tirsdag den 27. august 2019

Talog - Objave Sablasne Tiranije



The title means Revelation of Spooky Tyranny (according to Google Translate). A spooky tyranny?. Talog hails from Croatia, I wonder if he refers to a specific tyrant from the days of old. Could it be Milosevic? He waged war and was into ethnic cleansing in Croatia, Bosnia, and Kosovo. The titles of the three tracks on this mini-albums go from Death Is Not In the Tomb to The Gates of Hell. Talog mostly works within themes of a vampiric origin, so who knows. Have he made a fusion/mix-idea between Slavic vampire myths and the brutality of Milosevic?. Stoker did the very same thing, Vlad Tepes meets the vampire myth = Dracula. Nonetheless, Mr. Talog have released this digital+ltd.physical-cassette/tape-release and as far as I am concerned... Stuff from Croatian-based Talog is always worth the attention!

Not a big one though, 3 tracks being only 15 minutes in total. With one of the most beautiful cassette releases, I have seen in a long time! (see pictures below)

First track Smrt Nije U Grobnici puts the listener inside a cold coffin which has been placed inside an ancient masonry-build tomb, while it´s raining in the living world outside. A simple, mysterious but effective intro to this evil-sounding release (and ear opener if you please). Next track you are walking through an evocative and mist-filled graveyard (after you have gotten out of that maggot-ridden tomb of course!). Sounding sinister and rather... early death-industrial/ambient (Brighter Death Now, Tombstone) meets vampiric dungeon synth. Very creepy, horrific and simple primitive synth-ambient. Fans of classic Hammer-horror and horror comics like Eerie and Creepy... take notice! 


Last piece Vrata Pakla moves into more ritualistic and ceremonial grounds. Could it be that you have awoken from the dead by magic means, walked through the mist-filled graveyard and ended at last in some summoning ritual? The last touch of the last track confirms that whoever has summoned you from the dead, is more than willing to do your bidding. And that bidding? Tyranny over the lesser mortals perhaps? I don´t think it would be Milosevic returning from the dead as a bloody vampire!

And that is that!. Not much to it, a quick and simple mood setter before playing a horror-based roleplaying game (or watching classic vampire flicks!). The only downside to this release is that it is too short!. I would like to have more of this!. BUT, it works fine in its lesser-is-more approach. It´s grim, primitive and minimal. Go get while it´s cold and rotten!

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mandag den 19. august 2019



Faery Ring – The Urchin Prince 



This summer (11th of June) Danish dungeon-synth label released their first release with this one-man act from England. This release The Urchin Prince is the 4th album from Faery Ring, which came out first on Faery Ring´s own Bandcamp site back in 2018, and now Gondolin Records has released this as a limited cassette release (limited to 150 copies). The cassette even comes with a lovely pro-printed booklet containing a short story which you can read while listening. We are dealing with a 9 track album, about 25 minutes in total.

The Urchin Prince by Faery Ring starts off with the first track called Saltmouth. Neo-classic ambient tunes with a certain sense of dread and doom creep slowly in and set the mood. Epic, dreamish and apocalyptic pianos and violin strings work its way on the second track Grim Enceinte, The Old Gaoler. Almost kind of martial-industrial/wave meets gothic neo-classic here. Third track Dust, The Urchin Prince takes it further with the gothic sounding strings and martial drummings, fand of Swedish Puissance takes notice here. Fourth offering The Uncherished Parlours slows it down to more traditional dungeon-synth, with a catchy and deep melancholic mood attached to it. Fifth track Bellwether, Herald of the Long Slumber does indeed sound like a slumber. The kind of epic slumber one might succumb to when u have been king for far too long! A sense of malice and sadness for certain.¨


Sixth track The Starless Garden sounds like a sad and doom-forsaken garden. Not the kind of place where one might enjoy their tea and biscuits! Seventh track Mauveine, Daughter of the Comfortless King adds a soft melodic and romantic touch to all the dread and doom (that means less martial apocalyptic moods!). Eight track Prolix II, the Comfortless King, proves that… he doesn't really care for the company of his daughter. Might as well drink his sorrows away? Still having that that gothic sounding neo-classic sound. Ninth and last track Lemures (Shades or spirits of the restless and malignant dead in Roman mythology… NOT abs!). Wraps it all up in utter funeral blackness, might just be the heaviest piece of dread on the album!

And that is that! A very atypical kind of dungeon synth release which sounds… like a neo-classic orientated release from the 90s? It has that sound. A synth-minimal version of CMI´s Swedish act Arcana or a dungeon synth orientated Puissance. I guess you can call it… neo-classic martial-ambient for dungeon synth fans. Well made with lots of good intentions and ideas. There is all but one thing that bothers me. Listening to this album from the start and to the end gives you an idea that the story behind the music doesn’t live up to the epic feel that the album promises. The album could use some sounds/samples, or something else (experimental elements maybe?) to give it an otherworldly feel. The entire albums follow that neo-classic gothic violin sound (so you might as well get used to it). BUT!. If you do dig that sound (like maybe Arcana and Puissance) then this album IS something for you. All Faery Ring´s album is available on the official Bandcamp site, the tape is already sold out on Gondolin Records (go hunting!).


Bandcamp (band):
https://faeryring.bandcamp.com/

Bandcamp (label):
https://gondolinrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-urchin-prince-a-century-of-dust-vol-i

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tirsdag den 13. august 2019
HGM – Lithium (Mental Illness)



Released the 1st of January (this year). We have reviewed HGM before, which was the excellent Tridium 192 album. This one is slightly different, and a more subtle one that is. This release has been released though French label +Schintillae+Animas+ as a limited 7 copies limited CDR edition, with different handmade artwork curated by Isidore / La Nuit Qui Tombe. Through HgM´s own label, it has also been first released on cassette, check out the amazing artwork! A two-track album is 35 minutes in total.

The first track Arsenic Death (heavy title) opens the album into the harsh and almost religious-sacred territory. Quite a theme to actually work on. Arsenic has been used in chemical warfare, poisoning, taxonomic sample preservation, pyrotechnics, coloring agent in sweets even as an item used to change your skin complexion! Do actually die from it must be horrific! Starts with headaches, confusion, severe diarrhea, and drowsiness. Later on, convulsions will occur. Then you will vomit blood, cramps, loss of hair, stomach pain, etc. It then leads to coma and death. This track points out the early stages (I think)...

ANYWAYS! (on to the recordings) Floatless and liquid-like ambient noise with ritualistic undercurrents. Actually more beautiful sounding than the way to go with arsenic poisoning! To me, it sounds like the gates of heaven being opened. So maybe we are talking about accidental poisoning, because if it was arsenic death through suicide then u probably won’t be allowed through the heaven’s gate (I think).


Next and last track Lithium. Mostly known as a medicine used to treat suicidal patients suffering from manic-depression. Here the albums enter something of a more brutal soundscape. Harsh-noise wall combined with sacred chanting and manic demon-possessed noisy vocals. I can´t help thinking of an exorcism here. This track actually sounds more like a death caused from arsenic poisoning. Something really desperate and painfull going on here. Fans of the black-metal related noise-project Deadwood would dig this track!

A nice noisy atmospheric treat to the senses, not as ambitious as the cover-artwork but a thoroughly good one from the start to the end. There are noise-wall bits, ambient textures, and industrial-noise… all the good things are there. Be quick if you want a physical release!

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