[ Online Journal - v. X.3 - April 07: 83 CD reviews]
| Ain Soph - 1 Aprile 2005 - The Monastery (Misty Circles) |
| It may seem a bit academic to review a disc that has never effectively been on the market, but I won't pass on on this one, as there may still be some out there unaware of the existance of this (and a few similar) 2-track CD. Ain Soph offered this Misty Circle CD-R as a present to the audience in occasion of their performance at the Monastery in Vienna in occasion of the Notte HauRuck that took place back in April 2005. As it is well known, Ain Soph haven't played a hell of a lot of gigs and they have been kind enough to distribute freebies in more than one occasion. This particular disc holds two live versions of Cuore Nero and Morte e Disonore whose originals appear on Aurora and Ottobre respectively. The tracks were recorded in occasion of the performance at the Congresso Neo-Pop'n'Folk held in October 2004 in Pordenone, Italy. Stripped down to the bone, with Spectrae on guitar and vocals and Steve Stroll on drums, the two songs retain an undisputed power, thanks to the synergy between the performers not to mention their talent. They extend Morte e Disonore with a coda that is a wall of sound made of chaotic drumming and piercing guitar feedback in pure seventies mega-prog-rock fashion! So you may or may not be able to trace this disc, yet there's hope for new live performances by this elusive combo that may eventually land an new similar treat in your hands. There's hope, isn't there?? members.xoom.alice.it/AinSophArs - www.artcraf.it/mistycircles |
| Gianfri |
| Albireon - Indaco E.P. (Cynfeirdd) |
| This is another little treat from Albireon on Cynfeirdd, in the form of a 6-track EP which is a little voyage in the fantastic realm of this Italian project. The opener La Giostra delle Foglie Morte is a typical Albiren gloomy guitar ballad set in a hazy space that blurs perception with its beautiful sombre tones. Another magistral piece of poetry by Davide Borghi and another instant classic for the band. Adding to the value of this release are collaborations with Sonne Hagal and Ian Read. The former is a masterful piece of neofolk touched by neoclassicism, titled Somewhere Far from Heaven, while the latter, Awakening Dance is pure dark folk in a minimalist fashion that better suits Ian Read vocals. There's no lack of experimental touches in this release, most notably a radical reworking of one of the band's most beautiful pieces (Ali di Falena), while even folk ballads like a Cold Embrace get treated in a most unusual way sonically wise, maintaining the heavy sense of gloom that permeates the band's works. Indaco closes with a traditional song borrowed from the folk tradition of the band's region of origin. If this is the premise to the new album, I'm positive we are in for another work that shouldn't be missed at any cost. Like this very one, except that with a limited pressing of 373, this might prove a prohibitive task for many out there. Sharpen your search engines, it's really worth it! www.albireon.it - www.cynfeirdd.com |
| Gianfri |
| Alien Sex Fiend - Para-Abnormal (13th Moon Records) |
| It's not uncommon to be greeted with smiles when mentioning Alien Sex Fiend, I still wonder why. Probably because it is one of the few (the only?) act that has achieved longevity *and* has always played by their own rules *and* has maintained a high dignity profile in the process. And that does not go well with many, preoccupied only with the latest fashion around. Words as pioneering or ground-breaking are a common way I would refer to the Fiend duo, and this album, dubbed as 13th Moon Recordings Sampler Vol #1, is the latest proof of that. As the subtitle implies, these aren't new recordings by ASF, but a collection of material spanning their last ten years since they founded their own label 13th Moon Recordings, featuring alternate mixes that never surfaced before, and some rare tracks such as sampler only release (such as the schizophrenic opener Gotta Have It, which was a one-off for a 2004 Zillo magazine sampler and later published on Information Overload with a different mix), demo tracks and a couple of live tracks as well. Nothing new under the hood you might say, but not quite true, as one of the abilities ASF have showcased over the years is that of being able to completely face-lift tracks with a million tricks out of their boxes and always sound fresh and modern, no matter what the time frame of their rework was. To this extent, Para-Abnormal is just another ASF album as far as I'm concerned, although I must admit sometimes I feel overwhelmed by the vastness of ASF CD base out there, specially the samplers, of which a whole 9 had already been released prior to Para-Abnormal, and that in addition to 4 live albums! As the studio album count hit 15 in 2004, it looks like one accusation you can't levy on the Fiends is that of sitting around in laziness! And this sampler is a Vol #1, so expect more to come as well! So go on and enjoy the newest propositions of this timeless act, there's enough schizophrenic madness, acid beats, dirty guitars, spaced out ambient, psychedelic craze to keep you on your toes for a whole 70 minutes. The only thing that let me down a bit were the two live tracks, as they already appeared on the Flashbacks Live 1995-98, which I own (and you'll probably do as well), and I see this as a missed opportunity to toss out there two other live recordings that weren't previously published. Having said that, the two tracks fit very well and close the album in glory, so if you don't own the live album, this comment is entirely irrelevant to you. "Value For Mutants", as they say! www.asf-13thmoon.demon.co.uk |
| Gianfri |
| Artesia - Hilvern (Nove / Prikosnovenie) |
| Another new talent joins the highly regarded roaster of Prikosnovenie, through their nevly created Nove division, which is dedicated to introduce new artists. This time in the form of a duo heavenly vocalists, who lay their dreamy tones over a soothing bed of soft synth strings and pads, classic piano and violin. The result is a stunning work of caressing beauty and unadulterated neoclassical spirit, projecting the listener intto a fantastic world of sublime gentleness and ethereal melancholy. There is little to add, except that this is a release that fans of the likes of Arcana are going to dig massively. Hilvern is forty minutes of excursion into a world we don't seem to be able to afford any longer. A sublime walk into an enchanting daydream. www.prikosnovenie.com |
| Gianfri |
| Artica - Plastic Terror (Decadance) |
| On and about since over a decade, Artica deliver a solid album of dark-edged guitar rock, which, in fact spills all over the gothic rock genre with no shame and is a breeze to listen too. The 5-piece, who hail from Rome, have always situated themselves at the edge between goth rock and dark wave with a touch of class and the fact they are a 5-piece is evident in the their finely crafted and tastefully detailed arrangements. The band are at their best when they refrain from letting their guitars rage and they blend them with dark synth layers with a touch of wave in them and a myriad details to give life to a melted sound that moves between the likes of The Mission on a good day and Scream Silence and has an appeal reaching far wider than simplistic goth rock for the sake of darkness. However, dark certainly is! However, they also their teeth from time to time with harder-edged tracks that add to the scope of the album, while fitting quite well the overall tone of the work. With the closing track, they also move in punk-isk waters, to close defiantly a brilliant album that deserved widespread attention. www.articaweb.it - www.decadancerecords.it |
| Gianfri |
| All Scars Orchestra - New Scars 2004 (Bosco Rec / Into My Bed recordings) |
| Progressive and avant-garde made in Italy, All Scars Orchestra sees a number of experimental avantgardists based in Turin get together and mix their creative impetus to give life to an album of abrasive experimentation, where a multitude of stylistic approaches and leanings are fused together in claustrophobic fashion. With input from close to a dozen musicians, the result is bond to be varied, and in fact, the producing cast comes across as a talented bunch on all counts, showcasing abilities of sinister nature, and all in the analogue domain, if that matters. Names as Daniele Brusaschetto, Paul Beauchamp or Ludmila enjoy a certain international resonance and, with the main instruments used being guitars and basses along with heavy doses of assorted percussion, you will perceive a different flavor of experimentation if compared to the more modern synth and sampler based scene. Nonetheless, New Scars 2004 has a deeply scary nature if you ask me, with sonic excursions ranging from the psyco-nocturnal to the schizofrenic and back, twisted ambient, noises and a little touch of gasthly gentleness. The work is definitely a work of improvisation and it's occasional resulting jazzy underlaying flavor is rarely a drawback to the genuinely surreal atmosphere it manages to conjure. By no means easy listening, New Scars 2004 is a good port of call for those looking beyond purely digital avant-garde and back to older school of thought and those eager to be taken by hand into a surreal micro-cosmo of near madness. www.ludmila.it/milarecords - www.danielebrusacehetto.com |
| Gianfri |
| Autonervous - New Scars 2004 (Into My Bed recordings) |
| A project born out of the synergy between Bettina Koster (former Malaria!) and Jessie Evans (former Vanishing), Autonervous move swiftly through the underground circles with an album that reminds loosely of what Vanishing had been up to before splitting. Based primarily on minimal rhythms and gracious'n'crazed vocal performances of the two charismatic figures, New Scars 2004 has an own character quiet hard to pinpoint, with a wave substrate (or was a 70's disco??) while the atonal sax riffs and synth wanderings make for a free-form jazzy feel perhaps more suited to a live performance than a studio recording. When melodies exist, these are traced exclusively by the vocals. Clearing not bothered by conventions, which can only be a good thing, the duo proceeds on their own playground, one suited for cult following, which I'm sure the two ladies have secured more through their stage antics than through album sales. It's hard to be overwhelmed by this album in a domestic listening setting, although it does make for a good background listening when the mood had turned the right way. www.autonervous.com |
| Gianfri |
| Bak XIII - Dead Again CDs (Urgence Disk) |
| A nifty release for Swiss favorite electrodance heroes Bak XIII, featuring four versions of Dead Again, a stand-out track off their Moriture Te Salutant (see V.X.1 reviews on the Darklife Online Journal) album, released early in 2006. The track has a great sad vibe and a memorable chorus, making for a departure from the typical eighties influenced dancey exuberance characterising the band. The original version, in all its original touching gloominess is featured on this disc, along with three extra versions, more clearly aimed at DJs and radioplay. Ringel-S give the track their first taste of beats and added stylish minimal electronics, after which it's the turn of Implant to stake his claim to totally upturn the feel of the song, adding punchy beats and an industrial feel. Last version, dubbed Another Version, is just what it says in the thin, more similar to the original, but, er... slightly different! Nice to spin in a broadcast or DJ situation, this single is also a nice little companion for those short breaks or carefree enjoyment. www.bak13.ch - www.darksite.ch/urgences |
| Gianfri |
| Bak XIII - Vae Victis (Urgence Disk) |
| Bak XIII keep on their self-regulated release schedule with another brilliant addition. Vae Victis is a delicious album to listen and dance to and, despite the lyrical content that is a disaffected to the world as usual, it is an album that puts you in a jolly good mood. Stylistically speaking, the trio -now a four piece- has also evolved considerably from their critically acclaimed In Cauda Venenum debut back in 2003. Vae Victis is as catchy and danceable as always, but the band approach is now more subtle and guitars have assumed a progressively more important role in the compositions. Fear not, these are distorted rhythmic that underline the proceedings without ever too much invade the delicious electronics and synths that make up the body of the band work. Also, with Vae Victis slower tracks gather gradually importance in the context of the work, providing a nice alternative to the full bodied dance tracks mired to keep the audience in motion. There's also a gradual shift from EBM/industrial back to amore refined and less in-your-face approach to the dance anthems, although they won't forget to add the punchy or number here and there to add further dynamism and keep the commitment to conjure up interesting sounds to spice up the whole work. The work also offers four remixes of two tracks from previous releases, showing that the band is fully integrated in the well-tried re-mix mechanism that is truly a driving force in the world of electronic musicians. The re-mixes fully integrate with the body of the album and offer a nice and eclectic way of re-reading two of their most catchy previous tracks, Spiegeltanz and Video Star Kill My Radio. Closing is another little treat, in the form of a cover version of Mazzy Star's celebrated Fade into You hit. It's obviously very hard to improve on the original, but their version is very pleasant and goes a good way in showing the band tendency to move progressively from full-bodied dancefloor works to danceable works with soft, melodic breaks. Bak XIII for president! Indeed. www.bak13.ch - www.darksite.ch/urgences |
| Gianfri |
| Beltane - Spell of Harmony EP (Electron) |
