Pan´s Labyrinth

I´m taking a break from 80s horror and do a bunch of reviews of more recent horror movies on my vacation. I´m starting with Pan´s Labyrinth, not really a horror movie but dark and grim nonetheless.

The story takes place in Spain in the summer of 1944, five years after the Spanish Civil War, during the early Francoist period. The narrative intertwines this real world with a mythical world centered on an overgrown, abandoned labyrinth and a mysterious faun creature, with whom the main character, Ofelia, interacts. Ofelia's stepfather, the Falangist Captain Vidal, hunts the Spanish Maquis who fight against the Francoist regime in the region, while Ofelia's pregnant mother Carmen grows increasingly ill. Ofelia meets several strange and magical creatures who become central to her story, leading her through the trials of the old labyrinth garden.

Now... The same guy who directed this masterpiece also directed The Shape of Water, which won Best Movie Award at the Oscars.
I saw Shape of Water. Compared to this, is a huge pile of shit. And Pan´s Labyrinth, though it earned a bunch of Oscars, none of them was for best movie. hmmm... This tells me that people are eating shit when it comes to the cinema...

It´s a beautiful, grim, melancholic fairy tale about a little girl who´s stuck in a nightmarish life. At the end of the movie, the question about was it real or was it just in her head (I believe it was all in her head) never gets answered, making it one of the saddest movie endings ever. The photography is awesome, the soundtrack is awesome, it´s honestly one of the most beautiful movies ever and though is not really horror, it portrays human cruelty at it´s worse.

If you haven´t seen it, you should do it right away.

Imdb:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0457430/

Wiki:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan%27s_Labyrinth

Monuments Are No Good To The Dead - 

Earth´s Hum Volume 3 & 4

Earth’s Hum Vols. I - V is a conceptual Pentalogy dedicated to the mysterious HUM of the Earth. Vol. I begin with the big bang and takes the listener through billions of years of swirling dust to the formation of the Earth. Vol. II is the heaving and lurching turmoil of the planet as its plates struggle to maintain their grip on one another. Vol. III is the cyclical, labored breathing of the mother as humanity chokes her to death. Vol. IV finds Earth fighting back by collapsing in on itself in a deep, rumbling panic; destroying all life as it does so. Vol. V finds synth-like textured walls as Earth’s leftover fragments spread further and further through the deep reaches of the Universe. 

Volume 3 begins in a split/second as ear-shattering and primal machine-like noise. Car-exhaustion noise slams the listener up the wall... First track being volume 3 reminds me of an early piece by Esplendor Geometrico or some early collaboration made between NON and Coil (His Body Was A Playground For The Nazi Elite). Mix it then with tiny h0ints/elements from HNW and drone stuff. Sounds like a looped/monotonous mechanical-incident getting started up and then ends up being crashed into oblivion. It then wraps it up in a noise-drone hypnotic way of ending. 30 minutes and 47 seconds of levitating spiritual noise! Fxxxxxx loved it! 

The noise-brutalism doesn't end here, the tape continues on the B-side with Volume 4. Feels like a compact and distorted sound trying to squeeze itself out of a little tube (it cannot)... therefor tiny holes are squirting out the compressed noise that the tube cannot contain inside. Sounds like a slow version of a harsh-noise track, not bad but not really interesting and groundbreaking stuff (Heard it way too many times). I prefer Volume 3, I think it had a more other-worldly quality, almost dynamic ritualistic undertones with it. 

This act has made several releases on various labels, and this is the first time this act has released anything with the cassette/tape-format. Limited to 17 copies, and it is out on Ominous Recordings, released back in Januar (2018). There are more releases to check out with this act on their official Bandcamp site, a minor note is that this release can only be located on Omnious Recordings Bandcamp site. 

