March 2017 - Page 3 of 4 - This Is Darkness

Artist: Peter Bjärgö
Album title: Animus Retinentia
Release date: 1 March 2017
Label: Cyclic Law

Tracklist:
01. You Let The Light Shine Through
02. Stillhet
03. To Replace My Sadness
04. Grains
05. Where Night Is Eternal
06. As Rain Falls
07. Memories
08. Transcend Time
09. Memories II
10. From Agony
11. Sleep Dep.Loop2

Peter Bjärgö is an artist that has left his mark all over the post industrial scene of music over the years. Going all the way back to 1994, Arcana, was Peter Bjärgö‘s first musical project to get attention. Arcana focused on a sort of medieval-ambient/neoclassical sound. The 1996 release on Cold Meat Industry of Dark Age of Reason is still to this day a reference point for many musicians. In later years, Arcana would expand its line-up. There also formed a second project Sophia, which focused on an industrial ambient sound. In 2009, Peter Bjärgö would start his solo-project, under his own name. Peter said on social media of this, “After nearly 20 years of activity with Arcana I decided to explore music as a solo artist, without boundaries, and show a more intimate side of my creativity.”

That intimate side turns out to be quite beautiful if also rather depressing. Peter Bjärgö spoke about issues of depression and sorrow, but it was felt on a more global scale, similar to the latest Sophia album, but in a much more personal manner.

Animus Retinentia takes us to this more personal place. A time in Peter’s past when things didn’t seem so bleak and depressing. A time when he had great hopes for his future, as well as the future of our world. Its a reflection on these times, through the lens of an adult who knows all too well the terrible state of affairs on our planet. Now in a time after the illusion has been shattered, looking back on childhood happiness can be a great comfort. In this way, Peter Bjärgö taps into that comfort, allowing it to blossom into a full album of music which is equally melancholic and inspirational. The senses of childhood happiness and adulthood depression are both played out masterfully, each being given its room to leave an effect on the listener. The instrumental tracks scattered through the album touch more on that adulthood melancholy, while the lyrics are often living in the memories, or reflecting upon them.

There are a few loop based instrumental tracks which split up the more active tracks. These instrumentals are full of thoughtful and emotional atmosphere. They give the listener an opportunity to reflect upon the lyrical content of the previous track. We are given an opportunity to think back on our own childhoods, times of youth when inspiration could be found in so many things. As for its comparison to the previous album, Peter Bjärgö explains through his social media outlets, “It’s not a sequel to Melancholy, that will happen later, this one is more cinematic and dreamy, reflecting on my childhood, a period when I last remembered I was truly happy.”

The vocals are at an all-time high level of quality. Peter Bjärgö has shed all sense of reservation on Animus Retinentia. He delivers each set of lyrics with a confidence that can’t be denied. There were hints at this development on the last solo album The Architecture of Melancholy, but only now has this become a purveying force throughout the entirety of the album. The delivery is in a deep bass range. It exudes the confidence and melancholic pondering of the album to perfection.

The lyrical content is well thought out and often quite emotional. The track “Transcend Time” for instance, shows the dichotomy between those childhood inspirations and the more depressing developments of adulthood. Lyrics like “… I need the curiosity now, everything was glowing, but the glow has faded, time has come to remind me.” show his inner dilemma, one which is surely relatable to many listeners.

The music on Animus Retinentia, is some of Peter Bjärgö‘s best yet. He manages to bring together a combination of looped elements with gentle synth sections, and his emotionally charged acoustic guitar parts, all coalescing into a warm and full sound. “Where Night Is Eternal” showcases a toned-down approach with a glitchy drum sequence. Then tracks like “From Agony” take a bold approach, again proving that his level of confidence in this style of music is at an all-time high.

As the album reaches its terminus on “Sleep Dep.Loop2” it’s almost as if there are thoughts trying to repeat themselves, while an increasingly present drone pushes forward from the background. The listener is allowed the sensation of trying to remain in this dream state, remembering the lost childhood naivety. While a beeping starts to push into the background, likely an allusion to an alarm clock, slowly bringing the dreamer back to a reality filled with despair and decay. A reality which played itself out full-force on the last solo album. This reality was also the reference point for the last Sophia album, Unclean, which focused on an apocalyptic reality where humanity had finally gone beyond the point of return.

After so many years making music, one would think Peter Bjärgö must be running out of ideas and inspirations. Yet, there is no sign of this. Animus Retinentia as well as Unclean by Sophia have been some of his best work to date. There appears to be no stopping him from continuing with innovations and fulfilling his duties for each project with which he collaborates. Animus Retinentia is a highly recommended album. Any fans of any variety of post-industrial and neoclassical genres should find plenty to love here. Peter Bjärgö has created an album which should have an emotional resonance with a vast number of listeners. For, how many of us truly enjoy this time in history? How many of us miss that childhood passion and naivety? If you’ve ever pondered these questions, Animus Retinentia is the soundtrack to your ponderings.

Written by: Michael Barnett

Ashtoreth – Morana (2017) – Review

In Reviews, Uncategorized

Artist: Ashtoreth
Album title: Morana
Release date: 24 February 2017
Label: Unexplained Sounds Group

Tracklist:
01. Hyberna
02. Kāla Nāg
03. Tymor
04. Waní Yetu

Ashtoreth is a ritual dark ambient artist who focuses his attention to guitar drone and vocals. His latest album, Morana, has been released on Unexplained Sounds Group. Unexplained Sounds Group is an Italian label run by the man behind Sonologyst, Raffaele Pezzella. They have built an international reputation over recent years by releasing music on the periphery of the ambient and electronic genres. Ashtoreth fits perfectly into their catalog. His music is quite hard to specifically describe. There are elements of guitar drone as well as vocals. These are relatively consistent. But, the style in which he uses these sounds is what really makes Ashtoreth unique.

