concreteweb - Frozen Light

System Morgue

Dirk — Mon, 04 May 2020 13:24:21 +0000

Artist:

System Morgue

Album Title:

Froid

Release Date:

Sunday, December 31, 2017

Label:

Frozen Light

Distribution:

Frozen Light

Review Type:

A short review, though dealing with a masterly executed album…

I do follow System Morgue for a decade or more, because I do consider this project (and yes, that isn’t but a personal – and therefor subjective – statement, yet still…) as one of the most interesting Drone / Ambient ones from Russian (or even international) soil. This project around St. Petersburg born musician Peter L. did release many hands full of recordings, first under the System Morgue moniker, and as from half of 2018 under the Accasari banner. And each time Peter L. knows to impress me (once again, this is a personal point of view, but hey, I am writing this review).

Anyway, the fantastic Moscow-based label Frozen Light took care of the album Froid, and even though it was released more than two years ago, it is my pleasure to write down some of my thoughts on this release. Yes, of course there’s a digital version available, but the physical one is at least as attractive as the sonic part of the game. The compact disc comes in a so-called card-board sleeve, being limited to 300 copies. It does not include much information, yet then again it does come with sober yet cool artwork (based on photography especially), courtesy of Peter himself, and Frozen Light visual artist and devotee Olga Matveeva.

Froid (which is French for ‘cold’ or ‘frigid’; it’s not the first time at all that Peter comes up with a title in French) is a five-tracker, which clocks almost one hour (in between five and twenty minutes each). Once again, you might expect a rich, fruitful pallet of drones and ambience, based on electric string instrumentation in the first place. The compositions are like long-stretched waves of replete layers, consisting of mid-tempo structures and hypnotizing melodies. A unique element is the fine equilibrium in between orchestral distortion, dreamlike delicacy, down-tuned melancholy and post-cosmic (indeed, it exists as from now on) reversion. All epics continuously grow and shrivel, climbing up and fade away, evolve and revert.

The huge variety (and ‘huge variety’ is not an exaggeration at all!) goes not only for the melodies and structural foundation. A fine aspect is the modest and subtle use of drums / percussion (programmed, I think, though it might be performed life; I am not sure, for which I do apologize hereby). They are used purely minimalistic and plain, but somehow it does enrich the compositions when used. What’s more, it lifts the whole up to a cinematic level.

Sound-wise, Froid is an expression of professionalism and craftsmanship. Since things permanently evolve and grow, being enriched time after time with interesting ideas, the mix does need a balance that involves all layers. And that mix indeed pays attention to all instruments, all soundscapes and all levels of noise.

A monument of subtlety, atmosphere and adventure…

Ivan Tibos.

Notchnoi Prospekt (Ночной проспект)

Dirk — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 10:27:23 +0000

Artist:

Notchnoi Prospekt (Ночной проспект)

Album Title:

Polyurythane (Полиуретан)

Release Date:

Friday, April 7, 2017

Label:

Frozen Light

Distribution:

Frozen Light

Review Type:

Maybe a strange one on this site, but seen the label involved, I think it was my duty to write down my thoughts on this recording, for both label and the band do deserve some additional support and promotion for sure.

I did not know this band, Notchnoi Prospekt (Ночной проспект), which means night avenue. In 1985 (!), two Moscow-based artists joined forces to play an eccentric form of Electro-Pop with elements from other genres, like Punk, Industrial, New Wave and Rock. Soon after, both members, vocalist / guitarist Alexei Borisov and synth player Ivan Sokolovsky, were joined by drummer Sergei Pavlov and violinist Dmitry Kutergin, and slowly on their style evolved into a more experimental, psychedelic, improvised and absurd direction. And you know, during the late Eighties and very early Nineties, they were quite ‘popular’ in their home country, and even abroad.

In 1995 the band sort of split up. Original member Ivan already left some years earlier, and the project turned into an experimental modular project. But a couple of years later, in 2000, the original members decided to join forces once again, and they still do. Unfortunately, Ivan passed away in 2005, but apparently his son, Pjotr, continues collaborating, paying tribute to the remembrance of his father.

