umberto: confrontations

Kansas City’s goblin king of neo-Giallo, brood-blooded dark fantasy soundtracking returns with his fourth official full-length, two years after the badass psychodrama of Prophecy of the Black Widow. The time betwixt was well spent, on tours (Europe twice, including the Mogwai-curated All Tomorrow’s Parties fest), one-off tapes and 12-inches (Welcome to the Chill Zone, Final Exit, etc.), and tweaking the mixes and minutia of the seven undead invasion omens comprising Confrontations. What instantly distinguishes this new album from the previous is its ominous, slow-burn compositional model, building its evil temple brick by brick, basking in the tension of each new chiming, Carpenter-esque synth line or monkish doom Om for multiple measures before stirring the next substance into the cauldron. This elegant sense of patience gives the tracks a more oozing, operatic aura; these confrontations aren’t hostile showdowns in the woods but the creeping dread of alien-nation body snatchers infiltrating the populace. Death comes slipping. Can someone hire this genius to score the They Live remake already?

Umberto "Night Fantasy" by XLR8R