Do you like a bit of trip hop and acid wave with you dark synth? Then Brisbane’s Mercy of Dawn might be what you have been waiting for. December was the release for ROTM 2.5: Dark Pentecost /// Lux Infernum. Trust me when I say you cannot type that fast without checking. Mercy of Dawn is also the human behind experimental noise project Disfigured Mistress. I could tell you who this is but then I would have to zodiac mind wipe you all.
The album consists of eight tracks and we are going to focus on two that have trippy visualisers. “Neon Babalon /// Lux Mendax” encapsulates trip hop, mixing it with modern pop, along with ambient industrial noise. There is a female vocalist who would not sound strange in a top 10 popular radio single, though the track itself undulates between electronic tranquillity and peeling rhythms that go in and out of syncopation.
The title “The 6th Sun /// Lux In Absentia” is an interesting juxtaposition, where the 6th sun could refer to the Aztec calendar which is about awakening, however the Latin lux means light and absentia means absence. At times, there is almost a taste of the Middle East, exotic and intangible, within the hypnotic beats and repetitive flow that drift and beguile, though there is always something unsettling beneath all of it… something off kilter that gnaws at the back of your mind.
Ambient trip hop? Industrial modern pop? Why be confined to one genre when you can indulge?! I think in the end, only Mercy Of Dawn truly knows the deeper meaning within ROTM 2.5: Dark Pentecost /// Lux Infernum, and it does have a spiritual oddness, but that might just be the thing to scratch that itch.
Onyx Music Reviews 