RRR - Collected Works 2009 / 2023

RRR is a French power-electronics/death-industrial act that has existed since 2012. Sebastian Bach is behind all the electronics. He is also the same guy who runs the label Required Rate of Return, active since 2015. Now we have a new release from the label with RRR, called Collected Works 2009 - 2023. Mind you, at this moment, it´s sold out! But that won´t stop me from reviewing it. It's a black 9-track tape that is almost 50 minutes in total.

The first track is called Final (hi-fi). It features a thick, fat, and wavy bass drone, dynamic and blistering radio static, pulsating clicking sounds, and then more waves of atmospheric and radio static. Not much more to it than that, but it´s quite effective! Love the sound of low-fi radio noise, all mixed into a noisy ambient soundscape.

The second track Ambigious Current offers smoked bacon on a frying pan, or is it something being shrink-wrapped? A steam-driven metallic train-like sound offers a touch of rhythm, while a murky undercurrent of fright builds up. The sound of a low-fi buzz coming closer and closer. A fantastic death-industrial track!

The third track called Long Time Ego kind of takes me back in time. Low-budget documentaries about serial killers from the 90s. Murky ambient-industrial background, creepy 80s horror-piano part, and the interview with... I think it's Ed Kemper. Lovely piece of late-night TV nostalgia here. 

The fourth track Cut´NRoll is a lot like the former track, just with a lot more focus on the soundscape part. Slow heavy drones with waves of... is it the distorted recording of a voice? Exellent metallic stuff is going in the cellar below! This time it´s an interview with Dahmer. 

The fifth track XPERT. A whining high-pitched tone sound, echoed microphone catching small sounds, a thick looped bass, and some effect-laden samples from something... movie/documentary. I really like the small echoing sounds here and there. Manipulated opera´ish female vocal sample adds an extra touch of ambient creepiness.

The sixth Ed Killer is a classic from one of the first albums by RRR, also the first one that I bought back then. I was so into that album, and that track as well! Perfect, sick, and morbid death-industrial soundscape stuff for fans of Marco Corbelli/Atrax Morgue. That´s all I can say! Highly underrated. 

The rest of the album follows the great aesthetic, highly recommended for anyone thirsty for atmospheric death-industrial soundscapes. It can also be seen as an introduction compilation for curious listeners who don´t know this solo project. 

Bandcamp (label):

https://requiredrateofreturn.bandcamp.com/album/collected-works-2009-2023

 

  

Bandcamp (label):

https://requiredrateofreturn.bandcamp.com/album/collected-works-2009-2023

 Encroaching - Ash In The Room Below (demo)

There is more from Bent Window Records that needs a review! The moment I saw the cassette cover artwork and the enigmatic name of the act (and the album title), I just knew that it had to be good. Of course, we know that what we are looking at looks like a thing between a newborn baby and an extraterrestrial. I'm not sure where the photo comes from, but I am sure I have seen it in one of my books about aliens, Roswell, and UFOs... or in Spielberg´s Close Encounter of the Third Kind? 

Ash In The Room Below has come out as a limited 25 copies cassette, and it´s also the first official release by this elusive act. It´s a solo act with a... N.G. doing synths, I wonder who N.G. could be? Probably one of those weird isolated types from British Columbia. Maybe one day I shall find out who it is, whatever is on this tape... is absolutely pure gold!   

The first track is called Illuminated War. A cold, monotonous, and dry tone slowly moves up and down, clearly getting the listener into the mood of some dead base in the Antarctic. A warped recording of something speaking through an ancient radio adds an extra element to the subtle but horrific experience. 

The second track Dilapidation perfectly describes the sound of decay, and how things just... well... fall apart. A reversed sound of effect-layered windy sound, primitive synth-drones... and that awesome sounding sound of metal, maybe from some sort of rusty coil of metal? The whole track really gets under your skin. Looking out of your window, and maybe experiencing utter desolation and decay. There is really nothing out there, just emptiness. But don´t run away, these nihilistic atmospheres get me in a really good mood!

The third track Guiding Ease From The Outside has a more of a sci-fi sort of spacy sound to it. Echoed analog synth keys and a mind-mumbling background. At this point, you are quite aware that this stuff is getting into you. Strangely retrospective familiar and strangely tripping unique.

