Hail Conjurer – Anti-Dualist Action [Compilation]

In between 2021’s ‘Sinister’ and ‘Earth Penetration’, released in 2022, the prolific one-man unit Hail Conjurer released two demo tapes with the titles ‘Anti-Dualist’ and ‘Lunar Action’. Both were originally released by the Into Endless Chaos Records label from Germany in a rather narrow quantity of 65 copies. Both of these demos are now compiled on one shiny silver disc by the band’s long term companion of Bestial Burst. Anyone who has been into the band’s curious and mind-bending work already knows what to expect, for those new to Hail Conjurer: brace yourselves for some unorthodox and delirious Black Metal.

The CD begins with the three tracks of ‘Lunar Action’, and although these recordings are obviously a bit older than those of the recently released albums, they fit perfectly within the impressive body of work that Hail Conjurer put forth – both then and now. The eerie base of Black Metal, heavily laced with elements of Doom, Drone, Noise and electronics again make this rather short demo a testament to the genius of the Finn. Especially ‘Blood Tongue’ is a downright excellent track that with its minimal, low-key start and prominent grunting vocals slightly reminds of a far more spacy and advanced ‘Sear Me’ (of the 1992-released My Dying Bride debut album).

The three tracks of ‘Anti-Dualist’ make up for the remainder of the CD, together clocking in well over 30 minutes, and serve you with a significantly rougher side of the band. Not only does the Black Metal part of the music sounds more crude and raw, not unlike Ildjarn, but also the Noise and electronics are far more prominent, allowing the music to truly hit savage ground. The pummeling tempo of the opening track, simply called ‘Anti-Dualist I’ belongs to the more brutal tracks from the past few years and reminds of the band’s earlier recordings, ‘Erotic Hell’ (2019) more specifically. ‘Anti-Dualist II’ has this similar drive in tempo, but ends up in a bit more atmospheric vibe and eventually leads to ‘Anti-Dualist III’. That closing song starts off with some downright unnerving (Black)Noise, but slowly transgresses into a doomy track that exudes all the gloom that later tracks seem to be rooted in.

As usual, ‘Anti-Dualist Action’ is not quite fodder for the faint of heart or for the narrow-minded, those should rather stick to their Darkthrone or Watain records. Yet, anyone willing to take an adventurous dive into a world without musical barriers, but equally dark and sinister as anything in Black Metal – if not darker and more sinister, should definitely get into their swimsuits and take the plunge.