Pvrgatorivm - La Voie Des Onze Mille Coups

It's a highly obscure new act on a highly unknown (and new) label. A so-called debut with an act called Pvrgatorivm, and their mini-album/EP is called La Voie Des Onze Mille Coups (translated as The Way of Eleven Thousand Blows). The label is called Ars Bellica Recordings, and the release is being distributed via the Greek label E.C.T Recordings. Highly limited to 20 copies, the whole thing (mini 3" CD-R) comes in a nifty-looking handmade sleeve made of paper and maquette paper with some additional inserts related to Ars Bellica and E.C.T Recodings.

Additional info about this mysterious act and album. The recorded material has been recorded in various locations and moments between 2021-2023, mixed in 2023 by someone called Incisio in some studio called Geräuschkammer IV (Not in Germany, but in Greece!). You can also get a digital version of the album via a Russian label called Boiled Angel Recordings. (Link below)

I keep pondering about the picture being used on the artwork itself. Do I see a pair of human legs & torso, with a smothered sun-bleached background maybe? And how the photo is related to the esoteric-sounding album title, I don´t know... Maybe, we will find that answer within the recording, which is simple... there is only 1 track on the album. 

It starts like a classic old-school industrial album from the southern parts of Europe. Slow, gritty, and mechanical-sounding loops of a bass sound, a flanged whining sound cuts through the air like a warm surgery knife through butter, and a strange and esoteric sounding... thing in the background? Is there a melody in it? I'm not sure. Some extra thrash-metal sound effects are added as well. 

At this moment, it does sound like someone who has just turned on a huge industrial machine to work in the early sunrise. Although it does sound like a really old and rusty piece of machinery. For some reason, I'm thinking about those old drilling machines being used in mines. At the end, I can hear a distant synth? Combined with the monotonous and gritty machine sounds, the presence of the synth is an angelic presence! 

I find the whole thing to be rather pleasant to listen to, pleasant in a good way that is. The atmosphere is a very sincere thing here, and the listener will find themselves... somewhere else! I also really dig that old-school industrial aesthetic! Kind of like early NON in a way, really gritty and minimalistic. The whole recording also being a very... kind of organic. Feels like, that all the recorded sounds are working together toward a specific mood or goal that is. Everything is almost melted into a single sound (with sounds within) if that makes sense! This stuff is pure magick and addictive, already heard this for the 6th time today! Do yourself a favor and get the physical release!

Discogs (label):

https://www.discogs.com/release/26971421-Incisio-Pvrgatorivm-La-Voie-Des-Onze-Mille-Coups

Bandcamp (label):

https://boilyourangel.bandcamp.com/album/pvrgatorivm-la-voie-des-onze-mille-coups

 

 Nerthus - Gong

Nerthus is out with a new album! We got to know Nerthus through the collaboration album made together with Praying For Oblivion. An incredible industrial-ambient/drone album focusing on... well abandoned factory buildings. This album is available on the Nerthus Bandcamp site, and if you are quick (and lucky), you can get your hands on the lovely (and limited) physical CD-R version. A cool-looking DVD-sized red cardboard paper cover inside a plastic sleeve, housing a nice-looking CD-R with some decent print on it. 12 tracks, almost about 55 minutes in total. All the tracks on the album have simply been named 1,2,3,4,5 etc etc.

The first track starts with some haunting notes on an old piano, with some... blebbing short-wave radio clattering in the background. Additional layers of atmospheric effects are there as well, a short track... ear-opening intro if you please.

The second track is where the album really kicks off. Ritualistic, mysterious, and deep metallic sounds with some eerie ghost voices.. from the same short-wave radio. You're inside the basement of a factory, with only a short-wave radio. You can clearly hear, that some kind of catastrophe is happening...outside. And the only bits of info you can receive are from that short-wave radio. This sound going on does sound recognizable (for some reason). So far I am loving it!

The third track slowly churns into a sort of... death-industrial vibe. Monotone machine sounds, the clattering of metallic bells, and reverbed chattering voices. Clearly a return to that excellent CMI sound! A bit of Megaptera, Morthhound, and Archon Satani/Inanna.