Bandcamp (release+label):

https://ominousrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/earths-hum-volume-3-4

Bandcamp (band):

https://mangttd.bandcamp.com/

Blackhouse - Live In Leipzig

Not a stranger to hardcore industrial fans for sure. Brian Ladd has been churning out brutal Christian-themed caveman industrial since 1983. With an ever-growing extensive discography prooves that Blackhouse is among one of the oldest (and still active) industrial acts around.  And this live recording was released back in 2016 on Dark Vinyl, came out on CD and 2 different ltd. vinyl editions. Recorded at the Wave Gotik Treffen (WGT) festival in 2015 at Volkspalast Kuppelhalle. 15 tracks, over 60 minutes of pleasure.

For those who don´t know Blackhouse and for those who just haven´t heard it yet, I can quickly try to describe it as a thing between early Einstürzende Neubauten and Whitehouse. The use of metal-scrap percussion, gospel-like propaganda vocals that range from screaming to whispering, eerie field recordings and mind-bending distorted and punishing looped rhythms. All the right ingredients to satisfy fans of early industrial music are there while adding the unique craziness and possessed mental-strain that only Blackhouse can deliver. The live-recording both offers harsh ritual undercurrents (Five Minutes After I Die, see video below!) to hypnotizing soundscapes (Whispers of Love) to the sheer, epic and religious thumping of Repent!. 

A truly satisfying experience that I will recommend for anyone to experience, top edge live recording without a doubt. I would have loved to experience the live-performance, good thing that the performance can be felt (and heard) on this excellent live recording. And the awesome cover is a sassy digipack in thick cardboard. Do yourself a favor and go get it, a worthy investment on the shelve!. 

Bandcamp:

https://blackhouse.bandcamp.com/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Blackhouse-62087096216/

Label:

http://www.darkvinyl.de/

Discogs:

https://www.discogs.com/Blackhouse-Live-In-Leipzig/master/985380

Lacrimi si Sfinti - S/T

First time I heard this I wasn´t pleased, just wasn´t in the mood for it. I waited for 4-5 months and gave it a spin again, why?. Because the cover-artwork being so damn attractive (and beautiful) to the likes of me. It just HAD to be good!. I was lucky, I was in the mood for this (as we speak). Why? I don't know. The hot and moist spring weather irritates me, and I need to cool down to something cold instead of sweating like a pig.  

And this just made my day, perfect for chilling with additional levitating side-effects attached to it! The title means Saints and Tears, and there´s also a restaurant in Romania that goes by the same name!...whatever. This act hails from two countries, Germany and Spain. Two guys getting it together two create one and LOOONG atmospheric dark-ambient piece (1 hour and 1.25 minute long!). And it actually turned out to be a good one! 

Human-like vocal chords altered into ghost´ish drones, torturous razor-sharp violin-like strings, static and humming metallic cathedral like-echoes, eerie mind-buggering sound-glitchness, warped radio-like voices, and distorted looped guitar work (I think), and an improvised and interesting drums part in the end. Sounds like one through and frozen expression being spiritually channelized through a very large and deep hole in the ground. Or just feeling completely frozen in a fog-dense graveyard, being surrounded by silent statues and monuments while unseen and disturbed spirits of the dead touch your very mind with ice-cold fingers! The whole recording basically feels like a cold shower in the hot summer. Strangely pleasant while scary at the same time, enjoying your very last moment on Earth before whatever dreadful event is being bound to happen at any moment! The end of the album confirms that!

A sound-journey worth the damn rick! It can give you that levitating feeling as well for the falling/descending kind of feeling. Fans of early Cluster and drone/ambient related releases done by Controlled Bleeding and even Nurse With Wound. Limited to 30 copies on Spanish label Marbre Negre (so be quick!). Give it a try on a hot and moist day, freshened me up for sure!

Bandcamp:

https://marbrenegre.bandcamp.com/album/lacrimi-si-sfinti

Who Dares Win II

Ever heard of Commando? Not the Arnold flick! (but the computer game). A Capcom classic from 85, one of the biggest arcade to home-computer adaptions ever. A fast scrolling run and gun game, one soldier against an army (kill em´all!) I played it on my C64, loved the music and loved the action! But I always thought back then, that there was one tiny problem. The fun was too fast and too hectic. I know it is a matter of personal taste, I usually prefer turn-based games rather than real-time.

