CHARLES BARABÉ
"Les Dernières Confessions" C41
(Orange Milk Records)




Last year, Charles Barabé, J.S. Truchy, Black Givre, Ant’lrd, and a whole host of other bad-ass acts came through to play at Life Changing Ministry for an all day, noise-tastiq fest…and I was in one foul mood; so shite that I’d decided I’d just go down there before the show started and buy a few tapes off CB & JST to show my support, and wish them luck before pedaling back home, popping the tapes in, and frowning myself to sleep. I think I bought about a dozen. All of them were and still ARE quite amazing.

So when Orange Milk Records released Charles Barabé’s endcap to this “Confessions…” series, mostly a schizophrenic mindfuck of conjuring all the world’s problems and solutions into one bewildering journey, well, I figured maybe I’d probably had enough works of his to digest for a lifetime and hey, I could just let this likely also brilliant piece go by and be none for the worse. Why try & catch up on ALL the action, right? Nope. This one was not to be missed, and I’m sooooooo grateful for the chance to review it! In my opinion, it’s been his best yet. As if I needed any more reason to love Orange Milk Records…

The charm here is the seamless interweaving of ‘90s symphonic Black Metal keyboard intros (in all their glorious, melodramatic, climactic clichés), ‘70s Synth-Heavy Slasher soundtrack atmospheres, and innovative, modern, timbre-centric compositions focusing heavily on precision tremolo effects and polyrhythmic baton-passings between engaging, diverse arpeggios and drones of ever varying overtones. Yeah, that rhymed, but I’m being sincere.

This Swan Song to CB’s “Confessions”… Series blew my mind, and I’m really at a loss for words on how incredibly dynamic it has revealed itself over the two dozen plus times I’ve now listened. The pitch-black narratives and juxtaposing chapter’d themes just keep on coming, with every repeated listen.

Headphones snug & eyes shut tight!

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