According to the label, "frashogard" means "renewal" in Zoroastrian lore, and this project brings in some Persian influences to create the "soundtrack to military coups, rapid modernization, misguided faith, betrayals, and ultimately rebirth", stating that such references to Iranian history "are the key to understanding the essence of Sedaye Marg". Included within are 14 tracks of experimental electronics based heavily around reverberated percussion, loops, and drones. It's not "ambient" per say, but generally leans in that direction, as most of the tones are relatively clean and calm, but the arrangement and layering is a bit more bustling and grating, though definitely not harsh by any means. More sinister and controlled tracks like the eerie, throbbing "The Guard of the Immortals" are far more effective in their absence of percussive sounds in favor of mechanical whirrs and subtly melody undertones. The minimalism of the layering also works out nicely. Some pieces, such as "As Ctesiphon Fell Again" do have sort of a cleaner take on the classic death industrial sort of sound, getting a bit aggressive while retaining a shitload of density and ominous atmosphere, effectively integrating the percussion into the mix. "Exile" is the most simplistic selection, using only low bass hums and piercing feedback with some additional rumbling off in the distance - very hypnotic. While "Every Day is Ashura" is one of the only pieces to use vocal samples, though totally indecipherable they may be. The sound quality is very nice. Everything is clear for the most part, at times getting jumbled due to the busyness of matters, but always dense and warm. The layout is strangely uninformative. There are a few small color images of animals decoratively carved into stone, inside there are two black and white photos (one appears to be a theater that has burned up, and the other has some sandbags along a street), and the back of the booklet simply reads: "Electronics, tabla, zarb, and tape samples by Tirdad C.K. All tracks were written between February 2001 and October 2002." And that's really it, aside from the tracklist. Bizarre. At first I didn't think I was going to like this as I didn't enjoy the first two songs at all, but despite some weak tracks and a longer than necessary total running time, the strengths prevail in the end. I feel like the percussion is distracting to a degree, so I'm still bothered by a sizeable percentage of the material, but there are some exceptionally well executed compositions as well, so I'd be curious to hear more. If about 20 minutes worth of what I feel are the weakest tracks were cut, this would be a solid disc.
[Coup d'Etat]
Running time - 67:12, Tracks: 14
[Notable tracks: The Guard of the Immortals, As Ctesiphon Fell Again, Exile, Red Tulips Will Bloom From Our Blood]
Coup d'Etat Communications - http://www.coupdetat-comm.org
