Exactly one year after the release of the first part of the Northwest trilogy entitled Totem One, the MASTER MUSICIANS OF BUKKAKE come up with the next chapter simply entitled Totem Two. Unlike the predecessor Totem Two is a pure instrumental monolith, no guest vocals this time. Only the choirs at the end of the album are kept.
With the drone-like guitars scaled down, this release focuses instead on many folkloristic instruments such as chimes, flutes, vibrating bells, cymbals, other wind instruments and percussions. During the 12 minutes running opener Bardo Chonyid/Master Of All Visible Shapes all these instruments and its harmonics swell to an incredibly mesmerizing and mighty twister. But when you expect an eruption into this kind of tribal-like rhythms as in Shism/Prism on Totem One, you will be cheated by the liberating climax. Musical tension gets just gently relieved. Getting deeper Perde Kaldirma offers ethnic folk music that wafts from the plateaus of North-, Middle- or South America and alternatively might bring tribal vocals of (American) Indians, Aztecs or Incas to you. Following Heresy Of Origen again turns and comes with organs, strings and brasses adding a morbid touch to this song. It's like a soundtrack to a funeral. After a short interlude Totem Two closes with Patmos, somewhat of a serene song with choirs but a quite disharmonious break in between.
Now the question raises: is Totem Two the calm after the storm or the calm before the next storm? And what to expect from Totem Three?