torsdag den 14. marts 2024

 Dug Up By Dogs - The Supreme Hunt



Dug Up By Dogs, is a highly obscure and enigmatic ritual-industrial/ambient act from the UK. So far this one is their third album, and this one (The Supreme Hunt) is their first label release, and the first physical one as well. Digitally self-released on the act´s official Bandcamp site in 2023, and re-issued as a limited and numbered 25 copies CD-R version on the Greek label E.C.T Recordings. 

It comes in the recognizable E.C.T CD-R design: A blackened inner sleeve, CD-R wrapped in rice paper all inside a plastic sleeve. The cover-artwork? Looks like something from one of those exploitation 70s flicks, I'm thinking Spitting On Your Grave kind of thing. It´s a short one here, 5 tracks about 27 minutes in total.   

The first track simply called Intro, has the sound of angry dogs in various layers and effects. Takes me back to some recordings with Vagina Dentata Organ I once heard. A deafening and heavy death-industrial sound explodes, heightening the listening experience. And then we move further into the next track.

The next track is called Ritual Device, which starts with a choir of beautiful religious chanting. The huge cathedral-like sound here. Deafening and highly effect-drenched spoken words are added, excellent sounding metallic bass-sound thumbs like a machine in the background. A lot like the early recordings by Maschinenzimmer 412. Very well done.

The third track The Supreme Hunt has a more rhythmic tribal post-industrial sound to it. Lovely distorted rhythms here, with someone occasionally hitting an empty and spacious-sounding metal container with a steel bar. Creepy-ass and horrific soundscapes roam in the distance, with some excellent vocal parts and cool effects. Love the glitches and choppered raw sound here, absolutely perfection here! 


The fourth track Crucify Them Upon the Pylons... starts with a creepy slowed-down circus-like organ theme, not an organ but ... this box usually has one wheel where you pull this lever and music comes out of it! Pleasant and disturbing at the same time. There is also a metal-banging sound here, which transports me to some old harbor. The nice synth work here, and the spoken-word part here really heighten the mysterious and eerie atmosphere. 

The fifth (and last) track is called Assume A Human Form But With the Teeth of a Dog being the most noisy track on the album. Bone-crushing noise if you ask me, with some surreal movie samples in the background. And then we are back in the huge cathedral with some decadent and sickening ritual going on, with someone shouting ´Stop it!´... ´Stop it!´...´Everyone must die!´...  Intense ending for an intense album!     

Marvelous short and effective beast this one is. Concentrated and to the point! Horrific raw industrial-ritual music at its best. Surely a nod or two to the classic Cold Meat Industry sound. I will for sure check this other album, and I hope there will be more from this act!


Bandcamp (band):

Discogs (label):




tirsdag den 12. marts 2024

 Resgestae - État D´urgence



Another release from the French label Force Majeure (sub-label of Nuit Et Brouillard). Resgestae is (was) a project based in Greece, nowadays it´s based in Spain. The project was started in early 2011 by Nicholas P, who also was responsible for another project called [distopia]. Both projects dealt in the space between dark-ambient/death-industrial and power-electronics. His idea for this project is a reaction to the aggressive and upfront sound of traditional power electronics. His idea would be to work with extreme frequency samples and drones to form a sub-sonic landscape. Something that could give the listener a cinematic experience with the album while incorporating true political, social, and economic elements.

This once came out in 2015, as a cool-looking digipack. So far, this is (still) the only release/album with this obscure and enigmatic project. 9 tracks, over 60 minutes in total! 

The first track on the album is called Alerte! L´état Profond (Alert! The Deep States). It starts with a heartbeat, reverbed and echoed spine-tingling sound effects, and a deep and heavy distorted drone. High-frequency human sounds almost resample the sound of bats, and then the sound of something getting electrocuted. I'm not sure, some of the sounds in the mix sound a bit like... distant gun firing? Could also be sounds that have been recorded underwater. Quite special this stuff is, moody power-electronics with a surreal element to it. An effective ear-opener this first track is. 

The second track The Network starts with a mind-numbing heavy drone-wall, with some wet and slippery sounds in the background. Some high-frequency sounds move back in forth, like some robotic drones surveing an underground sewer. Or is it those robotic killing machines they make to hunt the rats? Kind of terrifying that (if u listen closely through the dense sound) there is a distant trace of human voices, deep within the labyrinth sewer. Later on, mind-bubbling sound effects add something extra to the bad trip. I think a sample of George Bush is here as well. Quite something, lots of conceptual meat on this bone!