Morana is an ode to the Baltic and Slavic goddess of the same name. Her association to the seasonal rites of death and rebirth make her the perfect deity to anoint this music. The sounds have a distinctly winter infused theme. Yet, they do so without the help of field recordings. The opening track, “Hyberna” is a perfect example of this sound. There is a sort of hissing white noise that lingers throughout the twelve minute track. This, presumably, comes from his guitar amp. This white noise lays a nice foundation for the wintry themes of the album. Building upon this subtle noise, Ashtoreth uses his guitar in an equally subtle fashion. There are gentle guitar drones which are layered with slightly distorted single notes which slowly resonate throughout the track. While there is little happening in this track, less is more. The feelings and landscapes captured in “Hyberna” are not to be underestimated. The music is easily moving. It is the perfect soundtrack to the worship of this goddess of nature’s death and rebirth.

After the subtlety and minimalism of “Hyberna”, Ashtoreth takes the following track “Kāla Nāg” into a different direction. “Kāla Nāg” incorporates vocals, all done by a single man, yet they are performed in such a manner that they bring about thoughts of opposition. On the one side is a clean sounding vocal, gently expanding and receding throughout the track, in a beautiful and reverent nature. Contrasting this beauty is a set of gentle growls, which sound almost demonic, yet equally as subtle. The combination of the two, over a slowly oscillating guitar drone, make for a brilliantly dark track, which manages to hold a religious connotation, while also reflecting upon nature itself.

Morana is only four tracks, but still comes in at roughly an hour length. Over this hour Ashtoreth continues with his blend of subtle religiosity and a contrasting darkness. The hour will slip by in no time, attesting to the skills of the musician. It is no small feat to keep listeners entertained for this length of time using such minimalistic techniques. But its absolutely achieved by Ashtoreth. The other surprising element to this is that, aside from the opening track, the entire album was created in a single live session. One man, using the slightest amount of elements to bring forth a spirit, one which won’t be easily cast aside.

True to their vision, Unexplained Sounds Group have once again brought forth a magnificently talented musician. One who breaks the mold of the genres in which his music is categorized. It would be pointless to make a comparison to other artists here. Surely some shall have a few similarities, but each of the four tracks take Ashtoreth into new, uncharted territory. Territory which appears to be as cold as it is isolated. I would highly recommend Morana to any dark ambient fans who like guitar driven soundscapes. It is equally recommended to ritual ambient fans who prefer to hear something a bit out of the ordinary.

Written by: Michael Barnett

Ajna & Dronny Darko – Black Monolith (2017) – Review

Artist: Ajna & Dronny Darko
Album title: Black Monolith
Release date: 24 February 2017
Label: Reverse Alignment

Tracklist:
01. Facing The Void
02. Watching the Lights While Falling Asleep
03. Black Hole Entropy
04. 1000 Years of Cryosleep
05. Orbiting Probes
06. Subterranean Hallucination
07. Corrupted Waters
08. Amongst Unknown Species
09. Cerulean Glome
10.Approaching the Unrevealed
11. Black Monolith

Black Monolith is a fitting name for the latest release on Reverse Alignment. Ajna and Dronny Darko, two well known drone ambient artists, have come together to create a massive double-disc album, which is sure to leave a lasting impression on listeners. Black Monolith presents seven new tracks, along with the massive long-form “1000 Years of Cryosleep”, and tracks from the EP Facing The Void, which had been previously released in 2013-2014 on Petroglyph Music.

Dronny Darko should be a well-known name to anyone who has been following the Cryo Chamber label over the last few years. He solidified his presence with his album Outer Tehom, which featured some of the most sinister sounding music in the dark ambient genre. Also of note was his magnificent collaboration with protoU, entitled Earth Songs. Yet even before Outer Tehom he had already been working with Ajna.

In 2016, Ajna released his greatest achievement to date, Inevitable Mortality, through Reverse Alignment. Inevitable Mortality showcased a varied spectrum of sounds and styles, true to the versatility of the musician. Tracks like “Forlorn” featured isolationism and black ambient intricacies which could leave the listener in a trance-like state.

Realizing the detail and craftsmanship of their previous collaborations, Kristian Widqvist of Reverse Alignment decided to pull together two previous releases of Anja and Dronny Darko, and gave them a proper re-mastering. “1000 Years of Cryosleep” is a slow moving, yet still quite entertaining track, which lends itself to an extraterrestrial sort of sound. The three tracks, “Facing the Void”, “Watching the Lights While Falling Asleep” and “Black Hole Entropy” all taken from the previously released EP, Facing The Void, also seem to reside mostly in this sort of space ambient sound.

As for the new tracks, we have a combination of space ambient and something that seems to be more of a sinister terrestrial sound. “Orbiting Probes” carries many of the same features as the previous tracks, adding in a nice touch with the obscured radio transmissions. The albums picks up the pace with “Subterranean Hallucination” a track which bares a nice palette of field recordings. Strange noises present themselves as they are simultaneously blanketed in a dark aura, which feels particularly sinister at some points. “Corrupted Waters” is another example of horrific soundscapes, which feel like they would be the perfect soundtrack to some occult horror film. The title track, “Black Monolith” is another highlight incorporating sounds which would feel right at home on Outer Tehom.

