This artist has quite a few doses for you to imbibe. I come away from hearing this and find I’ve got a smile on my face but not due to any juvenile nihilism: ‘Through the Gate to Nowhere’ is a wanton acolyte of emptiness, it is the siren song of ruination. Despite the trend over the last few years in the underground to strike some kind of devil’s deal with popular culture, Numina will have none of it. Keep your ephemeral rewards and your temporal accolades dispensed by egocentric celebrities, this is a journey into the mind where the guardrails have long since been removed. Don’t doubt the sincerity of what is contained herein just surrender to this balefully engaging release and find yourself renewed by it’s dissonant lullaby.
For no matter how dark it becomes, there is a light emanating from within. It is yours to command, should you stretch out your hand and move beyond doubt.
Numina – Through the Gate to Nowhere
Relaxed Machinery, rM_0049
CD/Digital 2015
Santa Sangre 