| A spell of fresh elctro-goth characterized by enchanting female vocalists and well measured and pleasantly crafted all-new electronic arrangements for seven tracks that were already part of the band's repertory. My take on this is the band's desire of getting themselves more widely known outside of their native Australia and surely they have a whole lot to bring over to the electro-wave scene of the old continent. Watch out for a stormy goth hymn like Foreign Shore, the ever catchy Dionysian Blood or the dancefloor friendly version of On The Fly. Mr Paul Handley is the mastermind behind the project and his work has lot of intriguing facets. His silky arrangements reserves a surprise or two to the casual listener, specially if you peruse the work over headphones and make the 35 minutes of this release a breeze to go through, causing the obligatory feel of disappointment when over. I suppose this is just the kind of effect Beltane set to achieve when conceiving Spell of Harmony, a work emanating a diffuse, bright aural aura. www.beltane.com.au |
| Gianfri |
| Buben - Furor Poetics (No Angels Prod.) |
| No Angels Prod. come forward in the post-industrial scene to bring more quality stuff to a demanding audience hungry for more innovation. Vladislav Buben is a prolific figure in the dark Belarussian scene and this is his debut, if memory serves, under his own name. Furor Poetics takes dark ambient, shakes it a bit with a number of cosmic inputs, then twists it a great deal by abandoning the classic drone-formula to introduce wailing and moving synhts that are not afraid to explore the innards and outwards of the human psyche in a highly dynamic fashion. Neither celestial nor exclusively futuristic, to me Furor Poetics resembles the forward journey of the adventurous mind, the one that refuses self-contemplation and moves on to the edge of discovery instead. Sonically speaking, this is what Buben tells me with his eight compositions on this album, whose dynamism gives a new lease of life to the term "dark ambient". I would not advise post-industrialists, abstractists and lover of dark ambient to pass on this one as you might be missing quite a lot. However, at a total of 120 copies released, it looks like more of a promotional release than a genuine effort to reach a wider audience as it deserves. Last word goes to the simple, yet highly effective packaging in A5 folded cardboard sleeve boosting an artwork striking in its powerful simplicity. www.no.angels.prv.pl |
| Gianfri |
| Cabaret - Electric Chair Song EP (Artoffact) |
| When it comes down to electro-pop, song-writing is as essential as sound design and Cabaret seem to hit high on both elements. The title track offers a classical sinister&catchy electronic pop number, of which three radically different versions are presented, the last of which is an upbeat piece of free-flowing electronica that hardly resembles the original composition. Cabaret do not stop there and present another extract from their Homophobia album, Dawn Mist Glowing in two complementary versions, the second of which is a remarkable piece of chill-out electronica, then finish off the 7-track release with a tense atmospheric piano ballad and a closing snippet re-proposing the title track theme in yet another warped version. Hard to fault, Cabaret surpass their anti-climatic name with a classy release bound to make several friends in the melancholic-pop-with-a-twist crowd. All synthetic, yet all so finely credible. www.artoffact.com |
| Gianfri |
| Cabaret - Homophobia (Artoffact) |
| Homophobia works its way into your mood governing devices with a light touch and a breezy kiss sealed in soothing electronic arrangements. Moody-pop suitable for those moments when all you need is a caressing hand. Cabaret work well on the general atmosphere and collate their varied episodes very well with a sub-emotional layer of impeccably mastered electronics and solar vocals amply suitable to the electro-pop on offer. The sequence at the core of the album, made up by Electric Chair Song, Devil Is Dancing and Rain on My Skin encompasses some of the greatest moments of the contemporary light-synth scene and the Polish outfit show their decade-strong experience in the form of free talent on the composition side of the game. Coupling this with a non apparent, yet substantial sound research, I would be hard pressed not to include Homophobia among my most unexpected surprises that 2006 brought us. www.artoffact.com |
| Gianfri |
| Concept 7 - The Undeniable Constant (Self-released) |
| This is a duo from London, twisting a bit the arm of what they call Industrial-Techno music to give it their fresh and gritty approach. Practically, we are looking at nicely drawn grooves, dry and dirty guitar riffs and an acid electronic work that varies from toned down groovy lines to nice melodic patterns that add extra interest from time to time. I like the way the fragmented vocal lines and samples work with the electronics and the beats to trace and define each track's own dynamism and progression. What I think lets this disc down is the low level of production, meaning that the various elements struggle to glue themselves to each other, leading to a certain sense of lo-fi disjointness. Now, I don't mind lo-fi per se, mind you, I just feel that polishing the mix considerably and perhaps adding a few layers of processing to achieve a more consistent sound from track to track would rise this album to a very good level to be out there and be picked up by some layer. The ideas are all there, and there are 4 or 5 killer numbers on this (look at the likes of Dumping Factor, Seven States of Panic, Corporation Tank or Art of War, which in fact constitute the central core of the album and they also show they can conjure up a bit of industrial drama with the closing title Escapement), it just needs a bit of re-dressing. www.concept-7.net |
| Gianfri |
| Compulsive Shopping Disorder - Self-titled (Self-released) |
| Here's four tracks of synth based darkwave tinted in dramatic and foggy tones of human decadence. I should start by saying that the 25 minutes of pessimistic downfall included in this disc are every bit as compelling as any mayor product that has marked the landscape choosen by those keen to explore the darkest sides of human life. This is, in fact a four track demo that the band has self-recorded and produced in their own home studio and frankly, it gives multi-million production a clear run for their money! The theme of the work is spelled out by the band name already and the general feel refers back to the golden era of dark-electro wave, from the end of the eighties spilling over well into the nineties. The Polish trio add unexpected and caustic experimental bits, lighting up their depressive atmospheres with blitzes of schizophrenic unbalance. Opening in ritual ambience style, the work moves over to eighties minimal wave, then moves on to the two main tracks, two stormy pieces that considerably rise the tension, flowing like a river while being also quite suited to the dark dancefloor. The closing track is very gloomy and experimental, as to buffer the tumultuous outbursts of the previous two pieces. I'm not currently up to date as of further works by the band, but I hope to hear of them soon. www.csd.block.punkt.pl |
| Gianfri |
| Corde Oblique - Respiri (Ark Records) |
| Corde Oblique is a new project by Riccardo Prencipe, whom you might remember as the man behind the Italian Lupercalia outfit (see review of Florilegium on Darklife nr VIII). Fans of neo-classical, gothic and folk take note. I'm not sure what eventually happened to Lupercalia, but with this new project Riccardo gathers a well selected group of talented musicians and vocalists by his side to produce an album that is classy and ecstatic, offering 15 tracks and over one hour of blissful compositions that navigate gently through the most romantic side of your soul. As you would expect from Riccardo's past, classic guitar is the foundation of the work, offering that marked folk edge that is a bit of a trademark for the artist. A rich variety of neo-classic elements includes soothing piano scores, violins and mystical clarinet melodies, while a variety of talented vocalists rise through the magical mist evoked by the timeless musicality of the talented ensemble. Some atmospheres are reminiscent of Ataraxia, but Respiri moves freely between fantastic landscapes thanks to the wide array of contributors whose blueprint is firmly embedded in the work. It's little effort recommending this album to those with a pinch for neo-classical and folk or those fond of outfits like Argine, Ashram or Gothica. www.cordeoblique.it - www.arkrecords.net |
| Gianfri |
| The Crystalline Effect - Blurred Edges EP (Self-released) |
| An ever increasingly popular line-up in the world of goth and electro-goth and goth-tinted electronica is the male at the instruments supporting and/or supported by striking female vocals. Out of Melbourne are Peter Crane (the man behind the synths and Elenor Rayner, the sweet'n'bitter muse of this project. Blurred Edges offers a whopping 35 minutes of playing time, in the form of 7 tracks covering a wide ground in terms of electronic sonorities, whose backbone is essentially made by those dance sounds made popular around the turn of the century (ehee.. now we can say that too!) by an army of bands who started pushing into their compositions the healthy wave of technological growth that blessed hard and software synths alike. With titles like When The World Ends, Another Rainy Day or Why Do I Hate Myself, the tracks get suitable darker layers of synths to help convey the mood. The electronic approach is in general quiet eclectic, incorporating a variety of elements and influences and brewing the classical "band's unique take on it" that we often hear of these days. My personal favourites lay at the two ends of the spectrum: the melancholy fueled, trip-hop-ish When The World Ends, which is possibly the best cut of this work, and the upbeat Gabriel (stark remix), one clearly tailored to the dancefloor crowd, a dancefloor hymn if you like, moving closer to industrial territory. After the demise of Polish Black Flames who had released their debut Glass back in 2005, The Crystalline Effect have found home with Hungarian-based Advoxya Records and are working with some well-known remix artists for a new EP scheduled to be released sometimes in April 2007. www.thecrystallineeffect.com |
| Gianfri |
| Daniele Brusaschetto - [Mezza Luna Piena] (Bosco Rec / Bar La Muerte) |
| A new work by Daniele Brusaschetto is always that type of news that makes you ponder: let's see what he has came up with this time. There's no denying that his works aren't the easiest listening in town, and they'd better not, in fact! He has been described as post-rock and avant-garde, which all means he works with unconventional structures and ideas, yet uses a guitar or two. And bass guitars. And plenty of noises. And he is quite lo-fi too. Well, in reality Daniele seems to be gifted with a river flow of inspiration and what's even more important, his hermetic poetry that is central to his work fits like a glove his push towards dissociation from the schemes that manifests itself both in content and structure. [Mezza Luna Piena] is a damn great work, offering a good variety of moods and a few more atmospheric pieces that are simply delicious. He moves without effort through caustic minimalist structures that integrate bass and guitars with a host of industrial elements, effects and noises. The guitars shift from minimal arpeggios to full-force power chords drenched in max distortion to free form virtuosisms. Some atmospheres are pretty claustrophobic and the album is on the whole a very dark work with moments that taste of introspection and a couple of instrumentals that are simply titillating. I'm referring to Bandieralvento, Ego Mangiato Crudo 1 and Stella Stellina, a guitar lullaby with worrying industrial diversions that closes the album on a relatively quiet note after the drastic guitar industrial assault of Stupido Ma Sincero. Saying that Daniele is eclectic is an understatement. I find [Mezza Luna Piena] to be probably the album I have liked best from him, although chances are, if I go back and listen to the previous ones, I'd feel the same for each of them! If you have an open mind with music and would do well with navigating twisted scenes of incomprehensible industrialism, this album is a stop not to miss. www.danielebrusaschetto.com |
| Gianfri |
| Defraktor - Themes for The Lunatic (Trinity Records) |
| Karsten Hamre might be better known for being the man behind the Penitent moniker, in reality he is the man behind a whole host of projects, including Dense Vision Shrine, Arcane Art, Veiled Allusions and The Flux Complex, all project that more or less gravitate around the sphere of dark ambient, and sound design. He is also active in photography and graphic design, making for a pretty complete artist all-round. Themes for The Lunatic is his first release under the Defraktor moniker and is a work deeply rooted in the subtle death-industrial tradition. Creepy soundscapes evolve slowly, droning away under the subdued pressure of a plethora of sound effects and treated noises. The three long tracks, each about 20 minutes in length, are quite effective in building tension under minimalist conditions and paint quite bleak images on the non-tactile canvas of our imagination. All in all, Themes for The Lunatic as more of a destructive than a lunatic feel to it. I like this type of experimentation rooted in the obscure and the abstract, yet arguably, this is quite easy to follow if considered in the context of the experimental genres it explores. By no means easy-listening, though. Unless you daydream in nightmares! www.karstenhamre.com - www.trinityrecords.com.hk |
| Gianfri |
| Digital Factor - One More Piece (Wannsee) |
| Little can go wrong with names like Digital Factor when we come to synth-pop with a harder edge. Over six years since their last full-length release, the teutonic trio is back at their craft in stormy fashion and they do not disappoint in the least. One More Piece does away with trends and market pressures and offers a classical EBM/synthpop sound that is both well conceived and impeccably produced, yet suitably upgraded to the standards of the new century technology. They do falter in one or two occasions as their quest for variation brings them over the border and into unpleasant digressions, but it's easy to forgive the momentary lapse of reason, as the rest of the album proves itself to be a little masterpiece of club minded tracks offering a fresh and upbeat retro-modern approach that will appeal to old-schoolers first, then to all the rest of the dark, bouncy dancefloor crowd. www.digitalfactor.de - www.wannsee-records.de |
