Of all the artists in the Warp universe, Boards of Canada have most successfully created a mystery around themselves. Beginning with the fact that they only revealed they were brothers after the release of their third album, The Campfire Headphase, in 2005. Another favourable factor is their manageable catalogue. Since 1998, there have been just five »proper« albums, with 13 years between the most recent two so far.
Inferno has the most apocalyptic title, with which Michael Sandison and Marcus Eoin Sandison reveal themselves as children of their time. Anyone fearing harsh cacophony or other sonic extremes at the mention of hell can relax. This record, too, largely preserves the Boards of Canada style, with its characteristic mixture of gentle breakbeats, nostalgically detuned synthesisers and manipulated speech samples of uncertain origin. On first impression, a track such as »Father and Son« could just as easily have fitted on Geogaddi from 2002.
There are, however, some shifts. On that piece, for instance, the voices are mixed so prominently among the instruments that one seems to hear a continuous dialogue. Boards of Canada surprise most strongly, though, with the demonstrative use of guitar and drums in the second track, »Prophecy at 1420 Mhz«, whose lumbering, viscous groove sets an unfamiliar accent. No need to worry: even as declared pessimists, the two remain convincing.
