Piscide - Anubis Empire : Beyond the Sphinx

A part of me feels like it's just frozen in time. Fitting, when you consider this album. Piscide (one of the most overlooked bands in history), consisting of Anke Scheffler and Markus Rink, have long impressed me with their previous releases - Illic Faralis, Elektroshokk, and Ex Inferis. After the release of "Ex Inferis", I felt in my gut that the band was at the absolute peak of their inventiveness. Oh, how I was wrong.

I hold, in front of me, a marketing wet dream. You see, to call this release just an album, is to call the technological advances of mankind an "effort".

This release is dedicated to Ancient Egypt, in its aesthetic, and nothing has been left short. This Golden Casket (who needs CDs anymore?) in front of me is limited to 10 copies worldwide. In it, you get the album (in a Golden DVD case), with lyrics imprinted in tiny text on an Egyptian style Papyrus. With it, you get images of the band dressed up as Pharoahs, and a magnifying glass to translate the lyrics.

Inside the box set is a t-shirt, and a multitude of incredibly well crafted items which make the passion of this band second to none. Golden scarabs, statues, bars... Anubis figures, a golden pen, as well as the obligatory posters and flyers. There's even a Golden Sphinx! I have never seen any band promote themselves in such a divine way. The only other band doing anything similar is Nile, but Death Metal isn't my thing anymore, and they stick to the music.

Don't go thinking that the album will come up short. It's 17 whopping tracks with more History than the Front 242 back catalogue. Whereas previous Piscide releases were Electro-Industrial, and Anke's unique voice gave it a recognisable taint, this is considerably more experimental. It's still Electro, but fused with Ambient. Necessary considering the concept.

The opener "Papyrus of Thoth" is both haunting and tragic, un-nerving and winsome. I can see this being more than just "songs about Egypt". Bring your children, it's story time.

"Among Mummies" is beautiful. It starts with a Wind Instrument playing a beautiful Egyptian style melody, then breaks into a sorrowful progressive number, which at times reminds me of "Alpha Male" by Royskopp. This has vocals which increase in volume as the song pans out, and towards the end, you can picture a camera zooming out from the Tomb of Tutankhamen, before exposing the entire Valley of the Kings in a beautiful Panorama.

"Just Bugs, Scarabs" is built around hypnotic Synth, while still fusing in the Egyptian style instrumentation. It's like a new genre called "Ramses Rave".

How many Industrial acts write song titles like "Horus, Eye In the Sky" and "Maat Ka Re"? I'm a firm believer that some cultures should be left alone, but the research and respect this has been given just manages to pull it off beautifully. It's like Nefertiti, Isis, Seth and anyother figure from Egyptology have approved this album themselves.

Admittedly, it isn't perfect, some tracks just aren't memorable, and other's seem lacking. But there's a good 11 tracks here that just blow me away, like the divine wind which is said to have ended these ages.

There's moments on here where you can't really dance to the beat, moments that are very subdued and ambient, and moments that are purely archaic and dated enough to make you think you are in 3000 BC. What's it like without Christianity?

Either way, I believe there's just ONE copy of this Casket left. The CD is permanently available though. I can't give this anything but the highest of accolades.

Anke, Markus, well done. Jun 13 2011