:Stalaggh:/:Gulaggh: Music From Damaged Minds
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If you're looking for the darkest, most disturbing music on the planet, look no further. One band have tried to capture in their recordings the depravity that is humanity, in experimental works that are so dark, that the label of "black metal" is a categorisation that doesn't do the creators of this musical madness justice. A genre that is littered with miserable leather clad plaid faced goths, who need to get over themselves. From suicidal gun totting religion hating pyromaniacs to dower clowns in white face paint, the genre has witnessed them all. But one band has pushed the aural aesthetic of the genre so far, that everything else pales into miserable musical insignificance. Although they do play with the nihilism of black metal, noise or danger music seems a more apt description of the music.
Prepare yourself for Gulaggh (often written as, :GULAGGH:), the band formerly known as Stalaggh, whose nihilistic motto is, "Existence is futile." An anonymous collective of Belgium and Dutch experimental black metal and ambient music artists, whose express desire is to induce utter despair in their listeners. As Stalaggh, they produced a trilogy of works that they themselves describe as, "Nihilistik Misanthropik Audio-Terrror." Each (projekt) album of the trilogy having its own concept. The first Projekt Nihil, was supposed to show the futility of existence, the second Projekt Terrror, unsurprisingly is supposed to induce terror in the listener. But it's the third part of the trilogy that is most infamous, called Projekt Misanthropia, is claimed to feature vocals from mental patients, that one of the band members works with. Through his work in an mental institute they were granted access to record patients, in what they said was a form of Primal Scream Therapy. |
After the release of the Stalaggh trilogy the band changed their name to Gulaggh and started work on another trilogy of albums. Where the works of Stalaggh were partly inspired by the Nazi (stalags) concentration camps, Gulaggh is inspired by the Stalin era prison camps (gulags) of Soviet Russia.The first one Vorkuta was released in 2010 and are to be followed by Kolyma and Norilsk. Each named after a Soviet era gulag. The concept of the new trilogy takes things to a whole new level of human depravity. Using institutionalised children and women in their work. In an interview the band explained their reasoning behind this. "In the Vorkuta Gulag camp there were many women and children, so it was very important to us to use them for the Vorkuta recording. The screams of women and children create a completely different atmosphere. The women we used are "mentally damaged women," rape victims and ex-prostitutes who had suffered a lot of violence."
For the second part of the trilogy, Kolyma, the band are using the screams of people born deaf. As they themselves explain, "Their screams are almost animal-like because they have never heard their own voice. The other interesting thing is they won't hear the screams of the others, so it will be much more chaotic." I guess the question with Stalaggh/Gulaggh must be, is it art? The band themselves are anti-art, stating that "Art is creative, we are destructive." However that's all just artistic posturing, as they appear to have their feet firmly planted in the tradition of Dadism, and the works of early industrial artists of the 1970s.
The band refuse to be photographed, and instead release drawings by one of the mental patients used in their recordings that he drew just before he killed himself. They state that once the second trilogy is complete they will disband, as their mission will be complete.
For the second part of the trilogy, Kolyma, the band are using the screams of people born deaf. As they themselves explain, "Their screams are almost animal-like because they have never heard their own voice. The other interesting thing is they won't hear the screams of the others, so it will be much more chaotic." I guess the question with Stalaggh/Gulaggh must be, is it art? The band themselves are anti-art, stating that "Art is creative, we are destructive." However that's all just artistic posturing, as they appear to have their feet firmly planted in the tradition of Dadism, and the works of early industrial artists of the 1970s.
The band refuse to be photographed, and instead release drawings by one of the mental patients used in their recordings that he drew just before he killed himself. They state that once the second trilogy is complete they will disband, as their mission will be complete.
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Stalaggh: Projekt Misanthropia (2007)
There are many wild claims about the authenticity of Stalaggh's most well known work. In an interview the anonymous collective stated that, "The reasoning for recording the mental patients is because the band really wanted the hatred and painful emotions to be REAL and truly felt. Also we wanted to recreate the situation of the Stalag concentration camps in sound. The next recording was the vocals session which took place in the chapel of an old monastery that was no longer in use. The acoustics and atmosphere of that chapel were perfect for recording the howls and screams of the mentally insane. It was very hard to get access to that chapel, but we told the owner that we were doing this as a kind of scream therapy for the mental patients and finally he gave us permission.” |
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Track Listing
1. Untitled (35:02) The single track album was released in a limited edition of 1000 hand-numbered copies, 25 copies came in special edition called Projekt Misanthropia - Risperdal Edition. Risperdal is an antipsychotic drug mainly used to treat schizophrenia. The limited edition contained an empty packet of the drug that the band claim was used by one of the mental patients who performed on the album. The special edition featured artwork drawn by one of the patients. |
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