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

Dreamrecorder - First Test Replications

Always nice to know when something interesting and different is happening in my mother country... Denmark that is. This release is definitely one more of them. This release has been released on a label called Thank You Tapes, a label being maintained by the same guy behind this project. As for now, he solely releases his own music on the label, but will hopefully (shortly) release other artists. The same guy also works under the Skidtmads alias and among cool projects as well, you can check them all in the Bandcamp link provided below.

This project called Dreamrecorder is solely based on the dreams of the artist himself. He has had ideas of having a machine to record the sounds of his dreams, but offcourse we all know that it isn´t actually possible. But anyway, he has tried recreating these dreams into pure analog sound. First Test Replication is a limited cassette, with 5 copies left so be quick! 

The cassette itself comes in a cool-looking soft-plastic cassette box, and the tape itself is pink with a sticker on it. The pinkish artwork shows some s/m-related material, with the tracklisting offcourse. Inside the booklet, we have some extra info and photos regarding the label. I really like the mysterious and fuzzy-looking artwork, nice old-school feels for sure. 14 tracks, 45 minutes.

The first track is called Doctors Appointment. A low-fi analog nightmare representing (I think) the fear of doctors. Chunky analog sounds, manipulated recording/sample of a doctor talking. Takes me back to some of the very early (and first) recordings by Cabaret Voltaire or Esplendor Geometrico. Quite a unique sound.

The second track I Have A Weird Feeling Now gets more into a sort of eerie ambient vibe. Crystal-like tunes from an underground cave, and the reversed sound of a contact-mic getting brushed by a toothbrush. Definitely a dream-driven idea in this. Some of the sounds have been recorded from tape, while the tape head is being tampered with.

The third track Touch My Face (Good Boy) has again a certain nightmarish edginess to it, thinking of extreme performance art here... or some kind of murky porn flick from the 70s.

The fourth track I´m Very Sad About What Happened is filled with analog chaotic glitch sounds and samples. Almost as if there is a melody in the random noises. Bit like the noisy Autechre at times.

We jump further into track 8 called Things Are Not What They Seem. Warped ambient melancholy with flimsy sound-images changes in and out of focus.

And track 9 In Some Sort of Factory Setting, an unrelentless blistering sea of glitches, knops, and turns. And strange electronic humanoid voices in there somewhere as well. 

First Test Replications is a strange, rare, and interesting beast. The feeling of isolation and creating something unique, without belonging to a local scene is obvious. This is a good and refreshing thing since so much is being made out there that sounds like it has been made, with the same ideas... and on the same equipment. Really love how chunky analog sounds get thrashed together into a flimsy digital dream from the past/the future. A term for this tape? Harsh ambient glitch anyone?. Might just be the most unique item to be reviewed on Kalteldur this year, give it a spin!    

     

Bandcamp (label):

https://thank-you-tapes.bandcamp.com/album/first-test-replications

    

Barrera - No Input Can Release Me 

From My Fatherland

From Greece to Spain, from Mai 12 to Barrera. The powerful blows of  HNW continue to flow from the sun-baked parts of Europe. A new album from this relentless Spanish beast, the first time on CD-R, while the other releases have been on cassettes. This is a limited CD-R released on Black Artifact, an experimental US-based noise label from Fort Worth, Texas. The pro-duplicated thing comes in a nifty-looking black poly case, adorned with some gritty WW2 photos showcasing soldiers' wounded and scared faces. There is only one track on the album, a track being 1 hour long. The title of the track is the same as the album title.     

Flickering red flames dance on the motor of an old Spitfire fighter airplane, nosediving while all the splintered parts melt in a roaring sea of fire. Thunderous bass wall, sparks of a high-pitched tone, flickering painful sound-images and then... there is a ghost´s humming sound in there, giving the first 6 minutes a weird paranormal touch. At this point, I'm at 15 minutes. Minor alterations to the overall sound, but it isn´t getting monotonously boring... u get that warm feeling (subconsciously) that it´s a vibrant and living being! At around 25 minutes, it´s almost becoming pleasant. 

Are we being told (through noise) how totalism gets into people´s minds? The expression is constant, obedient, and without breaking a limb ( or thought ) through the process. Like standing in a shower of sharp knives, without shedding a single tear. In a lot of ways, the extremity of this simple beast leads straight back to the early days of NON. Simple, abstract, and incredibly efficient.