| Gianfri |
| Dive vs. Diskonnekted - Frozen EP (Alfa Matrix) |
| While the Belgians have been the creators of the EBM / Industrial scene as soon as technology gave them the first rudimentary tools in the form od synths and drum machines, thankfully they never neglected to nurse that scene through the years, exhibiting a plethora of with new acts, while constantly churning out renewed releases by old bands, hosting re-unions, staging numerous cross-scene collaborations and cementing it all together with a strong re-mixing habit. In this instance, Dirk Ivens (who needs no introduction) and a relatively young artist, Jan Dewulf, going under the name of Diskonnekted. Lending extra know-twiddling hands are also Numb, Leaether Strip, Combichrist, and Inure, each taking the role of re-mixer for one chapter out of the 8 featured in this EP. Frozen is the archetypal of the 'Belgian way' as far as EBM is concerned and the end result is about 35 minutes of old school-ish EBM enhanced by a few modern touches. Dive minimalism shines throughout and Dirk's voice is certainly a reassuring ingredient for the vast fanbase of the Belgian iconic figure. Frozen gives a good example of how to bring forward a genre so tried as EBM without loosing sight of its original foundation. If you swear by Dive or you're into electronic body music at all, you can't go wrong with Frozen, although beware: this isn't a pure Dive revival! www.alfa-matrix.com |
| Gianfri |
| Djenjer - Vortex (Self-released) |
| The headline in this case certainly refers to the origin of this album. Mr Yassien Maaroufi, the man under the Djenjer moniker hails from Morocco and this is a first for Darklife. It's always nice to further expand our horizons and have a taste of what different geographical and cultural areas can offer. Vortex is minimal and harsh. Although the names suggest strong cosmic connections, the space in which Vortex lives isn't much expanded or reverberating. A good impact with the opener Black Star Dying is a nice way to introduce the theme. Djenjer's sound contort themselves around in grinding twists and it is obvious from the outset that the field is one that will put the listener ears to good test. The synths seem to make their way into the recording session animated by some demonic forces and the experimentalism goes a long way into free form, which is nice, yet I feel the two long tracks following the opener and accounting for over the half of the 6-track, 50-minute sonic journey had better not be proposed back to back as they prove quite fatiguing in the end without managing to engage the listener as they could. Better yet, I feel chopping them up in shorter chunks is of benefit in creating dynamic atmospheres when dealing with difficult sounds. Just a personal though. The choice of raw, harsh tones is quite effective in general and is the defining character of the artist style. These seem to work in some tracks better that others. Like the opener, Around Newborn Stars Melted Planets is a fine example of the artist capacity of conjuring up suspense and atmosphere without touching a reverb at all. Same goes for the closing Planet Cries, where Djenjer turns ambient, leaving his trickling sounds gently drive the work to a quiet conclusion. In general, I would by no means suggest to polish raw sounds as such, yet I feel that a layer of collating treatment would do this album wonders. Having said that, I do recommend to check this out by all means if you are into dark ambient and noise experimentation. as it turns out, the headline is not the origin of the album, but its content indeed! djenjer.atspace.com |
| Gianfri |
| Dolls of Pain - Dec[a]dance (Urgence Disk / Hydra) |
| Dolls of Pain hail from France and their debut album Dec[a]dance is an upbeat work of danceable tunes featuring elements of EBM, dark electro, new wave, the eighties and that little touch of industrial that sexes up the disc, not to mention the fetish themes permeating the lyrics. Worth noting here that the trio come through as long time accomplished musicians, which they probably are, given the high quality of this work. Synths ride on punchy beats and are often reinforced by hard guitars that add a touch of dirt, with nice melodies all over the place, providing catchy hooks, a killer combination squarely aimed at the dancefloor. Dec[a]dance is a storm on the dancefloor, in fact, leaving little time to breath, as one killer pieces follow one another, and it's when the vocoders are deployed that you start to feel there's nothing more that can be added to this album. Well, not quite, as a coda featuring three remixes of their previous Dominer single moves on to add even more new elements to a cauldron that it's amazingly consistent despite the abundance of elements fused together. The remixes are by Bak XIII, Bran Terror and Mesmer's Eyes. The album has originally been released by the Swiss label Urgence Disk and has recently been reissued in the UK by Hydra, a new venture of the Salvation group, well renewed for their massive catalogue of outrageous cult DVD movies. www.darksite.ch/urgences - www.salvation-films.com |
| Dunkelwerk enters the dark electrco/EBM scene through the front door, courtesy of Alfa Matrix who was so impressed by the works of this one-man project from Germany, to decide to work with him for this debut album. Dealing with the never undervalued concept of war, Troops delves into fairly generic dark stompy electro never seeming to reach that momentum it seems to promise at every beat. A layer of orchestral synth elements provides Dunkelwerk's blueprint for dark electronics, while very loose comparisons with some aspects of :Wumpscut: can be drawn. But don't expect to hit former :W: charge or originality anywhere in this album, else you'd be quite disappointed. Perhaps the vocals are the weakest element on it, offering little character and punch but also the orchestral elements grow tired pretty quickly in the album context. Having said that, Troops is far from a bad electronic journey, quite the opposite, in fact. Perhaps it fails to completely live up to the expectations it generates both with the concept and the opening track, which seems a prelude to a pretty stormy affair that eventually fails to materialise. Sound-wise, it is top quality and if you take it as a work of mild dark electronics with an moody edge, you won't be disappointed. Die Sechste Armee being perhaps the most representative cut with this respect. Worth mentioning are also two remixes by Retrosic and Plastic Noise Experience confirming Dunkelwerk is well in the loop. Of course Troops didn't fail to trigger the repressive German latent in an unfortunate portion of the country's population, who decided once again they know everything and slammed/banned the work purely based on the thematic it tackles. No kudos to these folks and will they ever outgrow their repressive instincts? www.dunkelwerk.de - www.alfa-matrix.com |
| Embellish - Black Tears And Deep Songs for Lost Lovers (Goimusic) |
| The rather clumsy-titled Black Tears And Deep Songs for Lost Lovers, is the debut album for Barcelona based 4-piece Embellish. As the album title hints to, they situate themselves in the quite generic Darkwave panorama, proposing a watered down type of gothic metal with a rather pop approach, easy melodies and upfront indie-type vocals. My guess is that Embellish shoot for possible stardom right from the start, given their accurate and very accessible approach and they seem to have quite a following in their homeland. Fortunately, they dispense with the guitars-cum-female-voice formula that is highly popular in the genre, and go with a male frontman instead, whose vocals, however technically perfect, are a bit monotone in the long run. The album is very well produced and sports also a highly refined artwork, however, again, it lacks a bit of dynamic pulse as all titles are a bit of a variation on the same formula, resulting in a fatiguing listening as the album goes on. I'd personally would have better appreciated a mini-album featuring the best tracks, of which there are enough to fill such format with, and then let the listener ask for more, rather than trap the audience into 50 minutes they won't possibly sit through at any given time. www.embellish.com |
| Fear Falls Burning - He Spoke In Dead Tongues 2CD (Projekt/Ikon) |
| Fear Falls Burning is an offshot of vidnaObmana, and this time round, mr Dirk Serries goes his way into creating a hazy cloud of sound by means of an electric guitar wired to a plethora of effects. The double CD amounts to close to two and half hours of fully immersive droning and repetitive atmospheres, dazing the listener into a mysterious daedalus whose exit are kept well concealed. Some passages are more edgey than others and you can clearly tell it's a guitar that's involved. All processing is seemingly analogic and there's apparently no post-processing involved: all is recorded live. It is certainly a leap back from the digital age and certainly a countercurrent approach in the dark ambient and post-industrial scene. Admittedly, some tracks work better than others and the slowly cyclic movements of the sounds are sometimes a bit too crude. I felt that at least the longest tracks (two of them are well over 30 minutes!) could have done with some additional dynamism, but, in fact, it's the author's trance-inducing approach that is the characterizing aspect of the work. Its rather doom tone makes also for a difficult listening if you plan to sit through the complete work in one go. However, if you succeed, it's when the music finally stops that you feel liek something is missing in the air. He Spoke In Dead Tongues carries hidden powers of its own, its subduing and subtly coercing. You've been warned! Easy listeners no need apply. www.fearfallsburning.be |
| Feindflug maintain their recipe more or less un-adultered, if anything, in fact, they have diluted their assault a bit. Volk un Armee sports the typical stomping drumming punctuated by a distorted guitar chord work, but brings the synth layers on to a more prominent role, generally toning down a bit the impact of their hymns and evoking more and more of a sense of defeat, specially in the first part of the album. Tracks like Truppenschau are more in line with the past works and are those that have maintained the band's legacy on the dark dancefloor tinted in combat tones. I'm not sure how easy is for a band like Feindflug to explore different realms, as their stormy success as been tied from day one to their image, thematic and a specific sound formula that is hard to bring anywhere without risking to alienate the demanding and dedicated fanbase. On the other hand, I would struggle myself to see tis band outside of the winning schema they have created for themselves. Schmerzgrenze is another number bound to storm the barricades, so, to put it simple: I love Feindflug at their stompiest, and so I think is the case for the majority of their fans. In anything is missing from this album, is probably a conducting line that traces the continuity of the titles to create a bit of emotive tension, something that worked very well in their early days. The 70-minute album length helps little in this respect and the work feels a bit overstretched in the long run and trimming a few numbers would probably have had its benefits on the work as a whole. Overall a good album, although not half as groundbreaking as their early releases. And I wouldn't trade it for a live gig! www.feindflug.info - www.blackrain.de |
| A master album of dark rhythmic and ambient electronics building on the reputation the artist had established with his debut release Hierakonpolis (see review in Darklife IX). With Nyarlathotep Flint Glass move considerably towards more esoteric atmospheres, crafting compositions that are finely balanced between psychedelic ambience and rhythmic industrial. Flint Glass psychedelic component is quite a devilish one, at least on this work, and it takes a whole third of the album for the proceedings to take off in the form of defined beats that carry a mysterious momentum, growing and fading within the scope of De Vermis Mysteriis, the most memorable track on the album overall. From there on, Flint Glass move to more familiar territory, with fine rhythmic parts raising back to front role. This is where mastermind Gwenn TrŽmorin is more at home in general, and where the wonders of layers of fine-craft electronics and rhythmic treatments gain life in an undisputed crescendo as the album unfolds, no longer being confined purely to the boundaries of esoteric observation. Four remixes by high-profile names such as Ah Cama-Sotz, Xabec, This Morn'omina/Empusae and Disharmony nicely round-off an album that, though possibly less accessible than its predecessor Hierakonpolis, can be regarded as a work of dark electronic genius that deserves indisputable attention. www.funkwelten.de - www.brumerecords.com |
| Freudstein are back with a new variation on their recipe to entertain. Eclecticism is the first term that springs to mind as I scroll through the eleven tracks of Mass Market Misery. There's a bit of everything that would appeal to the dark minded folks out there. Electronics and synths run the show mainly, with guitars chiming in every so often and quite how the Brighton based duo manage to conjure up their weird sounds is a mystery awaiting to be revealed. Freudstein do not subscribe to any school of thought except their very own and they take license of moving free-handedly through a variety of not so contemporary genres with the easiness of someone who appear to have a mission of resurrecting interest in the electronic act. Horror? hmm... Creepy? Hardly. Freudstein is the kind of act that seem to operate a cheap synth, sequencer and a toy guitar, yet manage to conjure up a masterwerk out of their impeccable skills. Things start out bouncy with Return To The Old Forest, only to turn pretty much eighties darkwave with the follow up, Misadventure. The scene is set, ladies and gentlemen, from there on is a delicious delirium touching on spoken word, seventies prog rock, teutonic guitar rock, atmospheric interludes, the upbeat bit sure to please techno-minded folks, more prog rock with an additional shade of black, a bad ass guitar number -Wings of Death- seeing the duo mutate into a devilish arena rock act (those spitting blood over all over the stage, if they still exist), then reverting back to eighties electro-pop for what is possibly the best cut of the album -Sister Sleaze- and closing with a caressing touch of ambient electronica that lies to rest a comparatively short (39 minutes play time), yet dense album. This is a truly intriguing work and, if the variety of scope on board scares you, the master skill of Andrew Bridge and David Else is exactly to make it all sound as *they* had invented all those genre themselves. Just for this album. Recommended. www.freudstein.co.uk - www.wasp-factory.com |
