One of the toughest things Metropolis Records may have had to accomplish was that of going through the entire discography of Juno Reactor. Odyssey is a sampling and representation of work from mastermind Ben Watkins as well as his many collaborators over a ten year span. In spite of the many changes and fluctuations within the underground music scene, Watkins managed to capture the attention of fans as well as the music industry insiders. The list below may read like a resume, however in light of the achievements of this artist, it is important to emphasize how one of the children of the undergrounds has managed to succeed and come into his own. What follows is information gleaned from the artist and label website.
The forthcoming Summer film
“The Matrix Reloaded” will feature 3 new Juno Reactor tracks on the soundtrack
album.
Mona Lisa Overdrive - Juno
Reactor
Teahouse - Juno Reactor
feat. Gocoo
Burly Brawl - Juno Reactor
v. Don Davis
Other Juno Reactor tracks will be featured on the forthcoming The Animatrix, which contains nine original animated short films by the makers of The Matrix. This will be released on VHS and DVD on June 3rd.
If this wasn’t enough to sing about, the track Pistolero will be featured this summer on the trailer for the new Robert Rodrigez film "Once Upon A Time In Mexico." Pistolero also appears in the final film in the Mariachi trilogy, starring Johnny Depp, Salma Hayak, Antonio Banderas & William Defoe.
Previously, in addition to creating music, Watkins has remixed work for such artists as DEVO, FATIMA MANSIONS, SIOUXIE & THE BANSHEES and KILLING JOKE as well as composing and producing four tracks for TRACI LORDS' debut album '1000 Fires'. Watkins’ instrumental work have also appeared on film soundtracks for movies such as 'MORTAL KOMBAT', 'VIRTUOSITY' as well as the trailer for 'ROMEO & JULIET.” The track “Guilty” was utilized in the US during clips for baseball, basketball and grid iron football. The track “Samurai” was featured during the Japanese Grand Prix coverage. Watkins has also recently composed the score for the forthcoming movie 'BEOWULF' starring Christopher Lambert and provided three new tracks to Playstation's Jet Moto 2 game while "Hule Lam" was included on the TV series "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels"
Since electronic music isn’t my particular forte, admittedly, this release is a new endeavor and experience. In light of the above accomplishments, one has to sit up and take notice. Watkins, a.k.a. Juno Reactor, is clearly demonstrating how one can remain true to the underground fan base while simultaneously creating enough noise that even the mainstream cannot ignore the work.
Considering some of the past achievements, one would most likely expect this collection to burn with electronic heat that is tailor made for the dance floor. While the tracks are conducive for club playing, the work isn’t geared for mere “oontz” factor as we have come to associate some of the club music as of late. Instead, we are given tracks that are clearly electronic, yet organic at the same time. We must also keep in mind that this is also a body of work spanning ten years. Upon their initial release, the music was markedly different than what was available at the time.
“High Energy Protons” opens with an electronic note and bends it in prismatic fashion. A soundbyte is added and then we are thrust into a pulsing hook. This track is similar to that found in the Mortal Combat soundtrack where kinetic energy is communicated via sound.
“Laughing Gas” plays a bit with electro-synthpop type of hybrids with dashes of trance and goa for good measure. The beat of this song could have easily been substituted as the opening song during the nightclub scene in the film Blade.
“Rotorblade” slows things down after luring us in with two heavy dance tracks. There is an essence of the morose woven between the electronic effects and soundbytes. However, just when you think you can kick back and relax, deep pulsing notes rise to the surface. This track delineates movement during the darkness of night. Ironically, we are left with an impression of the here and now in this dark world. Elements of American Indian intonations blend with the sounds. This track doesn’t provide a sense of closure and chances are that is its intent. Essentially, it is the soundtrack to our past memories which haunt us during our late night, sleepless hours.
“Feel The Universe” has an introduction that would lead one to think it would be a sedate track. This opening marries a bit of the orchestral with electronic sounds. The pulses pick up rather expansively and weave in-between the essence heard at the opening with the cataclysms of intergalactic chaos.
“God Is God” opens as a cross between world beat, new age and a hint of a dirge for a few breaths. The world-beat is assembled between interesting percussion which is also fused brilliantly with the Middle Eastern vocals. Calling this particular track hypnotic is a gross understatement. It is rather intriguing to hear how this particular track manages to combine elements that are intrinsically Middle Eastern, switch up and sound almost Mediterranean and then, without missing a beat, go back to the world beat essence.
“Conga Fury” initially takes an ethereal style female voice and layers it underneath a heavy percussion. This percussion continues to build, expand, contract, release and become tribal. While the percussive elements take center stage, other notes coalesce in the background. Some of these notes indicate a modern electronic rapidity while others are sedate punctuations. As the name implies, this track delivers the feeling of being something from out of the deepest regions of a jungle.
“Komit” is yet another track that provides an introduction with a nighttime sensibility. Sounds bubble and fulminate in the background while other sounds give a feeling of surveying a city from atop a skyscraper. Once the beat kicks in, the element of darkness is maintained while other elements denote a sense of mobility. Interestingly, there is an odd inclusion of what can best be described as a futuristic harpsichord which heralds the next layer of heavy movement and energy.
“Pistolero” embarks on a Spanish flavoring which managed to go from the context of its initial origins and then just kept building upon itself. Portions of the original styling of this traditional sound careen around modern day interpretations.
“Hule Lam” once again embarked upon a tribal and world beat flavoring that was fused between modern day electronic tones. It would be near impossible not to envision an Amazonian jungle while listening to this particular track.
“Masters Of The Universe” is one of those tracks that you can’t get out of your head. It is darkly seductive while also being dance friendly. In between heavy dance beats, we are enthralled with a female voice singing from beyond the mists, luring us inward.
“Hotaka” completely flips the script by providing an introduction that borders on Gregorian. Underneath, the percussive elements build and froth, teasing the listener that it will overtake the vocals. Instead, both fluctuate together, mutated downwards and recombine for a four on the floor thrusting rhythm.
Odyssey is an intriguing collection of work that will change the way many people view the lifespan of electronic music. Essentially, this retrospective of Juno Reactor’s best music over the years demonstrates how it is possible to incorporate more life into what is conceivably a cold genre to some. While many other electronic contemporaries are utilizing every “oontz” factor programmed into their keyboards, Watkins goes beyond the scope of mere dance music. The work takes on a life of its own through varied samplings of a number of genres and styles. The remarkable accomplishment is that this music is able to combine so many elements yet remain club friendly at the same time.
For those new to Juno Reactor, this is a wonderful introduction to the amassed body of work from Watkins and company. Long time fans will undoubtedly want to include this work into their collection, particularly since “Hotaka” is a new track that is unavailable elsewhere.
Tracks:
1. High Energy Protons
2. Laughing Gas
3. Rotorblade
4. Feel The Universe
5. God Is God
6. Conga Fury
7. Komit
8. Pistolero
9. Hule Lam
10. Masters Of The Universe
11. Hotaka
Collaborators and people
Juno Reactor have worked with:
Ben Watkins
Stefan Holweck (Total Eclipse)
Mike Maguire (Cube Records)
Johann Bley
Paul Jackson (Genetic/Voodoo
People)
Jens Walderbeck
Fletcher, Alex Paterson
(The Orb)
Ian Ion
Mabi Thobejane (Amampondo)
Nick Burton
Xavier Morel
Steve Stevens (Billy Idol's
guitarist).
Band Website: http://www.reactorleak.com
Available from Metropolis
Records at www.metropolis-records.com
KAAN
ERULIA (Berzerker)
~review by Mick
Mercer
If you like throwing the odd rune, have a taste for sags and even fancy hearing the language revitalised why not go to the Norse’s mouth (honestly, I amaze myself sometimes) one Spencer Harrison, he of Son Of William. Its all here, and my bad for thinking I was doing another SOW review, because this is one of his other projects. Given that he has some degree in Teutonics, and makes his own mead, here is a man for whom the boundaries of time blur, and anything is possible.
It isn’t something I feel particularly drawn towards, although the difference between this and much traditional music revisited by any of the Fossil Dungeon people, Ataraxia or Unto Ashes is quite clear. While they do a reverential take on much early and medieval music, Spencer goes for the pagan side with a bleak sound, but without any quasi-profound smearing of creepiness that some ambient urchins lurch about in. It’s just straightforward music, and but highly limited in tone.
No vocals as such, apart from the opening and closing dramatics, just mainly acoustics and percussion, though musicians are credited with such things as an ocean drum, finger cymbals and rainstick! It’s organic, but never orgasmic, and what any of the titles may refer to I haven’t the foggiest really. (Erulians, the sleeve says, were teutonic runemasters.)
You have to be seriously into this stuff to like it, because without the chirpy charm of the more normal madrigal side, what you have here is a charcoal acoustic delivery, with some modern intonations allowed in occasionally, but the instrumentals all follow a pretty direct and rather uneventful path. Maybe he’s even cheating a little with the modern acoustic guitar in ‘The Routing’, which gives the piece greater form that it would have had centuries ago, or the US folk sound of ‘When All is Reshaped’, but by keeping everything simple and very precise during ‘Key Flower’ he also manages to make this music seem more alive somehow than many exponents of the historical art.
