Caesar
Al-Azif is not just an album, but a portal to unexplored dimensions of the human experience. Its notes echo in the emptiness of the soul, awakening ancient instincts and buried memories. It is a journey beyond reality, where the boundary between dreaming and waking dissolves, making way for a new perception of consciousness. www.versacrum.com/vs/2024/04/capricorni-pneumatici-al-azif.htmlFavorite track: Urem Temon.
Mike / Avant Music News
Capricorni Pneumatici applied a mix of instruments including sheets of metal, hammers, PVC pipes, air compressors, and corrugated tubes. The natural acoustics of the space produced the end result without the aid of post-production enhancements or overdubbing. In other words, the space itself was a hidden yet important instrument in developing the overall sound.
Lost Tribe Sound
Banging around in a massive concrete tank is about as industrial as a motherfucker can get. Incredible use of field recordings turned into something more tangible and composed. Also impressive, this dates back to 1987, yet holds its own if not surpasses most modern attempts of a similar design.
Sonologyst
The great thing is that this release, with recordings that are more than 35 years old, sounds very contemporary. A must for fans of occult drones that are related to early industrial (Luminous Dash, luminousdash.be/reviews/capricorni-pneumatici-al-azif-eight-tower).
Favorite track: Pneumocorrugato.
"Al-Azif" is the second work of Capricorni Pneumatici. Released on tape in 1987, the album was recorded in an underground location containing a group of vitrified cement tanks that created an extremely deep reverberation and amplification of sounds. The tanks were very large, some with a capacity of 500/800 quintals, others smaller. They had openings both above ground level and below the ground at depths of 5/6 meters. Thus, the sound had a very unique and impressive flow.
Among various instruments, Capricorni Pneumatici used sheets of metal, hammers, PVC pipes, air compressors, corrugated tubes, etc. The recordings were made with a Teac hi-fi tape deck and two Akai microphones suspended at different heights inside the tanks, directly connected to the tape deck. All recordings were made directly on the two-track recorder during the performance, without any digital or analogue intervention, and no overdubbing after recording.
The first seven tracks included in this reissue are the originals from the Al-Azif tape published in 1987, while the last four are part of the same recording session in June 1986, but were not included in the C45 for various reasons, mainly space constraints.
The Al-Azif tape had significant circulation (by the standards of the underground at that time), especially among enthusiasts of esotericism. Up to Ix Tab the tapes, in addition to being sold by the ADN label in Marco Veronesi's famous watchmaker's backroom, were also sold by an esoteric bookstore in Milan, circulating several hundred copies—an uncommon occurrence for such self-productions.
After the reissue of "Nibbas" (Eighth Tower Records, 2022), Al-Azif brings to light another jewel in the discography of Capricorni Pneumatici, one of the flagship projects of Italian industrial/esoteric underground in the 80s, alongside Ain Soph, Sigillum S, Rosemary’s Baby, LAShTAL, Thee Three Rings, and other representatives of this realm of sonic occultism.
Raffaele Pezzella
credits
released March 21, 2024
REVIEWS
Blow Up
Di elevato spessore i brani che si distendono su durate considerevoli, più funzionali alla pratica rituale, dalla rugginosa A-Phyi I alla tetra ambient di Urem Temon, con lenti battiti che conducono in misterici anfratti, sino all’inedita Cavità IX, tra tonfi, rumore, battiti e occulte presenze. Evidente l’impronta di Z’EV in Cavità IV e VII, vibrante Pneumocorrugato, orientata anche verso le esperienze di Test Dept. e Neubauten. (Paolo Bertoni)
This Is Darkness
Al-Azif is the second album from Capricorni Pneumatici. Originally released on tape in 1987, this has now been released on the Eighth Tower Records label to make it available to a wider audience. This is an album of deep, dark industrial ambient with an incredibly unique sound resulting from the fact that the album was recorded underground in location containing a number of large cement tanks. Fans of industrial / post-industrial ambient should definitely check out this classic album now that it has been re-issued. Wonderful stuff!
Guts of Darkness
A perfect witness of the audacity, the sense of experimentation, and the creativity of an Italian industrial scene that is too underestimated because it is pure, devoid of any temptation for recognition and wide dissemination, ‘Al-Azif’ is not without its longueurs, remains arduous and uncompromising in its approach, clearly not intended for all ears, but it is also one of those records that, beyond the music, offers a truly sincere esoteric approach (Capricorni Pneumatici define themselves as an esoteric research project). A physical and spiritual trip that prompts self-reflection, magnificently restored by passionate labels that thus contribute to the preservation of a unique musical heritage. Imagine the setting of Tarkovsky’s ‘Stalker’ but with the lights turned off…
www.gutsofdarkness.com/god/objet.php?objet=23465