| If you've read our review of Genre Peak's Misanthropy EP on the V.X.1 section of our Online Journal, you'll know what you need to in order to appreciate Genre's Peak state of the art eclectic electro-pop, some of the freshest I have heard in ages. We have also featured one track on the Darklife Podcats Vol 2 which we published about one year ago and is available for free download or listen from our the Podcats section of our website. I'll remand you mostly to that review, as this CD single, which pairs up with a new album release, offers one track that was already included on the EP, of which an additional infecting ARP Mix is included and another track that simply confirm an impression of this group that I could not have described better than I did in that review. Hopefully we'll get to report on the album as well some time soon. www.genrepeak.net |
| Hieros Gamos is the off-shot project of Gudrum Snake, front-lady of the Slovakian outfit L'ahka Muza, who have gained a bit of reputation within the electro-gothic scene. Many of us got to know them through their appearances at the Polish Castle Party Festival that has drawn through the years an increasingly international attendance. Fetish Remixes is a very well conceived album, offering a charismatic ritualistic vocal performance by Gudrum over repetitive backdrops featuring a minimal blend of electronics, orchestral keyboards and distorted rhythmic guitar riffs. Conjuring up the ghost of Diamanda Galas, Gudrum performance reveals her qualities centre stage on this album, giving life to a work that will appeal to those into the sinister side of dark music and a taste for the pompous. Eight of the nine tracks on offer are remixes of some of the most sought after L'ahka Muza tracks from their early works and here is where my competence stops, as I haven't yet had a chance to listen to those early albums and am only familiar with L'ahka Muza through a couple of live performances. www.lahkamuza.net/hierosgamos |
| HIV+ strike the right chords when it comes to rhythmic industrial with a touch of mystery. Suicide Diva opens with trancey atmospheres over a canvas of infecting beats, grooves on without allowing definite patterns to take over, then fades leaving the mystery of its inception unresolved. The scene is set for an album whose best asset lies in the capacity of the author to conjure up big time industrialism without resorting to bigger beats or power electronics of sorts. Pedro Penas y Robles goes straight to the point, marching through rhythmics and atmospheric backdrops and adding layers of subtle hi-tech processing better appreciated on a listen over headphones. Mostly, Overdose Kill Me carries on the tradition of the best French industrial school, fusing intricate electronic minimalism with moody synth arrangements, all tailored just right for the dancefloor. Collaborations with the likes of Obszšn Geschšpf and Saverio Evangelista (Esplendor Geometrico) amongst others contribute extra angles to the warped vision HIV+ offer with this album. A couple of video of the highly acclaimed performance at the 2005 Infest are also included, rounding up an album that is difficult to bypass it you are into rhythmic industrial with a dark edge. www.causticrecord.com |
| Another moment of avant-garde courtesy of Daniele Brusaschetto, teaming up this time round with Mirco Rizzi to give life to a compendium of guitar experimentation. No big noises here, Ri-tagli appears to be largely a work of improvisation and diminutive guitar sounds are assembled in a widely abstract way, with various effect pedals shaping up the timbres throughout. The feel is more psych than jazzy and the general quietness gives this work the rare quality of qualifying for nocturnal listening, something not very common for a highly experimental work. Jut before the half-hour mark, the noises turn quite mysterious and menacing in Chiamata, a piece that will delight those who dwell in dark ambient territories and the following track, which closes the album, has a weird feel highly reminiscent of a horror film soundtrack. At just under 40 minutes playing time, Ri-tagli results a feasible listen overall, despite it being a clear cut experimental work. Meaning that it can find an audience even outside the hard-core of experimentalists around. www.danielebrusaschetto.com - xoomer.virgilio.it/ashpool |
| Twelve tracks for one hour total playing time make this a hell of an EP! Implant is one other of the staple names of the Belgian evergreen EBM scene and one never to be taken in a static context. Fading Away is a catchy tune with all the numbers for storming the dancefloor, then perhaps sink into oblivion. To make sure that won't be the case, the EP features four different versions, so different one from another that really contribute to elevate this EP to the status of full album in all respects. Partners in crime are Millimetric, Auto-Auto and Zombie Girl. Well, not all the names are entirely reassuring, so let me tell you that this is a good case of not judging the book by its cover indeed! Very much in line with the electronic-industrial habit of mixing and matching collaborations and guest appearances, that has been picked up full hands by Alfa Matrix, there are more names featured on this work. You would think a vocal duet between Anne Clark and Claus Larsen of Leaether Strip is a very unlikely thing, but it does work quite well indeed in a Leaether Strip treatment of Was It always this Way. Other names thrown in for good measure are Negative Format, C-Drone Defect, Cut.Rate.Box and Noisuf-X. Anne Clark also stars as solo singer in Your World, a typical Anne Clark affair strongly reminiscent of the early days of that electronic affair conjured up by the singer and his most famed collaborators. Here Implant fits the bill seamlessly, showing off a degree of versatility much appreciated in an electronic dancefloor artist. With Fading Away, Implant has conjured up a hell of a great release. Be or be not impressed by the names of the partners in crime, this is a work of free flowing energy and power and is just the type of electronic / industrial album that spans so many epochs of electronic creations and collates them so well together that is very unlikely to get you tired of listening to it at any stage. Maybe the unavoidable path forward for this genre. If not, yet a staple release in the scene. www.implant-music.be - www.alfa-matrix.com |
| A re-release of the landmark second work of In Gowan Ring, originally released in 1997 on World Serpent and since long deleted. Aside for a brilliant re-mastering job, the album sports a brand new design and better yet, includes a bonus track, Still Water Bone, previously only available on a sampler. Arguably regarded by many the band's best work, The Twin Trees brings a new dimension to folk and esoteric music, with beautiful ballads that still retain a lot of the experimental character and sonic exploration B'eirth had injected in the project's first album Love Charm and a lot of pagan and pure folk elements. The varied instrumentation, the number of musicians appearing and a varied song writing, are the strongholds of the album, distancing it from formulaic dark folk that followed, which is one of the reasons In Gowan Ring are seen as a staple act in the scene. The 9 tracks range from six and half up to eleven minutes in length, making the work far from immediate and some long instrumental digressions contribute to the sense of heaviness of the work, which I personally see as a shortcoming. My Moss Strand And Waterspathe is an 11-minute instrumental where nature sounds mix with drones and assorted noises and voices from beyond in a long, infernal cavalcade. Rivertime Tome or Silver Ring or yet the closing Still Water Bonne (the bonus track) are instead the titles most likely to appeal to those mainly into dark folk. The Twin Trees has effectively marked an evolutionary phase in the music of In Gowan Ring and I suppose that the only fact it is newly available is great news for many out there, specially if you add to the equation a much improved sound and the welcome gift of a valued extra track. www.shayo.ch |
| By far the most polished production by In Strict Confidence, Exile Paradise is an album that grows from one track to the next, gaining momentum as it unveils itself with a million electronic textures forming the varied bed on which mastermind Dennis Osternann and miss Antje Schulz's vocals rest or punch according to necessity. The German trio has come a long way since their groud-breaking Cryogenix debut a decade ago. Those who fell in love with the band instantly thanks to that fantastic record, might find the new, less punchy, more diluted and refined direction of the trio a bit harder to accept. And you can't fault them indeed. However, it would be absurd to ask an artist to repeat themselves ad aeternum and, in fact, Exile Paradise shows that sort of maturity mr Ostermann and co. have achieved, in that the album as a whole is much better conceived that their early production, even though it lacks that one or two "wow" numbers, preferring to move towards more pop-ish solutions when it comes to highlight the main attractions of the album, Promised Land being a point in case. For some yet, Antjie's vocals aren't entirely suitable as they end up washing out considerably the impact of ISC trademark caustic electronics, as is the case for the upbeat Fading Light. There are also slow and atmospheric moments and in general, additions of piano parts and luscious string passages are strongly contributing in making this latest incarnation of In Strict Confidence "guilty" of leaning more and more towards the mainstream. Not so are numbers like Der Teufel, offering a wicked Ostermann interpreting a dark slow number complete with spooky electronics, making it the most memorable moment of the album. In Strict Confidence might no longer be ground-breaking, but they certainly know how to bang a good record and they have come to a point where they might be able to rise an eyebrow or two in more extended circles as well. www.instrictconfidence.com - www.minuswelt.com |
| Yet another talent brought to our attention by Prikosnovenie, a Swedish artist whose main instrument is her own voice. Karin Hšghielm's Apocryphal is a seducing nocturnal work in which ancestral forces seem a driving motif. There's a lot in this album, there are folk elements, there's a veil of sacred and an overall mystical atmosphere that is the right ingredient for re-conciliating with our own souls, which some need badly these days. Karin's vocal work is superb, comparisons have been drawn to the likes of Lisa Gerrard, which are not very far from the truth indeed. She sings in the native language of Gotland, her native land, and in Latin and some of her singing does not include words at all, being just vocal melodies or wordless chants. Even fairy moments creep in, making this album a surprise to discover track after track. Although references to Dead can Dance are obligatory, there's so much more to discover in this record and, with late night listening recommended, it is guaranteed to be a soul uplifting experience. www.karinhoghielm.com - www.prikosnovenie.com |
| So Kindred Spirits took a crash course in Gothic Rock by The Numbers and came back to produce No Room for Laughter. No, not really, these folks seem to be around for about a decade now and made themselves quite a reputation in the Nordic goth area; being from Sweden, they belong to that dear goth rock school that flirts heavily with the Brit tradition, under the wings of M&A Musicart, a label sporting in their roaster such long-dark haired heroes such as Funhouse, Revolution by Night or Dark Side Cowboys. Despite their longevity, No Room for Laughter is a debut album, showing that course did well after all! Following in the footsteps of the likes of Rosetta Stone, they offer no real innovation to the music panorama, but what they do, they do it with a great deal of competence. Whether goth rock is for nostalgia or it's here to remain is not for me to discuss, fact is, if you were in doubt, you might be convinced by this album, once again, that goth rock is pure fun after all. Up-tempo rhythms, underlined by "by-the-book" guitar riffs and basslines, just that subtle touch of keyboards and atmospheres to give a bit extra breath to the tracks and obligatory dark vocals that are, in fact, one of the greatest defining characters of he band overall sound. Worth mentioning is an extra video showing our heroes in action on stage and cover versions of Red Lorry Yellow Lorry's Save My Soul and The Sisters of Mercy's Vision Thing. Passable the former, thick thumbs down to the latter. No Room for Laughter is a very entertaining album, whose adrenaline will revive the goth rocker that lives inside you! www.kindred-spirits.tk - www.ma-musicart.com |