The decision to release these three separate albums as one whole, by way of a 2 disc digipak, was certainly a bold one. The two previously released albums benefited from the remastering, courtesy of Chris Sigdell at The Loft. The album art is a fitting visual representation of the sounds presented here, seeming to represent some dark and barren landscape on another planet. As far as the new tracks go, there are some interesting moments, and overall the sound is of a high quality. But, as each of the newer tracks comes in at exactly 8:00, I can’t help but feel that some of what is happening here amounts to filler. In the moments when the field recordings take the lead there are some truly entertaining twists. But the length of both discs combined can lead to a bit of listener fatigue around halfway through the new material. This isn’t to say that all the tracks aren’t good, it just seems that the album is better viewed as two separate entities. Playing just the first or second disc in a sitting can offer the listener a better overall experience with Black Monolith.

Black Monolith as a whole is true to its name, dark and monumental. The space ambient sound mixed with a sort of black ambient is a good recipe for Ajna and Dronny Darko, bringing out some of the best qualities in both artists. I would recommend Black Monolith to listeners who are already fans of Dronny Darko and Ajna. I fear that choosing this album as a first time experience with the two artists may not do them justice. Yet, for fans of both, there is certainly plenty to love. There is a magic and chemistry between these two artists that shouldn’t be overlooked and future collaborations with one another may still hold the key to some of the best yet from either musician.

Written by: Michael Barnett

A Cryo Chamber Collaboration – Tomb of Seers (2017) – Review

Artist: A Cryo Chamber Collaboration (Alphaxone, Council of Nine, Xerxes the Dark, Wolves and Horses)
Album title: Tomb of Seers
Release date: 7 February 2017
Label: Cryo Chamber

Tracklist:
01. Alphaxone – Witchcraft
02. Council of Nine – Fallen
03. Xerxes the Dark – Ethereal
04. Alphaxone – Secret Path
05. Xerxes the Dark – Omniscient
06. Wolves and Horses – Procession
07. Council of Nine – Ashes
08. Wolves and Horses – Aphelion

Cryo Chamber is becoming known for their collaborative work more and more with each passing year. While some albums, like the Lovecraft series, are truly collaborative, in the sense that every piece of music has 2 or more artists working on it, albums like the Tombs series and Locus Arcadia fall more into the realms of compilation. But, the thing that keeps these more compiled works coherent and centralized is their strict adherence to themes. On Tomb of Seers, once again Cryo Chamber proves that they can step outside the normal boundaries and still manage to release a brilliant album which receives as much love from new fans as it does from those who have been following the genre for the last 25 years.

Tomb of Seers is the second installment in the Tombs series. On Tomb of Empires we were first introduced to Council of Nine, a brilliant Californian artist, who has a mastery of drone-work. His style of keeping the track subtle, while simultaneously filling it with a plethora of soundscapes, was first put to the test here. Alphaxone had contributed some of his most praised tracks to date on Tomb of Empires. As usual, the album art was spot on, bringing a sense of the fallen ancient civilizations that the artists wanted to portray.

Tomb of Seers seems in part to keep that same sense of ancestral gravity. As this is a series of Tombs albums, it makes sense that the sounds would lend themselves to some ancient time period, long forgotten and erased by modern humanity. While Tomb of Empires focused on the loftier goal of bringing full civilizations into the mix, Tomb of Seers is able to focus on a more specific concept, that of the seer. The seer is something like a fortune teller, but much more revered. Like the town’s shaman, or the virgin oracle of Delphi atop Mount Parnassus, the seer is able to give advice, premonitions, and warnings to those who would seek their counsel.

Many religions throughout human history have found solace in the answers of their seers. While some religions, with a lack of clairvoyance, found their worshipers wandering off, in search of a more mystical and occult answer. The first track on Tomb of Seers hints at this concept. Alphaxone delivers the opener, “Witchcraft”, which is a high point in his musical career, delivering a sound that is larger than life, and truly fitting for this endeavor. As the Christians of Salem found, during their witch hunts, many people were willing to trade their very souls for a taste of occult knowledge. “Witchcraft” sets the album off as a dark and exceedingly frightful track, the gravity of which is felt in the deep bassy drones. Council of Nine continues with this nightmarish narrative on “Fallen”. “Fallen” takes the listener for a tour of the cavernous depths of some subterranean metropolis. You can almost feel the dank air as it accumulates on your skin. The vibe is equally as mystical as it is dark. Again, we hear something that is quite likely one of Council of Nine‘s best tracks to date. “Fallen” incorporates a more active use of field recordings and sacral samples than can often be found on his two full-length albums.

While Alphaxone and Council of Nine seem to be honing their talents, reigning in their visions, there is also new blood in the waters. Xerxes the Dark, long-time colleague of Alphaxone, both hailing from Iran, finds himself on his first foray into the Cryo Chamber discography. His track “Ethereal” has a wondrous feel to it, with a mood that is slightly brighter than that of the previous tracks. On “Omniscient” Xerxes the Dark takes us on an aural voyage, filled with field recordings which give the album even more depth. His conservative use of drone, along with these field recordings makes it possible for listeners to close their eyes and take that aural journey into lands long forgotten, searching for answers to the age-old existential questions. A performance of this caliber is sure to increase the likelihood of hearing more from Xerxes the Dark on the Cryo Chamber label for future releases.

The second new-comer to the label is Wolves and Horses, an artist who really seems to walk the tight rope between ambient and dark ambient in a tasteful and compelling fashion. “Procession”, true to its title, seems to be taking us on a journey to the oracle. A procession of believers, on their pilgrimage to the seer. Minimal use of percussion and crystalline chimes give the album its first real taste of something which could be construed as ritual ambient. Yet this is nothing like the ritual sounds of Shibalba, or even any of those legendary Aural Hypnox artists. The sound is something fresh, which seems like the darkest new age track ever written. It imbibes that same sense of peacefulness, oneness with the gods, without having a nightmarish atmosphere. We again hear Wolves and Horses on the final track of the album, “Aphelion” where they, again, take the listener on a dreamy journey toward the all knowing, all seeing, interpreter of the gods.

