Chrome Corpse - Pressurizer 4 EP

There is no doubt about it that old-school EBM will never die. The same thing can be said about this 2-piece act hailing from Seattle, formed by Michael F. Ninethousand and Peter Jobson. So far two singles/EPs and one full-length album have been released, only one of the EPs (+the full-length album) is available on their Bandcamp site. I ran into their Pressurizer EP and thought to myself ... ´Heck, this is exactly the kind of old-school EBM I like!´ And as I have pointed out in former reviews, there are lots of EBM-related styles which I don´t like... So, of course, I needed to review it! This EP has been released as a limited cassette (50 copies) with an additional bonus track. About 16 minutes of pure old-school EBM delight.

So what kind of old-school style do they, producer?. We´re back into the more percussion/rhythmic and minimal driven Front-line Assembly (or 2nd Communication) sound, Gashed Senses and Crossfire kind of. Super-tight, compact, cold, harsh, atmospheric with repetitive and calculated cybernetic sounding tank-caterpiller-keyboards and cool movie samples that ticks perfectly into the machine-like mesh. Melody is not the strongest part/element on this release, but hell... Who fxxxxx needs melody when we are dealing with cybernetic brutality?!... 

The kind of sweat-driven Tetsuo-the-Iron´ish EBM which fits perfectly (today) on the cassette-tape format. NOT a glossy CD-digipack with 3D printed graphics! I´m already looking forward to hearing the full-length! Need to scare some dancing cyber-goths away from your lawn, this might do the trick!.   

Bandcamp:

https://chromecorpse.bandcamp.com/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/chr0m3corps31997/

Tyrannus - The Warden

We just had to come around it, why the hell haven´t I reviewed this cult act? I don´t really know, things you HAVE to review have this strange tendency in piling up. Same way when you are pouring coffee into a filled cup, and after that, you have to clean the coffee up. Well, today it´s the day for a Tyrannus review. The same day that I actually got married, not that I have thoughts about getting an unholy marriage with Mr. Tyrannus though... Wouldn´t mind getting married to this release though which is (again) sold out in physical form, as with the sold-out cassette release with ElixiR I just have to headhunt this one down as well. Sending a letter to Santa maybe?.

Tyrannus deal in monotonic and noise-crispy/crunchy dungeon synth. The kind of dungeon synth u might expect to find in a cold and damp torture cellar. It´s not all evil and blackened, beautiful and epic elements are also to be found. Much in the same way when you find a merry and (early) noisy ambient piece by Boyd Rice/NON, and then wrapping that up with a-drone-metal´ish/post-rock´ish sense of slowed aggression (kind of). Very sincere and very intimate stuff. I also think that watching Passolini´s epic and "beautiful" art ´torture flick Salo (or Martyrs!) while listening to The Warden... could actually heighten the listening experience. Quite easy to understand why this act became a cult phenomenon in the dungeon-synth scene. We´re dealing with a complete full-length release, 17 tracks about 82 minutes!. Well worth exploring this lush harshness torture-dungeon! Below you can see photos of the various edition which (sadly) have all been sold out.

CD Version

Cassette Version

The Warden Deluxe CD - 2nd Edition - Blood Dawn Rise

       

Bandcamp:

https://pagodamast.bandcamp.com/album/the-warden

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/TyrannusE/

Wave-Gotik-Treffen 2018, Review & Tips 

with Hedvig Brandt.

Wave-Gotik-Treffen officially started in 1991 and is this year's 27th also called WGT, which is the largest Gothic festival in the world, which takes place in eastern Germany, Leipzig once a year in May (20th´ish). The festival extends over four days and includes everything from concerts, events, parties, lectures and art exhibitions spread throughout the city and the Agra Messepark area, where the main festival takes place and where the band's main name also plays. When the WGT ticket is purchased with a bit of trouble over the net, the bracelet gives free access to all public transport in the city such as tram and city buses, art exhibitions and other events. It gives a lot of freedom and you should not worry about buying any transport tickets. It is relatively easy to find the Wave Gotik tram No. 31, which is indicated in black also called the "Grufti line". It is reasonably cheap to get to Leipzig by bus and train. I recommend to include any delays in the itinerary as possible. It is also a good idea to arrive at least one day in advance - from Thursday to Tuesday if you have chosen to stay in the tent area and if you want all the WGT to be pre-party and, for example, all closing parties with.