Enter 2017. Frozen Light, a Russian label with an extremely open-minded vision, signed the project to have this new album released – the first ‘real’ studio album since 1992’s Music For Dance (!). It gets released in digipack format, including a folded eight-page booklet, which includes the texts, and this in a very limited edition of 300 copies. Oh yes, these lyrics are in the band’s native tongue, so if you do not understand Russian, you’re f*cked, haha. But at least, the song titles have been translated in English. All music was written by Alexei (voices, strings and electronics), often with assistance of other collaborators (especially Cisfinitum’s Eugene Voronovsky [he collaborated as violinist, keyboardist and programmer, as well as doing the album’s engineering duties] and Olga Nosova [voices and instruments]), and remarkable is that the better part of the lyrics were written by the Moscow-born poet Sergey Sidorov. Long-time friend Dmitry performed most electric violin parts once again too.

On Polyurythane (Полиуретан), the band brings especially older and some newer material, which are quite diverse and extremely bizarre and eccentric. To make it myself easier, I will use the English song titles as from now on, and the description well be kept brief yet to the point. Opener Radio Set, for example, which is the oldest piece from the band (1981), brings a mixture of Eighties New Wave, Gothic Rock and Electro Pop with an energetic tempo, semi-spoken vocals and psychedelic guitar riffs. Turtle is a narrative with psychedelic instrumentation (guitars, bass, sound effects, drum programming, percussions, violin), and it somehow sounds like some Badalamenti work with spoken words. Two initially looks tribal in essence, with a mesmerizing buzz, but the spoken words, spacy effects, Dub-Step beats, eclectic strings and cosmic synth melodies make this another weird listening experience. Hitler’s Drawers is a newer piece (2005), which mingles Goth Rock, Rockabilly, Electronics and Psychedelica, with twisting drum rumbles, melodic voices and lots of other weird elements. Skipidar too is based on spoken words, with dreamlike (and then I am referring to the mushroom-dreamworlds, haha) acoustic and electric guitars, female spoken word samples, progressive bass lines and twisted violin lines. A lot of free impro is surely involved! The track Winter Sea opens with acoustic guitar melodies, assisted by floating keyboards jazzy basses and percussion, continuing with female chant (by Olga) to accompany the listener to a world of Jazz Noir, once again somehow reminding me of the craziest things ever done by Badalamenti end co. Player is the acoustic reinterpretation of the original piece from 1987, mixing elements from e.g. native Folk Music, Ska, Indie Rock and Free Jazz in a mostly absurd way. Beard is electronic, somewhat the Chiptune or 8-bit way, jolly and playful, and injected by details from Post Punk and New Wave. The next piece, Quarrel, is a symbiosis of Ska / Reggae, Electro Pop, Dub Step and Cold Wave, with frenzy sound effects and manipulated vocal lines (besides the ‘usual’ spoken word representation). Telephone Call is a darker narrative, basically based on a grooving bass line and jazzy percussion, with different other instrumental (like semi-acoustic guitars) and vocal (harmonious female voices) injections. Towards the end, details from improvised Free Jazz and Psybient / Electro join the fun. Next comes the title track, Polyurythane, which trespasses the limitations of ‘ordinary’ electronic Music in each single meaning. Alexei’s vocals are the most varied here, with melodic and spoken word. Dub Step Electro, Disco Music, Space Electro and Ska are canalised into an up-tempo experience with a catchy character. For what it is worth, this piece is my personal favourite, if only it was for the varied vocals, the brave percussions and the cool underlying bass lines. The album ends with the so-called Dreamscape Yogurt Mix of Telephone Call, a heavier and droning Electro track that sounds like a slowed-down EDM piece with a bad mood. The drum programming has been worked out very deeply, majestically supporting the darkened electronics / synths and the dual vocals (the leads by Alexei plus the additional voices of Olga).

So, you might give it a try – I’m sure you can find a streaming opportunity somewhere. Do not expect a Dark Ambient of Power Electronics recording, to refer to two extremes that might appear on this site. Yet still, some amongst you might be that psychotic and frenzy that you might adore this material. Don’t take it to seriously, for this is free impro stuff, psychedelic, absurd and sarcastic. That might be a reason to embrace Polyurythane…

Ivan Tibos.