With top-notch performances by each of the artists involved in Tomb of Seers, Cryo Chamber gives us an album which is sure to have as much of an impact as Tomb of Empires did, years before. Alphaxone and Council of Nine both present us with career topping performances, while Xerxes the Dark as well as Wolves and Horses give us a taste of where the future may lie in this dark ambient label. A label which has made monumental advancements within its short lifespan. Tomb of Seers is as potent of an album for die-hard dark ambient fans as they could ask for, while it has enough activity and breadth of styles to be a first stop for the newest wave of fans, having just fallen for dark ambient over the last year. It’s albums like Tomb of Seers that prove the wide range of formats that Cryo Chamber is willing to conquer. Never settling down, never devolving into repetition, Tomb of Seers is one more masterpiece in the ever-expanding catalog of Cryo Chamber masterpieces.

Written by: Michael Barnett

Photo credits:
Rembrandt, Belshazzar’s Feast, 1635
Leutemann, The Oracle of Delphi Entranced
Baker, Fanciful representation of the Salem witch trials, lithograph from 1892

R.C. Kozletsky – Pulsed In A Dull Glass Bell (2016) – Review

Artist: R.C. Kozletsky
Album title: Pulsed In A Dull Glass Bell
Release date: 14 August 2016
Label: Danvers State Recordings

Tracklist:
Side A
01. The Paling of Bones
02. Trooping the Rim of My Skull
Side B
03. Pulsed In A Dull Glass Bell

Starting with the sounds of a music box, R.C. Kozletsky makes us think this will be a lovely experience, building on reminiscences of childhood. This is anything but the reality. Pulsed In A Dull Glass Bell is brutal. This is death industrial / black ambient done right. The soundscapes presented here are a thing of nightmares. Of chaotic, bloodthirsty demons, creeping from under the bed, grabbing an innocent child as they swallow their heart, screaming in terror for mercy.

R.C. Kozletsky is better known for his projects Apocryphos, Shock Frontier, and the now defunct Psychamanteum. 2016 was a huge year for this artist. Kozletsky’s second Apocryphos album, Stone Speak, took the dark ambient community by storm, quickly snatching up tags like “dark ambient album of the year” in the hearts of many of its fans, if not by the music industry itself. He also took part in the second collaboration with Atrium Carceri and Kammarheit, entitled Echo. Just like Onyx before it, these three collaborators were a match made in heaven, or in hell as it were.

Apocryphos is far from the only project that fans know Kozletsky from, he first came onto the dark ambient scene a few years back, fresh out of college, with his project Psychomanteum, of which he was one of two members. Despite its general praise among listeners, Psychomanteum was short-lived, only producing one full length album. Maybe out of the frustration from Psychomanteum breaking up, or maybe just due to the pitiful state of humanity in the modern world, Kozletsky needed to let off some steam. Shock Frontier was the project which allowed him to take out his sonic rage on innocent listeners. The Shock Frontier debut on Malignant Records was a powerful death industrial album, rivaling some of the greats of the genre.

Apocryphos was the revised vision of Kozletsky’s dark ambient. As a solo project, Kozletsky was able to prove that he lost none of his musicianship by becoming the solo member of a project. Both the debut, The Prisoners Cinema on Cyclic Law, as well as its follow-up, Stone Speak on Cryo Chamber, were brilliant examples of dark ambient done right.

But all this still wasn’t enough. Kozletsky still had other terrain to tread, new horizons to discover. The project R.C. Kozletsky finds its music falling somewhere between dark ambient and death industrial. The sounds shift from blistering noise, rattling metal, inhuman bellows, to something far more serene. Like two sides to a bi-polar madman, Pulsed In A Dull Glass Bell takes the listener to places they never knew they craved. The devastation is mirrored by the beauty. The villain showing his soft side to the victim, just before the murder.

Pulsed In A Dull Glass Bell finds its perfect forum in the cassette format. It should be listened to at full volume. This is something that is often said about death industrial albums, and barely holds true, if at all. Not so with Pulsed In A Dull Glass Bell. The tape hiss becomes part of the music, the sounds terrorize the speakers before plunging into a brooding staticy darkness. Tortured souls meet soulless victims. The mind is torn to pieces as the listener becomes fully encapsulated in this grotesque offering.

Each of the three tracks take on a life of their own. They pound the listener, brutally raping their senses. Leaving them bruised and bloodied, before calming, telling them its alright, taking on both aspects, executioner and victim. As the first side creeps toward its close, after the climax of the aural molestation, the sounds are broken, staticy, aging yet still aware. There is a moment of peace and serenity, when the listener forgets the trauma of the previous moments. As we flip the tape, the devastation continues full force. As the victim lies weeping in the filthy corner, tears mixing with blood and semen, the serial killer / executioner / Luciferian priest takes even more of their hatred out on the innocent soul. Side B, possessing a single track, named after the album title, slowly begins to creep back to full intensity. Droning, shifting layers stack upon one another taking us by surprise. This is a sonic assault in its purest of forms, a testament to the talents, and the rage, of Kozletsky.

Danvers State Recordings released this brilliant album in an ultra-limited edition. The tape features cover art by Pär Boström of Kammarheit, Cities Last Broadcast, and Hymnambulae. True to Boström’s tastes, the cover art is black and white, rough, emotive, only showing the portrait of some demented, pained soul. He holds one hand to his head, as if trying to make sense of the aural assault, caving beneath the terror of the soundscape. It is also worth noting that the album title, Pulsed In A Dull Glass Bell, is a phrase taken from the post-apocalyptic story The Road, a bleak and depressing narrative capable of bringing the most stoic of men to tears.

