Our Review: Thunder Perfect Mind has long been considered one of the best and most well-rounded albums for the very prolific Current 93. Up until this 1991 album, Current 93 had conjured a mythology out of occultism, apocalyptic literature and pataphysical dialectics that went hand in hand with the post-industrial research from Psychic TV, Clock DVA, Lustmord, etc. Yet, with Thunder Perfect Mind, Current 93's figurehead David Tibet began to explore his own relationship with these theologies and begin to actively form his own highly personal, visionary interpretations of ancient, esoteric texts. The title to this record itself comes from a cryptic poem written in the 2nd Century and associated with a various heretical sects of Christian Gnosticism. The text describes a female deity who acts as metaphysical balance between the opposites on the earthly plane. Inspired by the beauty and riddles of this poem, Tibet firmly established the blueprint of Current 93's music which continues to this day: an eccentric reworking of '60s British folk tinged with an epistemological sadness that reflects Tibet's own notion of the fall of humanity against the backdrop of a Godly perfection. Lilting melodies for acoustic guitar laced with violin and flute dominate Current 93's Thunder Perfect Mind, with the ever-present Tibet divining his own personal mythology with its pantheon that includes Christ, Hitler and Khalki as its protagonists as well as saintly references to his many friends (notably Death In June's Douglas P and at least one proclamation toward one of Tibet's former lovers). As strikingly personal as Tibet's lyrics are, there is a portentous universality and stylized beauty that he invokes through his fragile folk music. Reissued for the first time on vinyl since 1992.