The third track Terrain D´Essai has this reverbed and reversed sound of... a drop of water which is then followed by a slow and heavy drum machine-pattern. Additional creepy industrial sounds are added, and some highly agitated French guy is talking over it. I like the highly atmospheric horror feel of it so far.

The fourth track R&D: Research & Development has a sample of some gangsta-hood trying to sell his secret stash of various weapons. A looped and atmospheric power-electronics distorted pulse pushes its way through the recording, certain Grey Wolves feel here! There are also a lot of aggressive glitchy sounds here as well! 

The fifth track From Repression To Management delivers a heavy underwater sound experience, primitive rhythmic electronics, and high-frequency endorsed sound effects. Definitely more of a death-industrial vibe here. 

The rest of the album (last 4 tracks) keeps the aesthetic conceptual theme alive, and I can highly recommend listening to this album in its absolute wholesomeness. https://www.facebook.com/resgestae0



tirsdag den 27. februar 2024

 Mila Cloud - Long Way Back From The Familiar Places We´re Never Been



It´s actually very rare that I get to review anything from Poland. When I think of Poland, metal music usually pops up in my mind... not noise, experimental, or industrial music as such. Mila Cloud is a kind of thing, in between (in its own way). The easiest way to describe it would be dreamy/ethereal drone-metal, not that far away from the early recordings by Earth and some of the instrumental guitar work by the Red House Painters. Here is another charming note from the Bandcamp site, regarding the only member of Mila Cloud:

Mila is the ghost of a housewife from Warsaw, Poland, who plays and records instrumental songs in the dronegaze / doomgaze / cloudgaze style. Mila likes smoking on the balcony, playing ghostly songs, and watching short YouTube videos like "5 Terrifying Waves Caught on Tape" or "10 Biggest Waves Ever Recorded". She likes fuzzes, delays, phasers, and other quirks. Sleepwalking.

This album actually has a sort of theme/concept attached to it. The album is about Warzaw in the 90s. Mostly about blocks of flats, night busses, junkies, parks and backyards. I don´t actually know how Warzaw looks now, but it might have changed? Old buildings are torn down, and sterile square-figured buildings shoot up from the ground like mushrooms. Much the same thing that just happened in my own town of Viborg, somehow the ghost of old houses... lingers in the air. But anyway! The album comes out as an AWESOME-looking textured digipack all wrapped inside a transparent and white folder. Nice bleak but futuristic artwork as well. The album (or should I say) mini-album is a 6 tracked one, about 27 minutes in total. 

The first track is called Cloudgazer, and that is exactly how the track feels and sounds. Cloudy early morning, waiting for the rays of the sun to appear... but sadly, they don´t appear. Instead, you get these various smudgy colors of grey. The track starts with a heavy distorted, and reverbed guitar. Lots of cool pedal effects and stuff, very mesmerizing and atmospheric. Takes me instantly back to early Earth, just with a tiny dose of... I don't know, the melody has a kind of depressive black-metal feel to it (just a lot slower), if this was done on a synth... then it would/could be a winter synth. You give it a listen, it´s a very good one I reckon (already listened to the album 7 times now!). 


The second track Sweet Mommy is a short one. It continues where track one ended. More of a melancholic ambient and guitar track, lovely how so much expression can be squeezed into 1 minute and 46 seconds!

The third track Some Warzaw Junkie is not that far away from the first track, just a bit more heavy and slow. You can almost sense the tired and slow movement of a used-up junkie, there are some light tones in there as well... a sense of hope perhaps?. Or perhaps not, much in the same way we hope to see the sun every day. 

The fourth track The Coldest Boy, is beautifully icy. Love the layered and spacy effects here, and I love the way the track slowly builds up... very focused.

The fifth track is a bonus track (only on the CD) called Message From Bird Birds Sniffer. Being (maybe) the darkest and most harsh track here. Starts really dark, and ends with the feeling of... could it be the bloody sun?! Some warmth here, and the revered guitar work here almost has a synthy sound!

The rest of the album follows the sound of the chosen theme/mood, making this album a highly enjoyable and aesthetic album. It feels like a long and adventurous journey, which gives the album a focused soundtrack sort of feel. You don´t even notice the tracks, but you will accept the whole album as one long track... much in the same way it works when watching a movie. Highly recommendable stuff from Poland here, an act to follow and check up on here! 