Personally , I was only drawn to two pieces, ‘Snowdonia’ and ‘Sylph’, which were exquisitely pleasing, with warmth and emotional moods. The rest tended to be a lot of clattering drums and plonky guitar, which I don’t find delightful, but somehow I’m sure the many people who positively froth with feverish excitement over such plain entities, will find this approach quite heartening. There is definitely something stirring in there, and it isn’t like what I have encountered before.
HAVAMAL (OPENING)
THE ROUTING (UT)
KEY FLOWER
WHEN ALL IS RESHAPED
THE FALLEN
LJOSSALFHEIM
SNOPWDONIA
DOKKALFHEIM
SYLPH
WAYFARING
ISLE SONG
HAVAMAL (CLOSING)
Katatonia
Viva Emptiness
~reviewed by Eric
Rasmussen
There are bands that depress, and bands that sing about being depressed. Katatonia is a combination of the two, writing solid music that any crestfallen individual can surely relate to and appreciate. But Viva Emptiness is also compelling enough to induce depression - mainly thanks to vocalist Jonas Renkse. His semi-alternative rock approach to goth metal is depressing as hell, even if his lyrics sometimes suffer from silliness. As far as I'm concerned, he could sing the etymology of words beginning with 'Q' and I'd be just as captivated. There's a certain honesty to his smoothly flowing vocals, and I have to wonder if he often breaks down during recording or simply doesn't get out of bed most days.
Katatonia established a solid sound on Discouraged Ones, and pretty much kept at it until this newest effort. Viva Emptiness is a much needed change of pace. Katatonia's previous composition style consisted of neatly phrased riffs with Renkse on vocals... and that was about it. Now the guitars creep in the background with haunting, reverberating arpeggios, they rage at the meaninglessness of it all with hard-edged metal grooves, and they even provide compelling lead melodies or off kilter Tool-ish riffs. Although Renkse hasn't changed his vocal approach to any great degree, he adapts well to the band's improved songwriting, and his emotionally laden crooning takes on faster rhythms or bitterly venemous shouts as necessary.
The drums and bass complete the rhythm section and add another welcome aspect to the troubled Katatonia feel. The keyboards are used more for background ambience than lead melodies or solos, but they're always tastefully played and provide another cushioned layer of sound for the listener to sink into. On Tonight's Decision and Last Fair Deal Gone Down, I enjoyed the music greatly, but rarely forgot about the fact that I was listening to songs by a band. Viva Emptiness approaches a deeper form of music with vividly painted soundscapes that you can lose yourself in.
As always, Travis Smith's artwork in the liner notes enhances the overall feel of the CD. His terrifying and barren cityscapes convey a sense of desolation and the trace lingering of violence and death. It's rare that an album has artwork so appropriate to the music, except in the case of other Travis Smith projects, but Katatonia's choice in image gives insight into the feel they're going for. If you like the depressing alternative rock side of goth metal, listen to Katatonia. And if you have yet to hear the band, you're missing out on one of goth/doom metal's most honestly dark and worthwhile acts.
Track List:
1) Ghost of the Sun
2) Sleeper
3) Criminals
4) A Premonition
5) Will I Arrive
6) Burn the Remembrance
7) Wealth
8) One Year From Now
9) Walking by a Wire
10) Complicity
11) Evidence
12) Omerta
13) Inside the City of Glass
Katatonia is:
Jonas Renkse - vocals, guitars,
programming
Anders Nystrom - guitars,
keyboards, programming
Fred Norrman - guitars
Mattias Norrman - bass
Daniel Liljekvist - drums
and percussion
Katatonia - Official Site:
http://www.katatonia.com/
Peaceville Records:
http://www.peaceville.com/
KMFDM
STURM & DRANG
TOUR 2002 DVD
~reviewed by Sonya
Brown
Well the crazy lady next door certainly got an ear full this Tuesday night. On the same evening that I received the new KMFDM DVD, 2002 Sturm & Drang Tour, popped it into the DVD player, and turned up the volume, "Old Lady Looney Tunes" decided to scrub the outside walls of the apartment complex directly under my open kitchen window. Well, she must have liked what she heard. Either that, or she's now even more convinced that her neighbors are black-draped evil-doers; because she lingered outside the front window, scrubbing the same spot, for almost the entirety of the DVD. And, with nearly 2 full hours of film, featuring 31 shows filmed over 34 days of KMFDM on tour... well that must have been one DIRTY little spot that needed scrubbing!
Now, had she actually been eavesdropping (no?! really?!) the sounds she might have heard coming from inside our darkened lair would have been mostly "oooohs" and "ahhhhs", amid the thundering music of KMFDM LIVE.
Perhaps it wasn't JUST the music that made the eavesdropping so intriguing! Perhaps it was the more than 35 minutes of outtakes from the road and back stage. This was certainly one of MY favorite parts of the DVD. About a third of this DVD features the interaction of Sascha Konietzko, Lucia Cifarelli, Raymond Watts, Bill Rieflin, and the rest of the KMFDM gang, interacting with fans. Something that I was fortunate enough to experience first-hand when KMFDM made their way to Portland during this tour. Just ask anyone. Every time I wear my KMFDM tour t-shirt, and every time somebody NOTICES that I'm wearing my KMFDM tour t-shirt, they will get a nice little lecture from me about how WONDERFUL Sascha is, and how I went SHOPPING with Sascha in downtown Portland, and how Sascha gave me a VIP pass to the show (and I never once asked), and... Well, you get the picture. My friends now all tease me and insist that instead of just WEARING the t-shirt, I should also wear a sign that reads "I WENT SHOPPING W/ SASCHA @ SPARTACUS!!" It's the interaction that KMFDM has with their fans that impresses me even as much as their legendary music. And, by watching the KMFDM 2002 TOUR DVD, you get to see a glimpse of this interaction in process.
OK, you want to know about the LIVE performances? You could probably power a sizeable city on the energy levels exuded by these performances. My only gripe would be that I wanted to know exactly WHERE they were at all times! "Is that The Roseland?" "Oh, is that The CatWalk?" I spent most of the time straining my eyes, trying and figure out which city they were performing in.
"I remember when Lucia did THAT" I yelled, as she stomps across the stage during "Boots". "I remember THOSE pants that Sascha was wearing!" "Remember, Raymond was wearing a PIG shirt!" Don't worry, there is enough live footage to make out YOUR town in there somewhere.
Sharp quality, excellent editing, the ATTAK/RELOAD music video, KMFDM interview snippets, in-store appearance antics, various downtown adventures... all this, and much more, awaits you inside this most excellent DVD.
Either purchase your own copy through METROPOLIS - Metropolis-Records.com, or I'll leave the front window open. There's a nasty little stain on the outside of my wall that still needs scrubbing.
TRACK LIST: KMFDM "STURM
& DRANG" TOUR 2002 DVD:
01. D.I.Y.
02. Attak/Reload
03. Dirty
04. Ultra
05. Boots
06. Yohoho
07. Rules
08. Find It Fuck It Forget
It
09. Sturm & Drang
10. Megalomaniac
11. Flesh
12. Wrath
13. Godlike
14. Spit Sperm
Exact link for this dvd: http://www.metropolis-records.com/artists/?artist=kmfdm
Metropolis Records | P.O.
Box 54307 | Philadelphia, PA 19105
610.595.9940 tel | 610.595.9944
fax
e-mail label@metropolis-records.com
Kosmolith
Imperial Orifices
~reviewed by Mike
Ventarola
Some time ago, Ashkelon Sain of Trance To The Sun fame, assisted this Austrian band with the concept and artwork for this release. In turn, he introduced their work to this reviewer. From the outset, they win the honor for being one of the most intriguing avant garde artists heard to date. Admittedly, upon first listening to this CD, it was a daunting task trying to discern a way to review it, particularly since they broke all the rules to create hybrids that haven't been conceived as of yet.
The songs combine elements of medieval, tribal, Celtic, industrial, Germanic Folk, Gothic, ethereal and everything else in the kitchen sink, often within the space of the same song! Now add to this the essence of a haunted carnival, a kaleidoscopic element of childhood toy pianos, dashes of nightmares, touches of psychotic surrealism, dank dungeons, cemeteries, the darkest reaches of space, and doses of classical compositions. The best summation for this work is to equate it as the musical embodiment of a Salvador Dali painting come to life.
Sadly, I still feel a bit inadequate at attempting to describe this work and can only hope that some of the imagery above will provide some semblance of the sound.
One might think that all of those combined musical elements would create nothing but sheer noise. On the contrary, it is sound that is way ahead of its time. This is the kind of music one would have anticipated as part of the soundtrack to the Bruce Willis film, The Fifth Element. Overall, it manages to be disconcerting while paradoxically also being soothing. It is playful as well as spooky. It defies categorization basically and it is something you will just have to hear for yourself. One may be able to find a few tracks on Mp3.com or on their website. If you like sound that completely colors outside the lines and is unlike anything you have ever heard before, check out Kosmolith.