The fourth track Transfix The Eye wraps it all together in a lovely old-school proto-death-industrial sound, not that far away from Lille Roger! Everything sounds... like a small hole that the listener can see through. The sounds are incredibly intriguing and inviting as well, the recorded material wants to invite the listener inside! It´s hard to see (with your rational mind) what the hell is going on, but your irrational mind is seeing way more!

That´s the... effect of Ash In The Room Below. It doesn't expand your mind as such, but it does open a tiny peek hole into... well, another place. There is a great nostalgic touch here and there, about how analog shit being recorded in Vancouver just works! The album is really tense and dark, but the seducing sound just keeps on inviting the listener further inside... until you are pleasantly lost. Is there ash in the room below? ... There is, we just don´t know where the ash comes from... we really don´t!. 

Bandcamp (label):

https://encroaching.bandcamp.com/album/ash-in-the-room-below-demo

         

 Circuit Corruptor - Synthesizing the Absence of Your Soul

More mayhem and destruction from Circuit Corrupter! The second album is out on Phage Tapes, with the nerve-wracking title Synthesizing the Abscene of Your Soul. Released as a limited, nifty-looking CD Digipack with some terrific (and terrifying) graphics attached. 

First of all, you have the front cover with a strange-looking human body, photo/picture has been cut into various small pieces. Notice the small wires hanging from the body...and the bloody area where the sexual organs are. Open the digipack are more beautiful gruesome graphics are revealed, mostly black and white with the color of blood here and there. There is also the inner sleeve, showing a mutant rat with wires attached to it, and more mind-bending collages. Horror fans will love the artwork! I know I do. Let´s get it on with the recorded material within! 

The first track is called Prelude: Judgement and Verdict of the Fallen. Sample/recording from a courtroom, the judge/attorney asking about why he killed his own mother (among others). He goes on about a satanic view of things, why good is evil and evil is good. He is then asked if he feels responsible for his actions, and then the noise hits you like a brick wall. It screams, burns, drills, and moves the ears around a brutal soundscape like a digital hurricane. And then it ends with an eerie burial/funeral-rites soundscape.

It starts again with the second track The Descent where the listener is being led right back again into the torturous machine of sound! Everything is raw and brutal, with a touch of digital chopped-out mayhem. Heavy thunderous sounds here, wet and slippering sounds there... everything just sounds soo damn sharp! 

The third track Lethargy and Vigil drills and riås everything in an explosion of cosmic terror. Eerie ambient intermission kicks in there as well, and ends when the torture begins again. Lots of high-energetic harsh noise with complex industrial elements here and there.

We jump further into track 7 Your Face Is Fading Away. A piano part starts the track, well well-known classical melancholic piano piece here... bugs me that I can´t remember who did it... Chopin? Lizst? Mozart?... Whatever. Noise-treated vocal parts jump in and out of focus while a buzzsaw churns everything into dust. 

At this point, I am out of words to describe it further. Or should I say, I need to catch my breath. Everything is beyond, pretty extreme, and very much out there. It´s harsh noise, but not the boring kind. Tons of action and dynamics within, worthy to any fans of classic Japanoise. A pretty rare thing when someone makes true energetic harsh noise, and this one is a very.... exciting one. Not a single boring moment!.    

Bandcamp (label):

https://phagetapes.bandcamp.com/album/synthesizing-the-absence-of-your-soul

 N/Bu.d.d.A - (no title)

We get to check out Bu.d.d.a for the second time after we reviewed their monumental third album Erste Opfergaben (Marbre Negre, 2021). This album was recorded from 2020 to 2022 and created spontaneously and chaotically in a studio in Dortmund, by the founding members of Bu.d.d.a and Helmut Neidhart of a highly prolific project simply called N. The beautiful-looking blue artwork shows the ancient Papua New Guinea tribe called Mudmen. Just to get a little bit wiser regarding the mysterious mask. Here is what I could find of information regarding that. 

According to one account, the Asaro tribe was defeated by an enemy tribe and sought refuge in the Asaro River. There, they encountered a man who granted them the ability to kill with their eyes. They waited until dusk to escape, but one of them was captured. When the captured member emerged from the muddy banks covered in mud, the enemy mistook him for a spirit and fled in fear, as many tribes in Papua New Guinea are fearful of spirits. Believing they had encountered a supernatural force, the enemy tribesmen fled back to their village and performed a special ceremony to ward off the spirits. The mudmen were unable to conceal their faces because it was believed that the mud from the Asaro River was poisonous. Instead, they crafted masks from heated pebbles and water from the waterfall.