But regarding the success of Commando, clones of the game was bound to happen. So we ended up with Who Dares Win and the (greater) follow-up Who Dares Win II. I fell (instantly) in love with the game from the very first glimpse. Since I only review games from my ZX Vega, I will then focus my review on the ZX-version of Who Dares Win II (Only Who Dares Win II came on the ZX, not nr.I)

Like Commando, it is a run and shoot / top-down shooter treat which was published by Alligate Software in 85. It was decided to do a follow up as a remake on the first Who Dares Win since it was accused of being too similar to Commando. The game is simple; shoot down the enemy soldiers (or throw grenades at then), rescue prisoners and reach the very top/end of the level.

I played the first Who Dares Win as a kid, and as far as I can remember I didn´t see it as a complete clone of Commando at all. I saw it as a slower-thinking man's version of Commando, where you actually could (by strategic means) shoot down your enemies. Where in Commando, you are almost a suicidal killing machine on speed. In Who Dares Win, it almost feels like a sneak sniper type of a game. In Commando it also felt like someone stressfully pushing you through the game to end it, while in Who Dares Win it felt like the player had more control. And you know what? It still is a bloody fun game to play, And I think it stands the test of time... Take a break from your counter strike and try this sucker for a change!

World Of Spectrum:
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0005673

   

Silent Cabin - We Left

Third cassette release from Silent Cabin and Kalteldur´s first Silent Cabin cassette review. Released last year August 2017, and works as a continuation of the former cassette-release the Gates of Autumn (Which was AMAZING!). 4 tracks about 25 minutes mini-album, limited cassette release 20 copies. 

For those who don't know Silent Cabin, I can then reveal to you all that it is a one-man act from Finland which works within the boundaries of melodic-ambient and dungeon synth music. Not strictly ambient music or pure dungeon synth, something quite unique and personal I think. One might describe it as winter-synth, but I am not entirely sure. Yet, it feels beautiful and snowy.

First thing I notice with the very first track called We Left, is the melodic, melancholic (but also uplifting) synth-tunes which almost has a taste of proto gothic cold/minimal-wave(early 80s electronic-based post-punk style originated in France and Belgian). Melodic and beautiful cold synth and melodies wash over you, while cold and dry drums echo the emptiness of the room. Next track Through the Opening moves further into the future. A hypnotizing and slowly built deep organ synth with a futuristic-sounding background texture. The ghost of Tangerine Dream and retro-wave lingers here, just slightly. Third track In The Rain pleases the dungeon and winter-synth fans. A brooding, dark and moody evocative piece. I am not exactly being drenched in the rain, more like being inside a vast limestone cavern. Feeling and hearing the space inside a cavern, with that certain cavern coldness engulfing you. Last track No people, ends it all up in a melancholic solitude. Has a kind of mysterious Aphex Twin (Selected Ambient Tracks vol.2) meets Throbbing Gristle´s Weeping vibe to it, a great track and a great way of ending the album. 

An amazing achievement which I will/can highly recommend for those who like not-the-typical kind of dungeon-synth. A fantastic and melancholic feel-good injection. I have (of course) also ordered the cassette, now all I can do is to sit back and wait for it. 

Bandcamp:

https://silentcabin.bandcamp.com/album/we-left

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/silentcabin/

Tokyo Decadence

Well, we all knew it would someday come to this...

Tokyo Decadence is not really porn but it´s pretty graphic. It´s a movie about a shy S/M prostitute named Ai who is miserable because her lover remarried. The reasons she resorted to prostitution are unclear and not explained in the movie but most probably because she thinks she has no other talent.She works at an escort company and has to attend some of the most depraved desires of wealthy Japanese men and yakuza guys. The first two-thirds of the film consists in large part of four sex sequences. Two involve dildos and mirrors. The other two involve erotic asphyxiation with, again, one episode in which the man wants to partially asphyxiate a female and the other in which a man is a recipient. Other sexual acts and interests are involved in some of the scenarios. As I mentioned, is quite graphic but I wouldn´t say it´s hardcore porn.

