Obsession Diabolique

about this album

“Covering the Orient, the Middle-East, Western culture, the Unknown and the Unspoken” – the perfect subtitle for Ah Cama-Sotz’ 2013 album, which covers all of these aspects, summarizing and enhancing all which has made this project a prime act in the Post Industrial scene in the past two decades. Ah Cama-Sotz is known as the brainchild of Belgian musician Herman Klapholz, well respected in both, the darker and the more rhythm-geared Industrial scenes. Celebrating its 20th anniversary, ACS can look back on a string of praised releases and a large number of acclaimed live performances. After three self-released albums, “Obsession Diabolique” also marks the return to the HANDS label, and it sure is an appropriate gift for the occasion. “Obsession Diabolique” covers the entire range of musical styles ACS has explored throughout its career, from noisy collages over dark drones to electronic beats and distorted rhythms. “The Orient and the Middle-East” have always been a fertile source of inspiration for ACS, and this album contains a number of pieces based on organic rhythm patterns and ethnic chanting, like the feverish opener “Rapture of the skin” or the carnal fantasies of “Roots of eternity” and “Interludium IV - un jardin sur le Nil”. “Children of the sun” and “Interludium VI - le peuple de l’éternel” are even compatible with the Bhangra dance floor - speaking of crossover appeal. “Western culture” is also represented on “Obsession Diabolique: The broken beat smasher “Bring t

why this is interesting

# Obsession Diabolique This album rewards careful listening through its ambitious synthesis of disparate cultural perspectives—Eastern philosophy, Middle Eastern aesthetics, Western industrial tradition, and the genuinely unknowable—woven into a cohesive sonic argument. Rather than appropriating these influences superficially, Ah Cama-Sotz engages them as genuine inquiries, layering field recordings, intricate percussion, and textural synthesis into compositions that feel both intellectually rigorous and emotionally resonant. The work demonstrates maturity in the post-industrial tradition by refusing easy answers, instead creating space for contemplation alongside visceral impact. For those interested in how industrial music can function as genuine cultural dialogue rather

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