The cool-looking vinyl is limited to 300 copies, and released by a label called Auf Aubwegen. The connection between an ancient tribe from Papua New Guinea and a drone-electronic act from Germany? Let us see if we can find the answer within the recording itself!

The first track is called Hoeschpark, Hoeschpark is a park area with a sports facility attached to it, offcourse located in Dortmund and opened in 1941. It was primarily made to attract unhealthy industrial workers to get out into "nature" and do some healthy activities. This track is over 20 minutes long and starts with a beautiful angelic drone from a dream... helped along by the sound of strings being gently plugged. Sensing the sun coming on, and the evocative mist levitating gentle to the blue sky. It´s quite beautiful, perfect ambient music with a touch of complexity. A darker stringed tone and some murky drones come later on, adding a bit of darkness to the track. At this point, we´re in that area... not in the morning, but in nighttime. Sensing the things that never sleep at this point, hearing the sounds of a living city in an isolated park area. Additional spoken-word vocals are added also, giving the mood a cool human element. Thunderous but subtle ritualistic rhythms get later on and give the track a menacing epic feel. Amazing journey within a track! Love how it transforms into something being optimistic and then... slowly descending into dark and complex areas of sound. 

We turn the vinyl and jump right into the second track called Fohrenmood. Which I think, is a forest in Dortmund. The sound of beautifully reverbed guitar strings, and a strange hissing sound in the background. Effect-driven ghost´s vocals float in and out, u can just barely hear them. A hint of early kraut rock in here. Not actually sure where or when we get to the second track on the B-side, the two tracks have been mixed into one track on the B-side. We´re still in the forest, and I can hear birds chirping. And then the chirping stops, and we move into the last track!. 

The last track is called Mare Tranquilltatis, a location not in Dortmund... but on the moon! Evocative stuff... almost religious. Drones made out of deep chanting voices, levitating ambient tones... and that inner machine sound that might come from the inner bowels of the USCSS Nostromo. Later on, the ambient tones get into a slowly built melody, giving me the sensation of being frightened by heights!

So what is the connection between the Mudmen and a German drone-ambient band? The tracks are about locations placed in Dortmund and the Moon. No doubt about it, the stuff they do is drenched in ancient mystery the same way the Mudmen are. But are we talking about an act that hides behind layers of sound, in the same way, the Mudmen use the mud masks? Might just be. Without a doubt, it functions as a perfect ambient album with some added dark complexity. It´s pleasant, but also menacing subtly. The kind of ambient album that u end up returning to since it has a variety of different moods. But it also catches the very realistic sound of existence ( in a way ), strong moments cannot exist without fragile moments.            

Bandcamp (band):

https://budda-official.bandcamp.com/

 

Bandcamp (label):

https://aufabwegen.bandcamp.com/album/no-title

 Vomir and Claritas - Stollenausbau

This is another thunderous and harsh release from our favorite avant-garde/noise label, Grubenwehr Freiburg. It is a split between the well-known godfather of HNW Vomir and a Danish act called Claritas. The release has been released as a limited c-50 tape release via another label called Mercium. There are two tracks on the tape, one side for each artist. The title of the album means Tunnel Expansion. The album is connected with the same mining concept as the tape release between Dosis Letalis and Mai12. 

We start off with Vomir. A thick and layered bass-driven ambient noise churns immediately out of the speakers. The crushing of huge rocks being blistered into air-driven dust. A microphone recording the storm of the century... or the sound of a fast-moving sandworm on the surface of the planet Dune. Love the different sound layers. There is a pulsating waterish sound in there, the hum of huge airplanes, the static sound of burning gas, or the flattening noise of being buried in thick concrete. It can be heard as a brutal and aggressive thing, but also as a meditative and relaxing one as well. Soundwise, I think it follows the earthy mining sound concept. This layered burger of aural delight burns in 26 minutes and 1 second.

We turn the cassette and continue on the B-side with Claritas. A lot more noisy and in your face, with almost a kind of power-electronics approach. The crunchy and dry sound of thunder in the summertime, just before the rain hits you. For some reason, my mind keeps telling me that there are vocals in there... and the sound of some sort of siren alarm... or is it the inside sound of a fast-moving train? The whole thing/track delivers a million huge explosions on a microscopic scale, the sound of a slow-moving atomic explosion, or the constant shredding sound of nylon/fabric being ripped apart. Lots of textures of sound here, I can almost smell the bacon on the frying pan! Last 6-7 minutes of the track, there is a static ritualistic and drone´ish low-male voice in there... I'm sure! 