In itself, the movie is quite bland. Nothing to say about the photography or editing and we never get to know why Ai, a girl that is super sad or partially sad and looks so embarrassed over pretty much everything, does what she does.It all gets more interesting with the introduction of Saki. Another prostitute specialized in masochism, painfully gorgeous and painfully addicted to heroin. The scene where they are together, doing drugs all night and Saki does a little karaoke session to a vibrator while shooting heroin in the meanwhile, is both comic and tragic and the scene where Ai leaves after tenderly cleaning the blood on Saki´s arm after another shoot is quite sad and beautiful. I´m not even going to detail the scene where they meet. Let´s just say Saki is a very efficient mistress and probably would be a better character to explore as it seems her backstory is richer.

The movie ends with Ai trying to break and enter her former lover home under the influence of an unknown drug, after walking for what it seems a whole day, being caught by the police and saved by a crazy singer she met earlier. She realizes she´s lost in a deviant and lunatic world, cries her little, shy heart out and goes back to whoring.

So, here it is. Not the usual movie I would watch and review but I was curious about it and since I have a penchant for kinky...
Not a great one but it´s entertaining enough.

Wiki:

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

Der Kongress - ATTD Versions

Time to jump headfirst into a genre which we rarely review on Kalteldur, EBM. Second EBM-related review if you ask me. As I have mentioned before it does (sadly) seem to be a rare thing, that someone does EBM which has its focus on a certain... aesthetic? In my own rather isolated world, EBM doesn't always have to be dance music. I like the early cold-wave inspired sound from the Front 242 debut, the dark industrial harshness from the early Klinik and Vomito Negro, the atmospheric post-technoid feel of early FLA/Delirium etc. You know what I mean, early EBM with a dark soundtrack´ish feel and sound to it. Why all the drama? from waving hands, screaming distorted vocals, pumping and boring bass drums, tons of makeup, post-gothic look/clothes ordered from Amazon. Subtlety would be my word here, retain your coolness and do some cool sounding electronic music instead. 

Nevertheless, I was lucky. After endlessly browsing various new-releases within the regime of EBM-music, I came upon this! The cover-art stuck out from the rest, and I liked the band name as well. And the very first 10 seconds, gave me the green lights for it. The very first track AT-System takes u back to Clock DVA (Hacker era) and A Split Second. Cold and stone-dry mechanized drum-patterns, electronic and metal sounding ritualistic percussions, deep and melodic synth-voices building tension, retro keyboard-based trumpets, ring-modulated sequencer loops gives it a cybernetic feel. All of this being wrapped into a kind of ... cool New-Beat sort of vibe. Second track and third track AT-Untitled and TD-Völmoverd move further into early techno and acid-house, giving in to that early FLA/Delirium and even Coil. Ambient-techno/house-drums, harsh acid-house patterns, mysterious and mesmerizing hypnotic moods works great here. Last track TD-Untitled being quite interesting and familiar at the same time. It sounds like the German-based Gerechtigkeits Liga´s Volkermord track from the Hypnotischer Existenzialismus from 1985? I actually think it is the same track, without those extra layers of tribal-sound which the original has. Could it be that this act has the same members from this classic industrial act?. I don´t know. The cassette release is good nonetheless, although I was kind of ...Suprised with the last track. Think I will investigate this, in the meantime. Give it a spin!... 

Bandcamp:

https://primaedizioneedits.bandcamp.com/album/prima-edizione

     

Altered States

Back to horror reviews.
I really wanted to like this movie but I hardly paid much attention.

Edward Jessup is an abnormal psychologist who, while studying schizophrenia, begins to think that "our other states of consciousness are as real as our waking states." Jessup begins experimenting with sensory deprivation using a flotation tank, aided by two like-minded researchers, Parrish and Rosenberg. At a faculty party, he meets fellow "whiz kid" and biological anthropologist Emily, and the two eventually marry.

