Horologium - Starvation Musings

Horologium is back!! (if you remember my earlier review). This time we are dealing with a cassette EP from Spanish Marbre Negre, a 4 tracker called Starvation Musings. Recorded in 2018 and 2019, Zielona Góra, Poland. And limited to 75 copies, plus each tape comes with a pin. 

Somewhere in the realm of martial industrialism and the borders of apocalyptic dark-ambient, this little treat deals in the horror of starvation. Something which is a problem when one is living in the shadow of such problems as war, poverty, disease (pandemic?) or just a case of living as a farmer where things will... just not grow. As being detailed on the cover artwork, children being one of the most terrible victims of this. It might be an old photo from the "good" old days, but starvation (especially among children) is still a problem that still doesn't concern those who have way too much money up their arses. The inside cover-artwork reveals (mostly) women with buckets, collecting water from a well surrounded by snow and ice (frozen water?). Since the band is from east Europe, I could imagine that these photos or from those parts as well. I am no expert in history, but I do know that many east European countries have struggled with famine and poverty... And some places like Romanian still does.

The first track on the EP is called Musselmänner. Read this first:

Muselmann (pl. Muselmänner, the German version of Muselman, meaning Muslim) was a slang term used among captives of World War II Nazi concentration camps to refer to those suffering from a combination of starvation (known also as "hunger disease") and exhaustion and who were resigned to their impending death. The Muselmann prisoners exhibited severe emaciation and physical weakness, an apathetic listlessness regarding their own fate, and unresponsiveness to their surroundings owing to their barbaric treatment by prisoner functionaries. 

A looped sample from some classical kind of music, reverbed drums, doom-laden (and looped trumpets), and the strings of a screaming violin-sound being stretched into eternity.

The second track Wasting Away adds a touch of desolation and melancholia. Haunting piano-notes, whispering human-voices, the sound of someone walking in sewage (I think), and an eerie... sort of humming and moaning background. The sound of despair, at that point where human-life just accepts grief and death as an everyday issue. The listener is left with a very, sad sensation after this track. Interesting metallic tribalism (ála Test Dept) at the end gives the track a "nice" post-apocalyptic feel. Really love the haunted voices in the background.

When you get to the third track called Enter The Famine (on the B-side of the cassette) it just gets... a bit more "lifeless". Cold and desolate black-ambient and metallic ritualistic beatings like Archon Satani, interesting collage of samples going on in the background, church bells, and angelic humming drones coming from some temple nearby... ´Bring out your dead!´... you get the picture!.

The fourth and last track Their Life Is Short, But Their Number Is Endless might just the... the merriest track in the EP. It´s the sound of final death and the soul is delivered from the agonized body. A short but effective outro. 

Interesting how much thought and mood you can put on only 28 minutes, but that is how this one works. Would have been too long if we were dealing with 70 minutes full-length, but this tiny cassette deals with the theme very seriously and I can assure you that you will be convinced! This is a must release, everything on this release seems like it has been made in a very thorough way (and I do think that it is!). This is a must dear reader... A MUST!.

Bandcamp (label):

https://marbrenegre.bandcamp.com/album/starvation-musings

Bandcamp band):

https://horologium.bandcamp.com/

        

 Yasuyuki Uesugi - Choices Are Equal 

But Results Are Unequal

Yasuyuki Uesugi is one of the latest new-faces on the Spanish Marbre Negre label. A Japanese noise-artist which has been VERY-MUCH active since 2019, go up and check his discography on Discogs (Then you´ll know what I mean!). Anyways, this one has come out as a black cassette, with a black´ ish piece cover-artwork showing ... white nerves maybe?... Maybee a branch... Nope, I think it´s nerves. The title of the track being... quite interesting. When we are talking about nerves (as of such) and of choices which you being equal (from one person to another) the different results always ends... as something being rather unique or personal. I don´t know if that made sense or not, but the truth is that our brain and the nervous being... very extremely complex Which will give you the perfect answer to AI, that real article intelligence seems almost like an impossible task. But what do I know? ... I am no robot expect, I am just a bloody reviewer!

Another thing worth taking notice of is that this noise artist from Japan is more than just your average noise-musician, he suffers from Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and the best way for him to express himself (by spiritual means) is to do what he does... making experimental music.     

The first track called Lack of Long-term Perspective gently surprises the listener that we are dealing more with the aesthetic of sound, then in general harshness.  Vortex-moving ambient-noise with looped effects, static drones (but light and heavy ones), with some atmospheric metallic-reverbed effects added to it as well. Soothing and hypnotic metallic harshness, very nice. 

The second track Researchers Wants To Discover New Mental Illness follows the same concept in sound. Some changes are made and it´s being perfectly mixed with the former track. A ritualistic-element can be sensed here. Sofar it still sounds good.