| Killing Ophelia are one of a kind really. The brainchild of Lee Lauren (Aslan Faction) and Karen King (who has also worked with Aslan Faction), the project lives on very unconventional grounds which is a very intriguing quality indeed. Iamai is their second work and it's a strange beast. It moves seamlessly from introspective to claustrophobic, slides up the upbeat path, glides down to downtempo tapestries of moody electronics over which Karen's vocals play the very important role of complementing the underlying arrangements with an unique mood-driven interpretation of her own. From sensual to reflective, from dissonant to ethereal, Karen's vocals are certainly a defining factor in what the band has achieved in this album, but, as I hinted to, they are only half of the game, as the music plays a major role in defining and shifting the moods with crafty arrangements that are very minimal in essence while quite intricate and varied. Lee contributes vocals as well in a couple of occasions, which is a very nice touch, in fact I would have loved to have heard more of him and a couple of tracks such as For No One But Me might even be adaptable to the dark dancefloor, although the album is certainly not club-bound as you could expect from the presence of Lee, quite the opposite, in fact!. A good album for those moments when you're feeling weird, or otherwise, you'll feel weird after listening to it! Worth mention the addition of three promotional videos covering three of the most accessible (in context) tracks. www.killing-ophelia.com - www.blackrain.de |
| Andrew Trial, Hunter Barr and John Murphy operate under he moniker Knifeladder for a decade, focussing their vision on bleak and menacing atmosphere that owe to the older school of industrialism transducing that influence in a retro-modern blend of cacophonies and ritualism served over a demonic percussion work by mr John Murphy. Then you get tracks like Head of A Serpent that board on the voodoo-cabaret (if you pardon me the irreverence of the term). You might have understood by now that this album is not for the simple-minded listener and its purity of inspiration, moving uncontrolled in more than one direction, is bound to put off those who intend industrialism as hard-edged "easy-listening" in the form of beats and power samplers all sanded out with distortion. Knifeladder bring back a screaming bass guitar spitting suspended tones and add obscure swirling electronics that rarely take the front seat and are very effective in brutalising the general mood. However, when they do take the front seat, as it is the case in the track Harm's Way, it is an apocalypse descending on the listener, who ends up being confronted with a blanket of enveloping noise offering little in terms of escape. Definitely not one for the lounge, the title track closes the work and leaves your ear buzzing for minutes. Good old transgression brilliantly re-packaged for the new century. www.knifeladder.com - www.cryonica.com |
| Upbeat times for Claus Larsen who seems to be enjoying a highly productive time with his Leaether Strip outfit. Faetish is a 10-trcak mini album offering one full hour of charged up EBM that will be the joy of dance-floor crazies. Claus marches effortlessly through a blanket of devastating beats and dresses up his angered and perverted tunes in harsh tones, bringing this release back to the industrial grounds that have made Leaether Strip famous in the first place. Punktured Eyeballs is the definitive hymn to electronic perversion and shows Larsen's hard edge at its best. Even his homages to Marc Almond and Fad Gadget's Frank Tovey are fresh and packed with energy. Tunes, beats, anger, the ripping power of hooking melodies, twisted vocal lines and thumping basslines, all is there to the credit of this new chapter in Claus Larsen revered output. One not to be missed by any means. www.alfa-matrix.com |
| High time for Libitina as they continue to grow on the path traced by their previous album The Shadowline and produce what is possibly their best crafted work to date. Parhelion takes off straight where The Shadowline had left and sees the trio refining the electronic embellishments to their tracks to the point of integrating them seamlessly in the goth rock framework in which their production gravitates. Reza from Inertia was again called in as co-producer and that explains the more marked electronic edge of the work, although goths do not fear as he typical anthemic character of the band is there in all its unadulterated splendor. The band make clear from the opener Duty Unbound that they are in uncompromising gothic mood and from there on they carry the mood on minimal mechanical beats and a variety of moods well collated by a very good overall production. Arguably, the weakest moments are those more upbeat passages, while the band seems more at home at the midtempo, with good excursions in the downbeat, of which Alea Acta Est is a very good example, or even another finest moment, Geist, which is a darkwave number sporting German lyrics which is without doubt a wink to the German scene that is still a big one to play in, or, in better words, "the" scene to play in. Memento Mori and Salvation are two more fine expressions of the kind of maturity the band has reached these days, while The Darkest Hour is another for the dancefloor and it's pure emotive Libitina carried by a gritty synth line that fades in and out of the track as if to say we can do with, we can do without! Back in 2003, I said this band had all the potential to become leaders in the UK scene and I'm happy to confirm today that Libitina have fully lived up to the expectations with Parhelion. So the final advice to the goth crowd on this is go get it blind-eyed! www.libitina.co.uk |
| I Kill Everything is an album designed to spare no one of the mellows and its brutal attack on the aural senses by means of an orchestral type of power electronics and industrial is a good elaboration on its title indeed. Loss lures the listeners with atmospheric dark soundscapes, then proceeds to rip them to pieces with elaborate rumbling attacks of muscular power orchestrations that offer little optimism indeed. Sometimes coming through as a poisoned take on Klangstabil, the album does not shy away from rhythms either and it gravitates between rage and a caressing hand that will make you swallow it all bitter-sweetly if needed. This is the type of album suited to a personal apocalypse and make no mistake, there's enough imaginative creativity in scoring a deep ongoing trauma to make this record a little masterpiece of post-emotional raging industrial. Eh, not literally, but I guess you got the message somehow. Dark, deep, loud and sorrowful. www.spectre.be |
| Another high calibre release for the queen of faeries Luoisa Joh Krol, Apple Pentacle is a soul lifting listening experience from beginning to end. Partitioned in three episodes stylistically different, the album takes off with five tracks whose first impact is of being slightly edged towards structures and sonorities that are a bit more pop than usual. With the fourth track, Spin, Louisa returns to more traditional type of material and with the fifth track, Birch Wandering, she shines with one of the best numbers of the album, a dreamy ballad in synergy with nature. As the album has moved to more traditional folk-ish content, the second episode is upon us and the beautiful story-telling style of the Australian singer is fabulous as ever. As a singer, Luoisa John Krol is also highly versatile, an attribute that contributes considerably to make the album a fluid listening. There are more intimate moments in the album, before the last track, Kunmanngur, in which she explores a myth from a tribal area of her land. Mythology, tales, ancestral themes, traditional instruments and a caressing voice. What more to ask for if you look for a break of peaceful and fantastic connotations? www.louisa-john-krol.com - www.prikosnovenie.com |
| Mentallo & The Fixer - Commandments for The Molecular Age EP (Alfa Matrix) |
| Gary Dassing is back, resurrecting his seminal electronic project Mentallo & The Fixer after a conspicuous absence from the scene of several years. Commandments for The Molecular Age is as contorted as its title is. Over 50 minutes of playtime for 5 tracks of visionary electronic wanderings, supposed to be the appetizer for the subsequent full-length release of Enlightenment through A Chemical Catalyst. Commandments... is permeated by a psychedelic aura, as mr Dassing lets his synths loose on multi-layered arrangements with a quite distinctive avant-garde edge. Free-form electronics and latent beats, tasting heavily of schizophrenia, Commandments... offers a disturbing peek on aspects of thought bound to be "chemically enhanced". Twisted and disorienting, this is a true thrilling appetizer for the album to come; musically speaking, dense and hard to digest unless you're in a "let it all loose/got nothing to loose" mood. www.alfa-matrix.com |
| Mentallo & The Fixer - Enlightenment through A Chemical Catalyst (Alfa Matrix) |
| True to the premise laid out with the Commandments for The Molecular Age EP, Mentallo & The Fixer unleash another chapter of oblique electronic madness and, again, the title is a good introduction to the content program. Moving swiftly across a pandemonium of broken up beats, mental synths and madhouse vocals, Gary Dassing comes through this latest chapter of his Mentallo & The Fixer project much true to what his very nature as an electronic musician possibly is: twisted and unpredictable with little concern over the listener sanity. In plain words: love it or loathe it is a fair way to describe the projected acceptance of this album and much will depend on your actual mood at the moment you're spinning the disk. As a personal preference, I dig mostly the moments that enjoy a minimum of structuring of the proceedings, showing that Mentallo can be a (relatively) digestible listen, despite the abundant twist he imposes on the compositions. In contrast to the Commandments EP, Enlightenment offers in fact a much more structured dialogue with the listener, but if you feel inclined to the pure mental approach of the former EP, no need to worry as mammoth pieces of sadistic incoherence such as the 14-minute long Amigdula promptly come to your rescue. While I find comfort in the less heavily-layered -yet no less mind-wrangling- pieces such as Feels so Good that I Cried. Typically an act devoted to a niche audience, Mentallo & The Fixer confirm themselves as such, hoping that niche hasn't dispersed in the five years of absence of the project from the scenes. www.alfa-matrix.com |
| Midnight Syndicate - Out of The Darkness (Retrospective: 1994 - 1999) (Entity Productions) |
| Not only have Edward Douglas and Gavin Goska gone through the difficult task of hand-picking tracks from their first three acclaimed (and now out of print) releases, trying to strike a balance between pleasing the fans and themselves, they even decided to re-record them from scratch in order to take advantage of improved quality of their equipment and achieve a better sound and even tweak slightly the arrangements where due. Out of Darkness sounds stunning indeed and is a true testimony of the grandeur of this duo whose orchestral gothic soundtracks have become a reference in the genre. No less than 24 tracks populate the CD, offering a unique opportunity to sweep through the defining moments in the career of Midnight Syndicate in a single go. As additional treats, four of the tracks are previously unreleased, including themes from two of Edward Douglas' early horror films (Journey into Dementia and The Dead Matter) and a track that never previously made it to an album, titled Prisoner of Time. Out of Darkness is a stunning retrospective that deserves unconditioned consideration. www.midnightsyndicate.com |
| A quite accomplished full length debut for this French 4-piece who propose a minimal, intimate work characterised by lead female vocals bound to seduce over a backdrop of trip-hop-ish electronics aided by assertive guitars in more than one occasion. Miss Virginie comes across as the star under the spotlight, sensual and frail most of the time, yet not refraining from a more muscular approach in the odd occasion or two. The album plays on atmospheres created to serve the span of each song and while the overall mood is very sombre and permeated by a moderate sense of gloom (Ticket to Death anyone??), each track is clearly a chapter on its own, clocking at between three to over four minutes, with the exception of Acalmy, a nocturnal interlude placed about a third into the album and more of which would have given the album more of the dynamism or tension it lacks overall. Misstrip seem to be best at home when they leave the strong guitar chords by side, as in Inside and Beyons, whose epic ending is one of the best moments of the album. Their hybrid between traditional instruments and synths could use a bit more refinement overall and, although the production is quite clear, a layer of extra spark would not go amiss in the context. Not the typical Prikosnovenie fare, Sibylline is an album that will nevertheless attract with ease the typical audience of the label. www.misstrip.fr - www.prikosnovenie.com |
| I doubt Eric van Wonterghem and his acclaimed solo project Monolith need any introduction and this new full length, his sixth to date, is yet another proof that there exist different classes of electronic musicians and mr Van Wonterghem belongs to the top tier. Talisman fits the best tradition of Monolith fluid, pattern based light-weight rhythmic industrialism. Clinically cut arrangements carry the rhythmic load effortlessly and build a trance-like aura around the tracks. I could say there have ben better moments in Monolith career, but that would be in all truth a bit unfair. Perhaps what leaves the listener a bit short of the expectations is the meagre running time of just over 42 minutes. This, in turn, gives dynamism to the work, as shorter tracks avoid stagnation on a theme, while still the global aura is maintained by a coherent style that works on subtle elements over a solid backdrop, rather than using big splashes of muscular sounds. The title track is without doubt the crucial moment of the work, and one that should find easy recognition on the dancefloor as well. All in all, you can't go wrong with Monolith! ericvanwonterghem.com - www.alfa-matrix.com |
| The Moon And The Night Spirit - Of Dreams Forgotten and Fables Untold (Eqvilibrivm) |
