Metal and Dark Ambient Webzine: Interviews, reviews, artist conversations, and podcasts
VOICES FROM CORNERS UNKNOWN, EP. 8 (HIEMIS, FROM HARBOUR, MICROCOSMYS, LA TORTURE DES TÉNÈBRES)
In episode eight we discuss the engulfing and monolithic drones on Nachtstücke from dark ambient artist HIEMIS, the melodic tides of From Harbour’s crushing hardcore debut Fatigue, and the atmospheric yet utterly chaotic split between microcosmys and La Torture Des Ténèbres titled THE GODS THEMSELVES.
We dedicate this episode to Caleb Scofield, vocalist and bassist of Cave In, Zozobra, and Old Gloom, who tragically passed away a couple of weeks ago. May he rest in forever lasting peace.
Thank you so much for listening and your continued support. Let us know what you think about each of these releases below and please feel free to leave us some album suggestions for future episodes
Label: Wrotycz Records – WRT 025 Format: CD, Album Country: Poland Released: 2016 Style: Ambient
‘APOCRYPHICAL SOUNDTRACK FOR THE BOOK OF ST. LEM’ – This dark ambient album is based on ‘His Master’s Voice’ (or ‘Glos Pana’ in Polish), a science fiction novel written by Stanislaw Lem, first published in 1968. It is a densely philosophical story about an effort by scientists to decode, translate and understand an extraterrestrial transmission. The novel critically approaches humanity’s intelligence and intentions in deciphering and truly comprehending a message from outer space.
His Master’s Voice (original Polish title: Glos Pana) is a science fiction novel written by Stanislaw Lem, first published in 1968. It is a densely phliosophical first contact story about an effort by scientists to decode, translate and understand an extraterrestrial transmission. The novel critically approaches humanity’s intelligence and intentions in deciphering and truly comprehending a message from outer space.
Human beings should accept some humility. Sometimes we face phenomena the essence of which we are unable to understand. Even if we are equipped with the most modern scientific apparatus and knowledge we are incapable of resolving whether they are accidental or intentional. Newton once said that with respect to nature we are just children playing with shells on the seashore.
Label: Auf Abwegen – AATP 53 Format: 2 × CD, Album Country: Germany Released: 25 Oct 2015 Style: Experimental, Abstract, Ambient, Industrial
After more than 10 years of enthusiastic experiences and encounters with so-called „Difficult Music“ throughout the 1980ies Martin Peinemann and Asmus Tietchens deemed their somewhat differing approaches to making music compatible and agreed upon a loose collaboration in the year 1992. For various reasons (organizational and others) the work was not to take place at Audiplex studios but at Peinemann’s home studio. This modest lab featured all the necessary technical equipment needed to realize noise music meeting the standards of the day. This included an analogue 4-track-tape deck (9,5 cm/sec, Dolby noise reduction, integrated 6-channel mixer), soon after a digital 8 channel multitrack, a powerful periphery and sound producing devices of all kinds. For „Hochallee“, their first collaboration, Peinemann and Tietchens set trhemselves no definite deadline. The working sessions took place in an atmosphere of relaxation, usually on Saturday afternoons. By 1996 Peinemann and Tietchens finally had amassed a series of pieces they considered to be complete. At this time Peinemann began working on computer generated solo works and Tietchens moved on towards a more reductionist sound work.
“Klosterallee”, their second collaboration, was realized under completely different circumstances. In the years gone by since their last work Peinemann had deeply immersed himself into the field of extreme digital sound manipulation that he often discussed with Tietchens. From this collection of sound structures Peinemann offered some to Tietchens as sourcings for further treatments. The following expanding of these structures was not done in the form of sessions but executed by Tietchens alone over a period of three months. Peinemann then authorised the final results.
Unlike Asmus Tietchens Peinemann never released any music until now. He always valued the working process higher than the working result. The reason for this collaboration to finally come out as a double CD follows a noble motif that can be roughly translated as such: „A warning to the Old, an instruction to the Young.“ (Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, „Pädagogische Ergetzungen“, 1802).