Tracks:
Cruel Miracles
Nemotron
Dark Age Swank
Starlite Kommand
Cruelty of the Ancients/
Grilled Judas
Press Together
Xylence
My Love, My Love
Delicate
Brittle Glass
Cold Winds
My Lines (A New Perspective)
Line Up:
Cameron Bobro: instruments
and vocals
Bernarda Zemljic: female
vox
Mitja "Millenium" Mithans:
Electric guitar on Cruel Miracles
Website: www.kosmolith.com
Email: Kosmolith@hotmail.com
The Last Days Of Jesus
Songs From The Psycho
TV (Monitor/EMI)
~reviewed by Uncle
Nemesis
Notice anything about this band's record label? Yep, it's part of the EMI empire. The Last Days Of Jesus are a major label band. Or at least, that's the status they enjoy in their home country of Slovakia, where the music scene is obviously very different to the way it is around here. The prospect of a band like The Last Days Of Jesus grabbing a major deal in the UK is so remote as to be laughable. It's an impossible dream for any band operating in any branch of the underground. In Slovakia, however, it seems the underground is the overground - or at least, it has enough above-the-parapet profile to make the big bad corporate music biz sit up and take notice.
So, what has the mighty EMI machine got on its hands here? A manic, crazy-eyed, metal-punk-weirdness outfit with a nice line in songs about...well, Christianity, mostly, or so it seems from the lyrics. Christianity, and how it's a Bad Thing. 'I'm a soldier, I'm a big boy/Jesus is my lovely toy', Psycho Mary 'O', the vocalist, informs us in 'Army Of God'. In 'Corrupted', he remarks: 'Here is no place for God's son anymore/The second coming is just a joke, I know/Now I can feel the pain in your heart/...I can sell all this a-a-art' - a piece of songwriting which perhaps cynically reveals the band's agenda. They're anti-religion - but they know that anti-religion *sells*. And so, it would appear, does EMI!
Well, that's the big idea behind the racket. The racket itself is an engaging mish-mash of metallic-buzzsaw guitars and relaxed-yet-driving drums. Psycho Vajco (every member of the band is Psycho-something-or-other) is one of those drummers who can slap down a full-on rhythm while contriving to make it all sound effortless and economical. Add some samples, squiggles, and keyboard atmospherics, and those dry, deadpan, mittel-Europe accented vocals, and there you have The Last Days Of Jesus.
The band only drop their agenda for the obligatory wacky cover, which in this case is a version of Visage's 'Fade To Grey'. Now, I've heard so many 'ironic' versions of golden chart smasheroonies from the 80s in my time that I tend to groan inwardly when yet another crops up. However, The Last days Of Jesus treat the song with an affectionate disrespect which works surprisingly well - as if Marilyn Manson suddenly had a sense of humour surgically implanted into his soul.
The Last Days Of Jesus really come into their own on stage, where they come across as rather more punk rock than they do on this metal- oriented album. But they're following their own cracked vision, and they've convinced a major record label to bankroll their antics, so for their individuality and audacity we should praise them. Yea, e'en as we praise the Lord. Amen.
The tunestack:
Nurses Psycho Jesus Nerve
Arrest The Angels
Doc, Doc
Army Of God
Comedy With The Devil
Corrupted
Killing Vibrations
Verdict Of Modern Age
Psycho TV
Too Weak For Suicide
Red Light...Good Night
Fade To Grey
The players:
Psycho Mary 'O': Vocals
Psycho Fessy: Guitars
Psycho Vajco: Drums
Psycho Anjou: Keyboards
& programming
The website: http://www.lastdays.host.sk
Reviewed by Uncle Nemesis:
http://www.nemesis.to
LOVESLIESCRUSHING
VOIRSHN (Projekt)
~reviewed by Mick
Mercer
I have in past Goth books made much of Cleopatra and labelled them the label, from an American perspective, but that wasn’t as an artistic force, merely in recognition of how they facilitated the sustained spread of 90’s Goth sounds in the States. From an artistic viewpoint there isn’t a label to touch Projekt in the world. I’ve been devouring music since the independent scene first waved tentative arms around and there has never been a label like Projekt, and if some of their artists are trendy to the nth degree, like this album and this ‘project’ well, so what? That’s all part and parcel of their appeal.
Look at the pretentious titles, and realise they opt intentionally for post-indie splendour, on this, their fourth, and mail-order only, album. It’s a cathedral of sound right enough, with the roof slice off. It’s bleepy and seeping from one track to another, it’s fragrant and unsettling, or so airy as to not even be there.
Think of the aftermath of an agitated windchimes union meeting, or dejected refrigerator components falling out on an arid plain. The tipsy pitter-patter of electronic patterns with feedback for paernts, angel dropping splattering over your windscreen on the slow-motion motorway of life.
Or whatever. Call it ambient, as long as its in the way that experimental music before Punk was always termed post-Stockhausen.
Can’t afford a flotation tank session? This makes a perfect replacement.
GLIXEN
RIUJ
SOVFX
TEGUEI
CKAIF
JUHL
ONOVI
SHIVON
RONEA
VIHYGEN
Also received a copy of Beneath The Icy Floe, Issue 1 - the free Projekt magazine, which has a lovely visual allure, quietly dowdy, while including plenty of reviews tied in with this label and the like-minded Middle Pillar, including interviews with Claire Voyant, Steve Roach, The Brides, Human Drama, Sloa, Mors Syphilitica, Black tape, Voltaire and The Changelings.
You know what’s weird? I
never like to feel superior, but you have to feel genuinely sorry for people
who aren’t into this. You really, really do.
MEMO
QUIET DAYS
~review by Mick
Mercer
I get a little worried when CDs arrive hinting at the promise of synthpop because I’m a big, brutal adventurer at heart. I’m not that fussed by Industrialisation and mechanisation, as I prefer orthodox excitement, peppered with new ideas, and synthy stuff tends to malnourished, milky fare. Luckily it also exists in a timeframe all its own, so when Memo also add that there are elements of modern electronica and British guitar rock, you know there’s something else going on here, most noticeably an almost discernible lack of British Guitar Rock!
It isn’t big, but it is clever, and it keeps nagging at me that I could be giving you almost scandalously accurate comparisons if it wasn’t for the fact that I never paid much heed to the lighter of bands from the Indie arena, which is where you would naturally find Memo lurking.
You see, it ‘s a curious thing, Ten years on and Memo have an empathic similarity to some Shoegazing bands, but they also fit in comfortably with some of the early 80’s indie scene from the UK, most noticeably early Postcard and Factory recordings. I’m thinking specifically of a hybrid somewhere between Young Marble Giants and Section 25, with a hint of more populist acts thrown in. The reason this is possible is that the song are small, fleshed out by the fact the songs work. You can be as slender as you like, musically, if the vocals can create a vocal melody, or enchant a rhythm with subtle touches, and Memo do this.
Just a duo, with William Moore handling vocals, keyboards and bass, with Steve Tomlinson doing guitars and backing vocals, and trying to get hisfluteb into action, they create some delightfully attrractive work here which only gains in statute with repeated plays.
In Embrace. That’s another band!
Instantly you see their appeal with ‘The Only Way’ because despite the wavering vocal control they have the adventurous spirit necessary to get stuck straight in, making the light surrounds fit the big bones of the overall idea. The vocals have established presence by ‘Quiet Days’ and the guitar is busy with a spacious drizzle of notes. There’s often little bursts, then drop downs to silence, and a steady build up. The more it grows, the more insistent they become, and ‘Away’, a song anticipating loss, is exquisitely delicate, and quite creepily pretty.
When they get bouncier something
odd happens. ‘A Thousand Times’ and ‘A World Undone’ are OMD-Lite, as it
were, adopting more conventional form, but somehow not as convincing. In
‘Blue View’ they’re more synthy than pop, with a frisky setting which is
modern and blustery, but the ghost-ridden sleepy stroll of ‘Hours Stolen’
gets my vote, as does the achingly beautiful ‘Shades Of Gray’, complete
with guitar guile mostly seen in the very early 80’s Goth daze.
Funny thing about bands
like this is they seem to be the sort who might best benefit from the Net’s
ability to help boost their profile, but the idea of using a machine to
find people who use machines always tends to dwarf their achievements,
by technological association, if you see what I mean?
Avoiding this band would be a very great shame, as I think they could come up with something very special, and this short album (35 mins) is a fantastic opener.
THE ONLY WAY
QUIET DAYS
AWAY
A THOUSAND TIMES
BLUE VIEW
SHADES OF GRAY
A WORLD UNDONE
HOURS STOLEN
Ministry
Animositisomina (Animosity)
~reviewed by Matthew
Heilman
Ministry’s latest and eighth full-length studio release was unleashed upon the music world this past February. Many readers probably already have this album and some of you may have caught them on tour this past spring. Besides being dramatically behind on reviews, my main excuse for delaying this review is that I was hoping after a few months of listening to this disc, I would have had more to say about it. And to be honest, I still don’t really know what to say. That does not mean however that it isn’t any good. It just doesn’t really inspire that many words. It does however make me want to smash things and light people on fire, which I think should testify, at least in some respects, to the album’s success.
