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