Actus

SACRO SANCTUM - Actus [CR23]. Available from Cthulhu Records, Postfach 200465, 47424 Moers, Germany.

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THIS one is up there with the greats . . . or should be. These fine Romanesque athems from Hungary are dished up with true passion and vigour, and teem with originality and flair. ACTUS are not afraid to experiment, either, and this attitude is displayed throughout as Bach-like keyboards interchange with piano melodies and mingle with strumming guitar and spoken vocals alongside a gripping chorus (Introduction - Rome); the sound of a distant trumpet competes dramatically with the clash of cymbals (Spiritual Imperialism); an organ hums in true Tubeway Army fashion amid thumping drumbeats and haunting female vocals (A Hai Ku); urgent lyrics swirl in an Eastern cocophony mixed with something akin to the tune Depeche Mode never wrote (Babel Pit); thoughts on freedom and chaos overlap a tinkering rumble of anti-Christian menace (A Song Against the Armies of Luther, Milton and the Others); a whistling call to arms with a military snare adds a light disco beat to the ongoing recruitment of the neo-Jungian elite (Total Mobilisation); a brief Evolian interlude gives a hypnotic touch to a short Tantric instrumental (Riding the Tiger); morbid obsessions help to launch a well-aimed volley of guitar-riddled stanzas towards the selfish face of the monotheistic god of Xtianity (Introduction To the Science of Death); a commitment to self-conquest betrays the dark beauty that permeates a musical ode to the Faustian urge (Solipsismus Absolutus); eternal philosophies are declared in a Latin chorus surrounded by eerie horns, Enya-like percussion and pounding drums (Affirmation and Philosophia Perrenis); and a Colloseum fanfare with churchbells and Wild West foot-tapper herald the great Nietzschean truths of strength over weakness (A Hymn For Nemesis). Actus are the spirit of avant-garde Europa.