WRAITHS & PYRAMIDS – Magpie & Raven

Years in the making, fraught with difficulty and still, even now, a bearer of bad blood and woeful tidings but Magpie & Raven is undoubtedly the most accomplished project Wraiths have been involved in as Pyramids, under the guiding eye of R Loren, manage to snatch a fragile beauty from the filth-smeared maw of Wraiths’ vileness…

Originally released on vinyl and tape by Aurora Borealis, Magpie & Raven is now available as a digital edition.

INCLUDED WITH THIS DOWNLOAD; the original Wraiths recording that forms the foundation of the track in both its edited and 50-minute full-length versions. These tracks were created from sound samples, provided by Pyramids and subsequently played through manual manipulation of a broken tape-player.

“Come here,” he said. “And I’ll give your flesh to the birds.” – 1 Samuel 17:44.

DR_1 – How Angels Fly On Burning Wings & Eternity Is The Death Of Time

Very much an outlier in the musical world of the Ordo, DR_1’s two EPs were released in our early days to little fanfare but contain some quite perfect moments of deep-space ambience and stand up even now. Both debut release How Angels Fly On Burning Wings (tracked here for a non-existent tape release) and follow-up Eternity Is The Death Of Time are now available on the Ordo Pestilentia Bandcamp for free streaming and pay-what-you-want download.

As much as How Angels Fly On Burning Wings’ slow crackles and wide bass-synths lull the listener into a zero-g stupor it is the blistering noise, rocket booster intro of Eternity Is The Death Of Time that sends them hurtling out through the solar system and off to the galactic fringes, where space-time itself starts to break down into hyperfoam and nothing.

Interplanetary, interstellar, intergalactic.

BRENNENDES GEHIRN – Epidemics Of The Modern Age

The only release on Ordo Pestilentia to not feature any musical input by label-magos Gaendaal is, sickeningly, perhaps one of our best. A dizzying, woozy journey into the kind of unpleasantly urban beats promulgated by the likes of Techno Animal and Dälek but with even more grime and detuned radio fuzz layered over the top. Voices echo from nowhere as strange rituals rumble up from the sewers.

Previously only available as in a now sold-out CD form and as stream-only, Epidemics Of The Modern Age is now available as a high-quality download from the Ordo Pestilentia bandcamp page.

Clemens Scheitz (2 September 1899 – 24 October 1980)

WRAITHS – Plaguebearer

As with our other releases, Plaguebearer is now available as a digital download from our Bandcamp page due to the physical copies, originally released by Paradigms Recordings, having recently sold out.

Described by the label as “haunting ritual evokation of all consuming, shape-shifting blackness; electronic ritual in spectral tongue” Plaguebearer is Wraiths at their most cohesive but perhaps also at their most threatening. Eerie horns echo in from the edges as wild drums beat under leaden skies.

“Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of Hell?” – Book of Matthew 23:33

WRAITHS – The Grey Emperor

In a series of updates, we are slowly making Wraith’s major releases available to stream through the Ordo Pestilentia Bandcamp page. Where available, the albums are also available to purches directly through the site. Limited numbers remain.

First up is The Grey Emperor, initially released in a wonderfully hand-constructed packaging by At War With False Noise. Described on release as “total ritualistic drone evil”, with later reviews calling it “as unsettling as an album can get” and “a post-apocalyptic second wave of nuclear holocaust“, this single track spans an hour of inhuman noise and dense, bass-driven scree.

a hymnal of utmost clarity…

Spectral Resonance

“Sound, both its presence and absence, is a key factor in ghost stories and tales regarding the paranormal; everything from archetypal ‘bumps in the night’ to the cryptic crackling of detuned televisions, from the clanking of chains to voices plucked from the ether itself have been used to build atmosphere and tension. Yet all of these, whether ignored, misunderstood or simply dismissed, act on the conscious mind. The footsteps heard in an empty corridor are as immediate and sensate as the sight of a shrouded figure in a moonlight graveyard, the smell of putrescence rising from an opened grave or the clammy touch of a long-dead hand. What then of the sounds we don’t know we have heard?” – Extract from “AS PHANTOMS WHISPER MIDNIGHT”.

Released in support of the article “AS PHANTOMS WHISPER MIDNIGHT: A brief introduction to the study and experience of Spectral Resonance” (Available here: wp.me/a3op73-3A), this minimal infrasonic texture is intended to aid investigators in researching the phenomena surrounding Spectral Resonance and related audio edge-experiences.

Investigators are encouraged to contact mail@ordo-pestilentia.co.uk to report any verifiable phenomena caused through the use of this recording but no responsibility is taken for any damage caused, physical or otherwise, or any lingering effects attributable to its improper use.

No intentional lyrical content. Voices or other related sounds may be generated spontaneously.

The Tax Man Cometh…

Like many independent providers of digital goods, we’ve been somewhat sideswiped by the new changes to EU VAT. Unlike many, we were aware of the upcoming changes but were under the belief that Bandcamp would be able to pay the charges directly on our behalf; this is currently not the case.

We believe that Bandcamp are doing everything they can to ease the burden and look forward to their proposed solution later in the year. We equally do not begrudge paying tax where it is deemed to be appropriate. However, the removal of exemption limits means that every sale we make within the EU will be eligible for the new tax, require tax returns to be completed and potentially mandate the capture of information about our customers. We are here to make music, not complete tax returns.

Many of our peers are therefore removing music from streaming sites because of this change. We don’t want to.

As of today, all of the Ordo’s musical offerings on the Bandcamp page have either been moved to streaming only (for a number of high-profile releases that took still-to-be-recouped investment to create) or free download. Once Bandcamp are able to deal with the VAT charges on our behalf, we will return to a small-charge download model. Unfortunately, this change means that the amended releases will no longer appear our our supporters’ pages. We apologise for this and are not entirely sure why this is the case. However, we feel that making sure the music is still available to be enjoyed is the most important thing.

We hope you agree. Many thanks.

EDIT: Bandcamp now administrate payment of the relevant taxes so Ordo Pestilentia releases are now being made available as digital downloads, as the physical copies sell out.

TENHORNEDBEAST / SIGILLUM DEI – Even Death Knelt Before Them

Digital-only split release between these two sonic monoliths. TenHornedBeast provide an abyssal howl of lingering textures and guitar-drone whilst Sigillum Dei work their alchemistry on a short sample of THB’s original to create a fog of radium clicks and mechanical rumblings.

Available now on the Ordo Pestilentia Bandcamp page for free stream and low-cost download.

Ehrenmal fur die Opfer der Arbeit…

KRAWWL / BARSHASKETH – Split Available For Pre-order

Blackened doom and doomed black soundsmiths KRAWWL and Barshasketh have their split tape, featuring artwork and design by Wraiths’ Gaendaal, available for pre-order from the Human Jigsaw Bandcamp page. Highly recommended!

SIGILLUM DEI – There Is A Father In The Sky, There Is A Mother In The Ground

Sigillum Dei’s ghost drone opus “There Is A Father In The Sky, There Is A Mother In The Ground” is now sold out at At War With False Noise and only a few copies of the tape remain in the Ordo’s vaults, so we have decided to make the track available for high-quality download on the Bandcamp site for only £3.

The download bundle also includes all twenty of the random insert images, only one of which was included with each of the tape versions.

Familiar notes on the Stars & Planets…