You will not find this album on Bandcamp, there are no tracks available online. You must take my word for it when I say that Pulsed In A Dull Glass Bell is an absolute masterpiece. A brilliant aural representation of the darkest and ugliest corners of the mind. Little praise will be found about this album, as its soft release on tape format has left it mostly off the radar of fans and zines alike, but this may be Kozletsky’s greatest achievement to date. If terrifying, insomnia-laden emotions are to your liking, there was no better album of 2016. I personally would love to see this album get a vinyl pressing in the future as the quality of the work and sound palette would fit perfectly to the vinyl format. You have been warned, this is not for the faint of heart. If you continue forward with this album, it may just change you forever.

Written by: Michael Barnett

Monocube – The Rituals (2016) – Review

Artist: Monocube
Album title: The Rituals
Release date: 30 December 2016
Label: Malignant Records

Tracklist:
01. Visiones III
02. Drowned Sun
03. Downwards (feat. Apocryphos)
04. Totem Incantation
05. Fires Shifting – Nocturnal Motion
06. Through Our Blood
07. Father Fenris
08. Anthracite Glow (feat. Treha Sektori)
09. Initiation (feat. Asmorod)

The sophmore album The Rituals by Monocube is the first outing with one of the leading post-industrial labels, Malignant Records. Monocube has been working toward this release for several years now. It seems that Monocube has truly found their sound with this one. Where their first album focused mostly on drone ambient, The Rituals delivers a plethora of sounds, styles, and emotions. As their first foray into the mainstream of dark ambient, if one can call it that. The Rituals is a brilliant example of how versatile dark ambient can be, and how one need not always stick to the script.

Blazing forward with an album which certainly retains some drone work, Monocube enters new territory on almost every track presented. The Rituals starts out with “Visiones III” a re-imagining and more refined version of the track which made its debut last year on Terra Relicta Presents: Vol. I Dark Ambient. The intensity is immediately obvious. The track seems to be summoning some demons from the nether realms, demons which will unveil their motives as The Rituals progresses. The album doesn’t fully deliver its assault on the senses until the following track, “Drowned Sun”. “Drowned Sun” is a combination of sounds which lean more toward a death-industrial output than dark ambient. Ghastly drones collide with irreligious vocal growls. The track smashes through the psyche paving a path in blood and bones which will only further fester as the album progresses.

After the cacophony of violent noises presented on “Drowned Sun”, we move again into a slower more droning realm. “Downwards” is the first track on the album to feature a guest musician. Apocryphos, fresh off the release of another collaborative album, Echo, lends his unique take on guitar drone to the track. What we are presented with here is a relaxing yet deeply disturbing soundscape. “Downwards” takes the listener on a slowly evolving journey through the minds of Monocube and Apocryphos. The chemistry between the two musicians is immediately obvious. More collaborations between these two artists would almost surely continue to solidify this natural bonding of tortured souls.

As the album progresses it becomes more and more obvious that these rituals unfolding before us are conjuring a wretched demon. This is not a faint-hearted attempt to give listeners some sort of meditation music. These are incantations which could likely have originated from the dreaded Necronomicon. Incantations which leave the conjurer shivering in his boots. As is so often the case with demonic incantations, The Rituals seems to be opening a portal to another realm of consciousness, and once opened the portal may well never be closed. “Totem Incantation” continues with the demonic screams and human cries of terror from “Drowned Sun”. Monocube enters territory which would seem at home with the likes of Shibalba. Visions arise of vast subterranean cathedrals. Gusts of wind billowing up from within the depths of the Earth, as some ancient being is brought back to the realms of man. The faithful watching, incense smoke burning their eyes and nostrils as the demons begin to materialize in their very presence.

All these aforementioned forsaken emotions and visions continue to plague the listener, devouring their innocence as they continue through The Rituals. Each track manages to feel wholly fresh while simultaneously bringing something new to the table. The album draws to a close with two more collaborative tracks. Both seeming as natural as the first with Apocryphos. “Anthracite Glow” continues with this subterranean soundscape, while bringing in some ritual elements which immediately hint at the input of Treha Sektori. Hammering tribal drums complement the harsh yet somehow subtle drones. Treha Sektori contributes some of his most haunting vocals to date, seeming to bring the irreligious incantations to life.

The album draws to a close with “Initiation” which features the talents of the lauded dark ambient mentor and musician Asmorod. “Initiation” is one of the more subtle pieces on The Rituals. It acts as a perfect close to an album which is as beautiful as it is wretched. Lonely gusts of wind mingle with demonic whispers, seeming to reach from the depths of the Earth, attempting to pull the listener back into its deathly grip. This horrific experience gently morphs into something truly beautiful. A lonely piano arrangement slowly materializes out of the black void. This small taste of comfort and refinement is the perfect close to the album. It leaves the listener in a state of exstacy, begging them to hit the play button once again, to return to those horrific moments.

Not only is the music painstakingly perfected, but the album art is another gem of its own. Featuring paintings by Ksenia Gladushevska, Monocube is granted the perfect visual representation. Printed on a matte finish, the gentle golds and the image of the horned beast brilliantly combine the blend of subtlety, occult mystery, and demonic possession witnessed throughout the album.

Malignant Records knew they had found something special when deciding to work with Monocube. This album was not hastily prepared, being recorded between 2012 and 2016, Monocube was willing to take the time needed to properly bring these demonic incantations to life. Once they were ready to be unveiled, it is blatantly obvious that Monocube deserves to be ranked among the most elite of the ritual dark ambient genre. The album is as original as it is demonic, never leaving the listener lulling in a dull moment. It begs the question, what can Monocube possibly present next? With such a magnificent opus, the stakes will be set high for future albums by this gifted artist. We can only hope that he continues to pay as much attention to detail as he has with The Rituals. If so, we are likely looking at an artist that will become increasingly relevant and lauded as his career progresses.