       

tirsdag den 20. februar 2024

Spiteful Womb & DJINN - Euthanasia Is Not 

The Answer 


The second time we get to review the enigmatic mind behind a veteran in death-industrial/ambient soundscapes, this time he (DJINN) times up with a U.S-based act called Spitful Womb. Not knowing much about Spiteful Womb, Discogs and Bandcamp reveals the band as the sole workmanship of Nora Eglof. She has had releases out on labels like Signora Ward Records, Old Europa Cafe, and Death In Venice (just to name a few!). 

This limited split CD-R release from 2022 is actually a re-issue from a release that first came out in 2019. A nice, beautiful-textured, and thick cardboard-paper cover housing the CD inside. Front showcasing the album title and the track titles with a nice blood-splattered color on a white background. Almost resampling vomited red wine on a white sheet. If we open, we will see a big and nice picture of the two artists. Both with masks on. 5 tracks, about 30 minutes in total. So let us go! 

First, we have a go with Spitful Womb with her first track called Palliative. If you don't know what palliative is, then I can reveal to you that it´s about using drugs to relieve the suffering from... well dying I guess. Which is (in a way) prolonging the death = slow death. The gush of looped cold winds, and some metallic machinery banging in the background. Lots of spirits in here I can tell! In a way, it kind of takes me back to some of the (almost) erotic ambient tracks from the first Ordo Equilibrio album... just a hell of a lot more menacing. There is also that screeching flesh-scraping sensation usually there in classic death industrial, some interesting synthy drones fade in and out. Multilayered voices, talking like in some huge cathedral. A VERY good first track, seems very promising so far!

The second track with Spiteful Womb is called Groningen Protocol. And I'm here again, lecturing again! What is the Groningen Protocol?!. here goes : 

The Groningen Protocol is a medical protocol created in September 2004 by Eduard Verhagen, the medical director of the Department of Pediatrics at the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) in Groningen, the Netherlands. It contains directives with criteria under which physicians can perform "active ending of life on infants" (child euthanasia) without fear of legal prosecution.

Sounds like some sort of gas escaping from a tiny tube, ghostly (slightly) melodic looped drones of spirits engulfing the listener further into the abyss. Strangely disturbing, but also strangely pleasant to hear. There is also a subtle thumping of ritualistic drums way in the background. I really like the way how this track builds up, it starts with you being in some of a pleasant dream trance but then you start realizing... you are In bloody hell... but for some strange reason... it´s still... well pleasant! Get the picture! Industrial drone-ambient stuff done very well, I don't have anything to put my fingers down on.


We continue with DJINN and with his first track called No Life...No Death. We are in an operation theater. The sound of machines peeping, whispering talk, and painfilled human voices being involved in the whole bloody mess. Lots of nifty distorted synthy bass stuff going on, the whole track has that... Hamburger Lady feel if you know what I mean? There are also some nasty sounds of tubes, sucking stuff in (probably blood) and some old people coughing because they have smoked too much. Excellent creepy-crawling hospital-themed track! 

The next track with DJINN is called The End of Hope! A weird sort of falling sound going on, and a high-pitched sharp sound as well. Is that the sound of a pile driver I hear? Sampled voices here and there, and a nice and looped sound of a... something.. sounds cool. The whole bloody track is a paradise for people who enjoy rhythmic sampling of industrial sounds, I loved it... I am guilty!

The last track with DJINN is called The Last Day. Hypnotizing synth and a sample of some talking about getting out of those straps. Looped death-industrial electronics and eerie ambient soundscapes. Actually, the soundscapes move between the speakers, which I like! Which ends the track!

And that ends the split album. An American & Italian death-industrial release. Equally terrifying for most and deeply satisfying for any death-industrial addicts. An excellent introduction for both of these veteran acts, if you don't know them or know where to start! 



tirsdag den 6. februar 2024

Chaigidel - Entrails of the Earth



A new and fresh label called Dark Odyssey Records has just released its first release (read former label text on Kalteldur, link below). Entrails of the Earth by an Italian project called Chaigidel. This one is a re-release that was originally released in 2020. It was self-released digitally on Chaigidel´s official Bandcamp site... and it was also released by Nailed Nazarene Industries, both as a digital one and as a CD? I'm not sure if the CD was ever released, there has been some strange talk about the dodgy label Nailed Nazarene Industries... but enough of that! 2 other releases can also be located with Chaigidel, and they have been released by Cryo Champer, and Cyclic Law (check Discogs link below!) 