I book my WGT stay in Leipzig in very good time and arrive on Thursday, as the trip can be quite tiring, I choose to arrive from Wednesday to Wednesday next year, as sleep is probably what you want to get the least off, but I learn for each year I attend. There are up to 200 band names each year and approx. 20-25,000 festival participants coming from all over the world. The music extends from EBM, Gothic Rock, Dark Ambient to Classical music, so there is ample opportunity to find a suitable music genre in your taste. Band play schedule is published one week before WGT start, which may seem a bit stressful.

The food here is also an opportunity to buy in the main area, - Agra Messepark, from Vegan dishes to various meat dishes. The price is pretty much, however, I think if you get the chance to find a place to eat outside of Agra, the price will approx. be halved and it can be better in the long run. We were lucky to find a cheap Syrian Vegan restaurant at our apartment tram station and we became new regular customers!

My travel friend and I arrived as mentioned this year on Thursday, with a two-hour stay in Hamburg. We chose to travel at night to arrive in good time Thursday morning in Leipzig. After that, we should first get our key to our booked apartment somewhere else in town. We had been given a fairly detailed instruction on how to get the key out of the key box, as we had received a code for each. mail. Thankfully, Leipzig is really sweet to help and we got two people to help us get the key out of the box, we were close to panic. We were happy when we finally got the key in our hand. We took the tram to the main train station to get on our tram to our apartment. It was a really nice apartment and nothing was missing from our balcony to the river, Weisse Elster. We had a supermarket at our tram station and had agreed to go shopping for the coming days. All this without having closed an eye for really many hours. We chose not to go to WGT pre-party but to get some sleep instead so we could get ready for Vicktorianisches Picknick in Clara-Zetkin Park, which takes place every Friday afternoon, from 14:00 to 17:00. We made it clear and took it. Last year, unfortunately, we did not get along, so it was brand new to me and with really great Victorian clothes. We were followed by a Gothic couple who were also on their way, otherwise, it is relatively easy to follow the black stream of men's men.

After the Victorian Picnic, we went back to the apartment to change clothes to Agra. My other friends from Denmark and I had agreed to take white clothes on this day. Unfortunately, we did not really get some concerts that day. It's very hard to reach all the concerts in the WGT program as the concerts are scattered all over the city and the tram tours take a lot of time, you may also risk standing in a long queue and unable to get in any way. No matter how much you have prepared, it's impossible to reach all of them, many of the concerts you might want to see play at the same time, so you must prioritize! You also choose either to go to all the parties or choose to go to the concerts, you can not do it all, it's simply impossible! That's something you have to do with yourself before you leave. There is a parallel festival, namely the Gothic Pogo Party Festival, as it is also possible to buy the festival ticket over the net before you leave, otherwise, you can buy entry per. every evening. Most of our after parties took place. We also saw some concerts in the Agra Hall, The Jesus and the Mary Chain, Wardruna and other bands. I recommend watching 1-2 bands a day, as you will spend a lot of time in the tram. It is as the kind that WGT first comes out with a band playing the plan one week before the start so it may seem a bit strenuous to wait for, only then you can start making your schedule. Certain events take place on the same day and time each year, so it is a little easier to plan. I would highly recommend going to the very big WGT Closing party at Moritzbastei the last night and night, it's really there that's happening. Also worth mentioning, - Der Vicktorianisches Village and Heidnisches Dorf.

WGT tips:

Book well in advance of your stay in Leipzig and make a schedule of the things you want to achieve. Choose either just to go to after parties or experience bands, you simply can not both unless you want to go around like a sleeper and you do not get that much. Of course, it's possible to go all-in-one of the days, usually on Friday for most. Choose your travel partners carefully as an unforeseen situation can occur quickly. Pre-appointment with your travel friends what you want to see and experience, it is very rare that the same bands and events you want to see and it's nice to know where you want to spend time in advance. Respect each other's WGT time, which runs extremely fast. Choose the right audience, it will give you the best WGT experience and it is worth it. I will be back next year, where I will endeavor to attend more concerts!

Remember that it is also possible to attend some of the concerts without WGT bracelet against a payment at the door, but not all concerts, museums, and events are included in this. You can also easily buy a Gothic Pogo Party festival ticket unless the WGT itself is something for you.

Hedvig F.