Written by: Michael Barnett

Desiderii Marginis – Songs Over Ruins (1997) – Retro Review

Artist: Desiderii Marginis
Album title: Songs Over Ruins
Original release date: June 1997
Re-mastered release date: 27 January 2017
Original label: Cold Meat Industry (defunct)
Re-mastered label: Cyclic Law

Tracklist:
01. Songs Over Ruins I
02. Scintillate II
03. Ephemeral
04. Chrism
05. Entombment
06. Ashes
07. Solemn Descent
08. The Core of Hell II
09. Embossed in Bones
10. Songs Over Ruins II
11. Chreston

Desiderii Marginis debuted back in 1997 with this monumental release of Songs Over Ruins. Desiderii Marginis took many of the concepts which had been established in the young but prospering industrial ambient genre. Yet, he made them his own, twisted them to his liking, and along the way he paved the foundations of a decades running career in the industrial ambient, later referred to as dark ambient, genre. There is a beauty to this album, a dark and devastating beauty, which can’t be denied. His later career would build upon and often stray from these beginnings, but the fan-base and core mechanics of Songs Over Ruins would become a legacy of Desiderii Marginis ever after.

desideriimarginis_songsoverruinsoriginalart — Original Album Art

So much has changed in the music world since 1997. Not only the landscape of the sounds themselves, or even the labels that presented the genre, but more than anything, there have been many technical innovations, which make a re-master of old releases so tempting. The demise of Cold Meat Industry was a slow one, and Desiderii Marginis had plenty of time to switch his home-base to Cyclic Law. Cyclic Law is a label that hit the ground running, building a reputation with some of the highest quality dark ambient of the genre, in a relatively quick progression. So after solidifying his position as a fore-front artist on Cyclic Law, it only made sense to look back to the classic which started his career. Cyclic Law offered the structure necessary to facilitate a proper re-master and a release on vinyl for the first time, not to mention a CD release, both of which feature new cover art.

For the loyal fans of the industrial ambient genre, fans that have followed this music through its many shifts over the decades, there will be no surprises in Songs Over Ruins, it is a tried and true classic, and album that goes down as one of the stand-out-greats in a genre which is arguably filled with masterpieces. But for the younger fans, this re-release of Songs Over Ruins will be a welcome history lesson, and a glaring example of how amazing this music was, even 20 years ago.

Songs Over Ruins will be noticeably different from the Desiderii Marginis that we know in 2017. It stands to reason that over two decades an artist will shift and morph with their personal life changes, as well as the technical progress of the equipment used to create this sort of music. Songs Over Ruins takes on an industrial feel throughout the album, with the sounds of metallic clangs and down-tempo martial drum sequences pervading through almost every track. But listening closely it is obvious that this is Desiderii Marginis. The changes to come over the decades did not necessarily make the artist better or worse, they evolved in a way which kept the artist relevant and firmly positioned as one of the most revered of the genre.

There is a melancholia, a despair to this album. The religious under-tones are constant. The listener can close their eyes and melt into the soundscapes, envisioning a world actively collapsing under its own arrogance. We feel the presence of dilapidated churches, mourning choirs. There is a sense of warfare, which is just outside the reach of the congregation. As if they sit in waiting, praying to a god which has lost interest in their blasphemies. Humanity is at the brink of destruction, but this is their story, these are the songs that now reflect their dying breed. When only the strong will survive, the weak and reverent will find themselves utterly devastated, struck from the history books, as raiding bandits find themselves relishing in a world without morals or repercussions.

desideriimarginis_songsoverruinsjohan — Johan Levin

Songs Over Ruins is certainly an album of its time. It has many glaring similarities to raison d’être, a musical force that was carving its way into the collections of black metal and industrial fans, paving the path for generations of the industrial/dark ambient acts to follow. As one who can never get enough of a good thing, I find the beauty of these tracks to be first-class. The darkness of the music applies its umbra to the religious samples. What was once a beautiful church choir now becomes a chorus of the damned and dying, the devastation is bleeding through every note sung, every drumbeat hammered. Tracks like “Solemn Descent” and “Ashes” are brilliant examples of this comparison.

Don’t confuse the meaning, Desiderii Marginis is by no means a raison d’être copy-cat. There was a brilliance and an originality to Songs Over Ruins that couldn’t be denied. Cold Meat Industry already had one raison d’être, they didn’t need two. Desiderii Marginis brought a cinematic edge to the sound, taking listeners on a sort of journey through these decaying ruins of western civilization. Tracks like “The Core of Hell II” and “Embossed In Bones” seem to be some of the true precursors to the cinematic dark ambient sound which has really blossomed since the mid 2000s, brought to prominence by artists like Atrium Carceri. While Desiderii Marginis may have moved away from this style himself, it is easy to notice the effect that was left on the genre of dark ambient, a lasting legacy, which proves the reason that Songs Over Ruins can so easily be described as a classic of the genre.

desideriimarginis_songsoverruinsfull — New Album Art

In later years, Desiderii Marginis surely evolved, leaving behind much of this style that originally brought him to prominence. Yet, there should never be a sense of regret, no artist should go on for two decades reproducing the same sounds over and over, ad nauseum. But, that also doesn’t mean that these beginnings should be forgotten. In this remastered re-release of Songs Over Ruins the younger generations of dark ambient fans can learn much about the bygone decades of the genre. They can see where so many concepts came to fruition in the first place. As for the older crowd, here’s your chance to have Songs Over Ruins on a fresh pressed disc of vinyl for the first time ever. It’s a chance to have those magnificent sounds polished and renewed, to find their prominent position once again on the top shelf of any discerning dark ambient fan’s collection. Songs Over Ruins is a classic, the beginnings of greatness from a musician who would never disappoint. It is highly recommended to anyone with any love for the genre of industrial/dark ambient.

