CLIII. Raison D'Etre | Within The Depths Of Silence And Phormations

RAISON D'ETRE

Within The Depths Of Silence And Phormations

©Cold Meat Industry. Sverige, 1995.

‟Within the Depths... is the third Raison D'être album for CMI, and it sees a return to the themes, and musical expressions of the "Prospectus I" album. Where Enthralled by the Wind of Loneliness sounded slightly new age, Within profits on the excellence of the Gregorian Chants, subtle percussions, and ethereal keys, and choirs. Raison D'Etre is the kind of ambience that only comes with years of work, and it is a triumph to hear such orchestrations with the degree of balance that these pieces possess. Rich, dark, mysterious, and enlightening. There are few that reaches the grandeur and expansive elloquence of Raison D'être.‟  

CMI

 

CXXXI. Various Artists | ...And Even Wolves Hid Their Teeth And Tongue Wherever Shelter Was Given

VARIOUS ARTISTS

...And Even Wolves Hid Their Teeth And Tongue Wherever Shelter Was Given

©Cold Meat Industry. Sverige, 1995.

‟A killer sampler priced low for the masses and designed to showcase current or upcoming Cold Meat artists and releases. There is an American counterpart to this that's fairly different, the only re-appearing tracks being from Mortiis, Morthound, and ConSono. You could get both, but quite honestly the Euro version is where it's at, so just be sure to get it first. The full line-up: Arcana, Raison d'être, Ordo Equilibrio, Mortiis, Aghast, MZ.412, Mental Destruction, Ildfrost, ConSono, Desiderii Marginis, Atomine Elektrine (Raison d'être side project), Memorandum, Morthound, Deutsch Nepal and Brighter Death Now... whew. Most of the material should be fairly new to most, highlights, among many, include a stunning piece from Raison d'être (the most emotional and beautiful work I've heard from him yet), an ethereal symphonic/vocal piece from Arcana (of all these bands, the one to watch), the doleful and demonic whispers of Aghast (THE darkest thing you'll ever hear - guaranteed), and the evil strangulations of B.D.N. Your chosing if you wish to wait for the full releases from these bands... but I wouldn't... it's just too damn good for that.‟

Jason Mantis 

 

LVII. Beyond Sensory Experience | No Lights In Our Eyes

BEYOND SENSORY EXPERIENCE

No Lights In Our Eyes

©Cold Meat Industry. Sverige, 2008.

‟The Swedish depressive duo Beyond Sensory Experience returns with No Lights In Our Eyes, BSE’s seventh album overall and their second for Cold Meat Industry, following The Dull Routine Of Existence (also reviewed by Judas Kiss). BSE consists of K. Meizter, last heard by these ears collaborating with Polish project Horologium on Eight Studies In Transition, and Drakhon, sometimes of MZ.412.
  

As with the Dull Routine… album, BSE’s brand of dark ambient is distinctively enervated and wan, with quiet, desultory piano lines, distant and washed-out vocal samples, simple, plangent drones and echoes, and an overwhelming feeling of listless despair. Not an ideal party album, then, but powerful in its own quiet way. No Lights In Our Eyes is evidently conceived as a companion piece to the Pursuit Of Pleasure and Dull Routine… albums, with the focus this time around on ‘death and the subconscious sides of life’. Sex, futile routines and death – BSE’s take on human existence isn’t exactly life-affirming, but it fits rather well into the grimly stoical Scandinavian tradition of such figures as Ingmar Bergman and Søren Kierkegaard.
  

No Lights In Our Eyes contains ten tracks extending over 56 minutes, and beginning with the somber organ drones and lonely piano notes of ‘Funerals’. Whispered vocals emphasise the atmosphere of disconnection and remoteness. Other particularly interesting tracks include ‘Across The Divide’, whichc has a warmer, fuller sound and even the vestiges of a trip-hop beat under jangling guitar, augmented by sweeps of orchestral strings, the title track, ‘No Lights In Our Eyes’, which at nearly nine minutes is the longest on the album, and which again employs slowly plucked guitar over ambient background drones, and ‘Hearts And Minds’, another long track, based on a repeated phrase of four plucked notes interspersed with strange muffled whimpering and sobbing, leading into extended church-organ drones reminiscent of Nico’s harmonium work, and a repeated refrain of “In our hearts – in our memories”. Nico, in fact, is a good comparison point for the work of BSE in general, for whilst BSE, of course, lack her unmistakable vocals, they do share a similarly dark and grief-stricken worldview. It’s also easy to imagine BSE’s music being used on the soundtrack of gloomy European arthouse films.
  

