Kleistwahr - Where The Word Is Never

Kleistwahr is Gary Mundy's solo work. Gary Mundy is the founding member of the legendary power-electronics/noise-rock act called Ramleh, and he is also the founder and owner of the magnificent label known as Broken Flag! He started Kleistwahr back in 1983, had a pause in 1986, and then was resurrected in 2009. So far, 16 albums and some various compilations. Nowadays being mostly released on Fourth Dimension Records, the same label is responsible for acts like Splintered (read former review). This album is the newest, and it was released back in October 2024. 

The cover design/layout is a kind of gatefold-sleeved Broken-flag mini vinyl-look with a CD inside. A mysterious and haunting photo with a kind of Asian-looking mask floating in a cold-looking lake. Something is sticking out of the water though, might be the hands and feet? And the album title makes you wonder offcourse, a place where the word is never?.... Hmmmm... Never say never. 

This album offers 6 tracks, over 40 minutes in total.

The first track is called Ext. Nightclub 2am. And it does in some strange way, sound like a distant nightclub. This distant nightclub sound/vibe is being joined up with beautiful distorted guitar work. You could call it drone-rock/post-rock, but then again... it´s too edgy and experimental to be put into those categories. It´s an incredible epic and breathtaking, definitely a Swans-like feeling in there... the subtle nervous sense of an upcoming violent storm.

The second track Terminal Cafe starts more quietly. Murky industrial noise-drones, a thumping heartbeat, quivering, and subtle feedback all wrapped up in a cold ambient mood. You really get that feeling of a city late at night, when everything has been shut down. And all that is left, is the sound of automatic machines still working. Beautiful creepy stuff! 

The third track As The Last Echo Resounds, is more angelic in nature and sound. The sound and feeling of the upcoming spring, the warmth... the smell... the sounds, and the change of the mood. But also with a heavy melancholic touch in there, you could be trapped in snow in a cabin somewhere. Spacy and crispy ambient guitar work, an atmospheric violin, and some really haunting vocal work. Later on, there is some excellent work on an eerie synth and ear-catching melody, dungeon synth fans would dig it by the way! Really otherworldly stuff going on here! 

The fourth track Hell Won´t Want Your Soul. Starts with a dynamic distorted guitar tone, imagine a black-metal riff in super slow-motion! A distant sort of organ rhythm, a murky bass guitar, and some really unique and enthralling vocal work. Kind of a Bauhaus Hollow-Hills vibe with the song and the melody, which I like offcourse since it´s my absolute favorite Bauhaus track! The same kind of strength and focus more like. 

The fifth track is Estatic Delirium. Somewhere you figured out that Helk doesn't want you, and you are getting rather static... in a rather... unpleasant way. Noise is ringing inside your head, restlessness takes over, no sleep for the wicked... a complete disintegration of the soul... seeking... release? There is no release. The very expressive progressive-rock kind of guitar work here tells it all, also with the helpful and painful tones of noisy drones. Are there any fans of Controlled Bleeding/early Brian Eno here?.   

The sixth and last track is called It´s All Escape. The track you all have been waiting for. Psychedelic and heavenly desert rock sounds over a crispy and sun-baked land, with those excellent otherworldly vocals again. Might just be my favorite track on this album... this one... and Terminal Cafe. 

Where the Word Is Never is an album that I will never dislike. It´s absolutely timeless, both having a foot in the old-school sort of sound but also looking forward to new ways to do stuff. Kind of a place where the vibe of early industrial/power-electronics gets mixed up with genres like post and drone rock, sound impossible right? Apparently... it isn't, Where the Word Is Never tells us otherwise. A new thing for veterans done by veterans. Impressive right?  Do yourself a favor and check it out!.

Bandcamp (band):

https://garymundykleistwahr.bandcamp.com/track/its-all-escape

Official website (label):

https://fourthdimensionrecords.bigcartel.com/

    

 

Law - The Black Lodge

It's not a new release as such, but it is certainly worthy of a review on Kalteldur. Law is an experimental dark-ambient/industrial act from the US that started back in 1994. The main member is Mitchell Altum, and in the beginning, it was a duo with Marissa Lafferty. Law has released 6 albums, and Black Lodge is the last album from this project. A solo work by Mitchell Altum.  

Released in 2001 on the French label Nuit Et Brouillard, the physical CD album is limited to 500 copies. Nice cover design as well. A glossy fold-out sleeve, which comes out as a sort of cross. Lovely mystical photos as well, which perfectly fit the title of the album.  a 9 tracker over 70 minutes long. 

The first track is called Unreachable Core. Sounds like... someone trying to catch their breath in a gas mask. Combined with mystical and archaic machine sounds in the distance. A heavy drone invades the space like a heavy fog and distorted and rumbling industrial sounds subtle raising the otherworldly tension. Great ambient elements further hypnotize the listener, kind of like a surreal Archon Satani,  my ears are already open!

The second track Always Forward, Never Back. A flanged looped sample, and eerie undertones of soundtrack creepiness behind it. Interesting kind of ritualistic melody/element in there, like if someone using a keyboard as a drum kit. A vocal-driven religious chanting gets in, it does remind me of Diablo 1... one of the tunes when you are wandering through the subterranean dungeons. Could also be from Herzog´s Nosferatu, not sure. But it sounds INCREDIBLE great! It all ends with a flesh-churning distorted ambient tone, just drilling into your ear. 