Written by: Michael Barnett

Kammarheit – The Starwheel (2005) – Retro Review

Artist: Kammarheit
Album: The Starwheel
Release Date: 2005
Label: Cyclic Law

Tracklist:
01. Hypnagoga
02. Spatium
03. The Starwheel (Clockwise)
04. Klockstapeln
05. The Starwheel (Counter Clockwise)
06. A Room Between The Rooms
07. Sleep After Toyle, Port After Stormie Seas
08. All Quiet In The Land of Frozen Scenes

By now, Kammarheit is about as close to a household-name as one can get, within the dark ambient community. Over the last 15 years, Kammarheit has properly released three full-length albums, as well as the Unearthed 2000-2002 set, all through Cyclic Law.

Kammarheit first made waves on the scene with the Nord Ambient Alliance album. An album which was one of the very first releases on Cyclic Law. To this day it is unmistakably pertinent to dark ambient. Kammarheit released these tracks alongside with a few other artists, including Northaunt and Svartsinn. Nord Ambient Alliance, and its contributing artists, would help shape the face of the dark ambient scene. These three projects have since been referred to fondly as the face of the second wave of dark ambient. The cold, cinematic, and subtle sounds of Nord Ambient Alliance provided a template for future artists, that still to this day holds strong.

Asleep and Well Hidden immediately followed. This album would give listeners a taste of what a full Kammarheit album sounds like. Yet, it wasn’t until The Starwheel that Kammarheit truly found his calling, and his audience. The Starwheel is named almost unanimously as one of the most important albums to the entire dark ambient genre, sharing this coveted position with other classics like Stalker by Lustmord and Robert Rich, as well as Prospectus I by raison d’être.

What could be so captivating about this album, putting it on a pedestal above so many other brilliant works in the genre? The answer is simple, Kammarheit was able to find that sweet-spot where subtlety, cinematics, and boldness all collide. I’ve used this album easily a hundred times to fall asleep, something that isn’t possible with many dark ambient albums. The slowly sweeping drones match brilliantly along side the bold use of field recordings. These field recordings serve two purposes. They bring out the cinematic element, giving listeners thoughts of some massive clock tower, overshadowing a cold, misty landscape. They, simultaneously, give the album a punch, a direct and sometimes overwhelming sense of purpose.

As all the aforementioned elements come together, the listener sinks into a sort of trance-like state. In those moments when the mind is at its most vulnerable, just before sleep takes its grasp, The Starwheel shines the brightest. The mind is able to fall in synchronization with the album. The dreamy drones lull the listener to the very edge of sleep. Just as this happens some bold sounds push through the blanket of slumber. This collision can put the mind in tune with the music. Just as the notes from a guitar take on a celestial perfection as they are brought in tune, so the mind equally finds this perfection in these moments during The Starwheel. As the mind goes in tune with the music, the listener is able to feel an sort of out-of-body experience, a oneness with the music. A relationship is born herein which gives the listener a warm connection, a loving bond which may never be broken. Waking up hours later, reflecting on this phenomenon seems almost impossible. Yet, again, it arrives the following night in those moments before slumber.

What followed The Starwheel was an unexpected gap of roughly a decade before the release of its successor, The Nest. Yet, Kammarheit never lost relevance over this time. Fans pined over The Starwheel and Asleep and Well Hidden. They dug up, from the deep recesses of the internet, previously unreleased works by Kammarheit. These six unreleased albums took on such a life of their own that in early 2015 Cyclic Law released Unearthed 2000-2002, finally giving these albums a proper mastering and a beautiful presentation, in the form of a cloth-bound digibook.

Since the re-emergence in 2015 of Kammarheit, there have been a slew of releases from Pär Boström. The Nest marked the return of Kammarheit. It was a brilliant album full of foggy supernatural soundscapes, true to the form of previous Kammarheit works. Cities Last Broadcast, Pär’s side-project, released its sophomore album The Humming Tapes on Cryo Chamber. Kammarheit joined up with Atrium Carceri and Apocryphos for two of the most compelling dark ambient releases to date in Onyx and Echo. Pär, joined by his sister Åsa, established their new label and printing press, Hypnagoga Press. On Hypnagoga Press, Pär and Åsa released their first cooperative project, Hymnambulae, an eerie, yet beautiful take on the more mystical side of dark ambient. Hypnagoga Press released its second album, Altarmang Void, months later, a mystical partnership between Pär Boström and Kenneth Hansson.

What comes next is anyone’s guess. Among Cryo Chamber, Cyclic Law, Hypnagoga Press, and who knows how many more partnerships, Pär Boström seems to be on a roll with no end in sight. This is surely just fine with his die-hard fans, who were accustomed to waiting great swathes of time between releases. Yet, these die-harders are finding their company growing every day, as Pär Boström takes his career to new heights, and apparently the sky is the limit.

Links: Kammarheit Official Site, Kammarheit Facebook, Kammarheit Bandcamp, Pär Boström Official Site , Hypnagoga Press Facebook, Hypnagoga Press Bandcamp, Altarmang Facebook, Altarmang Bandcamp.

