Release date June 6, 2025 - A Typhonian Tantric Ritual Soundscape held at the University of Leipzig Egyptian Museum in 2015 is now available for posterity at Bandcamp! Celebrating the ten-year anniversary of Zeena's return to the European music stage with a new live performance album recorded at Germany's world-famous festival for dark music and arts, Wave-Gotik-Treffen (WGT) in 2015. The release of 'A Typhonian Tantric Ritual Soundscape' coincides with this year's WGT festival happening this weekend. Tony Sokol of Daily Offbeat reported in 2015: "After a twenty-four year retreat from the German music scene, avant-garde musician and mystic Zeena Schreck announced her return to sonic magic performance-art appearances in Europe.[...] Zeena promised Daily Offbeat that the event will feel 'like a numinous presence is taking them on a trip through another time and space,' to the lay audience." Credits: Concept, musical composition and direction, percussion and vocals: Zeena Schreck Accompanying musicians: John Murphy, 1959–†2015 (Last Dominion Lost) Cory Vielma (The Sadnesses) Audio mixing from combined live sources: Cory Vielma Sound engineering and mastering: Studio Raskit Videographer: Thorium Heavy Industries A more detailed description, with concert photos, is in the liner notes that come with the album! Available only as a digital album from Bandcamp. __________________________________________ Categories: 10-year-anniversary, alternative, experimental, ritual ambient, ambient, dark ambient, electroacoustic, industrial, live album, live performance, sound art, soundscapes [Posted by T.M. 06/06/25] 
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Big thanks to online music journal African Paper for the great review of Zeena's album Transcend!Scroll down to read the English translation or read the original in German HERE.  English version:"If you have strength of character, you can use that as fuel to not only be a survivor but to transcend simply being a survivor, use an internal alchemy to turn something rotten and horrible into gold", says Zeena Schreck on the occasion of her album "Transcend," released almost two years ago and which served as the soundtrack for an exhibition in New York prior to its release. This Western-influenced thought pattern, reminiscent of the alchemists' ideas of transformation, also plays a major role in Tantric Buddhism, in which—in contrast to other forms of Buddhist teachings—even actions generally considered dangerous or even impure can become the engine of inner awakening. This connection is interesting because Zeena has been active for many years as a yogini and teacher in the Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. She released the album on the Saga Dawa Düchen holiday, which fell on June 4th in 2023 and on which Buddhists commemorate the birth, awakening, and parinavana of the historical Buddha. The three tracks on the nearly hour-long album, whose titles "Ascent," "Parting Clouds," and "Gone Beyond" already allude to Buddhist themes, are conceived, according to Zeena, as "meditative journeys of contemplation and sonic catharsis, culminating in an intoxicatingly triumphant feeling of racing through space and time, shedding the burden of all pain and suffering and emerging victorious." The combative choice of words is by no means a personal whim of the artist, but rather a product of Buddhist tradition itself, as Buddhas are often referred to as victors (Sanskrit: Jina) because they are considered those who have overcome their inner enemies—especially ignorance, greed, and hatred. In a simple description, the truly meditative music on "Transcend" could be described as ambient drones interspersed with numerous details, placing it in the tradition of the electronic avant-garde of the early 80s and so-called cosmic music, which differs greatly from the radio play-like music on the EP dedicated to F.W. Murnau by the former Radio Werewolf musician. "Ascent" initially reveals a flat structure and appears very clear in sound, but one quickly registers details such as something reminiscent of heavenly choirs, subtly mixed in with the drone. Over time, the music also reveals more and more of its undulating, tidal form. At certain moments, it's as if an avalanche is breaking out, but is quickly absorbed by the flow of sounds, similar to the stormy rush that is reminiscent of driving in the rain. Of great melodic beauty, this music is never truly lulling, but it does seem to evoke a sense of reverence, which is revealed especially in the breathy vocal