Current 93 - Black Ships Ate the Sky (2006, Durtro-Jnana)

Prophecy? False prophecy? Apostacy? No matter your opinion, David Tibet knows that Armageddon is coming and he's been sharing his own doomsaying gospel for thirty years. Here, he employs a central theme with Idumea, Charles Wesley's 1763 Methodist Hymn of doom and doubt.

"And am I born to die?
To lay this body down?
And must my trembling spirit fly
Into a world unknown -
A land of deepest shade,
Unpierced by human thought,
The dreary regions of the dead,
Where all things are forgot?"

"Soon as from earth I go,
What will become of me?
Eternal happiness or woe
Must then my portion be;
Waked by the trumpet's sound,
I from my grave shall rise,
And see the Judge with glory crowned,
And see the flaming skies."

There are eight fantastic versions of this death-addled hymn. With vocals by Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Antony Hegarty, Marc Almond, Shirley Collins, Baby Dee, Clodagh Simonds, Pantaleimon and Tibet himself. And with a cast of musicians like Ben Chasny, John Contreras, William Breeze, Michael Cashmore and Steven Stapleton (Nurse with Wound), this a recipe for disaster...er...which, in this context, is a success.

Each version of the hymn is surrounded by lovely and simultaneously disturbing tomes and drones which are composed and executed impeccably. He speaks of endtimes, its characters, their insanity and their virtues.

Once again, the sheer intensity of Tibet's sackcloth and ashes murmurs and dream-like wailings make the impending apocalypse appear oddly romantic.

"I am the black ship...I am the black ship."

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