| Another port of call for fans of folk and ethereal music, The Moon And the Night Spirit hail from Hungary and offer an inspiring journey of mystical connotations through nine tracks of cathartic beauty yet with a pop-ish edge. Laid out mainly on classic guitar, violin, woodwinds and hand-percussion, the musical foundation of the album is the perfect playing field for Agnes ethereal exhibition that is simply uplifting. The Moon And The Night Spirit are lively, all the songs are upbeat and are built around pleasant melodies that make for a sense of easy-listening that slightly dilutes the magical aura potentially engulfing them. Magical pop or easy-mystical? Either way, this is an album many of us have a bad need to listen to, it's a solar step out of the torpor of everyday life and back to taste pleasures that are long forgotten indeed. www.themoon.equilibriummusic.com - www.equilibriummusic.com |
| Better known as the charismatic frontman of the ground-breaking hard-electro combo The Fair Sex, Myk Jung boosts his solo career with a release that is delicious on every count. Before you expect a furious cascade of electronic beats and infecting synthetic basslines, think a moment of those few, distinctive slow moving, atmospheric tracks by The Fair Sex which featured minimal instrumentation over which Myk distinctive vocals traced atmospheres of melancholy. Not many of these tracks, in all truth, in TFS discography, but very compelling those very few were for sure. Now Myk delivers a full fifteen of such tracks in Zenith is Decline, which proves to be a remarkable work that, despite it's minimal nature, does not turn completely the back to the glorious legacy that TFS has left on the modern electronic music scene panorama. Not indeed. Piano arrangements and the occasional acoustic guitars are complemented by crafty synth elements that are never invading, and add very nicely to the general melancholy characterising the album. Distorted, muted guitars complete the equation in places, to generate an almost new dimension of expression for the man. And my general impression is that he comes across as a much improved version of Peter Murphy which is quite an achievement indeed. It emerges from the CD notes that the nine main tracks have been indeed composed by Myk over several years and had never seen the light of the day before. A female voice also joins in in a track or two and also duets with Herr Jung with remarkable results. Guess what, it belongs to nobody less than his daughter, Allegra, aged 10! A talent in the making, she is said to have also actively contributed to some tracks. It is also nice to note that the disk itself if a replica of a vinyl record and has a much nicer feel that the typical silver disk. Zenith Is Decline is more than simply the solo album of TFS frontman, it's just under an hour of nice slow-moving compositions for those atmospheric evenings in sweet company or to feed those melancholic long dark winter hours. Additionally, it offers its fair share of appeal to fans of TFS as well. www.mykjung.de - www.endless-records.de |
| A bit of a strange beast this new album by NY based Neikka RPM. Much dancefloor oriented and featuring plain electronic arrangements more aimed at the pop audience than anything else, Rise of the 13th Serpent boosts interest by adding to the equation a number of vocalists out of the dark electronic dancefloor scene to add to Dominique whispered lines. In all honesty, none of the featured names are famous for their vocal skills, so the exercise is a bit academic per se, yet welcome in giving a degree of variety to the album. Yet names such as Plastic Noise Experience, Leaether Strip, Implant, Bruderschaft or KenjiSiratori won't fail to rise a few eyebrows around this release. Having said that, I think there's a long way between Rise of The 13th Serpent and any form of innovation in beat oriented electronic music. Plain four to the floor with little variation on the theme and even less care in the choice of sounds employed, make this album a total potboiler and even its modest running time of just over 45 minutes does not come to rescue. True, Rise... has its moments, bad news they don't stick out from the general yawny character of the album as a bit of character is missing all the way along. www.neikkarpm.com - www.alfa-matrix.com |
| Quite a shocking leap forward for Wendy Van Dusen's Neither / Neither World outfit, proposing in an unexpected move a full album located somewhere between indie/wave a-la Mazzy Star or even Cranes and guitar folk a-la Death In June or Current 93. What is more traumatizing, is the fact that the demon diva has conjured up 7 highly produced tracks that stand out not only because of the lyrical content and the vocal personality of the front-woman, but also for the highly polished, harmonic and rich musical content. The opener Promise is a give-away already, with guitars, keyboards and drums to create a perfect indie hit, enriched of course by those innocent vocals that fit the music like a glove. The piano notes in Ghost Whisper create a perfect nocturnal ballad and Wendy's poetry shines as ever. Guitars even go dirty in Buried And Gone, punctuated by a solid rock drumming, while the title track is more close to the DiJ or C93 legacy. Shadow of The Wings is pure shoegaze and the closing I Fall Away is another shimmering example of dreamy pop highlighting the lyrical content in a very effective way. A hidden track goes back to the poem and guitar formula and is a little reminder of how powerful and versatile this woman is. I suppose Neither / Neither World have consistently thought their followers not to take anything for granted and this powerful short album is another tasteful reminder. www.shayo.ch |
| Building up on the critical success of their debut No Love Lost, NFD are back with more goth rock to shake a scene whose heartbeat has practically ceased to pulse since some time. Light My Way paves the way for the album Dead Pool Rising, showcasing NFD in perfect Fields of The Nefilim emulation mode, except that they do inject a concentrate of adrenaline not always found in McCoy's own outfit, exception made for when he tried out the metal route. Light My Way is yet another perfect goth anthem, if we ever needed one more. Not that there's much competition, mind you, but the only competent contenders nowadays could only be McCoy himself. If there was a reason, that is! www.nfd.web.com - www.jungle-records.com |
| NFD stick to their repertoire of tricks to hail the goth scene well and alive and they do have the numbers and competence to do so. However, it's year 2006 and Dead Pool Rising moves along a well trodden path, collating together the best that goth rock with a tradition could offer about 20 years ago. The album is dynamic in places, but haven't we heard this pap all before indeed? And..., if only guitars were mixed down to a more realistic level at times... It's admirable for NFD to carry on the flag of doom wide and loud and in a traditional way, yet they'll have to face at some point the outcome of sticking to a fixed and tried out formula, as the longing scene might one day dry itself out, if it hasn't already. Aside from these considerations, you'll find Dead Pool Rising bringing back to life so many cliches in terms of sound that you'd need to depend on the majority of them in order to fully enjoy the album on its terms. Goth, non goth, you win, you loose... It's only rock'n'roll after all, wouldn't they say that? But a tad of renovation wouldn't go amiss... www.nfd.web.com - www.jungle-records.com |
| Ten years of synthpop with Obsc(y)re have just been celebrated and the German duo re-iterate their commitment to polished sounds, catchy tunes and the distinctive vocals by Anne Wagner and offer their formula up for public consumption in the form of a 5-track single including five varied re-mixes of the Liebe und Wahnsinn track, tipped as the highlight from the Plichtveranstaltung album. Of little interest, except to DJs, I suppose. The track is indeed catchy and tuneful in its original conception, but five versions in a row offering little in terms of constructive variation, is a bit too much for the ordinary listener. www.obscyre.de - www.epopland.de |
| Fourth full-length release by Oil 10 a.k.a Gilles Rossire at the controls. Catapulted into the international scene by Brume Records back in 2003 with the release of the critically acclaimed Arena (see review in Darklife issue IX), Oil 10 is back confirming that France is central to the scene of dark, atmospheric electronic music. Mr Rossire strikes a perfect balance between catchiness and laid back greyness, between dancefloor rhythmic and expanded ambience. This time round we are treated to two memorable dancefloor epics, High Adventure and Grand Illusion, perhaps not totally equalling the grandeur of Arena's own hit Lost In Metropolis, they come pretty close and are clear focal points of this work. Oil 10 electronic treatment is crystalline and, although it leaves no room for pure industrial contamination, it is obvious that the highly rhythmic content and a surgical sound design will make this a dear even among the industrial crowd, specially due to the presence of a few up-tempo numbers, X Fleet above all, one of the few where you hear those compressors at work to maximise dance-floor impact, yet not blatantly pumping by any measure. Focussing on rhythmic and atmosphere and featuring some geometric, Kraftwerkian electronic work, Beyond is likely to impact a vast cross-section of audiences, from ambient electronica straight through to industrial crowds. In other words: don't let this slip by by any means. www.oil10.com - www.fukwelten.de - www.blackrain.de |
| Intriguing. Less is more, is less. Onethirtyeight take the unconventional route of going ultra-minimal and apply some dry experimentation to their dark, psychedelic content. Consisting of four main tracks, an intro and an interlude of madness, The Sister starts off in pretty doom fashion and keeps a very dark, low-key attitude throughout. Each track is a tale on its own, I'm afraid no fairy tale though. Simple, repetitive, stripped down to the bone, I find Onethirtyeight's style one you either love or loathe. Although I love the attitude and general idea and style, I can't help feeling there's something missing throughout this work to make full justice to the concept. After all, it's pretty tough to convey a certain mood with one instrument or too, although the lullaby sparse vocal phrases certainly help. No doubt a project to keep an eye on. www.onethirtyeight.co.uk |
| A Shapeless Beauty is another classic Penitent album, a work you'll love if you are well accustomed to dark ambiances with neo-classical touches that spill over to hints to bombastic and subdued martial rhythmics. There's melancholy and a sense of distance, Penitent compositions are rarely rarified, although mr Hamre certainly adopts a minimalist approach. From the piano lined opening tracks that reveal a slight leaning towards goth and neo-classical, the rhythmic backdrop of Demon Trubador brings the album to full-swing with a taste or martial industrial. Moving ahead, Karsten works on the defining elements of Penitent with care and control, never letting one single angle prevail on another and acting with a subtlety that boards on the caressing. Industrial touches are evident throughout and towards the end, the record moves to more reflective atmospheres, closing with a 18-minute suite transcending the territory of reality upon which most of the album is grounded and moving towards the beyond. Enter Purgatory indeed. A Shapeless Beauty is a no-brainer buy for the dark crowd, it's a classy and gently captivating journey sweeping through what might be a nice existence eventually gone bad. Purely my speculative interpretation, though. The work is simply suggestive. www.karstenhamre.com/penitent - www.trinityrecords.com.hk |
| Not exactly breaking the news here, but since we are covering one of a few bands of the German praised Darkwave scene who can claim the attribute "timeless" when referring to them, I suppose we can be excused for bringing this review out with a delay quantifiable in the region of tens of months! Pfingsten 2003 is when it all happened and the band came back together for an unanimously acclaimed gig at the Leipzig WGT and Summer 2005 saw the release of this Re-Union album, offering what is a stunning collection of the band achievements during their decade of operation between 1985 and 1995. The 4-piece out of Berlin did have a defining role in the German Darkwave scene, form the New Wave boom of the eighties over to the next decade, when their resonance raised to international status. Unfortunately, the time came when the good taste virtually disintegrated under pressure from the multitude who tried to bastardise genres as to come up with the next big thing. well, not many succeeded in that task, although some certainly did, and the time came to look back to those who had started it all and taken it to a very high level in the first place. Countless re-unions took place early in the new century, ironically, the only new "big-thing" left really in the scene, showing that the pathetically consumeristic attitude of the music industry backfired big time and band like Pink Turns Blue went back into business entirely managing their own production by themselves. Re-Union is one of such releases that will shine in your collection even if you were dedicated enough to own the entire band back catalogue (some 15 releases between albums and singles). Packaged in a luscious 3-folded matt digipack, including lyrics to all the track and featuring suitably autumnal and simple artwork, Re-Union does beg to be owned. A video track shows the band performing Michelle to an ecstatic audience at the 2003 WGT. Having mentioned that the album content is the best of the best of the band production, it's handy to have it all handy on a single disc, no to mention that the re-mastering job has added a new layer of spark to these timeless recordings, bringing it full force into the new century without a single wrinkle in show. Also, assuming that a large share of today's scene has hardly herd this band at all, it's a truly educative release in all senses, in fact I have witnessed many a positively surprised reaction from people who heard this lot for the first time! Well, we covered this a bit late, but Pink Turns Blue are here to stay! www.pinkturnsblue.com |