ElixiR - Moonlight on Black Castle

Been some time since last time I have been exploring the murky depths of Dungeon Synth. And yes, I thought it was about time to explore the project called EliziR from France. With several digital releases and physical releases (all sadly sold out!). But that doesn't keep me away from giving this project a decent review, I simply choose this release because the cover-art was in black and white. And yes, I do love just ... Black and white cover-art. 4 tracks, 20 minutes. 

And that is how works with this release, simple and beautiful in black and white!. First track Walk to the City is a bloody walk through the medieval city, watching hard-working and loud-yelling peasants selling their half-rotten cabbages, potatoes while the smell of smoked pork being basically every! The town guard sentries are being close by... watching various strangers passing by. The following track Lights Under the Rain adds a melancholic dream´ish touch to the album, looking through a window from a high castle-tower in the night-time... watching over the empty and rain-foggy market-place/town-square. 

The following track Lord Somdraker, King of Black Castle adds some kind of evil and gothic sounding darkness to it. The king of the castle being the king of the village, what is he plotting?... Not something pleasant I tell you, maybe he wants to seak down all the heretics and pagan worshippers among these hardworking peasants. Maybee it would be a good idea to buy those rotten cabbages, potatoes, and smoked pork before the market-square turns into the playground for the inquisition? Nevertheless, the last track Moonlight on Black Castle turns the daylight into nighttime. While the peasants are sleeping, the guard sentries return to the moonlight illuminated Black Castle. Very nicely done!

GREAT mini-album! GREAT introduction/start to this dungeon-synth act. Traditional medieval inspired dungeon-synth with extra layers of imagination. Beautiful melodies and all. I guess (now) I have to headhunt down a copy of the cassette... Wish me luck!  

Bandcamp:

https://elixirdungeonsynth.bandcamp.com/album/moonlight-on-black-castle

Grol the Goblin

In the world of underground genres, there is bound to be weird and interesting offspring from time to time… And Grol the Goblin is definitely one of them. Bred and created in the once “isolated” soil of murky dungeon and moody vintage synth music, the revolting and nauseating slimy sound of goblin synth was bound to happen. We hate goblins right? Too small to notice while creating havoc and mayhem, small and irrelevant small creatures of chaos that you just want to smash to a pulp! A small cousin/version of orcs (if you please!). There´s even a smaller cousin to Goblins in the world of Warhammer called Snotlings (Bloodsport), but that is another story! And we are not just talking about a goblin who stays in one place, we are talking about the short that deal in beer-drinking synth, future/cyberpunk mod, dungeon noise, ambient winter moods and martial almost 8-bit sound mayhem!  Rumors also have it that this little pest of a Goblin has stirred moments of tension in the dungeon synth duck pond. So yes, I of course then decided to headhunt this little vermin down once-and-for-all for a face-to-face interview. So here we go!

Q: First of all, who is Grol the Goblin?

It is me! I'm Grol Gragson, a goblin born and raised in the Goblin Pits. It is said that I'm descended from the ancient goblin king, but there's no proof of this as of yet! I like to drink my brew, smoke my leaf, raid my trade caravans and play me some goblin synth!

Q: Blood-related to the elf-like Norwegian/Swedish 

Goblin Mortiis by chance? 

Nope. Mortiis is an entirely different breed of goblin! Some goblins will even argue that it isn't true goblin synth, but this is of course up for discussion.

Q: What is the background/inspiration for this project?

It was living here at the goblin pits that made me create my goblin synth. Especially as a lower raiding class goblin, I know that we goblins need us some light-hearted entertainment! Musically I draw inspiration from a lot of lo-fi DS such as Ranseur, Chaucerian Myth, Tyrannus and Erdig, but my music is also heavily inspired by traditional goblin folk music!

Q: I´ve noticed collaboration with Olof (Erdig), a chance of you two doing something together?

As of now, there is no musical collaboration planned or even discussed. He gave me a logo for me to use out of what I can only assume is kindness and perhaps a hope to see my handwriting less and a proper logo more. I think however this was a very kind gesture and thank him very much for it. Though when it comes to chance you ought never to ask a goblin as these concepts confuse us, so who knows what there is a chance of!

Q: Plans of doing physical releases?

Why of course! Tapes and CDs of all my albums are planned and will be released as soon as possible! If anyone wants to print vinyl though then feel free to contact me.

Q: You have been quite productive with this project, will we continue to witness more releases with this in the future?

