The Pant Y Meddygon-stables only produce intriguing acts, in which the musical boundaries fade somewhat and actually turn out to be of little importance. Several releases from this Czech/Swedish underground label have already passed by on the pages of VM-Underground and not once have I been disappointed with the work on offer. Nor is that the case with this very obscure gem from, I assume, the Czech Republic.
Who or what is behind this act is unknown to me, but the music offers so much for yet another fascinating journey that takes you straight into the past via a cosmic trance. The raw and primitive riffs and staccato drums put you in a kind of dreamlike state that is further enhanced by the beautiful piano melody that crawls into your ear canal like an earworm and never comes out. The four untitled tracks, bunched together two-by-two, last just over ten minutes, but they seem to last an eternity – and in this case, that is (more than) a good point. In terms of mental impact, the use of those subtle, somewhat Dungeon Synth-like, melodies are akin to the long-drawn-out tracks of Burzum’s ‘Filosofem’. The repetitive patterns give the whole thing a very powerful and mesmerising ritual character. This also suits the intentions with which these fascinating recordings were crafted. Szmej comes with the a piece of accompanying text, which translated from Czech means the following: “Where in the Bronze Age a hut of ancient people stood, today I perform the ritual to restore the consciousness and memory of this place“. This musical ritual is one of extraordinary beauty with overwhelming power. However, if Google Translate is to be believed, ‘Szmej’ means something like ‘laughing’, which is not quite the first emotion that comes to my mind when listening (repeatedly) to this impressive little epic.