The rumours around ‘the scene’ since this album’s release have been along the lines of “Dude, its like Psalm 69 part 2!” Which is really not true. But I have heard this from a number of different sources, even before the disc hit the shelves. Granted, Animosity is the most aggressive album since the band’s most popular 1991 release. It’s a cold and very noisy album, the shrill guitars buzzing along with a piercing fuzz-box distortion while mechanical drumming is occasionally fused with live organic percussion. Jourgensen’s vocal spectrum on the album ranges from his familiar gruff yet intelligible growls, to hollow processed screams and a few reverberating ‘melodic’ parts (a la Godflesh) – all of which are very effective.
As a fan of Ministry, I was satisfied with the release. It’s something I can listen to and enjoy while stuck in rush hour traffic and it does recall their earlier work, but truthfully, I don’t think it resembles anything they have ever done before. It definitely sounds like them, but it is also a very contemporary, fresh sounding record. But from a critical standpoint, a release’s success cannot be obtained by aggression alone and the album seems to be fueled by frustration and anger alone. Hooks are just as important for heavy bands as they are for melodic ones. And “Animosity” begins to run out of steam toward the end of the album. There are a few points on the disc where you can’t help but say, “Well, its fabulous to hear from you again and that you are pissed off, Mr. Jourgensen. But now what?”
There are quite a few highlights, such as the hostile attack of a title track and Al’s vocal performances on “Unsung” especially. “The Light Pours Out of Me” features an interesting arrangement of snappy upbeat drumming, percussive bass, and an almost ‘happy’ guitar riff that pushes the song forward into more accessible territory. The epic nine-minute closing track “Leper” has a somewhat eerie, sprawling vibe to it that caught my attention but the song never really goes anywhere or adds another potential “Scarecrow” or “Cannibal Song” to the band’s repertoire. The remaining tracks all have their moments, be it a striking guitar screech, frantic drumming, or a cool vocal part – but otherwise, there are just as many creative valleys as there are peaks.
The album was much heavier than I expected it to be, so much so that I was initially somewhat worried that weekend club kids who claim to Ministry fans would have been put off by it. But then again, “N.W.O.” and “Just One Fix” were pretty heavy and I still am surprised that those songs did so well with club kids that seem to have an aversion to heavy guitars and guttural vocals. Perhaps in a few years, a few of these songs will reveal the same kind of longevity. I doubt that most Ministry fans would be disappointed in this release.
Track List:
1.) Animosity
2.) Unsung
3.) Piss
4.) Lockbox
5.) Broken
6.) The Light Pours Out
Of Me
7.) Shove
8.) Impossible
9.) Stolen
10.) Leper
Ministry is:
Al Jourgensen
Paul Barker
New Official Website:
http://www.animositisomina.com
Misteltein (Sweden)
Divine.Desecrate.Complete
~reviewed by Joel
Steudler
Satan seems to be vacationing in Sweden these days, and he appears to have taken up a pastime: provoking Swedes to abandon their melodic deathmetal leanings in favor of visceral black metal. Misteltein have happily fallen into the fold and 'ol Scratch is likely quite pleased. The band's brand of ferocious devil worship is indeed fast, furious, and frightening in its intensity. All the relentless riffing, blistering blast beats, and guttural growling could drive a reviewer to spontaneously alliterate if they aren't careful.
Divine.Desecrate.Complete bludgeons listeners with forty seven minutes of high speed guitar crunch and relentless rapid fire drumming. Occasional waves of synthy church organ sweep over the din to add an appropriately blasphemous texture to the proceedings, and once in a while an angelic lead synth line will counter the ungodly terror... but neither diminish the breakneck assault led by the non-keyboardist bandmembers. I often wonder how musicians playing this fast avoid injuring themselves or others. If someone lost their grip on a guitar pick or drumstick, someone could easily put out an eye.
Misteltein doesn't altogether eschew their country's traditional death metal roots. The vocals alternate between a lacerated-throat black metal rasp and subterranean incoherent death grunts. Also present are Satan's favorite kind of guitar solos, those of the squiggly and randomly chromatic variety. Like some kind of unholy Reeses Peanut-Butter Cup, Misteltein mix the great tastes of black and death metal then douse the result in enough keyboardy-atmospheric pressure that a warm front will surely be raising temperatures to unbearable levels wherever this album is played.
Interesting riffs and pounding rhythms keep Divine.Desecrate.Complete consistently engaging and aggressive. A Dimmu Borgir-ish 'wall of sound' production style gives the music high density, but the mix still allows each instrument to be clearly heard in all its underworldly glory. The only aspect of this album that demonstrates a lack of creativity is the trite and truly worn out Satan worship theme... but the incomprehensibility of the lyric content keeps that irksome factor to a minimum while listening. Though neither groundbreaking or evolutionary, Divine.Desecrate.Complete is a hard hitting kick in the teeth of an album that fans of atmospheric black metal will surely enjoy.
Track List:
01.) Bloodline desires
02.) Thy kingdom cum
03.) Where angels no more
roam...
04.) Completion
05.) Forsaken emperor
06.) Excruciate the virgin
dream
07.) Eye of the shadowden
08.) Entwined
09.) Ascending through descending
Misteltein is:
Seron - Vocals
Nagrinn - Guitars
Mishrack - Guitars
Hel - Keyboards
Karagat - Bass
Nirag - Battery, Keyboards
Misteltein Official Website:
http://www.misteltein.cjb.net/
Mercenary Musik:
http://www.mercenarymusik.com
World War III Music:
http://www.ww3music.com/
Morthem Vlade Art
Photography In Things
~reviewed by Mike
Ventarola
Morthem Vlade Art’s latest work, Photography In Things, challenges and attempts to changed the notion about electronic music and introspection. Although there is a definite beat and rhythm interwoven throughout this disc, it isn’t your average heavy BPM oontz-groove to insert during the midnight hour in a club setting.
On the whole, the music is down tempo electronic, incorporating lyrics which combine pensive reflection with subtle stream of consciousness touches. The thematic approach was to depict a desire for freedom while understanding the imprisonment of the material. While that may be a bit too cerebral for some to grasp, like all art, listeners will come away with a variety of interpretations.
The cover of the CD shows the artists sitting near at the edge of an empty beach. Their backs are facing the camera, yet they are close enough for us to realize the essence of a close knit bond which exists between them. The day is gray and overcast, as though a chilly day in the Fall season. Two fishing poles are standing upright in the sand, cast into the gentle ocean tide. For those who have ever gone walking on an empty beach during the Fall season, it is understandable how such an experience can provide an amazing bit of insight, introspection and clarity during even the most emotionally troubling time. The cover gives us the essence that the contents will also ask the listener to reflect just a bit more than some may be accustomed to doing.
In the same vein of obtaining
introspection after a long, lone walk on the beach during off-season, so
too does this CD provide a bit of comfort and clarity in the confusion.
We are prompted to notice
that there is an essence of something photographic in all things, no matter
how mundane or simplistic it may first appear to our rational mind. The
artists request that we not read the lyrics while listening to music, which
arer written more like bits of prosaic poetry as opposed to the typical
measures of lyric writing. Throughout the booklet, photographs accompany
the tracks, though the small size of some may negate comprehension
of the intent.
“Extension” brings us to that point some would call the “great a-ha!” The place and time in one’s life where realization creeps into our psyche to make us aware that change is inevitable and unstoppable. Even more, we are faced with the understanding that we must desire more in order to avoid personal stagnation.
“My Ear At Night” is an odd love song. Here, the ear is depicted with sonic clarity that can hear skin stretching and the heartbeat of the beloved at night . There is acceptance to travel to the good and bad places of someone just so long as even the simplest parts of them are never lost. There are quite a number of electronic squeaks and blips providing a mechanized “photograph” of the ear embracing everything from this special person.
“Tireless Summer” borders on Zen sensibility coupled with traces of existentialism . The lyrical protagonist is depicted as “a veil between tomorrow and yesterday, a changing image” that does not exist. While thoughts are conveyed about foreseeing the things lost or never obtained, it is seen that in the passing of time, we carry death with us from the moment of our birth. This track has a bit of 80’s new wave sentiment to it which could cross over with clubs that start their nights off with a bit of slower synthpop.
“The Slope” opens with subtle elements of a funereal type dirge with gentle percussion percolating around the bass notes with bits of surrealistic lyrics. On one level, it explores the sentiment that our life will bring us to a point where we cannot stand, and it may not only be due to old age. At the same time, words will “glide over smooth bodies,” incomprehensible to the generation behind us. Ultimately, we find ourselves less inclined to immerse ourselves in crowds who are lost in modernism. Nothing will effect us, neither beauty nor love, because the ability to love will have been lost.
“Print IV” is an electronic instrumental track that starts off with elements that are modern, yet provincial and Mediterranean. It provides such a decidedly French feeling, that it is uncanny. This impression then gives way to an even more modern twist of electronic pulsations that strip away all essences of regional feeling.
