Almost in the beginning was the Murderer...

...according to the opening lines on Current 93's new album, Aleph At Hallucinatory Mountain, just announced for an early May release. Apparently scaled back from the typically ambitious original plans (three albums) to a single release with eight tracks, albeit in the usual wallet punishing array of superspecial limited editions, the latest version of C93 is the first one for years without the input of principal instrumentalist Michael Cashmore, substituting instead a bewildering cast including guitarist James Blackshaw (presumably in the Cashmore role), Coil's Ossian Brown, harpist/singer Baby Dee, porn actress Sasha Grey (that's right), mental person Andrew WK, Rickie Lee Jones, Andrew Liles and, inevitably, Nurse With Wound's Steven Stapleton. 

Unknown whether chief mad person David Tibet's recent thing for Om/Sleep style doom metal will make its way to the music; last year's presumed sneak preview EP Birth Canal Blues was mainly piano driven, albeit with the occasional blast of tape loop and the unforeseen introduction of Nivek Ogre style vocal treatments. Lyrical content is presumably the usual blend of nursery rhyme imagery and screaming religious apocalypse, unless by some chance Mr WK has brought along the goodtime beer drinkin' party vibe, which I can't see, myself. 2006's Black Ships Ate The Sky was occasionally brilliant but desperately long and eventually somewhat monotonous  - hopefully the eight tracks suggests a tightly edited effort as opposed to a series of 10-minute plus epics...

First 93 seconds of the album are available for download via Canadian label Jnana Records. Those needing more free Current 93 might look to the unlikeliest of sources, this month's Mojo Magazine, the cover disc of which apparently includes the Nick Cave collab version of "All The Pretty Little Horses" off the classic 1995 album of the same title. Next month, Rolling Stone with a Crass flexidisc, one presumes.