Label: Shadowplay Release – SPR 114, Zhelezobeton – ZHB-XXIX, Monopoly Records – none Format: CD, Album, Limited Edition, Reissue Country: Russia Released: 30 Oct 2010 Style: Downtempo, Experimental, Ambient
Cyclotimia’s album “Celestis: Space Ceremonial Music” is inspired by the activity of a well-known American aerospace company Space Services Inc. which among other things specializes in sending human ashes into space (via their subsidiary Celestis Inc.). Moreover, the compact discs with this music have prowled the outer space twice while being on board rockets launched from the spaceport America in New Mexico. This happened for the first time in April 2007 (“Legacy” project), and for the second time in May 2010 (“Pioneer Flight” project). Cyclotimia’s music obtained the status of the official soundtrack to both events.
“Celestis” definitely stands out in the discography of this project, known mainly for its post-industrial and avant-garde recordings. It would be no exaggeration to say that this is their most accessible work (in a good sense) correlating with the best examples of such acclaimed masters of the “space genre” as Jean-Michel Jarre or Klaus Schulze. At the same time the music on “Celestis” is in no way secondary, it is modern and quite craftily made.
From the opening theme “Capsula” the album’s atmosphere plunges the listener into a world of spiritual experience, calls to take an imaginary space travel; fly towards Space along with the remains held in capsulas… It’s worth mentioning that the CD comes with a 12-page booklet narrating about the activities of the company. This release differs from the first edition (2007) as it contains an additional exclusive track “Another Time Another Place” – a 15-minute “space suite” recorded by the project in 2009.
Label: Verlag System – VS011 Format: Vinyl, LP, Album Country: Spain Released: 29 Apr 2016 Style: Ambient, New Age, Electro
“Dystopia is the name of the excellent debut of the Valencian duo Güiro Meets Russia. Dreamy, atmospheric, expansive and of undoubted Germanic flavour, the album released by Verlag System is composed of eight tracks of synthetic mystical air spiced up with kosmische vapours which remind of the work of Harmonia , Eno , Neu or even Boards of Canada.” Sais (WWAT, Jupiter Lion)
Recorded and mixed by Güiro Meets Russia in September 2015. The Possibility of An Island mixed by GMR and Montxo Burgos. Mastered by Pablo Peiró at Sountess Studios. Pics by Verónica Doncel. Artwork by Rebeca Casalta.
Label: Rage In Eden – Rage 110 Format: CD, Album Country: Poland Released: Feb 2016 Style: Experimental, Ambient, Tribal
Giuseppe Verticchio (aka Nimh, Hall of Mirrors, Maribor, Twist of Fate…) is known for his high-quality post industrial dronescapes and ethno-ritual sound productions through various technologies, field recordings, noises and treated acoustic instruments. Since 2002 his materials have been notably published by Rage in Eden, Silentes, Malignant, Eibon Records, Naked Lunch Records … Developped around loops, samples and minimal acoustic sequences, this new Nimh album offers thrilling sonic sound rituals with a distinctive aestheticism which embraces the universe of pantheistic, pagan and animist beliefs. The music originally explores the mystical influences, the meaningful sacred energies, dreamlike hypnotic effects obtained by obsessional sound patterns and cyclical rhythms. “Circles of the Vain Prayers” is a great companion of later works from Nimh, including “The Missing Tapes” (Silentes, 2007), “Krungthep Archives” (Silentes, 2011). Your perfect ambient, entrancing and blackened music pilgrimage to revisit sacred places of foreign small scale societies.
Label: Autarkeia – vinyl 012 avi 068 Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Limited Edition, White Vinyl Country: Lithuania Released: Feb 2016 Style: Ambient, Experimental
This long-planned LP is dedicated to a very close man of the author – his grandfather. Based on the story of his life, it reflects the post-war Lithuanian near border residents’ fates. Some were killed, others exiled or remained in the occupied territory of the Soviet system, which is an equivalent to the internal deportation or capitulation and surrender, hypocrisy. However, it turns out that even in such circumstances there’s possible a silent one person’s resistance against the entire system. In the dark Soviet times album’s hero dared to defy the executive instructions of their actions on the grounds that he was not a citizen of this country. In the events of turmoil, it can be considered a miracle that the latter had survived, but had not been exiled to the northern camps. He was issued an identity document “БЕЗ ГРАЖДАНСТВА” (in Russian, “No citizenship”).