“Rooms For Tourists” could be called the great grandchild of Kraftwerk. The intro resorts to blips and electronic effects and then segues in flowing notes during the chorus. The song may have some thinking of a divorce lawyers office or a funeral parlor. Basically this is “a neutral place, without shared memories….the floor is polished, the curtains flowing. The question is put forth which asks “how many stories have finished this way?”
“On The Bank” has lyrics that prod us to just let go and drift into a sea of tranquility. The old self is meant to die while the new life ahead will come back refreshed from respite at the waters edge.
“Transcontinental” takes a personal inventory of the self. One cannot forget what they are and must embark upon a transitional journey during the dream state. This particular track has a bit more of an uptempo beat that may find some rotation in a few clubs. A couple of remixes as an EP would be ideal! The vocals are delivered with a bit more intensity and conviction while the electronics pulsate like blood cells through the veins.
“Echo” once again provides the imagery of surrealism along with being and nothingness. A love that was lost is once again there upon waking, yet nothing is really there. The intro weaves a child’s crib chime with distant spoken voices, whispers and sounds of moving objects. The “waking” moment draws the sounds together in a culmination of beats and bittersweet somber notes.
“Traces” veers into electronic
and noise effects that seem to take sound and create it into random shapes.
There is a need presented that wants to feel “that all is not lost.”
It explores the desire to experience something good from the past while
not having to relive it again. Ultimately there are no answers.
“A Dish Of Malicious Gossip”
is another instrumental track. Electronic sounds fuse together as though
being welded and crafted from various forms of colored metal. There is
an odd sense of texture that seems to expand, inflate, reduce and bend
in a myriad of components.
“Against The Current” brings about a pop sensibility that was once evident during the 80’s. The lyrics explore the need for motivation, yet also intrinsically understand that everything is fleeting. Yesterday’s triumphs can and often will lead to tomorrows feeling of failure during those moments of our solitude.
Photography In Things is a testament to modern day electronic music fused as art. Rather than being artistically condescending, it simply exists as a creative statement of being a cog in a very large wheel that can never be fully viewed. Sentiments of a bittersweet nature weave between the verses, hoping to bring the listener towards a sense of inner knowing of the finiteness of all things. Overall, this work is best for solitary listening on a headset when one needs a bit of escape from the world for a bit of time.
Tracks:
1. Extension
2. My Ear At Night
3. Tireless Summer
4. The Slope
5. Print IV
6. Rooms For Tourists
7. On The Bank
8. Transcontinental
9. Echo
10. Traces
11. A Dish Of Malicious
Gossip
12. Against The Current
Morthem Vlade Art are:
Emmanuelle D and Gregg Anthe
Band Website:
http://morthemvladeart.chez.tiscali.fr/
Email: morthemvladeart@worldonline.fr
Mourning Beloveth
My Sullen Sulcus
~reviewed by Matthew
Heilman
One thing that is really comforting for fans of Doom Metal – nearly every band that sincerely makes a conscientious effort to contribute to this genre of music is successful. That is not to say that there aren’t some disappointing bands out there masquerading as Doom, but truthfully, there are basically either the serious bands or the wannabes, and the distinction between the two is immediately recognizable. Nearly every serious Doom band I have ever heard I have liked and would recommend to any music fan that seeks to be overwhelmed by emotion in music. I admit my bias – I can’t help but respond to the density, macabre romanticism, and misery apparent in this music. Very little else dares to plunder such artistic depths of human discontent. And that is why out of all current music being released today, I am excited and moved the most by Doom bands. With all that said, allow me to introduce our readers to Mourning Beloveth, the latest band to join the ranks of other elite Doom masters that continue to make dark music history.
Mourning Beloveth hail from Ireland, and My Sullen Sulcus is the second full-length release by the band, which continues to explore the same somber themes of their critically acclaimed debut Dust from 2001. Initially plagued with comparisons to My Dying Bride, the band has attempted to carve their own niche in the scene, and with this release, I believe they definitely have succeeded in setting themselves apart from other bands. On this release at least, the only real similarity to MDB that I picked up on was the mix of the album, which can be expected since Mourning Beloveth entered Academy studios and recruited longtime MBD producer Mags to engineer the album. The guitars possess the same signature warmth and are mixed in the forefront, much like some of MDB’s classic releases.
While Mourning Beloveth boasts the expectant characteristics of Doom, the effect of the music presented on this disc is a bit less immediate than most bands. I usually have an instant reaction to this kind of music. While my reaction to their music was certainly positive, it took several successive listens for me to fully grasp what they’re doing and come to love them as much as some of my other favourite Doom bands. Mourning Beloveth does not simply wear their black hearts on their sleeves. The melancholy vulnerability is certainly there, however, their music is more dense, perhaps more depressive in its stark uniformity. They do not use any keyboards, but rather rely solely upon the guitars, vocals, and rhythmic structures to create atmosphere. They seem to attempt to distract from the usual romantic elements, even in lyrical content. Their song titles hint of more horrific content than most, steeped more so in torment and damnation than the accustomed lovelorn subjects of bands like My Dying Bride or early Anathema. The guitar melodies are colder and more detached than most. The guttural vocals are perhaps the band’s one weakness, in that they are somewhat inexpressive and flat. They suit the music well, but if guttural vocals of this kind were the only style that the band were to offer, a great bit of this album’s charm would be lost.
It is without question the clean vocals that really set Mourning Beloveth apart, most especially on the third and fourth tracks of the album. Though a few passages appear early in the album, they are not as remarkable as the ones that appear later. In fact, truthfully, the band only really begins to shine on “The Insolent Caul.” The primary twin guitar harmonies are stronger, more melodic, darker, and much more poignant in tone and expressiveness. Equally as enchanting is the songs climax, where an epic, galloping dose of stronger rhythms appear, rumbling hypnotically beneath pensive and delightfully gloomy lead guitar passages. But it is the moment when the clean vocals are introduced about three minutes into the song that one can truly comprehend Mourning Beloveth’s unique authority. I just stopped dead in awe and listened to the buoyant ebb and swell of these heartfelt vocals. Not only is the singing itself magnificent on a technical level, but the melody is exceptionally evocative, moving, and deeply depressive. His voice rises to hopeful heights and sinks to disenchanted lows, an entire spectrum of emotion in one single vocal line. It’s truly that amazing. While the contrast of clean and guttural vocals is surely nothing new, I am not sure I have ever heard such colourful, impassioned clean vocals in a band like this before. And of course, Mourning Beloveth is wise enough not to exhaust such a wonderful thing, for there is only a few other similar vocal arrangements on the album about halfway through the brooding march of “Narcissistic Funeral” and toward the middle of the title track. But I can’t help but wonder if perhaps they could have been a bit more liberal with this style, since these few parts are the album’s most distinctive highlights that will surely strike fans.
The vocals though are not the only thing will bring joy (or welcomed misery) to Doom fans. Once Mourning Beloveth warms up and the listener warms up to them, the album begins to unfold and yields an inexhaustible amount of rhythmic and harmonic highlights. The title track lurches along, as the hefty guitar chords climb higher and higher, threatening to burst into a new perhaps faster explosion of bleak melody, but instead they plunge back into an abyss of restless yearning. You get lost in the veritable maze of chords winding through this song. At last, the track segues into a murky arrangement of chiming arpeggios and a poignant duet between soaring clean vocals and tortured growls of defeat and rage.
Though it takes a few tracks to really get to the core of Mourning Beloveth’s genius, I can’t imagine Doom fans being disappointed with any aspect of this release. It will be interesting to see what this outfit’s next release contributes to the genre, for I sense greater things to come from this Irish quintet. In the meantime, fans of dreary Doom should not hesitate to add My Sullen Sulcus to their record collection.
“There is something painful in the first spring bud of life;
It tears at the insides and claws at the doors of tenderness
That riseth in black forms from an obsolete graveyard.”
Track List:
1.) The Words That Crawled
2.) It Almost Looked Human
3.) The Insolent Caul
4.) Narcissistic Funeral
5.) My Sullen Sulcus
6.) Anger’s Streaming Arrows
Mourning Beloveth is:
Frank – guitars and vocals
Darren – vocals
Brian – guitars
Adrian – bass
Tim – drums
Official Website:
http://www.mourningbeloveth.com
Aftermath Music:
http://www.aftermath-music.com
Paul McCarrol (Artwork):
http://www.unhinged-art.co.uk/
Mysterium
Soulwards
~reviewed by Joel
Steudler
Teutonic minstrels Mysterium have a winner on their hands with the new album Soulwards. They've deftly mixed aggressive crunch, lively melodies, and varied instrumentation into a fine example of modern metal. Soulwards reminds me of what a more baroque, symphonic Soilwork album might sound like... at once aggressive and atmospheric, melodic yet harsh and gripping. Stylistically, Mysterium falls somewhere in between melodic deathmetal and symphonic black metal, with a touch of gothic romanticism and a slight progressive edge thrown in for good measure. The band has staked a claim to this land-between-genres and appears ready to defend it with their arsenal of finely crafted songs.