It´s a BEAUTIFUL HNW treat for both the fans of the ambient noise and the harsh noise. Perfectly balanced between these two styles. Both artists (on the tape) work in almost perfect harmony of utmost brutalism of sound. And no, it´s not a case of someone pushing a button and then walking away from the recording equipment. It´s a case of someone pushing/twiddling a button/knop, patiently waiting a bit... and then slowly ( in a good way ) surprising the listener in the art of slow subversiveness. As I can read it, this release is part of a HNW series ( 5 releases in total ). I have only reviewed 2 of them, and these two are... REALLY GOOD! Lots of reasons to check up on the others as well, more info on the labels Bandcamp site!                  

Bandcamp (label):

https://grubenwehrfreiburg.bandcamp.com/album/stollenausbau

 Mörksugga - Så Småningom Tar Allting Slut

A new act from Sweden, called Mörksugga, and the album is called Så Smågingom Tar Allting Slut (So Little By Little Everything Ends. Mörksugga comes from a mythological little dark creature created and painted by Verlin Molin (1907-1980). A small trollish black creature that looks faintly like something from the world of the Finnish author Tove Jansson (Moomins). Title of the album, well... everything faints away with the time. The photo is from some historical and religious construction I guess. 

The whole CD has been self-released by the artist himself, a cool, shiny, and classic blackened digipack. You´ll find additional info regarding the release itself and a nice photo of the man behind the project. A serious-looking man with sunglasses, and on the CD tray he holds a surprisingly small human-like cranium in his large hands... could it be the scull of a Swedish gnome?. We don´t know! But anyway, inside we have 9 tracks almost 40 minutes in total... so let us dig right into it!.    

The first track is called Skända Din Nästa (Disgrace Your Next). String-tortured arrangements with some slow and heavy industrialized electronic percussion. Not far away from In Slaughter Natives, just a bit slower, less melodic, and subtle. Classic Scandinavian horror mood nonetheless, the creeks and the sounds are all there... sounds pretty good. The sound quality suits the style so far. 

The second track Ett Minne Ristat I Hud (A Memody Carved In Skin) is slowly mixed into the end of the first track. The sound of human breath slowly inhaling and exhaling, and the sound of drums... drums in the deep... yes... the goblins are approaching for sure! Panic? A bit, let's just stay cool for the moment. Still maintaining that classic mid-era sound (2000 and later) of Cold Meat Industry. To someone like me, well... it feels comforting and home-like. 

The third track Lugnet Före Stormen moves into the sort of realm of Archon Satani or Inanna. Mysterious ritualistic moods and the sound of echoed metal pipes rolling inside the church, love the background drones here. The feeling of seeking some kind of protection towards what is outside is quite evident here.

The fourth track Utbränd Och Ödelagd (Burned Out And Destroyed) offers a sort of slow-driven electronic martial-industrial rhythm with some extra junk-metal sounds. Harsh distorted sounds and the sound of monks are there as well. Never been much into the polished side of this kind of music, but... for some strange and unknown reason, I´m actually charmed by this. 

The fifth track Affirmation offers something new. Looped guitar strings, get me straight back to old Ordo Equilibrio. Joined up with a nice and haunting epic synth melody. Cool background stuff going on, slow-motion monks burning up in hell with lots of reverb. 

The sixth track Den Osalige Andes Närvaro (Presence of the Unholy Spirit) offers the same as the former tracks... but ... there is something else going on in my left speaker... and right. Everything swirls back and forth between my speakers, love the dynamic! Slow-driven ambient horror with some extra dimensions attached to it!

Is the eight-track a Death In June cover?...

At this point, you should just check out the album and listen to the last 3 tracks! The album almost works like a tribute to the era of CMI after the millennial switch. The sound quality is pretty good, and I love the stereo dynamics of the reverbed sound effects. I do miss one thing though, a touch of ... well... madness, or when you just... lose control and something weird happens. But apart from that, the album manages to complete whatever mission it was set upon, it´s pretty well constructed.  Although... Hopefully, there will be a second Mörksugga album out.     

