Ophibre / Brian Grainger - No. 3 (Mirror Universe, 2009)

Ophibre - The Ascending Torque Aura


Big <3 to both Ophibre and Grainger. These two guys know their shit and make some of the best drone out there right now. This is the newest split of theirs, not to be confused with either of the two before it that were released on CDs. No. 3 is a tape coming from Mirror Universe and it's a real beaut.

Ophibre's side (the "black side") is epic mind expanding doom drone. Seriously, this is some wicked evil shit. Dark and ominous. It totally reminds me of Hexxus from Ferngully. Like if Lucio Fulci remade it, this is the music that would be the prelude to Hexxus' release. It's the kind of music that has mind control powers and it makes you keep turning it up louder and louder every other minute until blood streams out your ears. Which is to say, this track fucking rules.

Flip the tape over to the blue side and you're treated to Brian Grainger's "The Descending Crystalline Hand" which is a beautifully appropriate title for such a fantastic song. Definitely a much lighter affair than Ophibre's blackness but it still retains some sort of foreboding. The static that fills the air seems like it's just the gentle wash of waves. The thick drone however is quite similar to Ophibre's except there are hints of loveliness that are absent on the black side. And at 20+ minutes long, it's epic, nay divine loveliness. An absolute majestic fire breather of glory.

I can't get enough of either of these guys. Thanks god they're so prolific. I'm glad I can get my fix whenever I need it. However, just because they release a lot of stuff doesn't degrade the quality of each individual release. Quite the contrary. As seems the be the case with every new Ophibre or Grainger release, this is some of their best work yet. Yeah, I say that a lot. But that doesn't make it not true. This is a special tape. Special because it's fucking awesome.