The third track The Spiritual World Feels Chaotic Because I Don't Understand It gets way more psychedelic and frightening. Layered, looped, and scary swirling sounds just sucks you right into a portal. The sense of concept still being there!

The fourth track I Have A Number of Mental Illness Without Names tunes the psychedelics down a bit with numerous bubbling sounds and harsh drones.

And then I will reveal no more, this is just the A-side of the cassette being reviewed here. If you are curious, then go around and check it out (and hear the complete album ) on Marbre Negre´s Bandcamp site. 

What I have heard is not bad, it´s when monotonous stuff is done... in the way that it should. It feels real and authentic, the sound has a sense of ritualistic purpose. Some of it may sound frightening, but in a lot of ways, it´s rather soothing. It´s not chaotic as such, nor being clinical in any way. A worthy release from Japan and Marbre Negre, Cheers!

Bandcamp (label ) :

https://marbrenegre.bandcamp.com/album/choices-are-equal-but-results-are-unequal

Discogs (artist) : 

https://www.discogs.com/artist/7521416-Yasuyuki-Uesugi

Bandcamp (artist) :

https://yasuyuki-uesugi.bandcamp.com/

 

 

Oliphant Morn - Morë olori i Palantìr

New dungeon synth act from Quebec called Oliphant Morn, out now with its new debut called Morë Olori i Palantìr (released the 12th of October this year). A 5 track mini-album made between the year 2018 - 2020... made by a Lord Verbouc, except the last track Han Som Reiste which is a Burzum cover/tribute. 

As for the title itself, it has something to do with those Seeing-stones from the Lord of the Rings, which goes by the ancient tongue as Palantìr. As you will notice on the Bandcamp page, there is a small text introduction to this mini-album : 

Come, travelers. And gaze through the sinister and hypnotizing Palantír of Saruman. To see battles of uncertain fate and

desolate landscapes forgotten by time.

And as you all probably know, Saruman is a tricky bastard suffering from a rare kind of egomania and.. low-self esteem at the same time (now that we are at it!). I will not stare into his sinister and hypnotizing ball of uncertain doom, id rather puff some jolly-good weed with Gandalf (if you would ask me!). Nevertheless, this Palantir offers dungeon synth in the more... doomy corner. If you happen to be into cherry hobbits and Robin Hood´s merry bunch (or comfy synth), then this might just be... your cure for that! *gulp*. Let us look more deeply into the tracks within shall we?...

The first track called Rammas o Lothric (The High Wall of Lothric) is something (I think) from the moody fantasy RPG named Dark Souls III not something by Tolkien... haven't actually played it yet!. A simple intro of a track containing the sounds of the haunting and cold winds of the night, and an epic neo-classical piece with horns and piano, describing ruins and utter despair. Sounds a bit like Ildfrost (old Cold Meat Industry act). Beautiful sound and a lovely mood surround you, lovely intro!.

The next track called I Lóre o Thuringwethil ( Thuringwethil´s Dream ). So who is this... Thuringwethil anyway?. This is something from Tolkien´s Quest For the Silmaril. A female Maia who took the shape of a female vampire, she also served Morgoth before that (pretty old one right?). She did some dirty work for the baddies and ended up being defeated at a fight between Sauron and Huan in some fortress. This track moves into a gothic Mortiis sort of horror-setting. Slowly evolving moody track with saddened synth-strings, still containing that neo-classical feel. A more simple and minimal track than the first, and very nicely done. Background music for Hammer Horror flicks! 

The third track is the track from which the album has its title, that sinister ball that Sauron wants me so bad to look into ( Which I still won't! ). A slightly "merrier" and light-feel tune with barbaric/orcish (but sutle) ritual drum-beatings, mesmerizing synth keys... and spoken-word ritual vocals. Vocals which takes me back to Endvra. All this fades away when that cold night-wind re-appears with some sinister string keys going on at the same time, strangely relaxing and slightly sinister at the same time. The strange wind keeps up blowing when all of a sudden... strange things come out from some otherwordly place. Is it the voices of the dead or... the sound of daemons trying to tear into your room? Lovely doom-laden feeling, lovely ritualistic mood with an eldritch quality attached to it!

The fourth offering called I Thùle O Irithyll (The Breath of  Irithyll) returns to that game which I still haven´t played. Dark Soul 3. A more downbeat sort of track with less sinister undertones, there is although a sense of something tragic. The most melancholic piece on the track, almost kind of ... suicidal dungeon-synth?!. The piano sounds make me think of a certain Jazz musician who did some remarkable melancholic pieces (not that it is Jazz!)... Bill Evans, maybe it´s the sound of the synth... I don't know!.

The last track on the album is the Burzum cover Han Som Reiste, which actually is the second dungeon-synth cover of this track which I have heard so far. A sort of a track which has that... wandering around the wilderness, looking for danger and adventure sort of feel. Very simplistic piece with synth guitars and nothing much else, a lovely down-to-earth kind of an outro if you ask me.