The third track The Strong Is Strongest When Alone has a kind of... power-electronics element to it? Kind of power-electronics/death-ambient style in the same vein as Anenzephalia. Merciless and brutal, but also with a soothing atmospheric depth to it. With even some spoken-word vocals to it. Halfway through a frantic and rhythmic sound is added, only giving the listener the feeling of running from something in a dark forest. The whole track has that kind of sinking abysmal feeling, the more you struggle the more you sink.

The fourth track Power And Overpower. Offering a heavily distorted spoken word. Something about the laws of nature, lamb, and wolves... prey and hunter stuff. A churning death-industrial BDN´s Pain In Progress mood/sound gets in, with some really surreal soundscapes in the background. These soundscapes get more and more heavy, and eventually, they will suck the listener straight into it. Some really terrifying screaming human voices in there as well. 

The fifth track The Mind Overcomes Fear, The Body Overcomes Pain. Gets into a sort of slow martial-industrial mood/aesthetic. A looped piece of classical music or opera? It does have that early Laibach element to it, especially with how the manipulated vocal sounds. 

Total Immersion is the sixth track on the album. Back again with flanged looped sounds, sounds which represent a certain kind of dread for cosmic horror... and bombs/drums sounding in the distance. All this ends after (almost) 2 minutes, and then we are drifting... completely weightless through space. The intriguing sound of... an acoustic guitar? Don´t run away, the melody from this guitar has that kind of Swans touch to it... and the sound effects on it make it sound... undescribable. The rest of the track is a long voyage into the center of a black hole. 

We have 22 minutes left, and every second of it is great. It´s not the kind of classic death-industrial/dark-ambient album that u get into the first time around to it. I didn´t get it after the first 3-4 times, but the album kept on making me more curious... so I ended up listening to it like 10 times. Very atmospheric and very abstract as well. No doubt about it... this is a truly underrated masterpiece! The sound is so abysmal and incredibly dark! I wonder if the album title is from Twin Peaks? But I'm also in the depth of Lovecraftian cosmic horror as well!

Bandcamp (label):

https://nuitetbrouillard.bandcamp.com/album/the-black-lodge

 

 Ideal Father - Wire Mother

The third time is the charm, the third release (and Kalteldur review) by the primal Swedish Death-Industrial act Ideal Father. A limited 50 cassette copies have been released on the Italian cult label Death In Venice. About 44 minutes in total length, in other words... a classic full-length! 

The album title has something to do with Harry Harlow. An American psychologist was experimenting with young monkeys who were missing their mothers. Harry Harlow then constructed mother-like ape figures out of wire and wood holding food, and the traumatized young monkeys would cling to the constructed wire and wood figure believing it was their real mother. There is also some rumor that the album title has something to do with CIA, brainwashing. Anyways, cool disturbing cover artwork with a symbolic tattooed guy with a kind of...hood you wear when you are going to get the death penalty sort of. 

The first track is called Twilight Language.  The distant sound of some sort of a power tool, rubber shoes in the gymnastic rooms, ritualistic gongs, and bone-narrowing icy vacuum-cleaner drones. Eerie and just... weird. Like when entering a room where... you probably shouldn't be in. 

The second track Bodies That Appear To Be In Mirrors. Is that a homage to the world of serial killer Dennis Nielsen? He would often see dead corpses in the mirror. Classic death-industrial sound, a sound which lies somewhere between dark-ambient and power-electronics. Or just a slowed-down funeral-doom version of power electronics. Heavy distorted drone-bass sound, echoed layered sound elements adding lots of space, torturous sounds from a human-throat... all wrapped up in a kind of religious-mass sort of mood. Perfect death-industrial/ambient moods here. 

The third track is called Wire Mother. Contains samples/recordings with our Harry Harlow and his abes. Strangely disturbing. In the sense, that the controversial experiments he committed... it was (maybe) something that benefited us in the understanding of how people would evolve without a mother. Lots of flesh-scraping moods here, and great horrific soundtrack elements as well.

The fourth track Psychic Driving. Starts like an ambient-driven track, but suddenly bursts into acid-drenched harsh-noise-driven drunk driving! Something pulsates, something scratching, something burning up... lots of dynamics here! Epic and wholesome death-industrial with lots of madness inside! Damn... I need to take my breath here! 

The fifth track Alters and Triggers. Kind of a David Lynch sort of... murkiness to it. The way the darkness hides and just waits, to strike at us when we are being most vulnerable? Not an in-your-face sort of a track, but more of a ... there is something secret and hidden kind of mood.

Lots of epic dark moments of morbid grandeur and sordid angelic moods. The latest with Ideal Father is the kind that makes... people confess their crimes... in a good way! Everything is pretty dark and grim! But! There is also a human side to this devil! The brutal noise and industrial elements have been perfectly fashioned with ambient and drone music, everything is something between these two styles. Sometimes it's mixed, and sometimes we jump from ambient and noise, giving the album an extra element of pleasant chaos.        

Bandcamp (label):

https://deathinveniceproductions.bandcamp.com/album/ideal-father-wire-mother