Bandcamp (band):

https://morksugga.bandcamp.com/album/s-sm-ningom-tar-allting-slut

    

      

 

Arlo Bigazzi & Elena M. Rosa Lavita - 
D’Altronde Sono Sempre Gli Altri

Elena M. Rosa Lavita, whom we reviewed some time ago with her breathtaking and horrific interpretation of Tjajkovskij´s Swan Lake, has a new album out. This time, she has made an album with Arlo Bigazzi, whom I don´t know. If you check up on him on Discogs, then it's quite obvious that we're dealing with a true veteran of Italian music. He has been in the industrial band Militia as well. These two cool people have gotten together to create an album called D´altronde Sono Sempre Gli Altri (which means After All, It´s Always the Others). The album has been released as a limited tape on Industrial Ölocaust Recordings, and on CD via Materiali Sonori. An 8 track album, about 30 minutes in total.

The first track is called Bruit Secret, starting with the metallic scraping on bass strings and some eerie-sounding synth work. Reminds me of Coil´s S Is For Sleep on their compilation called Unnatural History Vol.1, which has that relaxing and eerie complexity. Really love the sounds here, the strange shimmering of bell sounds, instrumental basswork, reverbed feedback, and synth elements here and there.    

The second track Manrovesci, moves further into down-tempo electronica beats mixed with excellent bass playing. Excellent high-quality soundtrack stuff for a great horror flick. 

The third track 11° Giorno Apoplettico Spirituale feels like a spider crawling on your spine! Everything is spine-tingling, and the haunting slightly jazz bass-playing manages the listener to be nailed to the ground... in an incredible meditative way! Highly evocative dark-ambient textures here as well, very organic sounding.

The fourth track Indipendenti Dagli Avvenimenti Esterni gets back to the roots of early gothic post-punk, the minimal atmospheric sound of Bela Lugosi´s Dead? Just being further into slow-driven ritualistic minimalism. Really love the kind of Robert Fripp´ish ambient guitar work here! 

The fifth track The Great Enemy of Art Is Good Taste offers a more melodramatic approach with strings! Slowly build with thumping sounds, which sound like steps on a staircase. Beautiful bass playing comes while the epic strings build up a certain melody and tension which grows patiently with every second. 

The sixth track Ahi Serva Italia Di Dolore Ostello seems to me to be the sad track on the album. Love the inventive injections of distorted feedback here, which almost sounds like a human voice screaming! 

At this point, I could go on rambling bout the last two tracks, but I will not. There is no point really, because everything should be crystal clear after what I have just written. This album is bloody amazing, and I will hear it again and again! It offers a wide range of moods with a pure minimalistic sound approach. The listener is bound to be amazed and highly intrigued, in the same manner of discovering a hidden part of the brain. It also feels strangely familiar in a good way. This one gets the green light for sure, big green lights! 

Website (label):

https://cardinium.com/product/ior-tk-xxix/

Bandcamp (artist):

https://rosalavita-elenam.bandcamp.com/

Schloss Tegal - Black Static Transmission 

One of the veterans of dark-ambient/industrial out with a classic re-issue. Black Static Transmission, was originally released by Cold Spring in 1999. Now remastered and released by Tegal Records, with a fantastic-looking artwork! The original cover was... (let's be honest) quite awful! This cool-looking glossy digipack really does its work, and the graphics represent the recordings way better. The album offers 6 tracks, almost 60 minutes long.  

The first second the album starts, you are there. The first track Black Static Transmission starts in some underground and abandoned subway/bunker, right under a busy motorway. A huge dark place where it hums with layers of reverbed sound. In the distance, strange voices are talking. Chittering and haunting radio voices, the movement of old machinery, and... distant chanting voices. All the sounds swirl around the listener like ghosts. Although in the murky ambient section of electronic music, everything seems surprisingly vibrant and organic.

The second track Blind Fault Upheaval (R'Lyeh Rising) starts with someone talking about a great darkness, and beyond that darkness, a light glows. Then, the heavy machinery of atmospheric death-industrial starts. A looped and thumping heavy sound works as the bass, a layered high-pitched vibrating sound of drills all wrapped up in a lovely and harsh analog-driven soundscape. 

The third track Toxified Systems Resistor is a really mystical piece. Telegram beeps, radio static, a floating UFO... and someone talking about the use of reality technology, and then someone mentioning the numbers.... 4....7....1. I can't help but think, that somewhere in some secret government they are using high-tech stuff to contact dead spirits (for some reason). The whole track is very relaxing and non-menacing but then again... there is the presence of a subtle creepiness...hiding. Interesting ear-opener for sure. Cosmic-horror ambient for sure. 