Written by: Michael Barnett

Atrium Carceri – Cellblock (2003) – Retro Review

Artist: Atrium Carceri
Album title: Cellblock
Release date: 3 September 2003
Original label: Cold Meat Industry (defunct)
Rerelease label: Cryo Chamber

Tracklist:
01. Entrance
02. Black Lace
03. Machine Elves
04. Corridor
05. Blue Moon
06. Stir of Thoughts
07. Depth
08. Crusted Neon
09. Halls of Steam
10. Reborn
11. Red Stains
12. Inner Carceri

At this point, Atrium Carceri should be a well known name to any fan of dark ambient music. With 10+ albums under the moniker Simon Heath has built a brilliant labyrinth of story-lines, mythos, and protagonists. The Atrium Carceri mythos is one of, if not the most, impressive collections of music within the dark ambient genre. The depth and sheer volume of the material could honestly thrust Atrium Carceri out of the confines of dark ambient music and into some other varied media. With this much information to pick from, it would be absolutely possible to make a series of books or films just based on the information already revealed. Yet, back in 2003 when Cellblock first released, dark ambient wasn’t really even a thing. Or at least, not in name.

Referred to by many at the time as “dark wave” it was really hard for fans and reviewers alike to even know how to classify Cellblock. There had been hints of music in the past which touched on the cinematic dark ambient experience, but no one had dedicated a whole album to this particular style. Atrium Carceri, as we now know, wasn’t just an artist writing albums. Atrium Carceri was, and still is, a story, a mythos, a set of gods, protagonists, times, and locations across a devastated and dying planet. The world was being turned on its head. The fabric of reality itself was tearing as gods and men reversed their roles, became one, killed each other off.

There are so many questions to ponder when it comes to the Atrium Carceri mythos. Does this take place on Earth, the Earth we know? Maybe. Most likely. It is worth noting that, in Za Frumi, Simon Heath’s earlier endeavor with Simon Kölle, he incorporated vocals in the orc tongue. So taking this into consideration, it becomes more clear that Cellblock must have taken place in Japan and U.S.A. As we can hear dialogues on Cellblock in Japanese and American English. If this were some foreign planet, I have to imagine Simon Heath would have used some other form of communication other than these two well recognized languages.

Having answered (or at least attempted) the question of where, we now must ponder the when. This one is much more problematic. I like to think of the when in Cellblock being in the near future, maybe within 50 years or so. There seem to have been structural changes to our cultures and planet hinted at in later albums, but on Cellblock, for the most part, things sound contemporary. Yet, the timeline of this album seems to lie in two separate time-frames. For the majority of the album we witness the environment and mental deterioration of a prison inmate. As we hear on “Crusted Neon” this is taking place in Japan. “Crusted Neon” appears to be a flash-back, a memory of some scene before the protagonist was imprisoned. Yet, 3/4 of the way through the album we reach “Reborn” a track which in name and sound seems to be a literal rebirth. Within the pages of the album the final line of text is “How many do we have to kill before they stop coming back?” This line seems to hint at the presence of reincarnation. Indeed it would seem that the original protagonist has died and has possibly been reincarnated in The United States. Yet, he still has the same thirst for blood, the hunger for murder is ever present. Coming back with his same desires, the reincarnated protagonist has returned to the murder spree which found his former self imprisoned. A detective on “Reborn” gives us an idea of the man’s deeds, saying “She’s been strangled, her throat’s been slashed. There’s jagged wounds running down the left side of her abdomen…”.

The idea of the change of landscape and time seems to be compounded by the choice of sounds in the two sections of the album. “Entrance” through “Halls of Steam” seem to be very subterranean, murky, muddled in their sound. They seem to depict the prisoner from his initial entrance to the prison, a time of fear and sad realization. As the album progresses the isolation becomes more and more profound, the mind of the protagonist deteriorates as he lies in his filthy cell, devoid of all contact with the outside world, save for his jailer. On “Reborn” there seems to be a good bit more clarity, the sounds are less murky and more crisp and pristine. This gives a sense of being outside the prison walls. The use of the English in its American dialect helps us realize that we are not in the same country anymore. It is worth noting here, that this final section of the album may be nothing more than a dream, an attempt to live through the dreamworld outside the confines of the prison, in a foreign land.

However, this vacation from imprisonment is fleeting. “Red Stains” is a highly suspenseful track, built up by its brilliant handling of the synth arrangement. It feels as if we have followed the detective of the previous track to the scene of the crime. Or is this a second crime? Hard to say, but we do seem to still be on American soil. As the track reaches its close, we hear the sounds of a metal door squealing open and then closed. Is this a sign of entering a second prison? Or, has the original protagonist just been awoken by the sound of his prison cell door opening? Again, it is hard to say. By the final track “Inner Carceri” it seems the murderer has been caught. His reincarnated self is now again imprisoned. The subterranean sounds return, yet it appears to be less muddled than on the previous tracks. This gives a sense of the clarity of the mindset of the prisoner, he has not yet succumbed to the isolation, he still has his wits. The album ends on this note, but we will see in the second Atrium Carceri album, Seishinbyouin that there is still more to be told about the tribulations of the imprisoned.

The release of Cellblock was immediately recognized by many to be a genre defining moment. The attention to detail on Cellblock cannot be overstated. The use of field recordings, human voices, synth, piano, and percussion all come together to present a thoroughly intricate and enjoyable album which not only is a delight to the senses but also tells a story. This story is not easily decipherable. I have given my best interpretation here of what I believe has taken place, but for all I know, I’m totally wrong. Simon Heath has been extremely cautious in how much information to give fans about the story-line of Atrium Carceri. Now over a decade after this debut, we are seeing time-lines and more details of the story slowly surfacing. But, back in 2003 the journey was only beginning and the story was anything but clear to the listener. Simon Heath has hinted at some future possibilities for clearly defining the story, but for now it is totally up to the listener to put the puzzle pieces together, as best they can. The mystery is often half the fun, the other half being a line of brilliant albums to feast upon.

Written by: Michael Barnett (5 November 2016)

raison d’être – Prospectus I (1993) – Retro Review