Clearly, Mysterium understands the principle of keeping music interesting by varying tempo and dynamics. The songs on Soulwards range from bruisingly aggressive guitar-fueled assaults to relaxed, introspective ethereal melodies... and they never overstay their welcome in one particular configuration. Several vocal approaches are deployed over the length of the album, often changing multiple times within each song. Harsh, crazed male rasps (again reminiscent of older Soliwork), strained whispers, clean male singing, and one track with ghostly female vocals round out the choir of vocal stylings, adding to the album's emotional and tonal diversity.
The instrumentation used across Soulwards is as varied and emotive as the singing. In addition to the standard guitars (played using both a meaty blast and dreamy clean settings), several tracks feature piano backing, and nearly all sport a dense bed of synth electronics. The synths always serve the song rather than force their way to the front, giving the music a lush atmosphere and substantial depth. Similarly, the piano is mainly used as another layer in the mix, but occasionally carries the melody. In all cases, the choice of instrument and its place in the sonic field feels entirely appropriate. Strong production values and clear mixing keep everything distinct and full of life, imbuing the music with a full, dense, vibrant sound.
Well crafted albums of interesting music are always welcome in my library, and thus by extension so is Soulwards. Mysterium has discovered a niche in the nether-lands between genres that isn't so oversaturated that even good material becomes trite... which is a real danger in metal these days. They execute their chosen sound with style and conviction, and thus will surely please fans of the more creative side of metal.
Track List:
01.) Ambivalentika
02.) Within Tempted Moon
03.) Sirrah
04.) Awaiting Thy Pentacle
Aeon
05.) theSe Mirrored 1s
06.) Dreams Unfold
07.) Spiral Mystery
08.) Sphereflight
Mysterium is:
Sagron - vocals, guitars
Gwydion - electronics
Ciikh - guitars
Ferrak - bass
Orpheus - drums
Mysterium Official Website:
http://www.prophecy.cd/mysterium
Prophecy Records:
http://www.prophecy.cd/
Negative Format
Cipher Method
~reviewed by chris
parasyte
Negative Format is Alex Matheau. Following a split from Gashed! Records (who released the band’s albums Result of a New Culture and Distant Pules), Negative Format founded Sector 9 Studios. Cipher Method is Negative Format’s first full-length effort under the Sector 9 banner, following last year’s Static EP. Cipher Method sees Negative Format traveling further down the road to trance. A handful of tracks on last year’s U-Turn: An Exploration in Trance (the first in a series of CDs from Canada’s Art of Fact Records) saw Negative Format dive headlong into the trance deep end. While Cipher Method doesn’t get quite as deep into the area of trance as the tracks on U-Turn did, there’s still no mistaking the growing influence of trance and goa on Alex Matheau’s music. Still, no one will likely mistake this for the likes of Infected Mushroom or Cosmosis.
Negative Format has fully embraced many of the conventions of techno music, and with some success. Many of the dance beats backing the music here will be familiar to anyone who’s ever been to a dance club or a rave. Most of the tracks have pretty predictable sequences in them that will make them easy for people who have never heard them before to dance along without missing a beat. This is the kind of CD that club and rave DJs will love to have in their gig bags, and won’t draw any complaints from kids who are looking to have a good booty-shakin’ night (with or without E).
It is hard to single out any song or handful of songs on this CD for either praise or damnation - most of them blend together and sound pretty much alike. The vocals and lyrics aren’t really distinctive enough on any given track to make them stand apart, and most of the music is a case of ‘variations on a theme’ leaving a bit of a taste of carbon paper in their wake. I can’t fault the production or composition on Cipher Method one bit - it’s tighter than a lot of what comes along - but for the most part each track sounds the same as the one that came before it, with little more than a slight tweaking of a keyboard line or sample or some other detail to differentiate them. In a way it is kind of a shame because what is here is good, solid stuff, but listening to track after track of it starts to get a bit stale. Negative Format was once one of the more interesting, experimental artists working in what I refer to as ‘structured’ electronic music, but Cipher Method seems to be falling prey to musical pattern.
While Trance and techno dominate the sound of Cipher Method, there is also a good deal of ambient-inspired sound working its way into this album. Many of the songs have intricate keyboard lines that catch the interest of the listener and momentarily distract from the driving dance beats. The closer on the CD is ‘Packet Filter’, which is more of a cool down track than anything else, and offers a welcome change from the light switch rave that precedes it. Still clocking in at 146 beats per minute, the song has a subdued feel to it that ends the CD on a down note.
Cipher Method is, overall, a good record, if a bit repetitive. Most of the songs have a similar feel to them, and for the most part the tracks hit between 130 and 140 BPM. Matheau’s vocals - which could have given each track its own individual character - are placed rather low in the mix, and ran through distortion on top of that. The result is that you have to strain your ear a bit to hear them, and they often end up getting lost in the sound. It’s easy to get lost while listening to this album - more than once I found myself checking the readout on my CD player to figure out what song I was listening to. Unfortunately, the lack of experimentation is more of a hindrance to this album than anything else.
More or less a full-on techno record, Cipher Method is not quite as interesting a CD to listen to as previous Negative Format albums like Distant Pulses or Result of a New Culture. I have to admit I’m a big fan of musical diversity on a CD (translation: I have a short attention span), and a full length album of club dancefloor techno isn’t really my idea of home listening. While previous Negative Format CDs found heavy rotation in my 5-Disc at home, this one is more recommended for listening to on headphones while biking or jogging than anything else.
Track List:
1. Cipher
2. Automate
3. Transfer
4. Schema
5. Algorythm
6. Senseless
7. Vertex
8. Static
9. Encryption
10. Downfall (Atmosphere)
11. Packet Filter
Negative Format is:
Alex Matheau
Official Website: www.negativeformat.com
Email: alex@negativeformat.com
Sector 9 Studios:
www.sector9studios.com
info@sector9studios.com
Sector 9 Studios
P.O. Box 784355
Winter Garden, FL
34778-4355 USA
Navicon Torture Technologies
Power Romance ( 2002/Cranial
Fracture Recordings)
~review by Kristina
Rogers
Navicon Torture Technologies is the primary project of a staggeringly ambitious New York City artist known as "Leech" who, aside from releasing several NTT recordings a year, is apparently also a writer, photographer, DJ and owner of his own record label. Having not heard any of NTTs other 16 or so CD releases, I'm not sure I'm in the best position to write a thoroughly-informed review of Power Romance – but I'm taking a wild stab at it anyway – because I found it gripping and viscerally disturbing, if not much else, and just because I can.
Power Romance is clearly a work of self-absorption. It's doesn't have a terribly approachable sound at first-listen unless you're a die-hard noise/experimental aficionado, yet at the same time, it's pretty hard to turn off. From the insistent pulse of the opening track ("My Angel With Hook in Her Eyes"), the listener is drawn in through a journey of insurgent, compulsive and unrelenting mechanical hell that I can only assume is some manifestation of a tortured soul.
The second track, "I Want to Commit a Crime of Passion," is definitely a departure from the first, incorporating more of a "traditional" music sound that opens with an almost soothing melody, and then slowly introduces an interesting 2-cycle engine sort of effect over the top. While I enjoyed the groove, I kept expecting it to break out into some kind of beat or the introduction of some new sounds - but it never did - apart from the very end where the song was sharply cut into by an emotional explosion of snarling vocals which were a pretty welcome change (although I nearly drove off the road).
I'm going to gloss over a couple of songs, including Track 3 in which a single note droned on for upwards of 6 minutes without much redemption, and talk about those that really stand out. "Spiritvs Capax" boasts an interesting ¾ beat (not so often utilized in electronic genres) and comes off as sort of a menacing industrial waltz one might expect to find someone dancing to in a mental institution with a decapitated babydoll (and that's pretty high praise from me – don't be fooled). I liked it.
Track 5, the shortest on the album, is somewhat of a reprieve from the longer, more drawn-out, repetitive tracks with some cool yet haunting vocal effects that I assume were intended to blend with the instrumentation rather than stand-alone as a vocal track (and don't expect to understand them!). Track 7, an unrecognizable cover of Prince's "The Beautiful Ones" off Purple Rain, is in my opinion definitely the stand-out song on this CD. I really loved the Middle-Eastern edge to the vocals, which again blended into the mix almost as though just another instrument or synth effect. The album closes with "Blood Splatter Evidence" which struck me as perhaps a depiction of a rabid, frenetic, mechanical rape – from the opening line "what it would feel like to have a strange penis inside you, pumping away…" to the relentless grinding, churning, electronic pulse that follows and simply doesn't cease until the listener is left feeling weary and a bit disgusted.