There’s no doubt that the music of Beyond Sensory Experience will not appeal to everyone, maybe not even all dark ambient fans. Thrill-seekers and those with short attention spans are going to find this music boring and pointless. And although there’s plenty of sadness to be found here, BSE have little to offer in the way of romantic melancholy – their music is just too bleak and stark. But those with introverted, depressive tendencies may find a sparse and wintry satisfaction in BSE’s understated but quietly devastating ambient.‟

Simon Collins

XXXIII. Deutsch Nepal | ¡Comprendido!... Time Stop! ...And World Ending

DEUTSCH NEPAL

¡Comprendido!... Time Stop! ...And World Ending.

©Cold Meat Industry. Sverige, 1997.

‟Consisting of a series of recordings made from 1992 to 1996, Comprendido is a good representation of the aggressive, dark black pitch of Deutsch Nepal's work. The band being a one-man operation courtesy of -- kid you not -- one Lina der Baby Doll General, a Swede, everything here, outside of a brief guest vocal/horns appearance by another band on one song, is what one guy can do on his own. The results? Pretty darn fine both in terms of grinding atmospherics and focused intensity. While the themes at play aren't that far off from the slew of death metal releases that seemed to explode from Scandinavia throughout the '90s, sonically Deutsch Nepal is very much a member of the Cold Meat Industry roster, favoring electronic/industrial explorations of sonic gloom and gore. A few tracks fall short of pop radio (if not sounding), like the brief "Morgue Restaurant" and "The Phlegethon Fish," featuring the aforementioned guest appearance from the Moon Lay Hidden Beneath a Cloud. It's not particularly noticeable, more like further shading, if attractive shading, to the heavily flanged rhythm. Otherwise, length and mood-setting are key. "Thomas 29 Needles" is a good track to start out with -- a nine minute number that begins with a lengthy movie sample trashing God and any divine plan (utterly appropriate stuff in context), it shifts to a low, rumbling pulse for most of the song. Towards the end more overt orchestration and arranging comes to the fore, in the vein of Laibach's wry post-Wagnerian epics, though still pitched low, while Lina hoarsely chants lyrics. If Deutsch Nepal has a secret, it's restraint. While whatever vocals there are sometimes sound more goofy than spooky, it's the chilled, hushed power of the music that always wins out.‟

 Ned Raggett

XXVII. Ildfrost | Autumn Departure

ILDFROST

Autumn Departure

©Cold Meat Industry. Sverige, 1994.

‟Ildfrost are a Norwegian duo formed in 1992. They were the first non-Swedish group on Cold Meat Industry label. Their music can be described as dark, frightening, but also challenging. Never very active, and containing mainly subtleties, the music, while very soft and approachable, is geared primarily towards a shift in your state of awareness, one of dreariness or oblivious withdrawal.
 

Interesting stuff.
Neoclassical Darkwave? Yeah, I guess that genre-label makes some sort of sense; definitely more than Dark Ambient anyway...
Though -and once again- for this kind of music (ambient-ish), the spoken parts sound totally out of place; ambient albums SHOULD NOT contain these endless (and ultimately pointless) monologues.‟
  

Kurtz. K

 

XXIII. Sophia | Herbstwerk

SOPHIA
Herbstwerk

©Cold Meat Industry. Sverige, 2001.

‟Imagine a choral work performed in a cathedral of ice with distant rumblings of war and you have 'Miserere', the opening track of Peter Pettersson's second album as Sophia. The second and title track, 'Herbstwerk', is brutally penetrated by martial/industrial hammers. This seems to reflect real anger and sets the scene for much of the rest of the album.

'March Of Strength' continues in the same robust mould - grim and claustrophobic, it conveys the grueling agony of war. It concludes with a quiet piano passage, a reflective 'after the battle' survey of the scene of carnage.

'Inner Turmoil' is a piece of rumbling ambience while 'Copper Sun' has a grand martial choir, synth brass fanfares and strident percussion. In penultimate position is 'My Salvation', a more mellow piece transcending the clamour of battle and coming as a contrast and relief.

