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

 Mannjäger - Zhostkiy Folklor

The madman behind this power-electronics/noise project is also the same one behind the cyberpunk-inspired dark-ambient project called Anaru, which I reviewed in 2017 via the Brvtalist webpage. He is out again with another new project called Mannjäger (via the Greek label E.C.T Recordings). 

Strongly limited to 20 copies (numbered), a CD-R is stored inside an informative booklet and then wrapped in tracing paper. Always loved the simple cover artwork made by E.C.T Recordings, it is so simple and yet so incredibly iconic, and recognizable. 

The concept around this album is about coercion in every form. Be it sexual, political, ideological, or religious. And the album title means Heavy Folk. The front cover has a kind of militaristic propaganda sort of imagery and has a kind of Slavonic look to it. Inside the booklet, we meet another propaganda-like image. An image titled Zoviet Woman, a strong-looking young woman holding a communist flag. So the word coercion is a strong focus theme here. Let us jump into the recorded material within. 

The first track is called Laukia Išsižergus (Waiting for Izzirgus), who is Izzirgus? I don´t know, tried looking it up but didn´t locate any logical explanation. Inflammatory noise blasts, pulsating hum from old fighter planes, looped and rhythmic deep ritualistic voices, and wonderful evil-sounding power-electronic vocals. Similar to the more atmospheric German-based power-electronics acts like Anenzephalia, Ex-Order, and Dagda Mor. 

The second track Gimnasté (gymnastics?) is a more... subtle piece than the former. There is a looped "melody" in there, which gives the track a kind of hypnotic melancholic vibe. Love how the samples have been put together here, a lovely... organic feel if you please. Behind all this, there is a harsh background of metal smashing against metal. 

The third track Išdresiruota Tarnaut (Traind To Serve) returns to the murky harshness. A lovely epic and esoteric dungeon-synth voice-driven synth-vibe/melody is going on in the background, with the punishing death-industrial sound in front.

The fourth track Fas! gets more into the aggressive and brutal side of European power electronics. With all the aggressive noise going on, the esoteric elements are still there. Really dig it when brutal shit has an esoteric aesthetic/mood attached to it, just makes it all a lot more interesting.

The fifth track Inter-nacional Vivisection Ov Coercion is closer to a thing between dark-ambient and power-electronics. Lots of looped reverbed elements echoed samples inside a clinical environment.  

The sixth track Išniekinta, Bet Su Uniforma (Disgraced, But In Uniform). A very hypnotic harsh piece. Surely to get you brainwashed. Drones there looped mechanical sounds here... the whole piece of machinery pulsating with radioactive vibes here.

The seventh track Vonioje might just be my favorite. A harsh and atmospheric noisescape with tons of angelic brutality, and sheer beauty. Kind of like this barren landscape, with hints of life peeking through the chaos? 

More unpleasant than pleasant, more strained than strengthening. More painful than comforting. It´s not a macho-driven power-electronics monster, but more of a depressive and degenerated kind. But in a good way. When the album ends, you're kind of left with a certain feeling. The kind of depressing feeling that you might, have done something... which u shouldn´t have. This album scratches a nerve that others don´t, a beer-drinking power-electronics album... definitely not! There isn´t a drop of hope here, maybe u can find it? Worth checking out!

Bandcamp (band):

https://panzerkabarett.bandcamp.com/album/zhostkiy-folklor

Discogs (label):

https://www.discogs.com/release/29494996-Mannj%C3%A4ger-Zhostkiy-Folklor

Facebook (label):

https://www.facebook.com/ectrecs