A decent cassette re-issue with excellent printing on thick white paper. Even a cool-looking colored photo of the artist Mattia Giovanni Accinni (behind the project) inside the inner sleeve.

The album contains only 4 tracks, but 40 minutes in total!    

The first track is called A Little Seed. There is a deep and huge cellar room, with a huge sort of circular steel barrow rolling on a stony surface. The sound is very good I must say. Next, there is a sort of... shimmering bell sound with some harsh glittering on top of it, and a creepy slow-flanging drone hums like a ghost in the background. There is a seed growing all right, not a pleasant one if you ask me. Maybe, it´s a virus (if you look at the cover artwork). Additional scratching sounds and creaking doors are added to the creepiness. A subtle rhythmic sound there and more subtle dark-ambient unpleasantness are added. So far, it´s very adventurous! Lots of dynamics and color (although dark and bleak)! Very good first track, the perfect fusion between ambient and industrial!

The second track is called Under the Soil. It's a very slimy sort of intro. Imagine worms and snails crawling over you, while the ever-growing roots of plants and trees are squealing your body together. And that is the sound there is here, there is also a heavy and monotonous loop giving it all a decent claustrophobic feeling. Some nice and harsh metallic bashing here, giving it a nice industrial edge. 


We flip the cassette and continue with the fourth track which is called Sulfur, Mercury, and Salt.  A thumping bone-crunching machine... thumps and thumps in the cathedral, not that far away from the sound of Brighter Death Now´s Pain In Progress. Lovely heavy and minimalistic soundscape, with hints of a sound there and here... which somehow manage to disappear into the ever-engulfing darkness within. Some extra and mysterious looped sounds are added, which are nicely faded in and out. Again, the aesthetic and adventurous feel are still here, feeding our constant curiosity. 

The last track is the fourth album which has the strangest title... 16/4. Is it a date? Or is it how much alcohol there is inside a vodka shot with a licorice taste? I tried doing a Google on 16/4, and the first answer was the vodka shot with the licorice taste. But the whole track could sound like the actual hangovers. Can you puke or not, or should you just go back to your bed? Whatever! The track starts like a headache, with very high-pitched sounds and some subliminal heavy moods in the background. If you added some trip-hop sounds it could sound a bit like Scorn! There is also the presence of human voices in there, and some low-tech radio equipment perhaps? Low-tech and heavy harsh death-industrial sounds are added, maintaining that atmospheric clinical sort of vibe. The whole last track is a humongous-moody monster, which could have been released as a single mini-album/EP. Perfect soundtrack material here for any horror movie. 

And that was... the sound of the Entrails of the Earth. Horrific and classic Italian death-industrial with a clear focus on mood and ritualistic aesthetics. I was actually surprised by this since most artists I have come across (who have had a connection with Cryo Chamber and Cyclic Law ) always sounded so... sterile and clean. Maybe that is why Cryo Chamber and Cyclic Law haven't made a re-issue of this one? Perfectly executed industrial-ambient with a nod or two to the harshness of noise. I´m curious what the other releases sound like! 



    



onsdag den 24. januar 2024

 Maison closE - S/T



We get to review another enigmatic album release from Nuit et Brouillard´s side-label Force Majeure. A self-titled album by a project called Maison closE, which means brother in English. This (solo) project is being narrated by M. Kopfring. The material inside was recorded in 1998-1999, and the album was released on CD in 2003, not exactly new and fresh... but what the heck!

Cover-artwork shows some nasty nurses, and the backside shows a patient being ready for an operation of some sort... he might be dead? Inside we see soldiers marching, with a kid beside waving the American flag. Injured soldiers in war, with evil nurses in the hospital... waiting for them. Why the project has been called a brothel, with nurses?... I leave it at that! Anyways 12 tracks, over 60 minutes long, let´s go.

The first track is called Vent d´est - Vent d´ouest (East Wind - West Wind). A slow (and classic) and heavy death-industrial humming-bass starts, with... (I think)... the sound of waves on a beach? Took me some time to figure that out, the sound of the waves is offcourse filtered and altered in an interesting cool atmospheric way. Some eerie sounds pop in and out of the murky ambient soundscape as well. Nice start, very simple but effective nonetheless.

The second track The Game Is On, starts with a movie sample... which I don´t regonize? Irritates me as u all can hear, I'm really good at movie samples. The sample ends, and a grinding and monotonous industrial soundscape kicks in. Not that far away from the early Anenzephalia. More sort of clinical sound, which suits the artwork really nicely. Sort of a thing between ambient and power electronics, but without the vocals. 

