In at least one prior interview, Dominick Fernow a.k.a. Vatican Shadow clarified his perspective vis-à-vis the words and images that he’s chosen to associate with that particular moniker, and he was more or less unequivocal about his positional abstention from controversial geopolitical issues. The words and images conjuring fear and terrorism are instead borne from an interest in the contemporary “spy game” that’s generally conveyed by all sorts of players, but we’re kidding ourselves if we pretend that the media as a whole doesn’t play a huge role in the narrative that “shit’s going down, and everyone’s secretly complicit.” Is that CNN I’m watching, and if so, why is the theme to House of Cards subtly playing in my mind background?
Cue Vatican Shadow directly “calling out” the media with the title of his just-announced album Media In The Service of Terror, out this Friday, June 10, on Fernow’s own Hospital Productions. The release follows a collaborative Vatican album that he did with Function back in 2014, and it’s hard not to remember the innards-turned-to-stew effect brought about by Fernow’s 2015 release under the Prurient name, Frozen Niagara Falls (one of our favorite albums from that year). The techno sound is a quench, no matter how hard things still are.
Media’s June 10 digital release will precede a cassette version plus a special edition release containing a 100-page mini newspaper. Here’s the track “More Of The Same”:
Media In The Service of Terror tracklisting:
01. Ziad Jarrah Studied Mathematics
02. More Of The Same
03. Take Vows
04. Wherever There Is Money There Is Unforgiveness
05. Interrogation Mosaic
06. Take Vows (The Inevitable Bitterness Of Life)
07. More Of The Same (Tunisia)