Leech has commented in interviews that "I regard NTT as a catharsis, and it's some thing that I need to do" and that "my music is a projection of my hatred for everyone on earth and myself." So… as a self-absorbed sort of purgative self-expression, Power Romance is definitely a success in that it grips the listener and doesn't let go until they pretty much feel the artist's pain. Cranial Fracture, the label that released this, went so far as to call NTT "a new form of music" – and as powernoise goes, I'll almost give them that. It isn't "music" in the traditional sense of the word, and it clearly breaks all "it's got a good beat and you can dance to it" barriers. I like that there is no sense of contrivance here – Power Romance is simply art born of pain – brought to life by someone who's been in the scene a long time and is good at what he does. So I guess my only big complaint here is that this album hints at something it never quite fulfills. And while I'm the last person who'd want to stifle or mess with someone's artistic expression, it is sometimes wise to keep the casual listener in mind if your art isn't strictly for you and you're planning to sell it. While I was pleased about the fact that no 2 tracks on the album sound the same and that there's variety from track-to-track, variety WITHIN each track is severely lacking. With someone as obviously talented and driven as Leech, I would think he could mix things up a bit more – the looping and relentless repetition just gets a bit old.
Although my voyeuristic nature might drive me to pick up copies of some of Navicon Torture Technologies' provocatively-titled later works (such as "The Church of Dead Girls" and "Fuck You, You Never Loved Me"), my suspicion is that, as with Power Romance, they wouldn't sit in my CD player much longer than a few listens – and my hunch is the artist wouldn't lose much sleep over that. He's obviously got bigger shit on his mind.
Tracks:
1. My Angel With Hooks in
Her Eyes
2. I Want to Commit a Crime
of Passion
3. When you Walk Past Me
4. Spiritvs Capax
5. Today is the Day
6. A Need to Be Desired
7. The Beautiful Ones
8. Scumbag Passion
9. Postcoital
10. Blood Splatter Evidence
Artist Website: http://leechnest.net/ntt
Omnium Gatherum (Finland)
Spirits and August
Light
~reviewed by Joel
Steudler
Joy fills my dark, withered soul when a band who I've never heard of smacks me upside the head with an album that reaffirms my love of metal. Such was the case with Omnium Gatherum's spectacular Spirits and August Light. Amazingly, this album is their full-length debut... but they sound like they've been playing for many years and are at the peak of their art. The album is a masterpiece of progressive blackened power thrash, which is a new genre I have invented for just this occasion. The raw propulsive energy, intricate songwriting, and uplifting riffs mark Spirits... as an instant classic, an album that metal fans should not ignore.
Nothing is missing in this tour-de-force of high octane metal. The guitars are virtuosically handled by Markus Vanhala and Harri Pikka, who rip off dancing melodic leads and thundering rhythms with equal aplomb. Jarmo Pikka never misses a beat as he pounds the skins through dozens of tempo changes that come flying in from all angles with no warning. Anti Filppu's manic, frenzied rasping fills each track with a desperate urgency and provides a darker counterpoint to the melodic and often beautiful guitar passages. The keyboards and bass serve as seasonings in the dense sonic stew, providing depth and fullness to the band's sound. Taken all together, the individal contributions gel into a sumptuous meal fit for conniseurs of fine, vintage metal.
Spirits... never has a chance to become uninteresting or stale as a seemingly endless fusillade of riffs careens off the CD and into the stimulus cortex of your brain. The album's brisk pace slackens occasionally, but only to let you catch your breath before the pedal hits the metal again. Pacing is definitely one of the strong points of the songwriting, as the band knows just when to lay off the accelerator in order to make it even more dramatic when they floor it again. The clear, lush production also does its part in keeping the interest level high by giving the album a meaty, thick crunch but allowing for all the vibrancy and life of the performers to shine through.
Fans of Children of Bodom will be especially at home listening to Omnium Gatherum, but that comparison doesn't fully describe their sound. I instantly felt a connection to latter-day Carcass (from their Heartwork and Swan Song era), in both bands' ability to merge a relentless rhythmic assault with catchy riffs and blistering leads. Echoes of classic Death also peek through, but really it doesn't matter where Omnium Gatherum's sound came from. What does matter is that Spirits and August Light is superbly crafted metal that transcends genre and scorches a blazing path into the metal landscape.
Track List:
01.) Writhen
02.) Deathwhite
03.) The Perfumed Garden
04.) Amor Tonight
05.) Cure A Wound
06.) The Emptiness Of Spirit
07.) Wastrel
08.) Son`s Thoughts
09.) It Shines
Omnium Gatherum is:
Antti Filppu - vocals
Markus Vanhala - lead guitar
Harri Pikka - guitar
Janne Markkanen - bass
Mikko Pennanen - keyboards
Jarmo Pikka - drums
Omnium Gatherum Official
Site:
http://www.omniumgatherum.cjb.net/
Rage Of Achilles Records:
http://www.rageofachilles.clara.net/
PITCH BLACK DREAM
NEVER GONE HOME (PBD)
~reviewed by Mick
Mercer
There comes a time when you can admire something for its sugary, winsome curves, but also remain virtually allergic to its intent. Given that this is music which has no real audience to aim at, that isn’t too much of a surprise.
It’s like backing music from an advert, or a throwback to 80’s winebar nitelife sounds. Think Julia Fordham, if you ever heard her. Think Eighth Wonder, where Petshop Boys music was almost filed behind cutesy girly indie vocals, and that’s what’s here.
It’s a delight when it comes to background music, being lush and bleepy and sleepy and harmonious with fluffy vocals, but there’s a stylistic sticking point. The songs start, roves slowly along for the most part, empties out at the two-thirds stage, then reinstates the layers, the vocals join in again and it gently shudders and fades to an end. Then repeat, ad nauseum.
Forget the individual songs. Some of arty, some warm and inviting, and once I almost nodded off, but the vocal delivery over such suggestive but soulless music carries no emotion or believable moments of personality. It’s all just a sound.
It’s an Ikea soundtrack.
I WILL WAIT
FEEL YOU
NEVER GOING HOME AGAIN
INVITATION ONLY
WE DON’T
UNTIL I
REMEMBER THIS
THAT’S THE WAY IT GOES
JUST ANOTHER NIGHT
TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT
http://www.pitchblackdream.com
Pro Jekt
Encryption
~reviewed by Blu
(live shots by Uncle
Nemesis)
I've owed the fellas in Pro Jekt a review for quite a while now so this first observation is going to sound utterly ungrateful: your press blurb sucks. But hear me out before you start cussing me. I've had the CD for a few months and LOVE it. I can't tell you how many times I've cranked it up in my car while driving to work trying to get motivated for the day ahead or how many times I've subjected my passengers to it while driving out to clubs. But I've never read the press blurbs until this evening. In it I find sentences like "Pro Jekt firmly bridge the gap in the market with the commercial Gothic scene and the large Nu-Metal fan base of today." Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo. Please tell me you guys aren't using the word "Nu-metal" to market this CD! Oh the travesty. Goths and metal fans alike shun that moniker. No one likes or respects that word. And I do realize that from a business sense, some of this is an attempt to corral the kiddies who are buying up shit like the Murder Dolls and such, but those love affairs never last that long. No no. Fellas, forget the "in" words. If I had read the press blurb before I listened to the CD I might have been scared off. Encryption is hardly what comes to mind when I hear the term "Nu-Metal." Its so much more. Give yourselves a break. If anything I'd say it could be a modern version of goth rock greats.
What's that? Get off my podium already and get on with the review? You're right. The music is the thing...
First off the production on this CD is just pristine. Its clean and clear and all the levels are in check. Best listen to this LOUD in a very good stereo system to get the full effect. That always helps doesn't it? Especially when people like Trev Bamford (Midnight Configuration) and Mark Tansley (Suspiria) are involved behind the scenes. That might give you the first hint of what this CD is like.
Encryption has teeth. It's a beast tearing down a jungle-mired path to eat you. Its bold and in your face. It also grooves and moves. It slithers and flirts and teases. The first track "The Next World" comes barreling at you and you're hit upfront with the powerful variety in their sound -- a smart hybrid of syths (Al Middleton), dance beats and extremely masculine guitar crunching goodness (Phil May) propelled by grumbling, thumping bass (Kev Rice). It helps that Shaun Travis' vocals are just as powerful and menacing and yet clear and strong. His voice is hypnotizing - dangerous and intriguing. Just the type of thing to keep the girls swooning. As the bass thunders in your head he teases, "Tell me do you feel this?"
"Alien Reflection" starts out with sirens and leads into a pretty basic four/four dance beat that I might have easily dismissed except that soon after those wonderful crunchy guitars come blaring in and save me from EBM nightmares. They also manage to change things up enough with their rhythms that this song doesn't succumb to the repetitive nature of synth bands. Could it be that Pro Jekt has found the secret to using synth and programmed beats without being stale and repetitive? A task that didn't seem to bother bands of old like Fad Gadget or hell, even Sisters of Mercy but has totally eluded today's' wannabe superstar bands until they ALL sound like VNV Nation. I still maintain that having a live drummer is the absolute best way to go but if you're set on using programming, for whatever reason, you have to keep it interesting.
"Split Emotion" is next with its Egyptian flavored guitar riffs and some female vocals in the intro that add a bit of feminine sexuality to contrast Shaun's performance. This is a solid song and yet it doesn't seem to have the punch or melody hooks that the others do.