The third track Most Of Them Never Come Back, takes one more sample from the same movie (I think). Sound of a clock ticking, and a male voice speaking... with a female. Talking about some war I think. 


The fourth track Jour De Gloire (Glory Day). Is it NOT a glory day, or is it? Layered soundscape containing sounds/recordings, probably from the Second World War. Sound of falling bomb-shelves, machine-guns, religious chants. Love the rawness of the recordings, might be a microphone recording some old VCR thing from an older telly.

The fifth track I Can Feel The Blood... Continues the recording/samples from the same movie. He talks about if it all is a dream, a recording of some doctor talking, etc. Nice menacing drone in the background.

The sixth track Temps De Guerre (Wartime) starts with a slowed-down looped alarm-sort-of-sound. Additional layers of filtered ambient noise are added later on. Like a brutal and acid-drenched nightmare.

The seventh track Ton -Nihil -Rec offers a true perspective on what death industrial is all about. You have the monotonous hum, a rising sort of tension building up, layers of subtle noise building up. And for the first time ever, we hear a vocal recording. Someone making a yell, altered by lots of reverb and echo.

There are a lot of heavy industrial soundscapes on this album, all in between the realms of power electronics, industrial, and ambient music. A bit boring in the beginning, BUT... it gets WAY more interesting (and good) as the album progresses. Some of the best tracks on the album are after when you are halfway through. Would recommend it to fans of German stuff like Anenzephelia, Dagda Mor, and Operation Claeanstrike.


Bandcamp (label):

Discogs (band):




Top 10 of 2023 by Mads Heilskov


1: Abscheu - Creed (Tesco)


On Creed, Abscheu once again delivers a slab of modern and crushing power electronics. Raw and to the bone, Creed is exactly the follow-up that I had hoped for after last year’s excellent EP on Unrest. Creed marks a new level of perfection from Abscheu and is my favorite album this year.

2: Am Not - Cold + Disloyal (Unrest)


Am Not is back with his signature brand of hi-fi and modern, yet uncompromising industrial/power electronics. Just as one has come to expect from Am Not, Cold + Disloyal is a thoroughly crafted and innovative album full of memorable moments and was a close runner-up to the No. 1 spot on this list.

3: Prurient & Genocide Organ - Carte Blanche (Hospital)


The two industrial pioneers have teamed up to create an album full of nuanced, dark, and brooding heavy electronics of high caliber. Carte Blanche was an anxiously anticipated release for me and I can honestly say that I did not expect it to be this good. This fills me with hope for the upcoming GO album.

4: Arktau Eos - Dormiveglia (Aural Hypnox)


The Finnish ritual ambient masters return with a new excellent piece of dark art with plenty of weird and eerie atmospheres delivered with authority and originality.

5: Halo Manash - Par-Antra II: TAA (Aural Hypnox)


The other Finnish ritual ambient masters deliver too! This is nature mysticism when it is most evocative. Like Arktau Eos, Halo Manash is highly original but delivers a more organic and acoustic kind of sound. They are certainly also equally good.

6: Grunt - Vieraat aivot (Freak Animal)


Grunt has always been busy in terms of releases. On this one, we get the capturing of two different live performances which are quite different from one another. As always with Grunt, however, you get a carefully crafted, yet raw, devastating, yet beautiful piece of industrial/noise art.

7: Apex Parasite - Erosion Of The Will (Dunkelheit)


Erosion Of The Will delivers raw as fuck skinhead stuff that will bash your skull in. It took me by surprise, but Erosion Of The Will has been in heavy rotation; it really is a beast of an album.

8: Prelest - Teodal (Freak Animal)


There is not much to say about this one – this is just pure industrial corrosion and rot. Needless to say, I love it.

9: Amek-Maj - s/t (Freak Animal)
Amek-Maj is one of the most promising new names on the industrial/noise scene in my book. I look forward to following this project in the years to come and, in the meantime, dive back into this great piece of noisy industrial muzak again and again.

10: HÖH - Epäjohdonmukainen (Freak Animal)


HÖH is lo-fi as you can get. The album delivers the crackling and corroding sound of rust and rubble in a ruined landscape. Full of slowly grinding dread, Epäjohdonmukainen is the sound of abandoned factories and polluted air. It is the perfect soundtrack to enter yet another year of waste, pollution, and suffering.