And then this mini-album stopped. A kind of a mixed bag of trophies, made in a big-time span. At first thought, I was thinking of a straight Tolkien-based album (title), but you also had some nods to Dark Souls III. The album is decent and good, offering not something groundbreaking or new as such but delivers a classic and old-school dungeon synth thing with that certain... Northern European vibe. The best track on the album would be... Saurons ball track goddammit!. Yup, I understood why the artist behind this act chooses this track to be the champion of the album. Give it a try mate, a relaxing and doom-laden trip into fantasy-related murkiness. By the way, look below... that is him, the man behind it all. Cheers!

Bandcamp (band):

https://oliphantmorn.bandcamp.com/releases

        

Stefano Bertoli - Eleven Faces

and Forty Two Arms 

I don´t know Stefana Bertoli but I do know the label Italian label Industrial Ölocaust Recordings. This one, with the highly esoteric themed title, is the first release in his own name. A 2 track-track full-length which is sofar available on tape, pro-CD-R, and by digital means. 

 If anyone should be in doubt what the theme is about, then I can reveal to you that it seems to be a concept-based treat around a certain Avalokitesvara who in turn is a Bodhisattva (any person who is on the path towards Buddhahood), this Buddhahood embodies the compassion of all Buddhas ( is a title for someone who is awake, and has attained nirvana and Buddhahood)... So basically, we're talking about a godlike and important figure in Buddhism. He/She also contains both sexes, and must therefore be seen as someone like... Abraxas maybe? Well ok, on to the recordings itself.

A vintage old-school proto-electronic treatment waits to be explored. As a fan of old Doctor Who (and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop), some of you might have a feeling where the album goes. The first track simply named Kan starts with echoing and reverbed icy bleeps of various pitch and volume, imagine space... cold, empty, and very large. Not that far away from the likes of Coil´s Worship the Glitch album. These evocative bleeps swirl around your speakers for around 10 minutes, and then the track moves further into a minimal ritualistic sound-setting. Mechanical hummings from a source with a high voltage get mixed into a dynamic set made of various electronic and primitive glitch sounds, it´s all very stimulative and addictive so far!. Some of it also reminds me of the ghostly radio-sounds which I have heard on Ulver´s Perdition City!

Track two named Non, adds esoteric Tibetan-like chanting to the electronic glitch mesh. Still within the same sound-nature as the earlier track. Fans of Zoviet France and Hybryds, take notice here. Interesting and demonic noises ripes a hole in the sound-fabric later on! Chilling dynamics happening around 16 minutes later, the feeling that something otherworldly tries to enter your world (by quiet means). Don´t fall asleep to this album people, the demonic noises around 24 minutes are brutal... and frightening. And then it ends.

Feels like reaching up from some deep gulf to get some air! It´s not a noisy treat, but when the album stops... silence greats you... feels kind of eerie after that. A very subtle psychedelic experience, parallel universes in sound? This might be it. Kind it a spin, a prober mind fxxx.

Label (Official Website):

https://cardinium.com/sound-grimoire/

Label (Facebook):

https://www.facebook.com/iorecs/

Artist (Discogs):

https://www.discogs.com/artist/1717048-Stefano-Bertoli

 

 

  

 Kadaver - The Man Who Didn´t Want To Feel

A new release from Spanish label Marbre Negre by Israel-based one-man death-industrial/power-electronics act Kadaver. Called The Man Who Didn´t Want To Feel, and showing a curious photo of a man in a skeleton costume.. with a flag. Not sure bout the first word on the flag, but the second Breu (Portuguese) means pitch-black in English. It includes 5 tracks, with the first 4 of them called I Feel Like Destroying You (part 1,2,3 of 4) with Escaping Into the Night is the fifth and last track on the album. The physical cassette release has been made in a limited run of 22 (so act fast). 

The first track begins with that... insane and sun-bleached Texas Chainsaw-mood. Just focus on the scene where Mrs. Chambers is being harassed by the cannibalistic family while being tied to a chair, the scene is insane and grim... and lucky you! That is how this album starts. Walls of nerve-grinding metallic noise with screams of torment coming from a deep subterranean cave. Monotonic harsh-noise with bleak horror-ambient in the background. 

The next track quickly starts where the first track ended, being more direct and heavy in sound. Sounds like a train running through hell, or a falling elevator going fast down into hell. A continuous heavy treatment in torturous sound... lovely! Soundwise sensations of minor explosions can also be felt on this recording! Interesting ending with this track!

The third track feels like a grind saw running out of focus, hitting the listener with full force. Heavily distorted bass-elements, screaming machines, and random chaotic glitches here and there. A perfect executed fusion between death-industrial and HNW.