Halfway through now ( 31 minutes ) and I am enjoying it more and more. There are some kind of metallic ritualistic elements/sounds in the background, hidden... but they are there. At around 40 minutes, the high-pitched tones have a sort of telegram-sort-of effect, is there a hidden message in there... I'm not sure!

At around 45 minutes, it´s starting to hurt... just slightly. Your ears have been acknowledging and recognizing the sounds within, and at this point, they are telling you that it´s not all that pleasant! but there is a big but! Your mind wants more, so the record keeps on playing!

If you want to enjoy this, then you have to tune your ears (and mind) into complete slow motion. Or better even, the end of time! This album captures a certain conceptual moment in the blink of an eye. The blistering storm of trench soldiers in the 1WW, or the screaming sounds of German Stuka-bombers in the 2WW. It´s brutal and constant, and the thing keeps on pounding! Without a doubt, the most extreme noise-related thing of 2024!

Bandcamp (label):

https://blackartifact.bandcamp.com/album/no-input-can-release-me-from-my-fatherland

 

 Mai 12 - Post Structural

The second time around I get to review something related to this noisy one-man act from Greece. Last time it was a collaboration with Dosis Letalis, who (again) is no stranger to Kalteldur. This full-length CD is limited to 20 copies and is a self-released album by Karl Grümpe himself. The disk is housed in a custom-printed cardboard case with flaps and a 2mm spine. It is kind of nifty and different at the same time. 

The artwork shows something from a children's playground, like a swing or something. And then there are fences around it, with a sort of industrial complex in the background. Poststructural? Makes me think of a place In Germany I visited this summer. The town of Duisbuch has a major closed-down industrial complex from the Second World War, which has been turned into a park. The place has a kind of... post-war feel to it. But anyway! The whole thing is a 6 track album over 1-hour long. All the tracks 1,2,3,4,5 and 6 have all been mixed so the album sounds like one whole track.

Scraped metal against metal, creating blistering iron sparks in the air. The sound of a red-hot flame is bursting through a huge rusty-looking chimney, while a river of melted iron floats into a pool of smoking water. I can almost sense the smell of someone welding. The sensating of metal pipes creating steams of noise submerged the listener into the recording itself. It´s noise-wall, just being a lot more harsh-noise dynamics. True primal industrial noise! Love the punctuating thumps and occasional bleeps here and there, a constant and menacing storm made of fire and steel. A nuclear explosion that doesn't end! At track 3 the distorted tones get a bit higher, while the bass gets even more dense and thick. Minor elements of rhythmic elements can be traced here. Pulsating waves of liquid noise get squeezed into the listener's ears like a great pumping syringe. Later on, a high buzzing electronic mosquito sound will paralyze your senses with some lovely and excellent crunchy noise sounds. The last track takes me straight into some submerged atomic-driven submarine!

It´s a monster to satisfy every fan of HNW and harsh noise. With lots of experimental touches here and there, it manages to create a soundscape of its own with an organic and dynamic feel to it. Quite adventurous as well. and it has that authentic live-session atmospheric feel to it. Highly recommended!  

       

Bandcamp (band):

https://mai12.bandcamp.com/album/post-structural

 Zakhme - Kula

A new project out on the esoteric Italian label Industrial Ölocaust Recordings, a debut by an act called Zakhme, and the album is called Kula. Out on CD-R and on numbered cassette. Zakhme is in Urdu, a language spoken in India and Pakistan. It means bruise, offend, spite, hurt, and wound. Kula means community, tribe, or clan. 

The front cover artwork shows an ancient hand wedge. A primitive tool and weapon used back in the Stone Age constructed sharp-edged flintstone if u like. Inside the booklet, there are some detailed esoteric writings about the act and the album itself. Worth reading while listening. It´s a 3-track album, with about 45 minutes in total.

The first track is called Parte I: Rito / Illusioni. There is a mesmerizing and ceremonious drone combined with shimmering bells. Think there is a boiling cauldron somewhere, or the sound coming from a lab of an alchemist. Farway ritualistic tribal beats slowly fade in while the focus of the sounds zooms in and out. Really hypnotizing, deep stuff that sucks the listener in. There is that Zeit by Tangerine Dream meets Bladerunner sort of vibe here, dramatic and epic... but also strangely calm and mysterious as well. Also, some well-done melodic elements are hidden in there as well!

