Kreng – Works for Abbattoir Fermé

When you realise that Kreng translates to ‘Carrion’ (or ‘Cadaver‘) and Abattoir Fermé means ‘closed down slaughterhouse’ , you know that you’re obviously not going to get a gentle new age treatment with this release.

Following his two widely acclaimed previously releases L’Autopsie Phénomenale de Dieu (2009) and Grimoire (2011), Miasmah has now released a massive 4×12″ LP (+ 1×10″ that is not included in the digital download) boxset featuring music that Pepijn ‘Kreng’ Caudron created for various Abattoir Fermé theatre productions.

The set contains more than 3 hours of music (and that’s not even counting the 10″ containing music for the  “Monster” TV-series!).

This music is “not for the faint of heart”. Definitely not. These sounds, in fact, may very well haunt you in your most frightening nightmares.
But as for cinematic (dark) ambient music, this is about the best, and most impressive, you will be able to find.

Abattoir Fermé is a theatre company from Mechelen, Belgium, “focussed on social outcasts and freaks and using influences ranging from dadaism to the modern horror film, looking for ‘the world behind the world’”.
Internationally, they are most known for their ‘silent pieces’ like ‘Tourniquet‘ (2007), ‘Mythobarbital’ (2008) and ‘Monkey’ (2011) – from which plays the soundtracks are featured in this set, along with the music from ‘Snuff’.

Every play is featured on two single album sides each about 23 minutes in length. Most of the material is previously unreleased, although some of the sample fragments may sound familiar from Kreng‘s earlier releases.

Pepijn Caudron has restructured the individual samples to create extended compositions that carefully build up in tension and style.
Though they were created for different events, the tracks are sequenced in such a way that thay could also have have been one single composition. Starting from a slow, dark drone in Tourniquet, the tension is unmistakenly building: ominous drums, suspenseful cinematic strings, fanfare drums. Monkey gradually slows down again, but its quiet ending is also a misleading trap, since the set ends in a distorted dance beat with the volume way up to over 11.

“Caudron finally has the space he deserves to show his musical scope and reach. The theatrical reference point is appropriate, but Caudron’s scores are never tempted by the vaudeville, rather they evoke a similar mood that Alan R. Splet and David Lynch achieved in ‘Eraserhead’ or Howard Shore in ‘Videodrome’. There is a sense of widescreen without any of the usual tropes, and this is simply a testament to Caudron’s veteran’s touch.”

“Works for Abattoir Fermé” presents a dark ambient symphony of Wagnerian proportions. A classic – definitely!

Note: the ‘impression mix’ below is created from small parts of the original tracks – it does not appear on the album set in the way it is presented here.

KRENG – WORKS FOR ABATTOIR FERMÉ (Impression Mix)

– Also on Spotify