| So have over ten years of hibernation dented Pink Turns Blue ability to create some of the best romantic wave in the music history? Spin the disc, and it does not take long to feel this is absolutely not the case. With a pretty suitable album title for a return in such style, Mic Jogwer's band give the impression not to have aged one second since they last released an album back in 1995. Their classic wave made of dirty and wailing guitars, solid bass lines and plain atmospheric keyboard backdrops is as straightforward as it could get and a lot of its appeal has to do with their capacity of churning out melancholy driven tunes at an incredible rate, coupled with Mic's vocals that have become defining through the band solid career. The general pace of the record is quite sustained, with the occasional downtempo perfectly placed with the wisdom of the veterans to break the steady flow and add that dynamism that keeps the listener collated throughout. Dynamite is a stand-out example of this, as Crusade, to a slightly lesser extent. There's no obvious candidate as stand-out hit in Phoenix, although tracks like Can Love Survive or Now's The Time have that little extra that makes them even more appealing and possible candidates as singles. Obviously, bands like Pink Turns Blue have little to add to the contemporary music panorama, other than their perfectly crafted brand of wave, and the fact that it sounds as fresh as it ever did back in the days this genre was a break-through, simply means there's clearly still place for band like these in the new century. www.pinkturnsble.com |
| A duo of heavenly connotations, Pinknruby consist of Paul Bradbury from England and Michaela Repina from Slovenia and in this album they are assisted by a host of additional musicians. We had met them originally in issue IX of Darklife and this is their second album, a work that moves between the wide horizons of heavenly and world music, with lovely compositions that inspire an idyllic peace. Michaela vocals are luscious and highly expressive, while the classic instrumentation centers around acoustic guitars, harps, piano, cello, violin and such, which is what you wold expect for such a style. Interestingly, Paul sings as well, moving on from the tradition that assigns the undisputed role of vocal muse to the lady in such cases, a shift increasingly featured amongst Prikosnovenie artists. Quirky and angelic, Garden is a perfect companion to those moments in which a little imaginative journey is the perfect ingredient to survival. www.prikosnovenie.com |
| A light electro-dance album lined up with dancefloor packers, Disease is a typical Regenerator album, perhaps a little more light-weight than usual and is their seventh to date. The duo concentrate on the song-writing, preoccupying themselves with catchiness and beats over sound research, in order to maximize impact on the dancefloor. The combination of the girlie vocals by Patrice and deeper, warmer lines courtesy of mr. Wrex is one of the defining characters of the band and, like in the past, I prefer those moments when they break with the tedious four-to-the-floor and bring in extra elements of interest, like the atmospheric slowdown of the title track or the beautifully dark Cured and even the more experimental The Grave. Also a little extra dirt in the sounds is highly welcome, such in the case of End of File, where the band finally gains a bit of long-awaited industrial momentum. Most of the excitement comes in the second half of the record and the closing track is another high point, a nice cover of Don't Fear The Reaper originally by Blue Oyster Cult. www.regenerator.net - www.alfa-matrix.com |
| Rise of The Fallenfollow up their acclaimed Citize Cain EP and DVD releases with a new EP, Bloodline, supposedly a taste of what their debut album in the making is supposed to bring to the unsuspecting world. In truth, 11 tracks and a play time of one hour, make Bloodline more of an album that an EP, but that's all the best for the listener! Also, judging by what this release has on offer, there's only to look forward to the album indeed. Bloodline is a powerful work where muscular guitars and guttural vocals make up quite a nefilimesque atmosphere, although mr. Philip Faith -the man behind the project- keeps its own varied style quite interesting with very good takes on electronics, rumbling rock beats and synths that give atmosphere and move the work away from the dangerous trap of metal/nu metal or any yawn variation of the term. They pay their tribute to masters of the genre such as Killing Joke, with a cover version of Sun Goes Down. As with their previous release, Rise of The Fallen show they are fully prepared to take the stomping dancefloor on for a ride with a stormy version of the title track (which also appears in its album version) showing really the band trashing out full force and shifting the emphasis to electronics, relentless beats, angered out vocals and vocal samples to create a one-off whirly waltz of madness for the listener. Tracks like Indiscipline, are more in line with the band main sonic attitude and this one has all the numbers to become a stormy single. Even the band has produced a stylish video to it, whose fetish undertones match well the character of the song. But the band shows that they are at home even with more subtly atmospheric tracks, such as Tachutonim or Hyena (Mutation), bringing in elements more in line with the goth rock tradition. It looks like Rise of The Fallen's recipe for darkness is a well concocted one and I don't think the Canadian band will have much difficulties in affirming themselves in the scene either side of the ocean. Whcih makes me look forward with great anticipation to their debut album. www.riseofthefallen.com |
| Analogue minimal quirky electronics, vocoded voices, melodies to kill. It's not a bad 80's dream, it's the contemporary interpretation of a bygone epoch by Mr Daniel Gossweiler, resident of ZŸrich, Switzerland. Surrounded by a ton and a half of analogue synthesizers, many apparently custom made, Sexomodular goes into analogue synth overdrive to offer what is the freshest and most compelling example of cheesy electronics offered to date for what I know. Danceable from head to toe, the 15 tracks making up this album are not only a tribute to what can be considered just the past, they are in reality re-inventing that epoch with a romantic taste that is nowadays all forgotten. With hooking melodies and themes, arrangements that might have the remaining members of Kraftwerk wonder just *why* they didn't think of that in the first place (well, maybe...), Sexomodular is truly seductive in form and content, and gives synth-pop darlings like S.P.O.C.K a clear run for their money. As much as I'd bet a work like this would kill if just pressed on vinyl, this CD release is mostly desirable in its own right. Synth buffs, don't miss out! www.sexomodular.com - www.darksite.ch/urgences |
| As the titles says, there's absolutely nothing on this dummy 0-track CD. Wouldn't you like it in your collection? One for the completists! www.artcraf.it/mistycircles |
| For those of you who never quite grasped what the big deal about Depeche Mode was through all those years, here's another chance to look the issue through and re-consider the harsh judgement. Songs of Lemuria are the creation of Nik Page, the man behind Blind Passengers and feature the virtuosism of Michaela Laubach at the vocals. Shake The Disease is a nifty little work featuring five Depeche Mode tracks arranged for piano and cello, thus bringing out full force the melancholy characterizing the original tracks. This is regarded as a pure homage to the synthpop heroes of all ages, and Songs of Lemuria undertake the task with commendable dedication. Despite my general coldness towards the majority of the Depeche Mode production, I confess I greatly enjoy the intimate character of this stripped down and dreamy rendition of the source material. Obviously, much has to do with the superb vocals by Michaela while sparse inputs by Nik Page also help in corroborating the character of the versions. Now, it's becoming clearer why Depeche Mode have mostly left me in the cold! www.songsoflemuria.de |
| Spies under Von Magnet Influence - Shape Your Shade EP (Cinetiks / Celestial Dragon / Thisco) |
| This is a neat collaboration between Hoelg of Spies and Von Magnet, giving birth to an exotic release made up of four tracks and half an hour playing time. The opening track Fire of Illusion blends a variety of elements, from flamenco guitars to ethnic percussive layers over atmospheric backdrops that give a dilated sense of space for warm embracing vocals to set upon. The mood is set for the two pieces of cinematic ambient that follow, offering an insight on Spies cosmic path of influence, including industrial contamination that increase the dramatic affect of the compositions. A Cosmic Operator is a fine example of this. The last track picks up pace from the ambient layers turning in a spaced out eclectic piece of contemporary downtempo psy-electronica. Generally quieter and more mood setting than previous Spies works, Shape Your Shade is an appetizing work well suited to those looking at the boundaries of modern electronica. And a fantastic sound too. www.cinetiks.com |
| After a mellow lounge type intro, you are blasted with a massive outburst of rumbling noise. Welcome to Strange Day. In all honesty, the intro is quite atypical if considered against the rest of the album. Music to Sleep Forever is essential a mainly downtempo affair of fluid electronic music with a marked cinematic effect and a nice tendency towards dark ambient and noise industrial complete with a nice sound design work by the Swiss duo. Enigmatic track names (apparently random numbers), do not help unveiling the concept behind the album, but as listening progresses, it appears increasingly clear that we are dealing with what is possibly a fantasy journey through the parallel world that emerges during sleep. Possibly. Strange Day's electronica is quite vigorous, if compared to a general tendency to go for diminutive sounds and while they enjoy indulging in jazzy-type compositions from time to time, for me it's the ambient like passages and the overall industrial feel that give additional strength to this album whose progressive character is more evident track after track. This is a strange hybrid that is not easy to place, so we are going to call it oneiric prog-industrial. www.bak13.ch - www.darksite.ch/urgences |
| T.M.O.R.o - Something to Look Forward to < 1 EP (Desperate Diagram) |
| At 12 minutes playing time, this EP is a bit thin on material. The three tracks offer multi-layared electronics with well designed and sophisticated rhythmic components and overlaying synths of both experimental and retro flavour. Retro as in Commodore, quite peculiar! In general well done although the final result is a bit vague and tastes a little of directionless experimentation. Although the American duo boost a concept, it's hard to envisage any connection to it with a mere 12 minutes of music. I would see these tracks well in a wider context in which also lyrics play a role. www.tmoro.com - www.desperate-diagram.com |
| There's a mysterious vibe emanating from the experimental compositions of this obscure French act, over which no literature seem to exist so far. This is a demo CD including six tracks and, for what I have gathered, the final product is going to be released in due course by the French label Steelwork Machine. The opener Khubilgan is a percussive mantra featuring sinister voices and even creepier industrial noises. Thar Mapsal are primarily audio-visual artists who have worked in the soundtrack area, so a certain cinematic character of the work can be expected. This reveals itself in different forms, from death industrial like, nightmarish ambiances to tribal percussive works emblazoned with mysterious spoken words, to minimal cosmic threads to apocalyptic rumbling noises. Another track, Cancer (Extralife) is based on a percussive loop and is almost entirely percussive in content, and is another example of what this combo is able to achieve in terms of power and mystery. I would advice The Thar Mapsal Program to those in search of yet new creative forces in the grey grey world of death industrial and apocalyptic ambient. Myself, I would not be surprised if this would turn out to be a DVD release with suitable images to go with this highly powerful soundtrack. audiotrauma.music.free.fr |
| What a little treat here from all the way over the ocean. Unavox are fresh electro-goth and are obviously dancefloor rats to the bone! Angels Dance Upwards features five tracks of catchy synth driven elegance tinted in glittering black. Complementary guitars melt well in the mix to give a little extra goth content and an obligatory bare-bone drum machine is well in context, while the synth hooks are the sort that remain trapped in your brain for hours on. The four piece, mostly based in California these days, has just released a new album and, given the premise, there's only to look forward to it. www.unavoxmusic.com |
| Crystalline electronics to make up indistinct patterns of everyday urbanity, it's Richard Duggan -aka Urceus Exit- personal recipe for salvation. The opener Good Morning Beautiful is as solar as it sounds, a premiere hymn to cold joyfulness that opens the door to an unsuspected work that lives on the fine balance between fine arts electronica and more down-to-earth synthpop for the masses. At its lowest, Contra is a pale Depeche Mode emulator, but luckily enough, at its best, it is a marvelous hazy trip into a subjective melting of synthesized states of mind that are nothing short of mesmerising. As a whole, however, the album doesn't quite work, at least not in the way anticipated by the opening sequence of Good Morning Beautiful and Metro, as the whole fails somehow to amount to the coherent sum of its brilliant chapters. Closing off with a all-sugar piano ballad, Contra eventually lands to a planet far distant from the one it took off from. Fascinating nevertheless. www.urceusexit.com - www.artoffact.com |
