There’s a sense of stepping into the unknown with Viels‘ latest release Destino, as if the shadows between sounds conceal something ancient. This exceptional four-track voyage on his own End of Perception label follows his works on Oscar Mulero’s Warm Up, Psyk’s Non Series, and Edit Select Records. The EP isn’t just music; it’s a ritual, and already lists supporters such as Marcel Dettmann, Josh Wink, Kangding Ray, Pfirter, Svreca, Tensal, amongst others.
“Primo Respiro” opens like a first breath after exile. The title suggests life, but the soundscape is fogged and otherworldly. Echoes circulate like distant voices in an abandoned corridor, while staggered percussion pulses faintly, as if unsure it should be heard at all.
“Movimento Tellurico” stirs the ground. It’s a tectonic shift disguised as groove, pressurised and disoriented. Bubbling textures rise like gases from a chasm, while cymbals ripple in and out of phase like reflections in broken glass. Everything here hints at movement, but none of it feels human.
With “Incompleti,” we plunge further. This is subterranean music, dub techno with a spirit both deep and disembodied. Modular bleeps flash like sonar across endless cavern walls. The rhythm doesn’t lead, it lurks and mesmerises.
The title track, “Destino,” feels like a cryptic resolution. It drives, yes, but only to somewhere just beyond reach. Hints of form, splinters of structure, none of it tangible, like the destination is always ahead, but just out of view.
Viels has created something here that isn’t easily explained. Destino doesn’t speak, it whispers, and what it leaves unsaid might be the most compelling message of all.
- Reviewed by Jack! Who? for deathtechno.com