The fourth track starts on the B-side of the cassette and ends the torturous I Feel Like Destroying You-saga in absolute pleasure. Really love the distorted and hidden recorded human-voice here, just sound sick and desperate (as it should). The noise-treatment on this track is just pure punishment, worthy of any noise-sicko!

The last track Escaping Into The Night moves into murky creepy-crawler minimalism. Might just be my favorite track on the album, I have this thing with stuff being really dark and incredible subtle at the same time. Think Brighter Death Now´s 1890, that kind of stuff. A minimal and atmospheric track which really puts some imagination into the listener's mind. 

A terrific and horrific avant-garde noise-treatment for the upcoming Halloween! There´s aggression, ambiance, mood, etc. All packed nicely into this lovely black cassette. It won´t let you down, not for a second!

Bandcamp (label):

https://marbrenegre.bandcamp.com/album/the-man-who-didnt-want-to-feel

Facebook (band):

https://www.facebook.com/Kadaver-112935684213

  

   

 

Melek-tha - Dolorism - The Call Of Cthulhu

Melek-tha is one of those industrial/dark-ambient acts which have been around for a pretty long time, and on top of that have continued releasing new material since 1996. All made by Lord Evil... guaranteed satanic, occult, and apocalyptic themed stuff in abundance. This time he has teamed up with a newer dark-ambient act called Dolorism, which has had 3 releases out since 2011. Their new baby has been called The Call Of Cthulhu, a prober introduction to who Cthulhu is?... ( do a Wikipedia search... sinner!). Nevertheless, a double-CD thing/tribute to the almighty master of cosmic horror H.P Lovecraft himself! Beautiful looking double-CD digipack with nice looking graphics inside (and cool graphics on the CD´s also!). So, let us head dive into the maddening world of great Cthulhu and his terrible slimy tentacled-minions!. I will not review every track here but will take out and describe some of them. 

The first track (by Melek-tha) sits the mood just right. Evil sounding distant horns, sinister reversed sound-effects, horrifying human-screams, ritualistic whispering, and some cool synths here and there. Very neat and very... nostalgic?. Sort of like a harsher and more ambient-driven In Slaughter Natives with some Endvra on top! The third track by Dolorism called Through the Hands of Ulthar adds Mideastern mysticism to the mix. Percussive ritual tam-tam drums and evocative strings of Mideastern origin, love the great diversity from the beginning and then to this. The fourth track Mutants Laments Voices continues the erotic satanic-murder undercurrents. A very mesmerizing piece that swirls around the listener like a sound-vortex, love the reverbed effects here and the sound of the ritualistic drums here. Last track also worth the attention on the first disc would be Dolorism´s Dark Corner of Arkham. A creepy 1920s detective-novel meets a horror-flick sort of mood here, the perfect background for a game of that classic roleplaying game Call of Cthulhu. Filmic trumpets, atmospheric strings, creepy piano... the lot.

Second disc starts of with Melek-tha with the track called The Spells of Might Lord of the Abyss. Sounds just like a dimension being opened, or something BIG being summoned to a great circle of esoteric power. Again, Melek-Tha takes great use in getting the listener into a sort of dark vortex of sound.  The second track here by Dolorism, we get around that serpent-like god named Yig. Called Yig´s Spell of Metamorphosis. That is, the curse of Yig (according to the novel) is that you´ll turn into a serpent servant of Yig if you fxxx with him. Eerie and unraveling quiet piece, a strange sort of... discomfort slides over the listener while the drums and ambient moods hypnotize the listener. Might just be the darkest track on the album so far. Cthulhu Hidden Cult (track seven) by Melek-Tha begins with a marching thumping with some excellent echo effects added as well (this gets turned down) and then the track continues in a rather space-ambient´ ish sort of sound. A rather cosmic piece with extra scariness on top. Lovely distorted synth-work here. The last track on the second disc Requiem For Mankind by Dolorism, has minor elements of dungeon synth here. Not a horrific piece, but an epic and beautiful simple martial track of an outro. A good and decent way to end the journey!. There are times on this track where the drums don't follow the rhythms. 

       

The Call of Cthulhu by these two lovely gents is by no means a serious approach to occult industrial-based music, but closer to a truly great Halloween treat going on in the background... or as I mentioned earlier, perfect background stuff for horror-themed Roleplaying Games. I like the rather childish and campy old-school approach, and I love the sort of Cold Meat Industry´ish sort of vibe going on. Not an album which is good to listen to if you just sat down and concentrated on it, but really excellent as background stuff (which is by no means a way to criticize it!). Tons of charms and it delivers a Lovecraftian horror on 2 Compact Discs from the start and to the end. Hasn´t been added to either a Bandcamp yet or on Discogs yet. But do seek it out and buy it, it+s soon Halloweek kids! 