As long as there is blood left in this little goblin body of mine then there will be goblin synth! I plan many releases and have no intention of stopping, so lay thine eyes upon my discography and thou shalt see that it is growing!

Q: How/Why some people react´s in a negative way regarding dungeon-noise? (Regarding your latest post that your stuff offended some)

When it comes to dungeon noise I guess some people like their music hi-fidelity and clean. Dungeon noise does have heavy noise elements as One might think, but this is of course in general not viewed as a good element in music. I like the harsher, rawer and noisier elements to DS, but I think it might suit goblins better than elves so to speak. Regarding my latest post about offending people, I can tell it has nothing to do with my noise elements though. A bunch of humans on the dungeon synth facebook group thought that my very existence was some bizarre form of trolling, and contacted higher up members to make sure my intentions were pure so to say. I think this is outrageous and want to point to the fact that I have never attacked anyone and I have followed the rules and guidelines to the DS group with no exception!       

Bandcamp:

https://grolthegoblin.bandcamp.com/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/grolthegoblin/

Front Line Assembly - Total Terror 1

Ok, let´s be honest here. Early FLA wasn´t technically brilliant like Front 242, nor mindbending experimental like Coil, not as brooding dark like the Klinik or having that madman edginess like Skinny Puppy or Ministry had. But for some strange reason, I keep returning to those early recordings like Total Terror 1 (& 2). 

I don't know if you REALLY can call this "true" EBM (whatever that means), or electro-industrial?. Dark and retro-sounding synthesizer soundtrack-electro would be my definition. First of all, we have this cold simple sounding and repeated/looped Jarre/Kraftwerk´ish synth keys, electro-punk and break-dancing rhythms ála early Cabaret Voltaire/Portion Control, lush synth melodies like Theme For Great Cities by Simple Minds, charming nerdish movie-samples was taken from sci-fi/horror flicks with additional epic (almost classical) angelic choirs here and there. The first track Total Terror has a kind of mystery x-files vibe with its subversive synth and choirs-strings. Second track works around that futuristic and "high-tech" Theme For Great Cities idea. Developing Suicide almost works as a tribute to Cabaret Voltaire (Sensoria era). Next track Black Fluid offers a danceable Miami Vice´ish future theme. Best track on part 1 being the twelfth track called Freedom (corny right?), love the retro synthesizer melodies here!

I think in the shadow of styles like synth/retro-wave and the uprising interest in synth-music, it definitely (and still) stands the test of time. I have a feeling that in the coming future, we will see retro-wave artists harvesting ideas from stuff like this. The perfect solution to work around that Robocop themed album! EBM/Retro-fusion? Seeking more of this FLA-sound? Check up on releases made/released between 1986 and 1988 (and early Delirium of course), happy hunting!

Discogs:

https://www.discogs.com/artist/10656-Front-Line-Assembly?filter_anv=0&subtype=Albums&type=Releases

Megaptera - Extended Chaos

Yup... It´s warm outside and it´s time for Kalteldur to subzero/cold-it-down it to the classics, to get back to those groundbreaking philosopher-stones which gave birth to whatever is happening today. As you all probably know, people are still creating independent releases. People are still doing death-industrial, dungeon synth, drone, dark ambient and still using those tags to whatever they are doing. It´s not that people are re-creating/repeating whatever they were doing in the old days, I see it more like a wild stream which (still) floats in all sorts of directions. In other words; Different styles and different people mingle more with each other than what they did in the older days. So let´s get back to those older days and check up... if they still are sounding good!. After exposing myself to the daily car drive in the morning (45 minutes) while listening to Eno/Byrne´s ´My Life In the Bush of Ghosts´, Megaptera would pop up into my mind along with my favorite with them. If you would ever ask me how the connection between the exotic, funky and sunbaked tribal elements of Eno/Byrne´s release and the horror/gothic-soundtrack ambiance of Megaptera came to be... I am not exactly sure. All I can say is that they both are timeless classics, which you can hear (nearly) every day for the rest of your life!  So why is Megaptera such an evergreen? And why this release?...

Extended chaos works like a best-of compilation, but is, in fact, a re-release of their 1991 debut Near Death plus the mini-album/EP called Beautiful Chaos from 1998. On top of that, you get rare tracks which were featured on cult compilations like Death Odors and In The Butchers Backyard, not-released older material + 2 additional remixes. All this had been compressed down to a double-cd release from the label Autarkeia, hand-numbered and limited to 500 copies. Maintaining a good price on Discogs, but not all that pricey (25 euros excl. postage, worth every penny!). But available to all for 8 euros on Megaptera´s Bandcamp site. 

