Not Not Fun

UMBERTO – ‘CONFRONTATIONS’ CD/LP
Kansas City’s Goblin king of neo-Giallo brood-blooded dark fantasy soundtracking returns with his fourth official full-length, two years after the badass psychodrama of Prophecy Of The Black Widow. The time betwixt was well spent, on tours (Europe twice, including the Mogwai-curated ATP fest), one-off tapes and 12 inches (Welcome To The Chill Zone, Final Exit, etc), and tweaking the mixes and minutia of the seven undead invasion omens comprising Confrontations. What instantly distinguishes the new album from the previous few is its ominous slow-burn compositional model: each track builds its evil temple brick by brick, basking in the tension of each new chiming Carpenter synth line or monkish doom Om for multiple measures before stirring the next substance into the cauldron. This elegant sense of patience gives the songs a more oozing, operatic aura; these confrontations aren’t hostile showdowns in the woods but the creeping dread of alien-nation body snatchers infiltrating the populace. Death comes slipping. Another crucial keystone in the occult arc de triomphe of Umberto’s deepening discography. Can someone hire this genius to score the They Live remake already? Black vinyl LPs in X-filed highway cover artwork designed by Dionysian KC visualist Tim Goodwillie. Edition of 750.

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