Bandcamp (Dolorism): https://dolorism.bandcamp.com/

Bandcamp (Melek-tha): https://melek-tha.bandcamp.com/

  

Mi Cosa De Resistance - 

Tomorrow I´ll Be Part Of The Rain 

Mi Cosa De Resistance is an interesting project with lots of history and background attached to it. The only member of this project being Fernando Perales, is also a member of an old Argentinian cult band called Reynols. An experimental noise/avant-garde band which have been in existence since 1993, with the other 40 albums released. This project does not work around noise or extreme sounds as of such, more in the dreamy drone-ambient department. So far he has released around 15 albums with this project, on various Bandcamp labels. They haven´t been listed in Discogs...yet. But nonetheless, this album might just be (I think) one of the latest of his releases. Out on an already familiar label called Elm Records (see former review Now Sleep). Out as a nice looking tape, a transparent tape with print on and a nice cassette box with a slide-on jacket. A 6 track album, being around 42 minutes in total.

The first track Invisible Night opens with a melancholic ambient techno-dub´ish wipe (without the rhythms!). After days with hot temperatures, there will be heavy thunderclouds, and all you can do (in the sultry heat) is to wait for the first raindrops to fall on the warm concrete. That kind of calming feel. Very atmospheric and very warm sort of feel, and with a nice depth to it. 

The second track Unwritten Books gets being into a bit more... timeless and weightless. A hypnotic tone travels between your speakers while ethereal sound effects gently touch your inmost senses. 

The third track Murmuring Leaves completely slows everything down to the gentle sound of rain-drops falling down on leaves inside a forest (or the sound of raindrops being heard while being inside a tent). Melancholic drones move mysteriously in the background, while a looped and slowed-down string-like instrument gives it all an evocative sound to it all.   

With the Fourth track Fade To Silence, the albums get just a bit darker. A sort of mysterious fog moving through a complete noiseless swamp in the early morning, thinking back to a classic Italian dark-ambient drone-act called I Burn here. Wery beautiful made (if you should ask me).

Small Boats being the fifth track on the album, gives you that exact feeling of seeing something distant (like small boats). Your brain tells you what it is, but your eyes don't reveal what it is (other than a distant shaped blur). Looped ambient-drone with a melancholic dreamy touch, love it when it is well made!

The last track Evening Tides wraps it all up into a gentle ethereal package. A decent way to end this album BUT... also the least interesting track on the album.

And that is where the album ends. A lovely mesmerizing journey into microscopic dimensions where time stands still. Highly recommended for anyone being thirsty for beautiful aesthetic escapism. 

Bandcamp (label):

https://elmrecords.bandcamp.com/album/mi-cosa-de-resistance-tomorrow-ill-be-part-of-the-rain

Bandcamp (band):

https://fernandoperales.bandcamp.com/

   

Luca Ferro - Elements

A new release from Italien-based label Industrial Ölocaust Records, and a new act/solo-act-debut as well. Elements by Luca Ferro was released on the 23rd of June 2020, being both on CD and on cassette. A few track EP/mini-album being 25 minutes in total.

A quick introduction to this fellow. A member of the psychedelic sludge-doom band Satori Junk, and having (as well) obtained the sound design diploma at Nam in Milan. He himself describes the album as following:

Experimental ambient music, psychoacoustic, into a dense fog of reverb. Get a trip into the deepest part of your mind.

First track Maestoso welcomes the listener into a glittering, dreamy, and futuristic retro-orientated soundscape. Imagine steel-buildings in the early morning, with the sun exposing itself second-by-second and throwing powerful reflecting rays of light and warmth in the cold and early morning air... Imagine the sun in a movie like Blade Runner! Kind of like an ambient synth-wave orientated Boards of Canada. 

Second track Optogenetics moves closer to a more experimental soundtrack-wise sound. Electronic reverbed (and slightly distorted) metallic-sounding rain-drops, psychedelic drones, and heavy retro-synth keys in the background. A mystical and hypnotic moody piece, without the epic elements/moments from the first track.

The third track called Aether (shortest track) offers a cool-sounding bass (Commodore 64?), swirling shortwave-radio sounds, and looped crystalized tones. Lovely reverb effects here! 

Fourth track Lunar Phase being a mesmerizing eerie glitchy ambient-sci-fi piece. A very spacey track being almost weightless in its approach. Also one of the most challenging tracks on the album. 

Fifth (and last) track Final Overture moves back to the synthy-melodies which the first track was on about. This one starts off with a more somber melancholic mood, Blade Runner by nightfall maybe? The somber mood gets replaced later on by a more uplifting tune, a lovely dreamy piece/outro of glittering synth-ambient pop

And that is that. My favorite tracks on the album would be the first and the last. Actually, after I heard the first track I was hopefully dreaming that this synth-wave ambient thing would continue through the album. I was more or less surprised that it turned into a more experimental soundtrack. I do think that the more experimental tracks on the album could need a bit more rawness in the sound itself, some actual recordings or samples would be great. The melodic tracks (first and last) are flawless and beautiful if you ask me. But otherwise, interesting 25 minutes space-trip into the future!. 