For those who have missed-out on Megaptera (Or haven´t heard it before), I can then reveal to you that the band works/worked within the perimeter of heavy industrial/ambient-soundtrack-ritualism with borrowed sound-sources/samples from classic 70s and 80s horror-satanic movies (Exorcist, Warlock, Omen etc). Pioneered the modern sound of dark ambient and death-industrial, it is still being regarded as being one of the best post-industrial bands of the 90s.

The sky-high atmospheric dark-ambiance, perfectly executed martial/ritualistic and thumbing drum patterns, sacred and angelic funeral moods all submerged into lovely subversive apocalyptic undertones. Early esoteric-ritual music like Korpses Katonik meet up with a slowed down version of the metal bangings of Test Dept and Laibach (kind of). 

People with different backgrounds in experimental music would and should love it. Fans of dungeon synth, dark-ambient, death-industrial, drone, martial, neo-classical you name it. All of these greats elements are there! So that would be my conclusion/reason as to why this remains a genius of a classic. It unites of all these styles/elements into one (un)holy matrimony of sound!. Do yourself a favor and hear it over and over again!.   

Bandcamp: (official)

https://megaptera.bandcamp.com/album/extended-chaos

Discogs: (release)

https://www.discogs.com/Megaptera-Extended-Chaos/release/884391

Facebook: (official)

https://www.facebook.com/Megaptera-%C3%85fficial-294144157411675/

     

RRR - Ed Killer

It isn´t the first time that Ed Kemper have crept into the world of extreme electronics. The first time must have been the classic ´Dead Ed´ with industrial pioneers Throbbing Gristle, to Walking Time Bomb with u.s power-electronics cult act Deathpile. Third time we are in the French-company with Sébastien Bach´s own death/cold-electronics solo-project called RRR. This interesting pro-CD-R was also the very first investment I did over Bandcamp, that was back in 2005 and it was released on Sébastien´s own label called Required Rate of Return records (limited to 30 copies). So yes, we´re talking about a worthy cult item which is very dear to me! 

7 tracks, almost 60 minutes of pure atmospheric death-industrial/power-electronics brutal minimalism. Take the brutalism of early Intrinsic Action, morbidness of Atrax Morgue and the atmosphere of Deathpile... get the point?. Eerie and moody distorted sounds, occasional mesmerizing punishing rhythms, screaming and warped high-frequency tones, hypnotic echoed samples (Ed Kemper and a news reporter talking) cold and looped distorted basslines. A very subtle and harsh minimalistic back-to-basics treatment for the trained industrial-ear. From death-industrial to heavy ambiance! Nothing can go wrong!. The last track Ten Minutes Before Death being a fantastic blackened masterpiece, the pure sound, and doom of early industrial... working with that familiar serial-killer theme!

So yes, I recommended it back in 2005 and now I am doing it again! It´s fucking great! It is as simple as that. 

Bandcamp:

https://requiredrateofreturnrecords.bandcamp.com/album/ed-killer

Discogs:

https://www.discogs.com/label/860972-Required-Rate-of-Return

An American Werewolf In London

I´m not really into werewolves or vampire movies and An American Werewolf in London is pretty much the only one I like.
We follow the likable American David, who is on a hiking vacation in the UK with his friend Jack. After being attacked by a mysterious creature, Jack dies and David wakes up at a hospital. After a couple of nights he gets a visit from Jack, who tells him what happened and urges him to kill himself so he can rest in peace and prevent David from hurting others but David doesn´t believe him and thinks he´s having hallucinations. He ends up at his nurse home, Alex, whom he has a crush on (as so does she on him) and all things go wild when he´s left alone at the house on the first full moon after the attack.

The movie is hilarious and creepy. It´s gory but not too much so it doesn´t get overwhelming and it´s quite dark humored.
The scene where David first turns into a werewolf it´s awesome and the second one at the porn cinema is hilarious. Actually, the whole scene at the porn cinema, with Jack´s final visit and David´s 6 victims, is hilarious. And you do feel sorry about David at the end for he is indeed a likable character.

The only thing I regret is not enough Jack. He should have appeared more often. Awesome performances, set and photography and a cool soundtrack. An absolute classic.

