TVLPA are an anonymous group of musicians from Gothenburg, Sweden. Their core members sorcerers working within the Draconian current of occultist Thomas Karlsson’s Left Hand Path initiatory order, the Dragon Rouge. A sigil of sound, each piece is assembled with intent, opening gateways and guiding the listener through passages inaccessible to all but the most resolute and fearless. What constitutes “Ritual Music”, really? The endless amounts of Ambient scores that serve as background fodder for little more than exercises in New Age meditation, or carefully constructed compositions that not only require the listener to meet them halfway, but to become an active participant? TVPLA are brazenly among the latter.“Mountain of the Opposer” is case in point. While undeniably Industrial in approach, there is a hypnotic quality to each of the nine tracks. Undulating electronic howls meet pulsating rhythms, voices appear as waning mist, ripple and swell, then recede into the murk. Subdued, diverging textures give way to intense, throbbing beats. I believe I even detected a didgeridoo. Nothing is true, everything is permitted. But alas, to preach only the cogitative applications of this release would be a disservice. There’s enough meat here to keep one occupied on a purely entertainment level. Aside from the Ambient pieces, there is a nod to the bygone days of the experimental Industrial vanguards.