| A reprise of some of the themes treated in Contra, this release offers 10 tracks and comes close to one hour of playing time. Alongside five versions of the title track, are a few more examples of the upbeat side of Urceus Exit, with minimal technoid offerings that have a far more marked urban feel to them, boarding on the industrial as in You Taste Like or boasting soothing synths in the chiil-out mantra These Spots In My Eyes. There's little to go wrong with this release, despite the repetition of the title track -some versions of which leave a bit to be desired in all truth- for those feeding themselves on electronica and maintain a perspective view of it. www.urceusexit.com - www.artoffact.com |
| This a re-release of a landmark work by Karsten Hamre that was released back in 2001 on the Bulgarian label Counter Attack Productions. Trinity Records re-proposes now the debut album for the Veiled Allusions project with the addition of no less than four extra tracks, bringing the play time up to just under 70 minutes. These Visions of the World are pretty bleak if you ask me, as what we are dealing with is a album of eerie dark ambient and soundscapes that are fully drenched in death industrial and nihilism to boot. The work is sombre and evocative in general, yet Karsten does not miss the chance to hit out at the senses with a powerful death march like As Life Declines or a solemn surge in power ambient like Dark Eternity. Karsten keeps within conventions of traditional music by segmenting his Visions into several tracks of canonical length, while his research for unearthly sounds is well outside conventions. Amalgamating industrial sounds with choirs, low strings, reverberated drones and hints of rhythms, he masters a build of a masterpiece of biblical proportions that is a no-return journey to a pitch black, boundless world. The four extra tracks tailing the album are alone worth chasing up this release at any cost. If the main album was bleak, its coda is a trip through the hopeless crumbling of it all. Mesmerisingly sorrowful. www.karstenhamre.com - www.trinityrecords.com.hk |
| Spook and dark art, it's the right playground for Virgil Franklin and the electronic approach to this soundtrack-type release is of defining character, with arrangements well suitable to generically creep-inducing visual material. While spookiness might be all around, instrumentation is more of a pragmatic issue as with Dark Hollow Mr Franklin attempts to sustain orchestral movements with instrumentation that comes through as a bit thin on its ground when put in the context. Dark Hollow could be actually either a missed opportunity or a accomplished soundtrack work of modern age. Perhaps it's both at once. Staple point is: it is a work of deep artificial orchestration and as such open to improvements from the basic paradigm of the self-contained electronic studio. A fine work as it stands nevertheless, with lovable dark ambient passages and a soft gothic atmosphere to boot. www.virgilmusic.net |
| At 75 minutes playing time, Resistance EP is a very attractive way of getting acquainted with this electronic trio whose speciality is infecting the dancefloor with a dark and measured brand of electronic music that touches on many elements, the most prominent being electronic industrial, and with quiet guitar riffs adding a bit of a harder edge. Y-luk-O do not stop at formulas and there is a considerable amount of experimentation in their work, with a nervous sound design and excellent and distinctive vocal work. They can touch on melodies from time to time and have the ability to inject a good tune or two if they wish, widely broadening the scope of their compositions. Even some oriental elements find their way in one track this time round. If you have liked Y-luk-O before, you are going to love this nifty release. Resistance offers 7 brand new tracks and a volley of remixes of the title track by other artists. There's a whole seven of these, back to back on the second part of the disk. They are all very quite imaginative, yet the distinctive verse characterising the track make it not completely suitable for iPod listening, unless you turn on the shuffle option! Y-luk-O say this release is a thank you to the fans who have supported through their first three releases, in reality, it's fans who should tank the group for such a nice treat! www.yluko.com |
| Off the darklands of Finland are X-Sanguis, who score a high quality debut album set to cast darkness and inner peace over the listener. The album is a work of soothing ritualism reaching to the transcendental realm with a balanced mix of ambiances and hypnotic elements. Clocking at a total of fifty minutes, the three tracks of Pavor Nocturnus build on a synergy between modern tech synths and sacred atmospheres lined with choral chants. The 10-minute strong hypnotic introduction of Eeli, eeli, lama sabaktani! leads straight to the body of the album, Partition 2, where subtle ambiance grows into a rhythmic ritual with industrial undertones. The closing suite, titled Epaonnistuneen messu covers nearly the half of the work and seals its ritualistic character in a simple yet effective way. From submission to adoration to glorious resurrection, the album is a triumph of soul over body, even though the relatively synthetic choice of sounds might help suggesting otherwise. A bit reminiscent of Actus for the sake of offering a fitting comparison. Strongly recommended if dark celebrations are the bread and butter of your musical experience. www.confuture.net/x-sanguis - www.ainiarecords.com |
| I've never been overwhelmed by the works of Icon of Coil, but here Sebastian Komor adds a bonus to his catchy electronic ventures, in the form of a sensual female voice, by no one less than his very wife Renee. The horror theme is quite a nice touch, although not the most original, and the seven tracks of this EP are quite a catchy listen, reinvigorated by suitably dirty electronic sounds and a nice vein of humor. All tracks are tailored to the dancefloor and three of them are actually remixes by the likes of KFMDM, Soman and Icon of Coil itself. Nothing transcendent on this disk, but at least it is just over half an hour bound to bring a good mood, if it were needed. www.zombie-girl.com - www.alfa-matrix.com |
| Hellektroempire are a brand new label spawned by the ever increasing alternative scene in Italy and this sampler is their very first release, a sort of manifesto of intents of the team running the label. Presented in a sleek, abstract design that create an aura of attraction, New [input] Noise begs to be discovered. Give it a spin and you realize in no time that Hellektroempire mean serious business! The disk title well gives away the general theme proposed: 15 tracks of electronic industrial from rhythmic to powernoise to experimental, sporting a line-up that any Ant-Zen / Hands fan will find very enviable. Side to side to gurus of the field such as Hypnoskull, Mono No Aware, Ah Cama-Sotz or Proyecto Mirage are less mainstream (but no lesser compelling) names, some of whom are found to be steadily climbing the path to success in full hyperbolic fashion. Take the pull-no-stops stomping rhythms of Modulate, for example, or the cutting rhythmic of Bahntier, or the power industrial mahyem of Lith or Genetic Selection or Caustic, there isn't a single track that would make you worry about reaching for the remote, which is a major achievement in its own right. There are more experimental moments, such as with Atrox or Contagious Orgasm, and there's the more 'moderate' middle-ground tending more to the experimental electronica, yet strongly rhythm oriented Shizuka, Substanz T or Hiv+ & Stendeck and even an omage to ambient sounds with the closing track by Ultra Milkmaids. Compiled with the typical wisdom of a seasoned DJ, one of those who keeps the floor bouncing, New [input] Noise is a product I'd recommend without reserve to Industrial and power-electronics proselytes of all ages: it won't feel as a duplicate of any sorts, next to your extensive Ant-Zen / Hands collection. www.hellektroempire.com |
| Another new Italian label, another high quality sampler, this time dealing with the post-industrial area and featuring a generous 14 tracks. A good cross section of known and less known names, covering the ambient, folk-noir, industrial, ethereal areas and having in common an oblique outlook of the world at large. There's an obvious bias towards Italian formations and it's all too well, as on showcase is the cream of the crop of the scene noir made in Italy, with names like Camerata Mediolanense (who propose a live version), Foresta di Ferro, Inner Glory, Northgate forming the backbone of the musical selections. All My Faith Lost have also risen to a certain notoriety and their nocturnal track is a good testimony to their talent. No less intriguing are the lesser known names, like We Wait for The Snow who mix soundscapes and acoustic guitars and Crisantemo del Carrione with a dark acoustic enchanting ballad. On the international front, names like Soil Bleeds Black or Sally Doherty do not need any introduction, as well as John Murphy's Shining Wril and Knofeladder projects, both offering experimentalism and and ritualism very well suited to the grey character of this release. The opening and closing spots are reserved respectively to the soothing ethereal tones of Belgian The Last Fall and the death-ambient industrial of Manifesto who hail from Sweden. Almost as to imply a swift trip from heaven to hell is what you can expect from this marvelous sampler packed with 70 minutes of outstanding selections from the regions where the sun never shines. www.finalmuzik.com |
| Ende Shneafliet -Twistin' on The Tombstones - 2LP (Enfant Terrible) |
| Enfant Terrible continue in their admirable task of uncovering forgotten pearls of the early eighties minimal electronic wave of the Netherlands. Ende SHneafliet appeared on the Trumpett Sounds double-vinyl sampler that we reviewed for the X.1 release of our Online Journal. The 22 tracks collected on this release represent the best selection from the band cassette production on the Trumpett label, with all but two of the songs never being previously released on vinyl (do not even mention CD!). There's lots of food for the 80s minded posse out there, and a lot of revival-type sounds. Minimal wave, basic electronics but also an occasional taste of liquid guitars that you would swear belong to Cocteau Twins. Really the precursors of modern day electronic industrial, bands like Ende Shneafliet are far from being outdated even though a quarter of a century has elapsed since they first unleashed their seminal experimentation onto a very limited audience. The first thoughts go to the rhythmic industrial scene and of course the whole laptop, minimal electronica crowd of artists, many of whom won't share the sounds, yet most definitely the attitude. Going further on to the synthpop arena, after a good, pleasant listen to this unique collection, the legacy of acts like these becomes very clear as well. The origins of goth and darkwave? A few quick answers can be found within the 80 minutes of music included in Twistin' on The Tombstones. And what about the thrill of listening to such treats as the cult hymns such as Aeroplane or Heisenberg or Session Zeitgeist to name but a few. Of course there's still a minimal wave as such scene alive and kicking in the underground, specially in Germany, so we are grateful to Enfant Terrible for bringing this to the attention of a much wider audience. Time warp, it ain't, this is just a fantastic journey through the works of an act that has left an indelible mark on the electronic music scene, all the way from the deep underground where they used to operate. I'm in love again. www.enfant-terrible.nl |
| If you are not yet familiar with this highly regarded English darkwave act with a guitar attitude, there's no better way to find out all about them than get yourself this nice little DVD whose main course is the band's closing show of their 2004 UK Tour at The Ocean venue in London, as opening act for Mortiis. In our previosu batch of reviews, we have covered the Mortiis DVD covering that very gig, so here you have the chance to complete that night's experience by getting yourself the energetic support gig by Pro-jekt. As nicely crafted their tracks are in the studio recordings, as powerful they are in their live rendition, with the 4-piece putting on their best energy, fronted in style by Mick Witham. Even if they go headbang from time to time, they never take it over the top and it's in fact a very balanced stage presence that is engaging for the audience in the right dose. The punchy synth backing driven by Al Midedleton constitutes the backbone of their tracks, to which Kev Rice and Phil May add conspicuous doses of bass and guitars, again in the right balance not too sound too bad-ass metallers or melted down darkwavers either. Pro-jekt balance between these two elements is truly their winning card as they sound very fresh without any pretentiousness of being reinventing the wheel or so. I enjoyed their gig on screen as much as I enjoyed their recordings, so it's perhaps time for me to go out there and see the real thing! Yes, I confess, I haven't yet managed to catch a live show by Pro-jekt which is a shame, so it's high time for me to catch up really. The gig itself is just over half an hour, but fear not, as the DVD is packed with lots of material. First and foremost , there are promotional videos for their hit The Day After Never and their emotional cover version of Abba's S.O.S. The you get over 45 minutes of additional material, comprising of an interview, some studio footage and a tour diary with snippets of performances from their UL Grudge Tour and other exotic places as Finland or the celebrated Carnival of Soul. The 4 come through as a bunch of much easy-going people who really enjoy what they are doing and their passion to it. Assuming the copy I have received is the retail copy, the DVD appears to be region 0 (no mention of it on the cover), so it should work on any player you throw it at. Coming back to the statement opening this review, this DVD is also a nice add-on for tested fans of the band. In fact, if like me you are lagging behind in terms of catching a band's performance, this will really make you look forward to the next opportunity to do so. www.pro-jekt.org |