fragments. The nearly half-hour-long "Parting Clouds" is like the heart of the album. It begins with more organic sounds reminiscent of the whirring of low strings, and with its hypnotic yet never entirely regular waves, it seems to me to be the most accomplished and impressive of the pieces. It evokes memories of works that have long since become classics of ambient drone, such as Nurse With Wounds' "Salt Marie Celeste" and His Divine Grace's "Reverse Aleph." Online, one can find various comparisons to Brian Eno. At some point, one hears Zeena's looped voice, leading one through various layers of whirring sounds like a mystagogue, eventually becoming part of the background like a gentle choir. This fits well with the increasingly melodic sounds, which radiate something warm, comforting, and almost liturgical. The following track, "Gone Beyond," has something of a glimpse into a new world, which may seem unusually eventful to the unfamiliar ear, still enchanted by the relaxed world of parting clouds. Here the liturgically colored melodies appear as if they were being shaken by storms, storms that also whip the fading tonal substance forward into fiery intervals. With its strange effects, which evoke memories of krautrock electronics from better times, it is the most "psychedelic" of the pieces and, without wishing to overinterpret it, wonderfully suited to the sonic accompaniment of an idea – "gone beyond," or paragate in Sanskrit, is a central term in the Buddhist wisdom tradition, as recorded in texts such as the "Heart Sutra," for the transition into a state beyond dualistic ideas. Although “Transcend” is meant to be experienced, the titles can be seen as signposts indicating the direction the album is taking – the three tracks herald paths that lead to another place, regardless of whether they are crooked or straight – similar to the ladders on the cover. -African Paper Transcend is available as digital download HERE. [Posted by T.M. 05/04/25]
Big Thanks to Humans vs Robots, Italian online magazine, for today's review of Zeena performing 'These Wounds Never Heal' on the new Sacred Legion album, 'The Higher Unknown'. Scroll down to read the English version of journalist Max Zarucchi's review, or read the original in Italian HERE.  English version:Zeena is a death rocker. If our attention span when reading an article were the same as it was twenty years ago, the incredibly intense life of a figure like Zeena would deserve several thousand words alone: only in this way would we be able to truly understand how much this featuring of hers is a unique and rare event. Her relationship with our Sacred Legion certainly didn't start yesterday (she was the one who chose both the band's moniker and the title of the 2020 album The Silent Lineage), but finding her voice on one of their songs is both a surprise for those who listen and a reason - and how could it be otherwise - of infinite pride for the band. Her deep and hypnotic recitation is undoubtedly the focal point of this brand new These Wounds Never Heal, where the music chosen by our guys to accompany the Divine is a perfect hybrid between the dark hard rock of the seventies and the most direct and evocative death rock of the 80s. There is no room for unnecessary embellishments: the bloody rawness of the piece is more than enough, while it literally kidnaps the soul at first listen. The Higher Unknown, the album in which this single is present, also gives us other special guests such as Adolphe Violet Le Duc (Chants of Maldoror) and Matteo (Spiritual Bats), which is why it will be difficult, in the genre, to keep up with it until the end of 2025: already a podium album, but it was inevitable for three musicians of the genre. Please take note. - Max Zarucchi, 14 March, 2025 ↦ Read also: Sacred Legion (feat. Adolphe Violet Le Duc): Assassin Times Sacred Legion: A Taste Of Turmoil Sacred Legion: Hole in the Heart [Posted by T.M. 14/03/25]
Below, a message from Zeena about a new album she appears on and below that, the music video of the song! 'Very happy to announce the release of the new Sacred Legion album, The Higher Unknown, which includes my guest vocals in the opening song, "These Wounds Never Heal"! For anyone in Rome in March, Sacred Legion officially presents the record with a live concert Saturday March 8 in Rome. For updates follow them on Instagram and/or Facebook. Sacred Legion on Bandcamp. [Posted by T.M. 22/01/25]
Big thanks to author and industrial music scholar Nicholas Diak for his great review of Zeena's latest music project Transcend!!! |