Bandcamp (band):

https://lucaferrocomposer.bandcamp.com/   

Official website (label):

https://cardinium.com/     

  

Lyke Wake & Noise Cluster - 

Let The Universe Fall

There a new tape in town, this time we have another new release which is a collaboration between Lyke Wake and Noise Cluster. Released on Luce Sia, cassette (60 copies), and available by digital means via Luce Sia´s official Bandcamp site. Just a quick introduction, for those who don´t know Lyke Wake I can only say that it is an old Italian industrial-cult act which has existed since 1984. Something worthy to check (Fans of MB, Ain Soph, and Die Sonne Satans). I do not know the other act Noise Cluster, it is a newish project which have been started by members of DBPIT and XxeNA ( which I don't know either). Both projects DBPIT and XxeNA have been highly productive in the field of experimental industrial (check the Discogs links below!). Anyways, this new release has been called Let the Universe Fall, over 53 minutes in total.

First track Gamma Rays Scenario kick-starts the album with a warped technoid-ambient feel. Alienated electronic drum patterns lift the spaceship further into a great cosmos, evocative and epic Tangerine Dream´ish synth-ambient meets the listener/spaceship here. Mindscanning electronic-noise whirl around the listener as well. Interesting and rather....spaced out intro. 

Next track A Stream Inside The Dark Of The Universe moves away from the rhythms and adds a more floating psychedelic sensation. Could very well sound like the birth of the universe. Distant and screaming angelic-voices, eerie radio-clatter, icy synth-drones, and whispering voices. Reminds me of a Deutsche Nepal track (in a way). All this weightless eerieness meets up (later) with the spiritual and excellent church-like organ/synth-work by Lyke Wake.

Third track Deranged Solar Flares starts off with an (I think) being some kind of hornet/trumpet-drone. Interesting and icy rhythms comes second with evocative synth-work in the background. A kind of a low-beat and minimal melancholic piece if you compare it to the two first tracks.

Fourth track And Then The Dark starts with a classic Lyke Wake melody, which suddenly stops and meets up with metallic dub effects and rhythms which we heard earlier on Deranged Solar Flares. The sounds of repeated violins mark a new beginning for this track, and this gets mixed up with sci-fi sound effects and gentle synth-work.

Fifth track The Shadowed Universe Of Pain (b-side) gets a bit murkier. A sort of apocalyptic of a nearby galaxy sort of feel, or a sucking black hole maybe?. Or some great cosmic evil waiting to devour other planets for lunch. Sofar the most experimental track on the album, and also the darkest.

Sixth track Younger Dryas gets into new and strange territories. Ethnic female-vocals, eerie looped piano-part, shortwave radio noise... a really acid-drenched piece. The merge between the two acts sounds a bit too mixed up here... slightly confusing piece. 

Seventh track The Black Light Beyond Lensed Star 1 returns to icy-melancholic dub-effects with weightless evocative synth-work. Do like the clattering icy keys here, lovely outro as well.  

Eight (and last) track There Goes Our Comet ends it the album with glitch, acid, and rhythmic looped recordings. Strangely cheerful but also strangely menacing at the same time. 

A strange album with its ups and downs. The album starts really great (a-side) but then it slowly gets less and less imaginative. The freshness of the start with its epic electronic feel, and cosmic strangeness slowly turn down the mood the further we get on. At times we do have episodes when the two projects collide and get too... mixed up in a confusing matter. The album is also (maybe) too long compared to its fusion-style, the excellent a-side is enough in itself. But do give it a spin nonetheless, I do think it is a rather unique piece of mood music that requires curious ears.    

Bandcamp (label):

https://lucesia.bandcamp.com/album/075-lyke-wake-noise-cluster-let-the-universe-fall

DBPIT (discogs):
https://www.discogs.com/artist/149423-Der-Bekannte-Post-Industrielle-Trompeter

XxeNa (discogs):
https://www.discogs.com/artist/1288920-XxeNa

Now Sleep - Ghost Stories

A (not too old) label covering experimental drone-music has just spawned a new and interesting debut release. A completely fresh and new electronic-based drone-ambient act called Now Sleep. The album is inspired by the works of none-other-than the great and true master of the classic ghost story, MR James. Limited to 50 cassette copies, while being over 50 minutes.

The first track called Goodbye The Last Song On The Radio sets the mood in a thick fog of uncertain mysticism. Stone frozen moments on a dark frosty night. Distant screaming sound from a train hitting the brakes, echo-treated horns, slowly-built melancholic tunes, and human voices being heard somewhere in the mix. Interesting ear candy going on here. 

