- Limited Double Gatefold Vinyl
- Combo Splatter Red & White Gatefold Vinyl (250 copies).
- Splatter Red & Black Gatefold Vinyl (250 copies).
- New Mastering by George Emmanuel (Pentagram Studio).
- Lay-out by Monica Richards
- 9 Bonus Tracks
- First time on vinyl.
- 180 gr vinyls.
“With : ankoku butoh : we felt we needed to take our work to a new level in music and touring. It wasn’t just an album for us, it was a full immersion of studying Japanese Shinto belief, organic instrumentation and dance. We released a serious package with a DVD featuring both videos and live footage from goth festivals. The live tours for 2009 and 2010 included live dancers, Taiko drums, and changing instrumentation. We felt we had finally reached the pinnacle of what Faith and the Muse wanted to achieve through the years. As the Cd has been out-of-print for a long time, I am very happy and excited to have it released on vinyl exclusively from The Circle Music!” - Monica Richards
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Oh how fortunate we are,
Strange creatures in this strangest time!
The Noble Primitives by choice
Seen from the outside with no regard
Disappointment in those watchful eyes
Shaking heads of the dim-lived lives
Such is their fear of breaking free
Keep our Truth under lock and key
All this will Change
All this will wash away the sins of the Corrupt Age
Don’t be afraid
We are the Underground
Their world is what they’ve made...
(Blessed - Faith and the Muse)
2009. It has been six years since their last album “The Burning Season” and Faith And The Muse strike again. It was preceded by the EP “Tatsu”, which foreshadowed what was to come. “: ankoku butoh :”
Thematically, this new album reflects elements of Japanese culture, and as we knew they would, they changed almost everything compared to the previous album. Abandoning the frequent references to Celtic mythology that once dominated their music, here they move on to exploring the ancient Japanese religion of Shinto and Butoh dance. A polytheistic and animistic religion, Shinto revolves around supernatural entities called the kami. The kami are believed to inhabit all things, including forces of nature and the land itself. With this as their adopted basis, Faith and the Muse are able to show that Shinto and Celtic Mythologies had so many similar elements that they stepped into this world with ease.
Opening this album like a Japanese fairytale, Monica Richards invokes a Yuki-onna, greeting us with angelic breathes in the opening piece: “The Woman Of The Snow”. Further, the instrumentals “Bushido”, “Harai” are a tribute to Japanese traditional music through Faith’s goth filter, (though also instrumental, “Kamimukae” is clearly a neoclassical stirring chant). Intoxicating vocals from Monica but also a William Faith like we’ve never heard before, spitting lyrics like curses (“Nine Dragons”) and guitars and drums that overwhelm the listener, creating completely unique atmospheres. With “: ankoku butoh :” they masterfully merge all their influences to the point where they have discarded the narrow confines of goth/darkwave, using only what they desire to rebuild and perfect it in their own image. Our favorites: “The Woman Of The Snow”, “Blessed”, “Battle Hymn”, “Nine Dragons”, “When We Go Dark”, “Kodama”, “She Waits By The Well”, “Sovereign”.
The last song of “: ankoku butoh :” is titled “To Be Continued”, so we can only stoically await their return, the continuation of such a special and legendary band. If this does not happen and the journey ends here, we have nothing but to thank them from the bottom of our hearts for the shocking moments they offered us. Five albums, each one better than the other. Five albums so different from each other, but with the common component of the immense quality of all their compositions.
Faith And The Muse is one of the most rare and influential Gothic, Darkwave acts ever to appear on the world music scene. Faith (William Faith), the multi-experienced and demonic composer of nightmarish riffs and Muse (Monica Richards) with that untouchable voice that raises even the dead and a world-music melodist in her own right. Together they created high-level Art and their own place in musical history.
They have our immense & eternal respect.
