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 

 

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