Black Ships Ate the Sky – Current 93
Black Ships is everything I could ever want from an album. Unusual styles. Big names collaborating with lesser known artists. Weird lyrics. Concept album.
I like to listen to this album when I’m feeling poorly or low. Meditative, the album reaches into the dark recesses of one’s psyche and stirs up visualisations of terrifying times. This makes me think of the classic woodcut from 16th Century Basle which depicts the aerial battle between black spheres and white spheres.
Of course it has nothing to do with that event, that is just me. The actual album has some manic tracks that invoke panic and fear interwoven with artists like Marc Almond, Bonnie Prince Billy and Anthony (of Johnsons fame) singing versions of the 1763 Methodist hymn “Idumæa” by Charles Wesley.
If you want your music to make you feel unusual, this album will do it for you. I suggest that you avoid consuming anything too psychotropic when you’re listening to it though. Some of the tracks and lyrics can be too stressful.
Stegzy's Music Project 