I wish this grim, Nietzschean, martial music had existed when I was an adolescent - I'd have loved it! But now that my attitudes and tastes have mellowed with age, I am inclined to prefer Peter Pettersson's more melodic work as Arcana.‟

FluxEuropa

X. Mortiis | Keiser Av En Dimensjon Ukjent

MORTIIS

Keiser Av En Dimensjon Ukjent

©Cold Meat Industry. Sverige, 1995.

‟Mortiis is an excruciatingly complex and immensely interesting persona.  With roots in the infamous Norwegian Black Metal styles, and having played bass for Emperor (a black metal band), for only a short period, Mortiis set out to build up on a theatrical aspect to his music.  Specializing in what he refers to as Dungeon Music, he's created synthesizer-filled ambient albums of long pieces that mix an old-age Norwegian time period with the visuals of fantasy.

Mortiis transforms into a goblin with long, pointed nose, unkempt hair and excess, shedding skin (if you remember Blix from Ridley Scott’s Legend that starred Tom Cruise and Mia Sara, then you have a perfect idea of what Mortiis’ alter-ego appearance is like – but Google and see for yourself).  And if you can imagine film music much like the old horror features with their brooding and menacing soundtracks, then, once again, you have an idea of what these decade-old Mortiis solo releases sound like.

Released in 1994 (Ånden som gjorde Opprør - ?) and 1995 (Keiser av en dimensjon Ukjent – Emperor of a Dimension Unknown), these extended 2-track albums provide a soundtrack to ancient and isolated castles with dungeon in medieval times.  These are not the war-torn and oppressed castles that we’re film-familiar with but rather, weathered edifices with deep dungeons and wet, dripping walls that hide horribly corrupt goings-on within.  Outside, the sun grudgingly reaches the interior of the castle grounds for the mass of trees that surround – and protect – the mouldering structure.

Listening to these one can easily imagine a torture chamber filled to capacity with agonized kidnapped villagers camped on the castle owner’s vast lands by need.  If anyone is familiar with Brian Lumley’s Necroscope book series, one could easily apply these albums of music as the soundtrack to the Starside aeries that fill the series during the Vampire World trilogy. Now and again, sinister spoken words pepper these sometimes majestic, mostly funereal ambient discs. 1995’s Keiser av en dimensjon Ukjent delivers a creepier feel but with sadder undertones in sound than 1994’s Ånden som gjorde Opprør, which itself is the more majestic story piece.‟

Matt Rowe

I. Aghast | Hexerei Im Zwielicht Der Finsternis

AGHAST

Hexerei Im Zwielicht Der Finsternis

© Cold Meat Industry. Sverige, 1995.

‟The idea of the wives of two famous black metal musicians collaborating on a project is pretty cringe inducing- various Yoko/Spinal Tap things come to mind, and I was expecting the story of Aghast to be something you'd find in a crappy, Raymond-esque TV comedy- two wives try to do something their husbands are good at, fail miserably but the husbands are guilted into supporting it, comedic hijinks follow- but lo and behold, this is actually a pretty effective piece of dark ambient.

I guess a quick summary of this album is "ghostly voices with heaps of delay" which wouldn't be terribly inaccurate- but nonetheless this whole thing is a very ethereal, minimalist and sinister bit of work. Everything is quiet and indistinct- voices and shimmering, pure tones floating around that are just a little bit too abstracted and processed to make out. Quite an enigmatic sound- everything has been smeared and obscured, so you're never able to make sense of the voices or the sounds that are made. It sounds like someone got a low quality tape recorder and threw it into the void for 36 or so minutes.

The whole thing is extremely repetitive- there's not a lot of dynamics, and except for the vocals that pop up now and then it's just a heap of ghostly shimmer. Still, dark ambient is one of the few genres where you could argue that the atmosphere is the most important thing, and damn, it's been executed perfectly here. Very occultish, heaps of disembodied spirits floating around just out of earshot, while the magicians cast their circles of protection, chant their spells and do their rituals- it's not the most original sound or inspiration for a dark ambient band to pursue but it's done really well here, particularly on the only track with drums, the marvellously ritualistic "Totentanz".

...And that's pretty much it. Ghostly voices, otherworldly tones combining together to form something very atmospheric and chilling. It's not particularly complex, this stuff, but that doesn't really matter as it's extremely effective in it's delivery. Not recommended for people with ADD as it's, well, quiet and ghostly for the most part. Fans of slow, sinister and enigmatic tunes will love this, though‟

Caspian