The fourth track Necronaut travels further into the deep paranormal spaces. A long ambient track that makes time stand still, with a brilliant murky (and adventurous) soundscape with tons of interesting weird recordings/sounds. The soundscape works almost as a kind of huge wall, giving the listener the impression that something weird and indescribable is going on the other side of the wall. U can sort of hear it, but you can't see it. It´s like the sound/recording from a world between the living and the dead... beautiful!

The fifth track Terra Insanium (The Overbeast) continues with the number...4....7...1. The goal to get in contact with the dead continues, the phenomenon of EVP? Thinking back to John Carpenter´s horror flick The Prince of Darkness, about the mysterious video that was sent (as a dream) from the future that others could receive by dreaming! The track has that lovely low-tech grainy sort of quality to it but is still multi-layered in a high-tech quality. Lovely mixture of low-tech and high-tech here! At this point, I'm aware that I´ve been on an aural journey, and with this track, we´re getting closer to...that is beyond the darkness? I´m actually not sure if I should be afraid, or astounded?! 

The sixth and last track Into the Quantaplex gives the answer to my former question. I should be afraid, sounds like hell being recorded through the radio. Eerie static, people screaming in hell, whispering, and more. Might just be the sample (from that recording from 2019) made by a person who lowered a microphone in a deep drill hole. Jim Jones is also here as well, and a lovely female singing loop. All is well in hell I guess? 

Black Static Transmission is an honest, frightening, and disturbing album, without trying to sound evil or extreme. It works on a specific paranormal theme in a convincing serious matter, I'm quite sure that the intention wasn´t to frighten the listeners but to inspire and intrigue the listener instead, if u do end up being frightening well.... that´s just a bonus! The whole thing is a journey from the start to the end, the whole thing sticks together like glue in a really good way. Interesting to think that Schloss Tegal is one of the pioneers of the dark ambient genre, this act might just be TOO dark for the term! 

Bandcamp (band):

https://schlosstegal.bandcamp.com/album/black-static-transmission-2

    

         

 Splintered - Between Scylla and Charybdis

A great noise-industrial rock band that started in the early 90s by Richard Johnson. The same guy was responsible for the cult magazine Grim Humour and the well-known industrial/noise label called Fourth Dimension. Between Scylla and Charybdis is their sixth album and the first one after their pause in 1998, all the material within has been made and recorded between 2021 and 2024. A 6-track CD digipack-album with over 50 minutes of spacy punishing enjoyment. 

One may ask about the actual album title. Scylla is a hydra-looking monster-daughter of Poseidon himself. And her sister happens to be another monster-daughter called Charybdis. Legend has it that Charybdis was once a water nymph who expanded the coastal line of Greece causing floods and destruction, this made Zeus angry and he therefore turned her into a huge water-dwelling Cthulhu´ish monster. Scylla on the other hand was also a water nymph that Poseidon liked too much, causing his wife Amphretrite to be jealous which then turned her into a Scylla monster. These two monster creatures inhabit the narrow sea between Sicily and the Italian Mainland, causing the sinking and destruction of traveling ships. So in other words, the album title has the same meaning as Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, or between a Rock and a Hard Place. The lesser of two evils. 

First track Permutation 1: Furta Sacra works as a sort of intro to the album. The sound of crashing waves onto cliffs, and excellent epic psychedelic space-rock guitar work with a raw, scraping, and atmospheric bass line in there as well. Sounds really promising so far! Furta Sacra means the stealing of relics done in the Middle Ages when Christians moved a relic to another shrine/church. 

The second track Scylla starts with some gritty static noise, where the slithering sludge-guitar and the bass slowly creep in. Some ritualistic thumbing drums are added, with some mysterious vocal parts hidden in the background. I really get that feeling, that you are on treacherous waters! Something big and scary is hiding in the murky depths, waiting to strike. Really love those ethnic tam-tam drums that come later on, giving the track an adventurous feel. Love how the whole thing bloody works together! 

The third track The Horrors of Linden, is another slow and narrowing epic-piece of heavenly psychedelic space-rock. Like being on mescaline in the middle of the burning desert. A thing described as a cross between early Earth and Skullflower. Absolutely masterfully done.

The fourth track Charybdis, offers bubbling underwater drums and vocal parts sounding like far-away radio-static. Beautiful hidden melodies of sound in there, find them like treasures in a maze. Shimmering and pulsating like a soon-to-exploding star, this album keeps on amazing me! The whole track engulfs the listener, just in the same manner Charybdis engulfs the whole sea.