The second track Parte II: Hypnos. For those who don´t know, Hypnos is the god of dreams in Greek mythology. You can also meet him in the world of H.P. Lovecraft as well! The sound of dust on a looped vinyl player, the buzzing of night crickets, screaming reverbed sounds in the distance, birds chirping (a bit), and the sound of a UFO above. Mind-opening stuff for the imaginary mind for sure. Love the sound of dribbling lime-stone caverns here, or is it the sound of a bonfire?

The third and last track Parte III: Stella Del Mattino / Risveglio offers a reversed sound of some kind of stringed instrument and bells, with a mind-boggling drone-driven soundscape in the background. Kind of being at a druidic ritual, with the presence of strange spirits being summoned. But at the same time, it has that... futuristic touch to it. Again, ancient ritual music meets Bladerunner. For some reason, the one track which had the biggest impact on me was this track. I think it was intentional, not because it was more dynamic than the former tracks but just because... the other-worldly sensation/feeling was slightly increased!

Kula is a really good ambient album. Or is it ambient? There is drone stuff and tribal stuff. And a tiny touch of Berlin School as well! It´s an ambient-driven album that connects the past with the future. I can't say one bad thing about this album, I really can´t. It´s honest, unique, and well-made. The experience is quite... a thing (believe me!). One of those albums...(which I think...) will be a new experience every time the listener would lay their ears to it. It´s a pure angelic monster the whole bloody way through! For fans of Zoviet France/Rapoon, Controlled Bleeding, and Brian Eno.        

Bandcamp (band):

https://zakhme.bandcamp.com/album/kula

Official site (label):

https://cardinium.com/product/ior-tk-xxviii-cdr/

 Djinn - Apatia

Since we have already reviewed 2 splits with Djinn and several releases from his death-industrial label Death In Venice, we must conclude that Djinn is not a stranger to Kalteldur. This time we get to review a full-length with this iconic death-industrial act from Italy. This album was released back in 2022 and was a joint release between Death In Venice and another Italian label called St.An.Da, which is a sister label to Silentes. A nifty-looking 6-panel digipack, limited to 200 copies.  

The album-title Apatia simply means, the lack of feeling and emotion ( Or just a lack of interest or enthusiasm ). That explains the artistic artwork, some t-shirt-wearing guy with his head down. I like the menacing murky-looking background, inside the digipack, there is more... murky and depressing imagery, but also very beautiful. The same artistic style/concept can be found throughout the entire artwork, which in my world is a big thumbs-up. 

The first track Nothing...Endless starts with the sound of an old lady talking, I don´t know what she is saying... is the language Finnish? Neither way, there is a certain... sound of hopelessness in her voice. A murky bass sound and some horrific and distorted-swirling ambient soundscapes surround the listener like life-sucking wraiths begging for your soul. Looped bone-crunching rhythms get into the morbid-themed soundtrack. So far the recorded material perfectly represents the concept-driven artwork! 

The second track Attendre En Silence Part.1 has an awesome up-and-down thumping bass, some eerie highly-pitched sounds and some... haunting piano notes as well. A kind of abandoned kindergarten sort of atmosphere going on, a place where something horrific has happened without a doubt. Love the menacing industrial sounds here, almost have a psychedelic edge to it. Effective minimalism here!.

The third track Apatia, a heart-monitoring machine and a high-pitched tone. Gets me back to Throbbing Gristle´s Hamburger Lady offcourse. The track contains some spoken word lyrics/vocals, and the effects that have been used on this creepy whispering are REALLY well made! Sounds of orgasmic voices in the background, more like ghosts reaching a never-ending cycle of forbidden pleasure. The whole feeling about Apatia is very well represented here. Excellent distorted bricks of sound occasionally wake the listener up. It´s also the longest track on the album, almost 15 minutes long. The track was made together with another artist called Himukalt, which I don't know... but I have a good feeling that I must check the artist out (Bandcamp link below). The long track is an outstanding piece of ethereal-driven death-industrial with a morbid erotic touch. 

The fourth track Pre Depression continues with that effective psychedelic death-industrial vibe, with excellent echoed effects on the whispered and distorted vocals here. A strong presence of Atrax Morgue influences here, just without the power-electronics elements... more ambient and soundtrack-driven. The sounds are really special, with lots of... atypical elements being added to this genre as we speak. 

The fifth track Unheard Voices Part.1 adds a touch of harsh noise into the mix, not too much.  The vocals are the harsh noise element, while the other elements are more in the death-industrial/ambient section. There is a certain kind of sick feeling in this track, more direct and less... ethereal. 

