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Acéphale

by VORTEX

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  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card
    Download available in 24-bit/44.1kHz.

      €9 EUR  or more

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Edition of 300 copies in 4 panel Digipak with 12 page Booklet.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Acéphale via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Download available in 24-bit/44.1kHz.
    ships out within 2 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      €14 EUR or more 

     

1.
L'érotisme 02:57
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2.
Les larmes d'éros 07:44
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3.
L'impossible 09:42
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4.
L'expérience intérieure 08:41
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5.
Le bleu du ciel 03:06
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6.
Le sacré 10:04
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7.
L'anus solaire 01:24
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8.
Acéphale 05:18
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9.
Wiegenlied 13:36
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about

With Acéphale, German ritual ambient project VORTEX delves deeper into the mythic undercurrents of philosophy, ritual, and sound. The album continues the band’s ongoing exploration of aural mythology through subtle drone compositions, ritualistic percussion, and an overarching sense of psychosexual tension.

Taking inspiration from the work of Georges Bataille, Acéphale evokes the forbidden energies at the heart of human experience. In the 1930s, Bataille founded both a journal and a secret society under the same name Acéphale (“headless”), centered on the image of the headless god, a symbol of rebellion against reason, hierarchy, and political authority. Through this figure, Bataille envisioned liberation from the “servility of reason,” embracing immanence, transgression, and the chaotic freedom found beyond control.

VORTEX founder Marcus Stiglegger, a long-time scholar of Bataille’s philosophy, channels these concepts into sonic form, crafting an immersive experience that oscillates between death and desire, ecstasy and dissolution. The album invokes the sacred that emerges from transgression: the body freed from hierarchy, the spirit confronting its own excess.

Musically, Acéphale marks a return to VORTEX’s dark ambient origins, brooding textures, processed field recordings, eerie voices, and ritual drum patterns that follow the unsettling rhythm of desire itself. Within this vortex, order and chaos intertwine, producing an atmosphere both meditative and confrontational.

The release features guest vocal performances by David S. (Dawn + Dusk Entwined) and explicit photographic artwork that mirrors the album’s themes of sacred eroticism and sacrifice.

Included is a 12 page booklet with extensive linear notes by Bataille specialist Jack Sargeant.

Acéphale stands as perhaps the most sublime and conceptually charged VORTEX release to date, a work that summons the listener into the ritual of the headless god.

Edition of 300 copies in 4 panel Digipak with 12 page Booklet. 9 Tracks. Running Time 62:40

credits

released November 7, 2025

license

all rights reserved

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