The fifth track Bell Harry´s Lament is the longest track on the album, being over 15 minutes long. Might just be my favorite track on the album. Slowly and surely the track builds up to something grand. Noisy post-rockish textures, scraping and hitting bits of shimmering steel springs, ceremoniously rhythmic parts, chirping birds, and moody church bells... not even halfway through! Some kind of daylight voyage through the ruins of an ancient graveyard, u can almost sense the dead trying to get your attention...for some reason unknown. The track ends with those watery waves, could it be about the protagonist in M.R James's ghost story?

The sixth and last track on the album is called Permutations 2: Pillars of Salt. Ends the album in the same manner as how it began with the first track. An excellent outro, delivering the last bit of the album. 

The whole thing is a masterpiece, and the whole thing can be listened to again and again. Plenty of exquisite ritualistic moments, levitating space-rock moods, even jaw-dropping undertones of cosmic horror... the whole thing just makes the time... well stop! And that is all I have to say, one more thing. Do give it a listen, it´s quite the trip!.

Official website (label):

https://fourthdimensionrecords.bigcartel.com/product/splintered-between-scylla-and-charybdis-cd

Facebook (band):

https://www.facebook.com/p/Splintered-100057425623087/

  

 Misa Tridente / Lacrimi Si Sfinti / Inselberg -  The Pact

We get to review another release from French-based Cioran Records. A sort of compilation featuring 3 acts, or could we call it a threesome-based concept album? Misa Tridente is from Spain, Lacrimi Si Sfinti is also from Spain, and Inselberg is from France. Two first acts have also been released on the Spanish label Marbre Negre, I have also had the pleasure of reviewing Lacrimi Si Sfinti some years ago. All three acts work within the fields of ritual and experimental dark ambient music. 

Again, I love the artwork made by Cioran Records. The album comes as a beautiful DVD-sized 6-paneled digipack. Front-cover artwork, think it shows hell in some way? Kind of a collage, gripping hands reaching out for help, and some confused naked humans trying... to find a way out of the place. The ground itself looks kind of organic. Really love the artwork here, always a good thing to look at while listening to the album. 

The first act on the CD is Misa Tridente with the track called In Béllùm. Tried doing some research regarding the mysterious title of the track, but couldn't find much... other than it meant Into Battle. A cave-kind of reverbed soundscape greets the listener with some additional shimmering bells, and some kind of moaning drones... almost resampling a human voice. A dominating Diamanda Galás kind of vocal punctuates the silence, love the extra echoed layers put into the voice. There is a creepy kind of... sound in there as well? Sounds a bit like... some sort of alarm... or the kind found in Throbbing Gristle´s Hamburger Lady or Leather Nun´s Slow Death? Later on, we have a distorted vocal added, male-sounding if you ask me. Some evocative synth is added, and some kind of string works as well. It´s all a VERY dark, beautiful, and ritualistic piece, offering a really intense moment worth listening to. The sound of it is absolutely superb! Fans of Aghast and MZ.412 should definitely check this out for sure! Can´t help to think back to Stuart Gordan´s H.P Lovecraft movie Dagon, where a female deep-one/human-hybrid evokes a Cthulhu rite in Spanish while sacrificing a human female to their Great Old One named Dagon. Dagon would then impregnate her offcourse... anyways!  

Next track is by Lacrimi Si Sfinti, called Miserere. Probably something about... misery. A humming and constant sound of 100 frozen strings, and yes... we are still in the bowels of a deep underground cave. Painful and torturous violin strings are in the background, while the intensity of horrific ambient soundscapes slowly turns up the volume. Organ/wind-driven sounds are added, such as hypnotic vocal chanting, and a really hellish recording of glass shards being driven into the strings of an electrified harp! A mixture of ritual ambiance and improvised harsh-noise aesthetics. Plenty of misery here so far! Sounds like Tibetan monks in hell. Incredible evocative, and what an atmosphere! 

The third and last track by Inselberg is called Sparsum Cruorem Posibus Vastator Horret Angelis *takes a deep breather*. Roughly translated on Google Translator as The Angel Is Horrified By The Scattered Blood Of The Posts Of The Devastator. A gothic horror introduction of someone ( I think! ) trying to pry open a coffin with the church bells going on in the background. The sound of splintering wood is quite an ear-candy thing here! The slow-downed sound of a priest mesmerizing his words for the funeral rite, is the sound of wood just the sound of wood being pressured by the sheer weight of the soil? Not sure, the whole thing is incredibly beautiful sounding. More driven towards angelic ambient moods here, than hellish here. Not trying to sound like a boy-scout here, but so far my favorite track is this one. Kind of a trip back to Brian Eno´s Ambient 4 On Land and Klaus Schulze. It´s just really well-made ambient music, in my experience... making ambient music that just works... is a rare thing. But I know that it´s a matter of taste! 