Exit In Grey

Dirk — Thu, 04 Jul 2019 13:17:40 +0000

Artist:

Exit In Grey

Album Title:

моменты

Release Date:

Thursday, May 3, 2018

Label:

Frozen Light

Distribution:

Frozen Light

Review Type:

Exactly two years after the grandiose recording One Lumen In The Past (

Ivan Tibos.

As Autumn Calls

Dirk — Mon, 17 Jun 2019 12:51:58 +0000

Artist:

As Autumn Calls

Album Title:

Resignation

Release Date:

Monday, October 30, 2017

Label:

Frozen Light

Distribution:

Frozen Light

Solitude Prod.

Review Type:

For almost fifteen years, Canadian act As Autumn Calls dooms all over the globe with their messages of despair, loneliness, tristesse and grief. The band was formed in 2005 by James Hawkins (grunts and bass) and Andrew Ilves (guitars and clean vocals), and in 2009 they self-released the great three-track EP Emotionless. It was the start of something exciting to come up… With newly recruited drummer / keyboardist Darren Favot, the original duo recorded the (also great) An Autumn Departure full length in 2011, released via The Northern Cold Productions and Naturmacht Productions. Darren took care of mix and mastering too, and FYI: you might know him from his collaboration in e.g. Wolven Ancestry, Finnr’s Cane or Fractal Generator. In Autumn 2013, As Autumn Calls returned with (once again: great, but you got the point already, I guess) Cold, Black And Everlasting, which was released via James’ own label Rain Without End Records (part of the Naturmacht Productions family), once more with an additional member, rhythm guitar player Brendan Peacock. But then everything faded away into deafening silence…

Enter late 2017. Here’s where the (great!) Moscow-based label Frozen Light enters the story. Finally, a new epos caresses my eardrums, but it is not exactly a new recording. Actually, Resignation consists of the three tracks that initially appeared on the Emotionless EP from 2009, with these ones having been re-recorded for this release specifically as well (besides the original versions), with two older yet previously unreleased tracks. The compact disc, which comes with an eight-page booklet (with the lyrics included), got released in a limited edition of 300 copies, and it contains sober yet fitting artwork by long-time collaborator Wallace R. Gillard. And as usual, Frozen Light collaborator Olga Matveeva was responsible for design and layout.

The tracks on Resignation stand for a very melancholic and emotional form of timeless Doom-Death Metal, deeply rooted in the Old School tradition yet with a contemporary approach. The ingredients are quite ‘evident’ (which does not need to be a bad thing). The compositions are carried on highly melodious, dreamlike guitar leads, twin tremolo riffing with a mesmerizing character especially. These lead melodies are like the central theme throughout the whole of the album, giving it that melancholic in-depth character in the first place. Of course, and what else did you expect, all this gets supported by an intensively firm rhythm section. Rhythm guitar and bass guitars, as well as drums, do convincingly uplift the lead guitars, intensifying the structure, making the whole sound even more persuasive, heavy and convinced. Seen the fabulous sound quality (the band took care of recording, mix and mastering itself; it sound well-polished, yet not exaggerated in surgically über-clean nonsense), the rhythm instrumentation is not ‘just a support on the background’, but an important, independent entity within the whole process. Beware, for ‘independent’ does not mean that all instruments are acting apart from each other. No, the cohesion is simply organically natural and consistent.

The main vocals are of the traditional ‘grunting’ kind, being abyssal deep, spitting desperation, funereal grief and some anger too. They are the better part of the vocal part, evidently, but James makes use of some rather blackened screaming excerpts as well. And those screams might be (too) few, yet they do add value, importance to the general atmosphere, for adding a bleaker, more oppressive dimension. Also limited yet of undeniable importance are the (few) cleaner voices (by Andrew). One remark right here: it is quite difficult to ‘understand’ the lyrics, unfortunately…

Of course you also have these acoustic and semi-acoustic moments. Those ones add more melancholy, depth, integrity and introspection, but it is sort of an obligation for some reason. Once again, don’t mind the lack of being ‘renewing’, for who cares about that. The result is what counts, okay. The same goes for the additional keyboards, which are like painting the background in order to strengthen the expression of the basic melodies. I is all part of the concept, and because it fits, it is a necessary evidence.

