Ontario Blue Shine

Behind on your devil worship? Well, help is at hand. Just play this CD whist performing your next sacrifice and all will be forgiven. Ontario Blue is the name taken by Stephen Pennick who is half of the group Endura. Endura really are the masters of no-way-out dark desperation. All the classic Endura trade marks are here - satanic and half heard vocals set against a tapestry of atmospherics and sound effects. This album is not quite as dark as Endura and contains more in the way of melody which will make it more accessible but if anything the menace is even more than before. ‘New Beginnings’ sets the scene with wonderfully dark atmospheric synth forming a blanket for a satanic poem. After a couple of minutes the poem ominously dies away and a haunting piano melody pulls you down but then lifts you up again as it is joined by a sympathetic rhythm. ‘Chant of the Forgiven’ moans along with laid back tribal drumming providing structure until some heavy string stabs up the anti. ‘Mara’s Daughters’, with its almost angelic chords, forms a bridge to the next track ‘Lost City’ with what sounds like a prayer in a strange language. Washes of synth and strange mutterings form underneath. More angelic sounding chords can be found at the beginning of ‘Change’, a quiet rhythm from a deep cavern then takes over. Another dark poem is centre stage though I hardly think it is a sonnet. The sound of a lone bell can be heard at the beginning of ‘Shadows’ then we get what could only be the song of some poor tormented sole complete with a melancholy piano melody. ‘Don’t Weep for Me’ uses a sweet acoustic guitar melody accompanied initially by some mad, almost childish, vocals. Proper words are chanted over the top but they are not exactly encouraging. ‘Memories of Tomorrow’ is another atmospheric bridge leading us to ‘This Mortal Coil’. With its beautiful plucked melody and the vocal passage saying “living is easy, dying is hard” it is my favourite track on the album. A sequence runs along and then an aggressive rhythm comes in as the singer cries “I want to live!”. What is this, optimism? Surely not! ‘Kali in Mine Eyes’ even sounds as though it is a poem from someone who has left the dark side behind and has painfully worked himself to the light, but no - he gets dragged down to the depths again. ‘Rise’ is an orchestral sounding number that rounds off the album. So to sum up, a wonderful album for all those who have a wide definition of EM. Sort of Endura without the impaled virgins. (DL)

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