Album compositions encode the post-war era’s symbols from child’s memory while listening to the stories of relatives. “So called Wolf’s children – children wandering alone in East Prussia, which were protected by good people. "Flowering Gardens” – a generous harvest greeting exiles that returned home. “Cult servant” – a multi-layered and complicated personality and social status. “GEBURTSORT: SZINDAITSCHEN” – inscription in grandfather’s personal documents indicating the place of birth, current Žindaičiai town. “1977” – the symbolic year in which the album’s hero died, and a few months later, LP’s author was born.
The record is done using only acoustic instruments and ambient sounds of the authentic grandfather’s life places: the remaining houses, attics with old craftsman’s tools, native whistling winds of Žindaičiai and chirping birds, church, yellow rusted documents and photographs, squeaky steps in Jurbarkas’ town cemetery…
"БЕЗ ГРАЖДАНСТВА” is a melancholic, atmospheric instrumental ambient album for the human condition, when you become a stranger in your own homeland, imprisoned in a trap and a hard choice: to flee or to stay.
Album’s tracks listing:
A. “БЕЗ ГРАЖДАНСТВА” B. “GEBURTSORT: SZINDAITSCHEN”
Lithuanian project Spanxti may be called a professional of post industrial scene, nevertheless that Dheghom is their first album. The new ambient/martial record is full of maturity and has a highly elaborated structure, dedicated to recall the atmosphere and gravity of ancient rituals. Every single track represents a separate ritual which is extremely authentic in the way it simulates rituals performed by ancestors in the past. They were created by the Indo-European tribes in Indo-European languages, i.e. ancient Iranian, Old Prussian, Old High German, Old Greek, Hittite and Gothic. It was strived to restore the authenticity of rituals by using the original actually witnessed scripts of ritual/mythological content, created in the ancient Indo-European languages above. All scripts are authentic, written down hundreds or thousands of years ago, and clearly represent the outlook of the ancient world. The name of the album is the reconstructed word of the Proto-Indo-European, which means “the earth”. The whole album is an integral ritual, consisting of a few smaller ones, and a certain attempt to experience the archaic spirit in authentic way. The album is released in 200 copies in four different package design versions. This is an absolute ambience of sound through the deep autumn.
Label: Trips Und Träume – TT23 Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Limited Edition, Reissue Country: Italy Released: 19 Jan 2015 Style: Industrial, Experimental, Ambient, Neofolk
Marking the 20th anniversary of Foresta di Ferro, for the first time in vinyl, “a soundtrack for an imaginary docudrama about faith, misfortune and fanaticism”, featuring Marco Deplano (Wertham, Caligula031), Richard Leviathan (Ostara, Strength Through Joy) and John Murphy (Knifeladder, Last Dominion Lost, SPK).
Limited to 300 copies, black vinyl w/ lyrics insert sheet.
Tracklist A1. Bury Me Standing A2. Harmony Of Pen And Sword A3. Oak Leaf A4. La Ultime Gnot B1. Kshatrya B2. Militia Christi B3. On The Marble Cliffs B4. Seppelliscimi In Piedi
“… Matt Hill presents his sophomore Umberto album. It follows on from the Giallo soundtrack style he brilliantly aped on ‘From The Grave…’ deeper into the bowels of the early ’80s sound, leering creepily at John Carpenter and the more bewitching ends of Italo disco and new wavey bits. Many have tried this sound – step forward Zombi, Gatekeeper, Francesco Clemente, Anton Maiovvi – but far fewer have achieved it with as much grain and VHS-warped eeriness as this. It feels more like James Ferraro has locked onto a killer Giallo collection in his dream dungeon and authentically immersed himself in their soundtracks, recreating their mood, tension and gothic mise-en-scene with scary accuracy, from the witch disco of ‘The Psychic’ and ‘Night Stalking’ to the Eurozone emotions of ‘Red Dawn’ and the Goblin-esque ‘Widow Of The Web’, all the while keeping a sly sliver of knowing cheekiness tucked in the top pocket. By the time you reach the ascending end-title arpeggiations of ‘Everything Is Going To Be Okay’ it’s time for another oversized pizza and 10 gallon bottle of cola. Sick record … Highly Recommended!” Boomkat.