The film skips ahead seven years. Jessup and Emily have two daughters, are on the brink of divorce, and reunite with the couple who first introduced them. When Jessup hears of a Mexican tribe that experiences shared illusion states, he travels to Mexico to participate in what is apparently an Ayahuasca Ceremony. During the walk into the bush, his guide says that the indigenous tribe they are meeting works with Amanita muscaria, which they are collecting for next year's ceremonies. The tribe calls one of the ingredients of the mixture they use "First Flower." An indigenous elder is seen with Banisteriopsis caapi root in his hand before cutting Jessup's hand, adding blood to the mixture he is preparing. Immediately after consuming the mixture, Jessup experiences bizarre, intense hallucinations. He returns to the U.S. with a tincture and continues taking it to trigger altered states of consciousness.

The movie is based on the novel by Paddy Chayefsky, I can´t compare because I haven´t read it. The hallucination scenes are pretty cool and the concept is awesome but it´s a 1980 movie and it did not age well. I wouldn´t mind that someone would make a decent remake.
Like I said I didn´t pay much attention. My mind kept wandering around. If any of you guys want to comment on it, you´ll be more than welcome.

All in all a nice 80s movie. It looks it could have been directed by Cronenberg but no, Ken Russell directed it.

IMDB:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080360/

Wiki:

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

James Parrot - Drone 62

Yup! it´s a dreary (but sunny) Monday morning, and you are right! I have started to have this drone-ambient-tradition/ritual every Monday morning (to start the week!). This time I am in the company of a James Parrot, who has just released (yesterday) this 1-track 30 minutes digital drone-ambient album. Mind you that this is probably one of the most productive Bandcamp artists I have ever come across, about 230 digital Bandcamp releases so far! All within the drone, experimental and ambient section. So... With over 200 releases, is it any good. Worth the bugger?. Let´s give it an ear (or two) and see what we come up with!

The drone piece starts REALLY good, a constant feed of wave-like sound-strings being streamed into your ear. This is getting joined up with looped and atmospheric organ-like parts working in the background. It all sounds like a touch of fresh-air or waking up feeling 100% revived after a good (and uninterrupted sleep!). 4 minutes later on in the track, there is a sound/bass-tendency that gets slightly distorted. Sort of describing when a certain sound-perimeter hits the ceiling, it wants to get higher but ends up being corroded in the heights. A method of working around this could be to record this kind of drone music at a low volume instead, that way you can avoid the distorted sound-elements. 

And that is that! I do not think that the distorted elements are intended, and I do think that the drone-piece could definitely be perfect without it. Actually, I think that the intro to this piece is soo good, that further sound-development/exploration isn't really required. It could just continue and continue and continue, So please Mr. Parrot .. make me a fanboy!

Bandcamp:

https://jamesparrott.bandcamp.com/

Cronaca Nera - Maniac

A veteran unit in the world of Italian power-electronics, Cronaca Nera being a side project to the known cult act Macelleria Mobile Di Mezzanotte. Also includes Andrea Chiaravalli of Iugula-Thor, and Giovanni Mori of Le Cose Bianche. Kind of makes this act a super power-electronics group!  This release goes as far back as 2001 and was released as a CD-R on Butcher´s House Prod. Now it has resurfaced as a cassette re-release via Marbre Negre. Limited to 40 copies, with a nice and cool looking batch included.

It´s pretty brutal but artistic/experimental material. As I said before, I love power electronics with brain-guts in it (Instead of testosterone). They work around massive looped metallic distorted sounds, guitar or mic feedback (I think), almost whispering and screaming distorted vocals, and high-pitched warped tone-loops which take you back to classic Whitehouse-sound. And they sound like a power-electronics/noise act from Italy, which is pretty cool (if you ask me). The heritage (regarding early industrial and power electronics) in Italy goes way back to 1979 when MB (Maurizio Bianchi) released his very first cassette, and then of course Mauthausen Orchestra´s first in 82. So yes, Italy has a certain sound and attitude which is quite unique. Someone ought to do a Giallo inspired horror-slasher with these guys doing the soundtrack! For fans of Sutcliffe Jugend, Whitehouse and Folkstorm.

Over 30 minutes of pure and relentless retro power-electronics torture presented on a beautiful cassette. A cult release without a doubt!.

Bandcamp (label):

https://marbrenegre.bandcamp.com/album/maniac

Soundcloud (band):

https://soundcloud.com/cronaca-nera