Second track Some Don´t Know What They Are taps more electronic melancholia into the ears. Interesting mixed-up cut-up samples of male and female voices talking, saying ´I don´t feel´ and ´Real´ and ´That´s sad´. Atmospheric and cool dub-techno wipes in the background with an interesting and monotonous synty-key being chopped up as well. The voices getting lovely distorted later on, very experimental-cool if you ask me.

The third track I Am Lost... gets... creepy and actually... scary! Someone (male-voice I think) moans, weeps, and screams in pain. Not in your voice, but from the deepest basement of the house. A lovely and haunting and moody piano-melody works on this later on, as well as something which reminds me a bit of something from Aphex Twin´s Selected Ambient Works vol II. A REALLY goosebump of a track, MR James would have been proud if he listened to this. It just sounds... beautiful, sad, and incredibly tragic at the same time. 

Fourth track The Haunting of Paul Dacre has this hypnotic electronic pendulum pulse-sound. Something forever touching the strings on some violin-like instrument. Something ghost-like voice moaning again, sounding a bit more disturbing and perverse than the previous one. Doesn't feel like a sad ghost track, more or a malicious spirit who wants to do harm. Sounds like something being... entrapped and desperately wants to get out! Sofar the most disturbing piece on the album. 

Fifth track They Mostly Come At Night (No!... Not the bloody Aliens people!) is a track which explores drone harshness. A nerve-grinding sound-instrument which takes you back... to your old dentist while being on laughing gas. Icy synth drops, campy 60s horror-movie dialogues, and heavenly windy drones also being present.

Sixth track As The Shadows Has Limbs...  Feels like standing in a deserted empty house... where the walls can speak. That kind of feeling when you are alone but do not feel... completely alone. Something in the mist is there, something in the... very air being present. I like (myself) to discover abandoned buildings, and this track takes me back to a labyrinth-like cellar of an old industrial building. I went as far as I bloody could, but all of a sudden... I stopped and returned (It was that INTENSE!). Same feeling this track gives me, being strangely calm but brutally intense at the same time. The interesting clattering of metals and a mysterious human voice ends the track nicely. 

Seventh piece We Are In The Walls, Always is the shortest track on the album. A surreal treated-piano-treat lifts you up a few inches of the ground. Slightly reminds me of Throbbing Gristle´s eerie ambient piece Beachy Head.

Eight track The Dead Travel In Fog And Sound. Not the darkest track on the album, more of a lighter feel here which balances the album nicely. Anyone being happy for Brian Eno´s Discreet Music would enjoy this. Lovely piano parts and lovely ambient-drones starts the track, weird glitch-like sound-effects pops up in the dreamy fog-sound. Once again, I think about EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomenon).

Ninth track Peace For Snow Cricket returns to the sound-formula which you heard on the second track Some Don´t Know What They Are. Which I don't mind, cause it sounded good. Love the xylophone here, a very relaxing piece to end this album. 

A GREAT thorough album with a lot of goosebumps and sadness inside, whatever the artist himself wants you to fell, he actually succeeds in this which makes the album... kind of frightening real in a paranormal sort of sense. I will highly recommend this album for anyone who is into ambient, drone... and ghost stories. Perfect in the background while reading MR James... if you dare!!.. 

Bandcamp (label):

https://elmrecords.bandcamp.com/album/now-sleep-ghost-stories

Facebook (label):

https://www.facebook.com/elmrecords/

Facebook (band):

https://www.facebook.com/Now-Sleep-1101595499962293/ 

Soundcloud (band):
https://soundcloud.com/now-sleep?fbclid=IwAR0mEVQueRAKA8VLrci0AAS3dQCBYFjiyj7Dsx911Ylx6l7xYDCfz5OCNPE                 

  

Schloss Tegal - Psychometry

For most ears who are curious in the world of dark-ambient, Schloss Tegal would be one of the prime movers in the genre. Some even claim that they were the first real dark-ambient act. The band has existed since 1989 and has had a string of various releases on various labels up until 2006. And now, 15 years later a new album called Psychometry has been born. So far it has been released on 1 CD-digipack, 2xLP edition, 2xLP+CD+8" etc (check the details on Discogs link below!). It´s a heavy treat and a heavy cult-item so sure. 

For those who don't know, Schloss Tegal is a name for a psychiatric hospital (near Berlin) that treated soldiers with art and music therapy. And Psychometry is basically the psychic ability to extract information from a certain physical object simply by touching it. The cover-artwork + booklet that follows the release is a thing of lovely murky beautifulness. A cover-artwork which gives hints back to the early days of spiritism and meets up a kind of...esoteric cosmic horror. 11 tracks, about 55 minutes in total darkness.