All in all, it IS an incredible concept album with three highly dedicated acts. It took me about, 20 listening to get to the core of it. And I enjoyed it every time I heard it. But to put words on it, was kind of hard. Being quite atmospheric and ambient-based, also being very direct and almost aggressive as well. It´s a complex beast, but a beast everyone can understand after a listen or two. I like it, and would love to hear it again... and again. 

Bandcamp (label):

https://cioranrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-pact

Bandcamp ( Misa Tridente ):

https://misatridente.bandcamp.com/music

Bandcamp ( Inselberg ):

https://inselberg1.bandcamp.com/

         

 

 Gnostic Grain - Chalice

Gnostic Grain is a 2-man band from the UK which started back in 2020. So far they have released several albums, which are obtainable via their Bandcamp site. The idea behind the band is the wish to explore the world of dark-ambient electronic music, while also being reflective of our distant past and using modern technology to achieve it. Chalice is their fourth album, and being more of an album with a focus on the vocal parts. It´s a 5 track album, 45 minutes in total. So far there isn´t a physical release out, but maybe there will be in the future. I have a certain stomach feeling about this act, I sense a bright future ( for some reason).

The first track is called Unheard. Someone having a walk in an underground sewer, sounds of distant birds and the distant sea as well? It stops when a haunting electronic soundtrack melody fades in, with incredible atmospheric sounds going on there as well. In comes the vocals, a deep and mesmerizing male vocal with a lovely British accent (I'm an anglophile in case u didn't know). The first thing that gets into my mind is offcourse Coil, Attrition, and later TG but also with a touch of the more electronic-driven Ulver. Absolutely jaw-dropping material here! Love the synthy xylophones and the violins! 

The second track Uber Alles starts with ritualistic chanting and drums, a beautiful melancholic piano part, awesome goosebumps vocals, and really eerie drone parts. Again with the synthy violins, the element of doom and darkness is quite certain here... being more in the cosmic-horror section. Later on, a cool organ is added, and a kind of doom's trip-hop rhythm... really dramatic! Fans of Deutsch Nepal would also love this. The apocalypse is surely here, lyrics like ´The night turned black, and the smoke chokes all the people´.

The third track is Chalice. Breathing in and out, dripping sounds in the cave, and a melody... a melody which (for some reason) takes me back to the first Terminator film or John Carpenter's The Thing. It´s still, pretty jaw-dropping... the mysterious and esoteric feel is being quite effective here. Certain moods going on in here, the sort of stuff that happens at night time. The sort of stuff that goes on when (almost) everyone, is asleep. Stuff that goes unseen, unheard. A jazzy saxophone kicks in to enlighten the big city mood just a bit more, we really more saxophones in dark-ambient stuff ( I mean really! ). At this point, I´m a fan of this act!

The fourth track Opiate continues with an awesome synth and piano part. With that excellent piece lyric, ´The night is still a secret from the day, as I crawl back into my dreams´. A tragic, beautiful, and sad song bout an Opiate addict, about how ´When the night steals the day. Incredible track!

The fifth (and last track) called Prawda, is the most ambient/drone-driven track on the album. A slowly rising atmosphere is at work, with some additional chanting vocals in there as well. When the eerie saxophone kicks in, there is a kind of Nurse With Wound vibe. A mechanized female spoken-word is there, is it some kind of Scandinavian language... Finnish?... Not sure. Beautiful ending and a beautiful start, all is good!.

As I mentioned earlier, I´m a fan of Gnostic Grain. Everything is inventive, spotless, beautiful, and incredibly adventurous! Although the Coil resemblance is there, u still (as a listener) receive the feeling of treading into completely unknown waters. Throughout the entire album, Gnostic Grain manages to tell the tale... that there is something hidden in the dark, too dark for any human mind to understand. And it´s there, hidden... and waiting. It´s absolutely incredible! Can´t wait to review these guys again! 

Bandcamp (band):

https://gnosticgrain.bandcamp.com/album/chalice