Onward to one of my favorites - "I Know You Hate Me." You will first note a slithering hiss opening up this track and unless I'm wrong, it's saying "Yesssssssssssssssss" and for some reason that's the single most sexy word I've heard in ages. Play, repeat, play, repeat. (Now if only I could get someone to buzz around my ear and whisper that as positive encouragement as I go through my day... ) It's followed by a very interesting fluttering guitar sound that helps the song build up to its chorus which of course, comes crashing in heavy as hell. Beautiful. The breaks in the middle are highlighted by that ongoing Egyptian theme which just accentuates the sensuality in these songs. And listen carefully, at the very end he'll whisper "I love the pain you give to me." (Or at least that's what my perverted mind hears)
And well, if I wasn't drooling enough from that song they follow it up with "Dead Valentine." Much slower than any of the others, its set into motion by soaring, atmospheric guitars and synth chords that give it a feeling of vastness. The vocals are delicious: "I'm your vampire, and I'm a loose wire, and I know what it takes..." Goths eat your hearts out. It doesn't get any darker or sexier than this. Oh my...
"Demons" starts out sounding like it might be a cinematic track (a nice transition from the previous song) and then quickly migrates its way into dance beat territory again. The song is great for the most part but I find the synth accents in the chorus when he sings "Face your fears" a big let down. They're so anti-climatic. It feels like it needs something heavier there than those tin-sounding synth punches. Just my opinion ...
"Dream Without a Tear" I find similar to "Alien Reflection" in that it started out with such a heavy club beat I almost winced but they surprised me yet again and mixed up the beats and dynamics enough to keep it very interesting. I particularly like the driving bass lines in this one and the ending is a spectacular surprise.
Another favorite of mine is "A Peace Inside" which is more atmospheric like "Dead Valentine" was but with a more sinister overtone. Its heavy ... ever so heavy. It writhes and twists and coils.
"Regenerate" starts with a sample (from a movie I assume but I've yet to figure out exactly which one) and moves full throttle into their trademark aggressive sound climaxing with big waves of guitar punctuated by dance break beats. Odd thinking of those two elements together but it work so well here.
"I didn't know how empty was my soul until it was filled" are the words that open "Salvation." Don't let the title deceive you. There's one word to describe this song: brutal. Forget the synth and the dance beats. This one is all about guitar. Its massive.
And finally they round out the CD with a re-mix of the opener - "The Next World."
All in all, its a gutsy CD with punch, heard best turned up loud. It should do well even in our fragmented scene with club DJs picking it up for the danceable beats and old schoolers digging the guitar work and lyrical content.
Thanks guys!
----------------------------------
TRACKS:
THE NEXT WORLD
ALIEN REFLECTION
SPLIT EMOTION
I KNOW YOU HATE ME
DEADVALENTINE
DEMONS
DREAM WITHOUT A TEAR
A PEACE INSIDE
REGENERATE
SALVATION
THE NEXT WORLD ( VERSION
)
Pro Jekt: http://www.steamhead.com/projekt
Nightbreed Recordings (www.nightbreedmusic.co.uk)
Order info:
Price £10.99 all UK
orders. European orders please add .50p per CD for the extra postage.
ROW please add £1.50 per CD. All cheques / PO's made payable
to "Nightbreed Recordings LTD".Online credit card orders please contact
- sales@musicnonstop.co.uk additional info please contact - trev@nightbrd.demon.co.uk
Wholesale orders always welcome!!!!
Nightbreed Recordings LTD
PO Box 6242
Nottingham
NG1 5HY
UK
The Prophecy
Ashes
~reviewed by Joel
Steudler
England must be one damned depressing place. It seems to spawn doom metal bands like the cold cold forests of Norway breed black metal warriors. Like fellow Brits Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride, The Prophecy are kind of blue. Life has them down, they're upset, and they want you to know about it... thus they have produced Ashes, forty eight minutes of melancholic metal missives that occasionally burst into a thundering angry rant. While normally I loathe listening to others vent their frustrations, I'll make an exception if they set their complaints to a catchy metal crunch.
On Ashes, The Prophecy don't imitate their countrymen, but they do borrow many stylistic trappings from Paradise Lost's maudlin manifestos. Matt Lawson's vocals resemble Nick Holmes' bellowing before he decided to drop his larynx-shredding rasp after Shades Of God. The songwriting on Ashes recalls the doomy thrash epics of Paradise Lost's Draconian Times without becoming derivative. Ashes and Draconian Times also share a thick, sumptuous sound thanks to their production that allows each track to cover a vast sonic expanse. Thankfully, this doesn't drown the life out of the performance. The many guitar leads are fraught with pathos, the vocals are impassioned, and the emotion behind the music is real and readily apparent.
The Prophecy avoid the pitfalls of sticking too tightly to genre conventions by tinting their sound with flourishes of fiery death metal... otherwise, Ashes generally lumbers along at slow-to-mid tempo, lethargically hammering its morose melodies into the listener's subconscious. Every now and then, though, the band musters the energy to really cut loose. Several tracks are in fact full-fledged death metal screeds which balance out the less energetic, more woefully doom-laden side of the scales. Thanks to the varying tempos presented across the album, monotony never sets in, and the mood seamlessly drifts between regretful sorrow and outright anger.
If you were one of the people who freaked out when Paradise Lost went all 'Sisters of Mercy' upon releasing One Second and beyond, you will surely adore this direct spiritual descendent to their earlier, heavier, grimly fatalistic-er sound. If you have no idea who I'm talking about and just want to know if you'll like The Prophecy and their engaging new album Ashes... well, thats easy to answer. If you like heavy, lugubrious doom metal that sometimes lapses into fits of deathy attack, you will enjoy Ashes. I can safely prophesy that this Prophecy is one that fans of the genre will heed for years to come.
Track List:
01.) Ashes
02.) The Killing Fields
03.) The Prophecy
04.) Dawn
05.) Blackened Desire
06.) Till Light Enshrouds
The Prophecy is:
Greg O'Shea: Guitar
Matt Lawson: Vocals
John Bennett: Drums
Christian Moore-Wainwright:
Guitar
Katie Colbrook: Keyboards
The Prophecy Official Website:
http://clix.to/TheProphecy
http://www.mp3.com/TheProphecy
Psydoll
The Daughter of Dr.
Neumann (Tyrrell Morgue)
~reviewed by Uncle
Nemesis
The first thing I notice about this six-track mini-album is that it contains Psydoll's incomprehensible anthem, 'Machinery Lemmings', a title which I don't doubt has a distinct and particular meaning. It only *looks* like random word association. But then, Psydoll are a crazily conceptual Japanese cyberpunk band: they're allowed to be incomprehensible. And personally, I wouldn't have them any other way.
'Faraway' starts with an ever-circulating harpsichord riff, which is a bit of a surprise in itself. Then the guitar takes over and before we know it the song resolves itself into a neat little new-wavey pop number, with the band's vocalist, Nekoi, warbling a sweet little ditty about God knows what. Then it all goes percussive, with a clatter of metallic noise as if someone's trying to pull a lawnmower up a flight of stairs, the guitar comes back, and round we go again. It's utterly baffling, and yet I'm sitting here with a stupid grin on my face because it's baffling in a highly enjoyable way. Special mention, incidentally, should go to the electronic beeps which crop up in the song: I guarantee they'll have you nervously checking your mobile phone, or the smoke alarm in your kitchen.
'Sleeping Beauty' is a breakneck wake-up call...literally. This one's in English. Apparently it's a surreal take on the traditional tale, with some rather odd, dark, imagery thrown in: 'Nothing I can do/In the white room, white wall/Black tubes everywhere/In the forest, surrounding her.' It speeds up to a crescendo and then the brakes slam on. Next, we have the aforementioned Machinery Lemmings, which has a monster metal riff, and, it seems, a lyric about everyday technofear: 'Our last chance before the dawn/Is under maintenance...' Ah, the number of times I've felt like that...usually soon after the third bottle...
'A ka i Tu ki' sounds like an extrapolation on the theme of Fad Gadget's 'The Box', all bulldozer synths and tidal-wave guitar. Then we have a reprise, of sorts, of 'Faraway', this time rendered as if a string quartet has become trapped in Psydoll's spider-web. And the CD wraps up with 'Theme For Psydoll', a march-of-the-robots anthem with a heavy heavy heavy low-down bassline, as if someone had filled Skinny Puppy up with hallucinogenics and then asked them to lead the Easter parade. It's the sound of a peculiar genius at work.
The CD is lavishly packaged in a full-colour inlay, beautifully printed on lightweight glossy paper, and even includes a lyric sheet and a metallic sticker. It's a bit of a surprise, then, to discover that the CD itself is actually a CD-R. It's not obvious, because the disc features a full-colour on-body print, and the entire package looks far more professional than the rather clunky bedroom-standard stuff typically put out by UK bands who use this manufacturing option. In fact, I would never have guessed that the disc is a CD-R had it not been for the warning note enclosed:
'This is a music CD made by CD-R...if there's a weird noise coming out, there's a chance that the CD is not suitable for your stereo. Please try with a different stereo with better equipment.'
But there *is* a weird noise coming out of my stereo - and it's Psydoll!
The tunestack:
Faraway
Sleeping Beauty
Machinery Lemmings
A ka i Tu ki
The End Of Faraway