IMDB:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082010/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Wiki:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_American_Werewolf_in_London

Spirit

A new electronic-based project from France, Toulon has arisen. It´s just called Spirit, and the project has a Soundcloud and a Bandcamp site up and running (so far). No full-album or EPs release yet, or physical releases either. We have 8 single-track releases on Bandcamp (which you can purchase for 1 euro), and we have several extra tracks on the Soundcloud page as well. According to the project´s official Facebook page, the artist has been a self-taught musician since 1986 (old-school veteran). I wasn´t able to find any additional info about the artist, who knows... Maybee he/she have been active in several other projects and bands (who knows?). So what is Spirit about?.

Tag´s which have been used in describing Spirit; Cinematic and experimental dark wave. I was a bit skeptical of this project... BUT! Turns out that it actually isn´t all that bad!. Early Delirium/FLA and SPK´s Zamia Lehmanni pops up, but also early Raison d´être (Prospectus era). The second Bandcamp track called Deep being worth your time, highly quality dark-wave/ambient material here with plenty of angelic moody and melodic depths. Fans of dungeon synth would love it (I think). Third track Le People De L'ombre (The Shadow People) works on dramatic, apocalyptic and slightly martial ritualistic elements. Takes me again back to that classic Cold Meat Industry sound (Morthhound, Consono) but also to the classical elements found in post-industrial acts like In The Nursery and Attrition. Another track worth taking notice of being Et Ton Amour (And Your Love); fantastic neo-classical martial ambient, love the simple and evocative melodies. I would like to see a cassette (or CD) release with this act, with a clear focus on that neo-classical ritual-music soundtrack-fusion theme. And it also kind of takes me back (in a good way) to the early days with CD-ROM horror-themed adventure games for your PC? 7th Guest, Phantasmagoria, Gabriel Night, 11th Hour etc. 

I think it´s good and it does seem promising, room for improvement here and there BUT... I can sense that the attention is worthwhile, worth the attention.

Bandcamp:

https://spirit5.bandcamp.com/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009312157198

Soundcloud:

https://soundcloud.com/user-987511243

Luke Holland - Odium

Had this release on my shelve for over 1 year now, I had to do some shopping at the local supermarket and I needed something to drown away the human-noise/activity, I then decided to give the double-cassette release Odium a go on my cassette-player/walkman with auto reverse, stereo - hi-fi with mega bass. It was a good treat, I have used it the last ... 20 times I think. Good thing to be in cozy company with Mr. Holland, just when you are out to buy milk, butter, coffee, bread and diapers for your youngest son/kid. With titles like Traumatic Bonding and No Longer A Victim, your "bound" to have a good time!

Limited to 30 copies and sold out on Moral Defeat´s Bandcamp site, which shouldn't come as a surprise since it is an "older" release, released on 18th of April 2016. But of course, it is still available as a digital release... and yes I do recommend it!. So, who is Luke Holland and what kind of stuff fills a double 30 minutes cassette release?

I will not try to describe each of these excellent 4 tracks, but I will (and try) to give them all an overall description/review. They all fit into different industrial/noise styles and moods really, but one specific theme/mood are more dominant than the others. Old-school death-industrial, others would call it cold electronics or heavy ambient noise. Being quite heavy in sound, slow like dragging yourself through a small hole, atmospheric like a huge and moist cellar room... could actually work as a soundtrack for the art-horror house movie Begotten (if you ask me). Death-industrial for HNW/ANW fans maybe? it kind of exists between those two styles in a way. I am pleased, and so should you!.

For those who don´t know who Luke Holland, I can reveal to you that he is the ringleader for Australian label Trapdoor tapes. Being also part of Armour Group, with also members from Military Position. Also, with another solo output called Mshing. Most of his stuff is available on his own label (Trapdoor Tapes), while this release came out on Moral Defeat.  

Bandcamp (label):

https://moraldefeat.bandcamp.com/album/odium

Storenvy (label):

http://trapdoortapes.storenvy.com/

The Dead Girl

Another modern horror review.
Deadgirl is a very, very wtf movie.

It tells the story of two teens, Rickie and JT who, one day while skipping class, went to an abandoned lunatic asylum and found a girl that, for all we know, is a zombie. She is naked, gagged and tied down to a table. JT´s idea is to take advantage of her but Rickie refuses. He ends up leaving his friend to his sick doings to discover the next day while being talked by JT into going back, that the girl can´t die. And JT makes sure he knows that. From this point on it gets reeeeeeealllly freaky. Well, even more anyway.