In general, this album is not a ‘heavy’ one, compared to many other Doom-Death bands. There is no ‘funereal’ approach, and then I rather refer to the lack of ‘Funeral Doom’ moments. On the contrary, the atmosphere is much more ‘enlightened’ in sound and performance, despite the presence of some heavier chapters and more intense excerpts. Resignation is not the most ‘depressing’ of ‘suicidal’ album either, yet rather an atmospheric-melancholic one, more accessible and even catchier in approach.

Recommended if you can appreciate, well, let’s say: everything à la earlier Katatonia, Novembers Doom, Mourning Beloveth, Saturnus, Tristitia, Agalloch and the likes…

Ivan Tibos.

Sudaria

Dirk — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 14:41:50 +0000

Artist:

Sudaria

Album Title:

Lucid Nightmares

Release Date:

Thursday, April 13, 2017

Label:

Frozen Light

Distribution:

Frozen Light

Review Type:

Just two months after their grandiose debut The Syncretic Labyrinth (released via Spain’s Sphingidae and Germany’s Attenuation Circuit, home to Emerge), the Spanish project Sudaria returns with Lucid Nightmares, a monstrous successor of the debut for sure. This second effort is available digitally via the Bandcamp page of the project itself, as well as the label involved, and the latter, Russia’s finest Frozen Light, also took care of the compact disc edition. That CD format, for your information, is a digipack with not much information (only the ‘song’ titles are mentioned and some psychedelic artwork, yet no further information – makes it all the more eerie and intriguing for sure!), released in a very limited edition. Everything was written, recorded, mixed and mastered in a couple of days during Autumn 2016 by frontman Miguel Souto.

Lucid Nightmares opens with the title song, and it simply is the sonic soundtrack for a lucid nightmare. Distorted, wretched violin noise is like the spine of this ‘song’ (haha, what a lapsus), injected by eerie, monstrous drones, some disturbing percussions and hypnotic synth lines. It sounds frenzy, apocalyptic, discordant and maniacal, painting a bleak, obscure and suffocating landscape where no light shines, where no life dwells, where no hope floats. Ten minutes, can you believe it, ten minutes it takes, ten minutes of getting drenched and submerged into aural terror; isn’t that great?...

Next comes Mirrors Of Ignorance, which might sound less chaotic, yet at least as asphyxiating. Injected by the darkest aspects of Dark Ambient, this piece is like the most abyssal form of Drone, divided into an Arctic-cold and minimal first half, and a translucent and mesmerizing second half (the latter breathing more dreamlike spheres of infinity and endlessness. In a way, it is even spiritual and levitative / meditative, that second part.

With Pale Old Gods, Sudaria delve deeper into the unknown dimensions beyond the abyss. In an astral dimension, this piece could be like a soundtrack for a travel deep into the unknown. The track builds up, starting from an almost spiritual and integer free-floating atmosphere towards a haunting, ominous space. The additional blackened voices at the background veil the whole in a mist so heavy, so bleak, so poisonous; ah, I do like that smell of venom…

The album continues, in its variating yet cohesive search for discomfort, with much more blackness, and this under the flag of Age Of Vice. Semi-acoustic and electric guitars, simplistically performed yet well-thought executed, are initially joined by evil, spellbinding blackened voices. After about two minutes, post-apocalyptic Drone / Noise takes over the sonic game, slowly developing into dissonance and cacophonian distress. Towards the end, unrest and confusion grow towards a physically unreachable height.

Shapeless Flame, then again, is like a Ritual Noise epic, warlike and martial in essence, and based on eerie droning sounds and lunatic noises. Post-apocalyptic, abruptum’esque, and filled with feedback and disharmonic synths, Shapeless Flame is like a symphony for mayhem and calamity. It starts catastrophic, climbs up towards divine chaotic disorder, yet evolves into empty, nihilistic atrocity and nothingness. Yeah, feel the emptiness taking over the consciousness…

Abhorrent Breeding is like the soundtrack for a B-Horror movie, representing torture, sadism and forbidden pleasure. Creepy and gloomy synths and haunting voices are mingled into a magnum opus, twisting the brain, cacophonous with masochistic pleasure. And as soon as you think that the abjection makes room for tranquillity, you still have a next piece coming up… Abortion!

