A6 hand coloured carton sleeve, with 5 inserts, ltd to 99 numbered copies.
Artwork by Gianluca Martucci and Aimaproject
Show Me Your Wounds Production – LESION # 0005
Includes unlimited streaming of Kosmikia
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Originally released in MMXI by Show Me Your Wounds Production as an A6 hand coloured carton sleeve, with 5 inserts, ltd to 99 numbered copies.
Review on "Heathen Harvest Webzine"
“Kosmikia” is, simply put, one of the most beautiful releases that I’ve ever seen in terms of pure artwork (not construction). The release comes packaged as a simple natural-toned (tannish) A5-sized gatefold sleeve whose contents fit snugly within a folded and glued pouch. The print is black with hand-painted shimmers of gold throughout the release that come out as fireflies or stars on the front cover and as a golden astral experience elsewhere. The contents include a professionally duplicated CD-R and five inserts that each contain a printed image that has been drawn specifically for this release. Each insert is printed on both sides and each image represents one track on the album, with the exception of one side of one card which reproduces the front cover without the gold presence. All images accurately reflect the spirit of the track title, though some — especially the Earthen subjects — are straight forward (“Caverna”, “Deserto”) while the unearthly subjects are obviously a bit more abstract (“Janua Inferi” [or "Gate/Door to the Underworld"], “Janua Coeli” ["Heaven's Gates"]). Perhaps the most interesting image is that for “Luogo di Morte”, which translates to “Place of Death”. A body is plainly seen in fetal position, but an ouroboros wraps itself around the body, creating an embryo-like shell, signaling the cycle of death and rebirth.
Of course, one could easily wonder what “Kosmikia” needs with these various subjects — after all, it seems to visually lean towards the spherical, space-drone side of industrial whereas the track titles spell out a textbook Urna experience. I suppose in this case, it would be best to see the album as reaching even beyond the cosmos to incorporate, literally, everything as the arrows on the front cover would subtly hint. Everything in the physical world, in the heavens, in the known and the unknown, in the conscious and subconscious, in life and after (and before). A theme beyond time and reason. An epic journey. Much like it’s predecessor, “Kosmikia” opens up slowly, only this time one a darker and more minimal level, focusing on deep mantra-like groans and foreboding, distorted high-end drones that come off as mildly abrasive. Later texturing of the track includes serpent-like noises, from long hisses to rattles. Cloaca is a word for an ancient sewer and is the next track heralded, featuring much the same dense droning qualities that the first track held. It’s highly oppressive, filling the room with a wall of sound. Suffocating, like the noxious fumes that would develop in such a setting. “Tempio Magico” is understandably a little less demanding, featuring a large amount of monk-like voice synth and a very modest touch of industrial influences. “Luogo di Morte” is even less tenebrous, focusing on a minimal Eastern melody that makes the track feel more ‘new age’ than anything. It would seem that there is a great variety of style here, albeit mostly seen through subtle shifts. In spirit, however, the music reasonably matches our interpretation of the album title.
VRNA is Italian post-apocalyptic composer Gianluca Martucci. Using a wide variety of folk instruments, atmospheric recording
environments and electronic manipulations, he has truly stretched the microverse of VRNA
to reflect the vacuous psychedelia of an ancient mind casting spells in a modern world....more
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