JT descends into his own madness and obsession and practically starts living in the room where the dead girl is, giving in to his necrophiliac urges and dragging others to it. It goes well for a while, whatever well is until the whole thing goes off the rails when the boys discover that a bite from the girl turns you into something like her.

The movie is awesome, though not so shocking as you´d expect. The photography is pretty cool and kudos for Noah Segan as JT. As much as I have a crush for Shiloh, I have a soft heart for crazy psychos and JT is a twisted, sick fuck. His acting was quite credible and I hoped there were more scenes of him interacting with the corpse. The scene where he´s applying makeup on her and the dog suddenly enters the room, memorable.

The film was controversial and called misogynistic. Which is totally understandable. In response, writer Haaga proposed a sequel about two women who find a naked, male zombie. Not sure if they actually did it but it would be fun to watch.

In conclusion, a pretty cool movie. Quite disturbing but interesting at the same time.

IMDB

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0896534/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Black Meat - S/T

Black Meat is a project which hails from France,  it is a collaboration between two known gents within the scene of hnw/anw and other kinds of experimental music. Being a Joseph Szymkowiak (Black Matter Phantasm, 29/30, Käyäk etc) and a Julien Skrobek (Gesis, Fear of Mirrors, Sadistic Fall etc). They have gone together (once more) to release their second self-titled release with this project on Ominous Recordings, the debut L´Homme Ecorché was released back in 2014 on Nahásh Atryn Productions (Joseph Szymkowiak´s label).  2 tracks being 55 minutes in total!

First track called Prophecy Of The End welcomes the listener with the voice of our beloved beatnik guru William S. Burroughs (Naked Lunch, Queer etc). Various recordings with Burroughs are being cut-up and sampled into an interesting collage of sound, eerie and spacy slowed down drone-soundscapes rumbling in the background to this. This ends and continues into a lovely heavy industrial drone-sound (the likes of which u might have heard on an early MZ.412 track) still with the spaced-out soundscapes being in the background. I like it, whatever kind of mood that this is creating (so far) are working. Very warm a ritualistic feel to it. This all ends about 10:30. Where we are walking from the atmospheric warmness into a cold ambient-noise blizzard. The kind of coldness that cracks your skin and eat your toes and fingers away!. At 17:00, we´re back with Burroughs... greeting us ´Welcome back into the interzone´. At the very end, we are being flushed out of a sewage drone-sound. And then the first track ends, not bad really! A cool adventure and surreal noise soundtrack all in one!. Very inventive made!

Next track called The Blue Desert Of Silence starts with a news report-recording, covering the war-troubling issues in the middle-east. This track also works within the boundaries of distorted ritualistic drones and works as a perfect continuation of the first track. I will not reveal too much of the second track, as I have already spoken too much of the surprises from the first track. I hope that you (the listener) will enjoy it as much as I did!.

As mentioned earlier, this cassette has been released on the Swedish noise/experimental label Ominous Recordings, 25 copies. Black C50 in pro-printed large scale cover in a ziplock bag, beautiful!

Bandcamp:

https://ominousrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/s-t-6

Red, White, and Blue

This is not a good movie to watch when you´re depressed...

Red, White, and Blue tell the story of 3 broken people whose life entangles in the most awful way. Erica is a drifting, emotionally empty girl who basically fucks around. A lot. Her pain is big, her backstory is awful and the only way she has to feel something is casual sex with strangers. She meets Nate, a quiet, ex-army interrogator guy who seems to like her and tries to approach her in a non-sexual manner. Which Erica refuses and does whatever it takes to push him anyway. Until she finally gives in.
Things start to get very bad when Franki, one of Erica´s sex encounters is diagnosed with HIV and guess who passed it to him.

Yep...It all goes downhill from here, pretty fast and pretty gruesomely.

I feel conflicted. I do feel sympathy for all the characters: Nate, a lonely guy, Erica, a broken girl and Franki, a hotheaded guy who´s emotionally broken and is taking care of his mother, who has cancer.
I´m not giving away the ending but it wasn´t fair.

A powerful, uneasy movie. There are no villains here. All three characters are both innocent and guilty and that´s what makes it so hard and painful and real. Great soundtrack and great performances. From the same director of The Living and the Dead, it´s more violent yet, not less dramatic.

IMDB:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1465505/