Mario Diaz de Leon, Luminous Vault, Bloodmist

In the 2010s New York-based composer Mario Diaz de Leon was the unusual case of a musician active in both rock, jazz and classical music. Diaz, a distinguished Columbia University composer while already playing in New York's metal band Mirrorgate, specialized in chamber works for acoustic instruments and electronics. Enter Houses Of (Tzadik, 2009) featured expressionistic free-form soundscapes for synth and guitar, notably Mansion for multitracked flute, distorted synthesizer, hissing noise and percussion. The album also contains: The Flesh Needs Fire for flute, clarinet, and electronics (8:39), 2.20 for string trio and electronics (9:36) and Gated Eclipse for ensemble and electronics (13:05). He started a second life with the synth-heavy Hypnos (Shinkoyo, 2012) under the moniker Oneirogen, where he opted for a subtle integration of noise and dynamics. The fluttering electronic patterns of Oneirogen soar in a heroic Vangelis-like melody. The lush, pulsing cosmic music of Faithless sinks in dense sinister noise. This solo project yields bombastic and frenzied electronic-metal symphonic poems for virulent synth melodies and guitar distortion like an accelerated and noisy form of ambient music. The gothic nightmare of Consumed and the grandiose eleven-minute Kukulkan (church music for sinners in hell) project his classical and electronic persona into the turbulent world post-rock music. The three-song EP Veni Nox Anima (2012) adds the nine-minute Veni Nox Anima, anti-ambient music for droning synth and guitar noise. Oneirogen's second album Kiasma (2013) increased the doses of brutal guitar noise (gothic apex Mortisomnia even boasts growling vocals) and sometimes unleashed even more bombastic synth lines (Mutilation). It all culminates with Katabasis (14:38), a fusion of doom-metal, industrial noise and cosmic music. Oneirogen's EP Plenitude (2015) offers five songs in different styles, from the ethereal Plenitude to the destructive industrial noise of Vessel. Oneirogen's Convivium (2016) experimented with distorted vocals in pieces like the nine-minute Sacrum and with military-style declamation in Cordium, the melodramatic peak.

Diaz also formed the electroacoustic improvisational trio Bloodmist with Jeremiah Cymerman (clarinet, electronics) and Toby Driver (electric bass), playing electric guitar and electronic keyboards. The pieces on Sheen (2016) are not as chaotic as they look like. There is an inherent logic in the way Land of Shadows (9:21) explores its sideral space and even the messy crescendo of Bare Arms Black Dresses (10:46) has a point in terms of creating sheer tension. The live Chaos of Memory (released in 2017), collects lengthy improvisations culled from two concerts from 2016 and 2017. There are moments of beauty and pathos in colossal pieces such as Telesphoros (january 2016) Transvaluation of All Values (april 2017) but there are also vast indulgent sections. Some editing would have benefited. The most cohesive and articulate piece is the 14-minute Non Foras Ire (january 2016), also notable for the way it amalgamates Diaz's electronic sounds. Despite its 30-minute duration, La Memoire Involontaire (april 2017) is also effective in the way it develops from a desolate clarinet cry to the mellow and dark neurosis of the mid-section and to the grating and melancholy finale. The sinister jungle soundscape of Incantatory Sentience (8:27) and the crawling, ghostly noisescape of Empathic Predatory Biome (11:36) are the key pieces on Bloodmist's Phos (recorded in november 2017, but released only in 2020), on which Diaz abandoned the guitar and played instead an analog synthesizer encased in wood (of the legendary "Ciat Lonbarde" series designed by Peter Blasser) while Cymerman played synth besides clarinet.

More of Diaz's classical compositions surfaced on The Soul Is the Arena (2015): Luciform for flute and electronics (13:33), The Soul Is the Arena for bass clarinet and electronics (9:33), and Portals Before Dawn for ensemble (19:53). Diaz played the synthesizer on the six-movement composition Sanctuary (2017), accompanied by the TAK Ensemble, which was actually a quintet (flute, clarinet, vocals, violin, percussion).

At the same time, Diaz formed the duo Luminous Vault with bassist Samuel Smith (also bassist for Artificial Brain and guitarist for Aeviterne). Diaz, here on growling vocals, guitar and electronics, delved into black metal but with a twist: synth and drum-machine. The project debuted with the EP Communion (2015), containing just two brief songs, notably Deliver the Wound with an anthemic synth melody. The four-song EP Charismata (2017) offers longer pieces: the martial Birthblood, that bridges doom, black metal and death metal, and the eleven-minute Tower, a clever mix of Black Sabbath, prog-rock, horror soundtrack and panzer-metal (with a coda of electronic drones). Luminous Vault continued the mission started one generation earlier by Blut Aus Nord. Animate the Emptiness (2022) incorporates intricate and syncopated dance beats. Invoke Radiant Gleam is notable for the synth and guitar solos worthy of prog-rock. Ancient North even boasts the steady beat of synth-pop, and Incarnate Flame Arise is the melodic peak. The agonizing Divine Transduction and the synth and guitar soundscapes of Earth Daemon are more abstract and display the Oneirogen aspect of Diaz's music.

Bloodmist returned with Arc (recorded in november 2020, but released only in 2022) that contains four lengthy improvisation, generally more sophisticated than in the past. Protagonists of Battle Mountain (16:42) are actually the laconic beats of Diaz's drum-machine which constitute a swampy jungle through which Driver's distorted bass, Cymerman's clarinet and the electronic sounds struggle to wade, painfully and disoriented. Red Canyon (13:55) is abrasive, disjointed and even hallucinated. Santa Filomena (13:16) feels like an extended Jimi Hendrix solo with some stoned voodoo percussionists and a bird-like clarinet for nine minutes, before it ventures into a ghostly dimension.

Meanwhile, Mario Diaz de Leon released more of his classical compositions on Cycle and Reveal (2019): Sacrament for flute, clarinet, marimba and electronics (12:38), Labrys for bassoon and electronics (9:00), Irradiance for cello and electronics (10:28) and Mysterium for flute, clarinet, bassoon and electronics (13:36). Mario Diaz de Leon also released the 40-minute electronic composition of Heart Thread (2022), which sounds like a Mike Oldfield suite with a drum-machine that alternates between hip-hop and Latin-jazz.

Bloodmist released the cassette San Juan De Ocotan, that contains leftovers from the Arc sessions, and Trace (august 2022).

Diaz released the solo Spark And Earth (Denovali, 2023), composed between 2022 and 2023, for electric guitar and electronics, and at the same time led Bloodmist on San Juan De Ocotan, devoted to a 53-minute piece recorded during the sessions of Arc (november 2020), with Toby Driver on bass guitar and Jeremiah Cymerman on clarinet and electronics, and on Trace (august 2022) with the same lineup.