The fourth track is a total death-industrial treat. Say Pain In Progress or Necrose Evangelicum with BDN! Bone-crushing ambient bass sounds, clinical high-pitched radio tones, and those... eerie ghost voices from the radio. Very good so far!

The fifth track jumps straight into more... acid-drenched territory. Slowed metallic noises, insect sounds, and reversed human radio voices. The sort of track that u don´t want to wake up to in the middle of the night! Otherworldly beings crawling out of my speakers as we speak!

The sixth track moves away from the nightmare and further into... the state where the sleeper isn't actually sure... that you are either awake or dreaming. Clearly, you are awake since u can look around your room, but something is not right. It´s a quiet, pleasant ambient track with a sinister tone hidden... inside the recording.

The seventh track has that... Anenzephalia kind of bass sound. That kind of religious and hypnotic sound. Sounding like that there is truly no hope here, some additional angelic ambient sounds here uplift the heavy mood. Love the adventurous diversity so far! 

And that is all that you are going to get from this review, all the other tracks are still waiting for you to listen to. The whole thing is a bloody larger-than-life experience. Like a small thing with a huge world hidden inside. A masterpiece?. Might so... Underrated, might so. Highly recommend listening to this otherworldly thing while there is a storm brewing outside while being in the basement (that is). Ambient music for basements anyone?! Bound to give you pleasant dreams!.

Bandcamp: (band)

https://nerthus.bandcamp.com/album/gong

     

  

Sortlegeme Live at HeadQuarters, Aarhus – 22/09-2023 Written by Ralle Ravn

Sortlegeme is not a name I had heard before until this concert was announced and checking it out surprised me. Sortlegeme is a Copenhagen-based dark ambient tribal techno act by Jeppe Dalsgaard Andersen. The first release by Sortlegeme, the EP The Returning, was first released in 2016 and has since released a handful of cassettes and a couple of 12” EPs, the latest being the cassette Zero Intensity from 2021. 

His music ranges from techno and tribal beats to electronic synths to floating ambient to dark ambient drones often blending in between each other on each track. 

Why did this surprise me? It was the opening act for the Aarhus atmospheric black metal act Sunken. A pairing of genres you don’t see very often. The two acts were, as told by the members of Sunken, united under the same understanding of atmosphere which did show during the evening’s concert. Sortlegeme’s show starts with an atmospheric floating drone that gradually morphs into a tape loop-like sound while retaining its ambient drone feel underneath it. This glides into static noise samples that still retain the atmospheric feel. A techno beat enters the concert’s sound image breaking with the ambient drones and bringing some rhythm into the show. When my ears got used to the beat, I noticed a floating drone behind the techno beat, creating an interesting dynamic in the sound image. 

This then switches to static samples that lie on top of a bassy ambient drone, and then the techno beat comes back in. The sound then switches back to floating ambient. This becomes the concert theme, the switching between atmospheric drones, techno beats, and noisy static samples, which so far worked very well. The floating ambient sound fades into a distorted drone that lies on top of a deep melancholic melody. The static samples come back in and break the melancholic soundscape. 

This then transitions into a dark ambient part that is followed by a tribal techno beat, glides into a dark ambient drone blended with static samples, and again, the static samples are switched out to a new techno beat. The beat stops and a new melancholic part emerges. This fades into white noise that cuts off and a new ambient part emerges afterwards. This new ambient part slowly and gradually turns into a deafening synth voice, becoming an intense wall of sound. This wall of sound finally reaches a climax where it cuts off and the reverb rings out at the end of the concert. 

I was overall impressed with the show. The elements in Sortlegeme’s music have an interesting dynamic between pulsating tribal-like techno beats and atmospheric ambient parts with static noise thrown into the mix. Although these elements were very segmented throughout the concert, it did work very well given that the concert was performed as a single song. As atmosphere was a theme throughout the concert, Sortlegeme fit very well into the show given that the show was “supposed to be” a black metal concert which, again, surprised me.

Bandcamp (Label):

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

Discogs (band):

https://www.discogs.com/artist/4857707-Sortlegeme