First track Psychopompus hits it home already in the first 5 seconds. The sound is just right, not too smooth and not too rough either. Very heavy and very murky, but strangely pleasant and hypnotic-stimulating at the same time. Kind of, death industrial for dark ambient fans... in other words, it´s dark-ambient... just a wee bit darker (if you ask me). Monotonic underwater waves of heavy-sound and subtle ambient-drones... very nice!.

Second track Incorporeal Being moves further into cosmic strangeness. A huge mass of wind swirl and drowns the listener into oblivion, in a heartbeat, I was sure that it sounded like someone breathing (just slowed down with tons of powerful reverb). Eerie and dreamy recordings of something going on in the background... what it is I do not know. 

Third track The Invalid Earth has that dark-ambient mood meet up with a kind of... old-school industrial feel. Reminds me of one of those Throbbing Gristle intros to some of their live recordings, depressing but evocative mood setter. A ritualistic thump later on with a scary radio-recording and a... ghost-like whale singing as well. I like it!

At the Fourth track Krononaut (Time Zero), it actually gets sort of scary in the classic paranormal sort of sense. A very desperate (but hard to hear) telephone voice is talking, a sort of... recording of dead people talking (forever) and being recorded on some high-tech radio equipment. Fluid like ritual ambiance in the background in the company of a cold mechanized machine sound, the kind of sound which u would expect from the strange machines which the Migo created in Lovecraft´s Whisperer in the Darkness. Still being unpleasant in the pleasant sort of sense.

Fifth track Black Vessel has a more of a harsh cold electronics sound. Ruined post-war territory. Think Dagma Mor and Grey Wolves in ambient-soundtrack moods. Again, interesting stuff going on the mix. Lots of cool layers here, and lots of recorded details.

Yup, And I will not reveal anything more from here since there is so much for you to discover. And yes! We have such sights to show you! It´s a great and horrific dark-ambient treat for those who think that dark-ambient has turned... into a shallow and hollow over-produced thing. This one is unpolished, harsh, unforgiving and just being true to the bone (Yup... truly it´s dark ambient here).  Give it a spin (or 10 times for that matter!).

Discogs (band+release):

https://www.discogs.com/Schloss-Tegal-Psychometry/master/1606803

Bandcamp (band):

https://schlosstegal.bandcamp.com/album/psychometry

Facebook (band):

https://www.facebook.com/schlosstegal

Official Website (band):

http://www.schlosstegal.net/

Tryhm - Phobos Sanctum

Warm weather is here... and what can we do about it? My idea would be to escape into a damp and cold cellar-room while having cold and murky horror-ambient... churning out from my speakers. And that is what Tryhm is (kind of) about. Phobos Sanctum is their fourth release, and this Norwegia-based act has been in existence since the year of 2016. An 8 track album, about 40 minutes of length.

First track All Nightmares To Come begins with that kind of.... familiar CMI-sound. An ambient-industrial version of In Slaughter Natives via Controlled Bleeding sort of. Evocative religious humming voices, strange sort of gasmask sounds, a female voice gasping for air, metallic chain-sounds loops in a rhythmic fashion, and more. A very decent opening, I liked it a lot... VERY evocative intro here!

Next track Chamber of Mirrors has that same sort of feeling like the first track, the kind of feeling that you in someplace... and you cannot get out. This track has to be closer to a haunted and eerie place, the sort of place where walls whisper their secrets while your neck hair slowly stands up. Lovely depth to this piece, a terrific piece of multi-layered horror-ambiance!.

Third track Final Form Of Life adds death-industrial aesthetics to the mix. Strange sort of clicking sounds, which gives the listener the feeling of a certain activity happening in the recording... something dreadful if you ask me. Hints of neo-classical tunes add more to the horrific drama, without getting too dramatic. A great track, with a kind of weird sudden ending (should have been longer). 

Fourth track Ghosts Nests, is a nest where... sorrow and despair have just... clumped together. Sounds of (slightly altered) crying sound of children and women with strange whispering happening in the background. The mixing of sounds and the added sound-effects (echo/reverb) really gives this sad piece a horrific effect here! Lovely neo-classical Raison D´être sort of wipe enters the track later on, which adds more fuel to the sort of storytelling feel this album has (so far). 

Fifth track In A Trance of Absence has a really discomforting kind of intro. It sounds like... someone is japing something into piano strings, this is going on while the sound of a swirling vortex is going. Doom laden and militant sounds start suddenly and add a good deal of industrial dynamics into the track. 

I will not have to reveal anything more to the reader since the rest of the album continues to deliver those excellent tensions. Worth discovering and listening to right from the start. A great example of horror-themed (ghost)-ambient... if you please. A modern ghost story flick could use a soundtrack like this, do give it a spin!.

Bandcamp (band):

https://tryhm.bandcamp.com/album/phobos-sanctum

Facebook (band):

https://www.facebook.com/TRYHM-646820292155422/