The sixth track Attendre En Silence Part 2 goes heavy into the psychedelic minimal industrial sound, with the melancholic touch that we heard back on the second track. Some really excellent manipulated stuff going on here, almost with a cosmic-horror element to it. That high-pitched tone at the end, falling in love with it for some reason. 

The rest of the album continues to deliver the same effective torture. It surprises and chills and it creates a specific mood best suited for cold cellar rooms. The whole mood is a pure death-industrial delivery, with some new elements added to it as well. The sound quality is absolutely superb, without losing its primitive (and ethereal) edge! Apatia by Djinn, is a perfect start/intro for new listeners of death-industrial. Lots of reasons to check this album out! 

Bandcamp (label):

https://deathinveniceproductions.bandcamp.com/album/djinn-apatia

Bandcamp (Himukalt):

https://himukalt.bandcamp.com/

  

           

 

 

 Häxa Komät - One Void Ceremonial Program I

We get to review the second release from Bent Window Records label. A limited tape release from a mysterious act called Häxa Komät. And believe me, there isn´t any information to locate about this obscure project, not even a Discogs entry! There is (actually) a bit of esoteric info about this project, on the official Bent Window Bandcamp site :  

"Thematically based on animatism's religious and spiritual practices and unitary religious experiences via ritual, ceremony, self-expression, and art. Presented through the lens of the artistic/religious collective of which the project is a part; One Void Collective. A small group of artists focused on the expression and manifestation of animatistic ideas and an altered state of consciousness through meditation, repetition, natural substances, and performing artistic activities"

You can also find the site for the One Void Collective. With lots of other obscure occult-driven releases. I´m sure I wanna check this label out! You can find the link further down! 

Anyways, it´s a 5 track cassette album about 20 minutes in total. The artwork is nice. Kind of esoteric dungeon-synth/noise vibe over it. Maybe one of the dungeon synth projects I have reviewed (in the past) has members on this project? Who knows!

The first track is Zulo. The sound of a gong, shimmering ritual bells, layered wind-driven thighbone trumpets (maybe?). All wrapped up in some kind of Cthulhu-worshipping with a Buddha monk vibe. And yes, there is definitely a kind of dungeon-synth vibe going on! Archion Satani doing dungeon synth sort of. I do like it, actually pretty much! 

The second track Rinna is more of a rhythmic shamanic piece. Xylophone (synth) and thumping ritual drums. Sort of a mixture of oriental ceremonial music and Western new-age music? Quite unique, it is too bad that the track is a short one.

The third track Induction continues down the esoteric buddah-monk road. The sense of a certain kind of esoteric mysticism is pretty strong here, I´m also getting kind of nostalgic here, getting back to one of those Commodore 64 tunes. A side-scrolling karate game, with the same graphics as international karate. Whatever, I still love it! Lovely kind of temple-worshipping aesthetic here, very effective!

The fourth track Destructive Genesis is a quiet one... although with a scary sort of Lovecraftian intensity. Creepy crawler sort of calmness if you like. The beginning of some sort of ritual sacrifice? 

The fifth and last track Call In The Seeds Bounty, has a kind of... almost jolly celebration feel. Early martial-industrial meets proto dungeon-synth vibe (Allerseelen, A Moon Lay Hidden), also the most melodic track on the album. The sense of the esoteric aesthetic is still present, and hasn't lost strength! 

There are three reasons to check out this album, so open your ears. One is the sound quality. The sound quality

It´s primitive, but the primitive recording strengthens the whole album. Two, the people behind this have a certain talent/flair to do this kind of stuff. Three, they are very good at keeping this a HIGHLY aesthetic experience into... well... esoteric stuff. If anyone would tell me, that this music has been done by a serious cult... well... I would believe them! 

Bandcamp (label):

https://bentwindowrecords.bandcamp.com/album/one-void-ceremonial-program-i

Bandcamp (One Void Collective):

https://onevoidcollective.bandcamp.com/

      

Paranoia Inducta - Blood Electric

written by Ralle Ravn

Paranoia Inducta is the brainchild of Polish death/dark industrial artist Anthony Armageddon Destroyer AKA Ryszard Lal. According to Discogs, the project’s history spans more than twenty years and has 19 releases in total. Blood Electric is the third release from 2023, the others being the album Demon’s Factory, and the compilation Unknown Pleasure which contains tracks from splits and compilations.

