Apoptose - Die Zukunft
First Kalteldur review from a Tesco Organisation release (Legendary German cult label). First time around for this will be with another German thing called Apoptose. Which means ´the process of highly regulated and controlled programmed cell death that may occur in multicellular organisms´. This act has been in existence since 2000, and this is the sixth album ready for anyone with curious ears.
Apoptose being a dark-ambient orientated act which has its focus on ´folk-tales and ritual of Nordic origin, childhood trauma, and megacity nightmares´. Which means that Apoptose works around various themes and ideas, a kind of soundtrack unit I guess (Mostly being dark-themed material of course!). This (newest) album called Die Zukunft (The Future) was released back in October 2018, 8 tracks about 40 minutes in total.
First track called Two Hours opens up with the sound of a school playground (I think) with brooding low-key moody synths. Spoken words from an innocent girl voice talk about surviving these two hours through medication. Otherwise, she cannot calm down. Dark-wave´ish synth-work with minimal ambient-mood rhythms, fans of UK-based Attrition take notice. Rich-sound and a very decent melancholic intro for the album.
Next track What Power Art Thou has been based on a piece by Henry Purcell (Classic English composer 1659 - 1695), the lyrics by John Dryden (Poet and arch-neoclassicist 1631 - 1700) which have been sung by a classically trained vocalist named Daniel Sans. A nice melodramatic down-tempo ambient piece with classical elements, very dramatic.
Third piece Time-Lapse City moves mores into a synth-pop´ish territory. The intriguing male spoken-words in the front and with theatrical female voices in the background. Blade-runner, cyberpunk big city moods here.
The fourth track delivers the apparently (much needed) Medizin. Not that far away from what the first track delivered. Melancholic and subtle dramatic synth-keys and low-tempo ambient drums.
Daniel Sans returns with the fifth track, Dornen. Almost on the edge of having retro-synth/synth-wave elements here, again with the classical vocals being delivered. Still in the brooding melancholic state of mind here.
The last 3 tracks also deliver the same brooding melancholic synth ambient themes. Being also well worth the exploring for the listeners who seek themes regarding nightmare city and childhood trauma.
The entire album works as a soundtrack, and I could have been fooled if someone did tell me that it was a soundtrack for a movie. The entire material has been well made, the sound is crisp and recorded/produced well. I have one problem with the album though, whatever state of mind/theme you met with the first track is more or less being repeated with each track. I do not think that it was intentional though, but it does feel that the same dynamics, melodies, and effects are being over-used. More variety in dynamics and style would have helped greatly in this. I also do think that it is entirely a matter of taste. I love dynamics and tension in this kind of dark-themed electronic-made music, while some will enjoy the simple but beautiful and moody synth-melodies within. I still think that fans of Attrition and maybe Atrium Canceri should check this one out! Out on CD via Tesco!
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