Hau Ruck SPQR
The Green Man :The Teacher and the man of Lie (I,2006)**'
I had to put away this release for a while before I got a better grip on the not too uplifting projected astral images. The Green Man with this conceptual release in fact pretty well expresses some aspect of the times around the birth of Christ, determined in feelings by Apocalyptic visions (and writings) with little hope or despair. The spoken word starts at first like mind-penetrating and indoctrinating doom, on a ritual rhythmic background (of hand drums and drums) and hypnotic, often Middle Eastern sounding acoustic and electric guitars looping and droning, as a mixture of post-wave psychedelia (electric guitars) and some neofolk simplicity (acoustic strums and keyboards, and of course returning minimal martial rhythms). The Green Man is like a new pilgrim who lost his way again, and only has his mind and visions along small traces of the past and certain books (Essenes). He returns the hours of doom, looking for a salvation, a vision, a saviour in Christ. When the female voice appears, once as spoken word, then singing, like Magdalena, this vision becomes more hopeful, an eventual spiritual as a real background before the curtain falls again with death and crucifixion. Never the less the thought of its resurrection leaves a trace like hope in the environment, whereas also in the concept the music was thoroughly changed, when within the drama some perspective was perceived, leaving this unclear what exactly it is.
PS. It is very much possible that Green Man’s viewpoint comes close to some aspects of true reality of certain past events, for me then this sounds like the least promising past in perspective to do something for the present and future, for there is something fatalistic about it. At the same time there has been visions struggling to survive from which we still are able to dig something from. The total reality never seems to be the most uplifting source of inspiration. People just tend to distil anywhere facts of practical determination as well as the most hopeful aspects...