As Anthony Armageddon Destroyer describes it himself on the album’s Bandcamp page, Blood Electric is “a bit unusual and different from the Paranoia Inducta style” which is not a wrong statement. Where Paranoia Inducta usually uses noise and industrial sounds, this album makes use of East Asian instrumentation layered on top of dark ambient drones to create eerie atmospheres with industrial sounds occasionally stepping in and out of these atmospheres. 

Multiple tracks contain flutes, bell-like sounds, throat singing, and voices reminiscent of chanting. The fourth and sixth tracks, Jaguar and VTR respectively, feature spoken word in Japanese by musician, graphical artist, and cyberpunk writer Kenji Siratori whose voice is run through effects adding to the album's atmosphere. While Mr. Destroyer is trying to experiment with genres on this album, the album is not a lot more than what I described earlier: East Asian musical tropes layered on top of dark ambient drones. 

The organic-sounding East Asian parts and the mechanical and lifeless-sounding industrial and dark ambient don’t completely mix and the attempt at experimentation feels very clear. There is a lot of messing around with different instruments and vocals and the dark ambient and industrial parts simply feel like backdrops. The dark ambient parts, by the way, outweigh the industrial parts by a lot.

That being said the album is not without coherence because where the two genres actually mix they mix very well. The fifth track Embryo Commands has a very cool shamanistic vibe to it, and the opening track Mirror of Chaos, and the closing track Cosmic Cannibalism both have a nice dark mystical feel to it like standing on a foggy mountain. There is also a nice melancholic feel on the track VTR. 

Anthony Armageddon Destroyer was trying to create an East Asian-inspired mystical atmosphere on this album. It’s a shame that the mystery is solved very quickly and you simply get two different genres layered on top of each other that simply don’t have the same coherence as on the more cinematic album Demon’s Factory from the same year. But if you’re into East Asian shamanistic music enshrouded in dark ambiance by all means check the album out. If you’re looking for dark/death industrial like you could expect from Paranoia Inducta you might want to take your precautions listening to this one.

Bandcamp (band):

https://paranoiainducta.bandcamp.com/album/blood-electric

 En Nihil - A Circle of Vultures

En Nihil shouldn't be a stranger in the world of death industrial (specifically in the United States). A quick intro for those who need it. En Nihil has been making angst-ridden ritualistic death-industrial since the mid-90s, on such cool labels as Pure, Eibon, Red Stream, and this one on Deathbed Tapes. This album is his 24th!

The album is called A Circle of Vultures, and the cover artwork perfectly represents the title. Inside we find a printed black white-labeled cassette, on the B-side it helpfully informs the listener that ´Program Repeats On Both Sides´. The booklet contains some info, it was recorded in 2022-2023 and was mastered by Thomas Garrison. This album is part 2 of the Greater Plagues Series, so I must go out and get the others (noted in my investment sketchbook). It´s a single-track album called A Circle of Vultures, over 37 minutes and 41 seconds long. Let's get on with it! 

A hum of doomed monks in a ruined cathedral, ghosts of tortured souls moaning and floating in the air, eerie flickering noises here and there, high-pitched sounds intensify the presence of something... paranormal, and a ... stringed instrument in there (cello?). The sound quality is superb, as good as any of the classic Lustmord albums! 

The track changes, when a looped machine hums a bass-heavy sound. Some clashing and thrashing of heavy gates getting closed, metallic chains rattled, and the whispering of voices from the cellar. Kind of a death-industrial/ambient version of In Slaughter Natives. Some excellent creepy raspy human voices gasp after the air, while some disturbing recording is there... sounds like... not sure, heart-beat or blood pulsating through the veins? 

A heavy distorted bass creates a wall with horrific ambient textures running in the background. Marvelous grim, but so beautiful! A slow tension is building, just like waiting for the maggot to come while you wait paralyzed for them in the coffin. Think I can hear another sound here, someone sharpening a scythe? Or is it, gas escaping? 

Additional thunderous roars from a furnace in hell, torturous slaps of whiplash-like sounds... and the beautifully textured pain-stricken voices of the dead... longing to exist again!

This all stops with a constant distorted tone, with an incredible (may I say sexy) pitched-looped rhythmic crunchy sound. Additional neo-classic dark-ambient element slowly creeps in, engulfing the listener like a carpet. Pure death industrial at its best! 

