Houses of the Holy
The City Lies in Ruins is the debut release from the combined talents and contrasting musical backgrounds of Massimo Pupillo (bass, also of Italian experimental rock band Zu), David Chalmin (guitars, electronics) and Raphael Seguiner (drums).
The cover photography by Umberto Nicoletti looks, (admittedly to biased eyes), to be the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland with its massed ranks of basalt columns being lashed by waves while a lone man looms in the background. Hipgnosis with a dash of Anthony Gormley. Very post-rock.
The cover does point the way to the music as it mixes monumental and patient arrangements with moments of power and spectacle. Opener Hole in the Sky is not unfortunately a cover of the Black Sabbath banger instead, it pulsates with Swans like threat striking a seventies prog stance with their mantra of “stars above you, galaxies around you.” Delicate rock that doesn’t rock of There Are Weapons follows while A Gift is like a compressed film soundtrack and injects some drama to proceedings with its noisey surge of guitar and jarring drums. “How does it feel to be one of the last human beings?” asks a voice on The Spell presumably referencing the naked bloke on the record cover. It feels like the sound Chalmin's guitar makes as he channels David Gilmour to end the album.
Delicate, patient, but like the rocks that mark the cover after being initially unmoved by what seemed like a genre piece on the first listen, The City Lies in Ruins tapped away revealing more layers and sounds to create an immersive and rewarding record.