Chairete Daimones by Allerseelen

Chairete Daimones (Ancient Greek for Be Greeted, Demons) is the brand-new CD by Allerseelen after their successful 2015 release Terra Incognita. This beautiful digipak CD with its 16-page-booklet, published by Aorta / Indiestate in early 2019, is another catchy and driving chapter in the discography of this adventurous and ambitious Austrian project.

It has always been difficult to describe the music of Allerseelen as their oeuvre is not limited to just one genre: There seem to be dozens of them. No real expression key-word has been found to describe their apparently contradictory music. Some writers called it apocalyptic krautfolk or krautpop. This might work out as a rough approximation to describe some of their works, but definitely not for all of them. Most songs seem to exist inside an invisible field of force between genres like folk, post-industrial, pop, alternative rock. Nowadays, Allerseelen are musically situated somewhere between Coil, Einstürzende Neubauten, Laibach, Nine Inch Nails, 16 Horsepower and Throbbing Gristle. But: Allerseelen are definitely unique with their studio recordings as well as live performances - as unique as the audience that has been attracted by their performances all over Europe, in North America and Russia.

“There are two ways to reach me: by way of kisses or by way of the imagination. But there is a hierarchy: the kisses alone don't work.” (Anaïs Nin - a quotation in the booklet of Chairete Daimones)

Again, Gerhard Hallstatt and the other permanent members of the group - Christien H., Noreia, Marcel P. - invited some well-known guest musicians and vocalists who helped with their presence and skills to transform all seventeen songs on Chairete Daimones into real gems - each with its own and unique atmosphere and aura, its own "personality".

The 16-page-booklet - with all texts in German and English and partly even in Finnish - names these "dramatis personae": The female singers are Aima (Les Jumeaux Discordants, Italy), Estella Plunkett (Miel Noir, Germany) and Faye R. (Algeria, Miel Noir, Germany). The cello is played by Annamaria Bernadette Cristian (Les Jumeaux Discordants, Italy). A special neoclassic composition was written by Aida de Acosta (Keys of Perception, Venezuela) for Allerseelen. The bassist in almost all recordings is Marcel P. (Miel Noir, Fahl and other projects, Germany) who also took care of the mastering at his Dungeon Studio (Rhenania). Some songs have been mastered also at Soundtempel Studio. The violinists are Eugene Voronovsky (Cisfinitum, Russia) and Erich Zann (Kerbholz, Austria).
The male guest vocalists are Aki Cederberg (Halo Manash, Finland) and Thomas Bøjden (Die Weisse Rose, Denmark).

Chairete Daimones is Ancient Greek for Be Greeted, Demons. These daimons or demons are not the evil spirits that the monotheistic religions pretend to know. In pre-Christian antiquity they are usually good spirits, benevolent powers, closer to the Christian conception of guardian angels that take care of the humans. Chairete Daimones were also the words in an ancient Greek ritual in which wine was spilled into the air, on the earth or also on tombs as a libation, an offer for these demons. This ritual was again celebrated in autumn 1871 when Friedrich Nietzsche with some fellow poets and philosophers drank dark wine late at night. All of them drank just one half. It was the second half. The first half had been spilled as a sacrifice for the demons. Friedrich Nietzsche, who was not only philosopher but also a talented composer, has always been a strong influence for Allerseelen. His words became flesh in numerous of their songs.

The temple on the cover and in the booklet of Chairete Daimones shows the neoclassic Theseustempel in the heart of Vienna in a cold winter night. In summer this temple is surrounded by thousands of roses. In winter these roses are hidden under sand-coloured bags to protect them from the cold. This hibernation makes them look like monks or mummies of a secret brotherhood or sisterhood that seem to wait, to expect a command, an order, a word. On the CD itself one may see dry herbs from Bulgaria that are burnt inside another neoclassic temple, a war memorial in the woods around Vienna named Husarentempel.

“The camera cannot compete with painting as long as it cannot be used in heaven or hell.” (Edvard Munch - another quotation in the booklet of Chairete Daimones)

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