It all becomes more and more... quiet. Slowly dying, with the vultures descending to your sun-baked body. This all stops! Distorted and warped radio sounds, and punishing waves of harsh death-industrial soundscapes hits the ears. Guess the afterlife isn´t all that great, we might just be in hell. Well, I do think we are!

From almost calm death-industrial ambient moments, we are now slowly descending into rhythmic harsh-noise territory. Desperate and chaotic, someone is obviously trying to crawl their way out of hell... or death. The harsh noise elements become more and more brutal and closer to HNW, giving the listener a longing for... release (not in a bad way!). But there is none, no release. But is there? Someone in the heavy noise, there is a sound... high pitched and angelic compared to the chaotic bass sounds. U only get a glimpse of it, and then it stops! Where has it gone...?!

A Circle of Vulture is a pure death-industrial masterpiece! Not only doing the pure thing but also incorporating ambient and harsh noise without sounding like a silly fusion thing. Love the contrast, one moment it´s pretty high-quality soundtrack-driven stuff and then it turns utterly grim and hard for the ears. Kind of a Ying and Yang experience if you ask me, I bloody love it... the whole bloody thing!

Bandcamp (label):

https://deathbedtapes.bandcamp.com/album/a-circle-of-vultures

Disengage - Bionika 

This is the second time I get to review this Russian band called Disen Gage. As far as I can remember, the first one I reviewed was more of a post-rock and ambient-driven album...this one being something completely else, actually, I was quite surprised. Psychedelic space/industrial rock with heavy doses of dub, I mean real dub! A limited 100 copies of the CD album are out via the label (No Name). A very graphical 4-panel digipack, with about 47 minutes in total. 

The first track is called Fibers Have Grown Together. There is an electronic hum that slows down with the added sound effects. Mind-warped sound effects tune in and out and go up and down. Thinking a bit about Coil´s Windowpane track here, the same kind of slowed-down psychedelics. And then the dub drums/rhythms are added, bass and guitars. And yeah, we´re pretty much onboard some spaceship... smoking weed with other aliens! I'm also getting back to this band called Dreadzone, Brian Eno... and offcourse The Orb, just a lot more instrumental. Really firm control on the instruments here, clearly these guys have been playing together for years. Especially the guitar work is sublime, and that cool thumbing echoed bass!

The second track Bionika takes the cover artwork as the conceptual idea for this track ( I think ). A child singing, some noisy industrial elements there, Tangerine Dream´ish organ-synth here... and the filtred psychedelic instrumental-played drums, really nice stuff here. Sure to get everyone, totally down! Pure space rock here! Like the thing that they don´t sound Russian at all, more like a... well interplanetary band. 

The third track The Ghost Is the Shell floats like a... well ghost through the speakers. A wall of reverbed guitar effects, laidback psychedelic instrumental bass strings, drums, guitars, and a pulsating and bubbling sound push the intensity a bit further. The guitar is more harsh, giving the track a kind of industrial edge to it. 

The fourth track Free Prize, is a lot more of an enigmatic track. Gone are the drums, pure instrumental psychedelic ambient. There are some kind of spoken words attached to it, or is it a random recording of some people having a conversation? Thinking bout that Throbbing Gristle where Slaezy and Cosey are having some sort of conversation over an improvised soundscape, that kind of stuff. 

The fifth track The Tower Reverse is the (so far) most anti-feel-good track on the album. Some shimmering electronics melt in the acid, while a thumping and menacing bassline and electronic rhythms mark their approach. Interesting effects on the guitars and sound effects here, a bad trip in a good way so to speak. The idea of smoking weed with aliens is there! 

The sixth (and last track) Clap Your Hands goes back to that classic psychedelic space-rock and dub sound. They get back to that pulsating sound, and again... the provided guitar work is amazing here, works in a kind of story-telling way. The track transforms into another track halfway through, minor elements of prog-rock and early Cabaret Voltaire´ish organ work. It all sounds like a crazy acid-drenched party, but hey! ... I'm still here, and it bloody works! 

Bionoka by Disengage is bound to be a cult album if the album manages to find its listeners. It´s a pure psychedelic gem the whole way through, I ended up listening to this album... over 10 times before I reviewed it. There is a lot of messy stuff here, but everything has been organized by a band that has played so many times together, and you can hear that! It´s a pure pleasure with this, even the nasty stuff. I am quite sure that I will return to this album (Many Times), and so will other listeners. Do not ignore this one!  

Bandcamp (band):

https://disengage.bandcamp.com/album/bionika