With an ultimately darkening droning passage, Abortion opens the gates before entering the dungeons of abomination and fright. As soon as those tortured screams, slowly-pounding martial drums and poignant guitars join the party, you will drown suffocate in the venomous nebula that characterises this mostly misanthropic, hateful piece of Funereal Dark Industrial Doom Drone elegance (sounds sexy, does it not). Uncompromising and vengeful, Abortion reveals a hostile, post-nuclear presence of unscrupulous and unmerciful evilness.

Lucid Nightmares ends with an instrumental so-called ‘hidden track’, which is rather Neo-Folk / Apocalyptic Folk oriented with its acoustic guitar melodies. This composition is quite minimal in structure and performance, but it withholds that ominous, uncomfortable atmosphere that characterises the whole album. A nice addition to the album, but not exactly necessary, to my (highly important) opinion.

This Frozen Light release is, once again, an example of creativity in combination with a dark-souled identity. Ritualistic Black Drone might be a fancy description, I think, but I do not think there is a realistic way to define this material in human words. Imagine a deformed bastard child of Obscuritatem Advoco Amplectère Me (Abruptum), L’Arrivée De La Terne Mort Triomphante (Gnaw Their Tongues), Deimos XIII (Woods Of Belial) and Diagrams Of A Hidden Order (Black Earth), and you’ll have a clue of what Lucid Nightmares is all about… Top!!!

Ivan Tibos.

85/100

Zinc Room

Dirk — Tue, 27 Nov 2018 14:02:54 +0000

Artist:

Zinc Room

Album Title:

Grave Abyss

Release Date:

Sunday, December 31, 2017

Label:

Frozen Light

Distribution:

Frozen Light

Review Type:

Zinc Room is a Russian outfit by Alexander ‘I’ Syromyatnikov (the same person who runs Evil Dead Productions), assisted once again by Andrey Kein (both as session musician as being the long-time mixer / master; also known from e.g. Corona Barathri, Church Of Howling Dog, Sol Mortuus, Chaotic Bound Systems, Carved Image Of Emptiness). Both are (were) formerly active as Prognostic Zero. Zinc Room did record and release two hands full of albums in the meantime, especially via Evil Dead Productions, of course, and a few via Ostroga (run by ultra-mega-productive musician Vitaly Maklakov; this guy, by the way, was a guest musician for Zinc Room on an album like In Wooden Room). And hurray, but their latest effort gets released via one of my most beloved labels from Russian soil, Frozen Light.

Grave Abyss is the name of a very lengthy masterpiece (seventy-four minutes, with ten tracks that last in between three and thirteen minutes). It is a limited release on compact disc (300 copies) that comes with a four-page booklet, which includes sober but truly excellent artwork, courtesy of Olga ‘Matvey’ Matveeva (not a stranger at all for Frozen Light). I will not call it a compilation, yet some stuff has been released on former occasions.

The opening piece, the title track (the shortest one, 3:17, and that’s a pity!), definitely strikes and impresses. Ultimately obscure strings paint a post-nuclear wasteland, soon joined by ear-piercing, massively droning, wretched strings, horrifying synths and industrial percussion sounds. The production is menacing, metallic and industrialised, the atmosphere truly asphyxiating and hypnotic. Distortion and noise, this first composition turns me on for sure. Cemetery Dust is comparable when referring to the use of sound sources: twisted bass guitars, sound and samples from unknown sources (there is the mention of ‘spiral springs’ and ‘steel slabs’), and other percussion, like a triangle. The composition itself does differ a lot from the first one (and the upcoming ones – great variety), yet the atmosphere is comparable too. Eerie, mesmerizing, even spellbinding to the core, this track, consisting of differentiated chapters, creates a claustrophobic and frightening atmosphere, and at the same time it is meditative and transcendental too. It is like a ritual with an invoking character, or a trancelike séance towards the underworld of the psyche. Damn, so nice… Enter track number three (which is not a new one, for your information), Alley. Yeah, why not: a hybrid of In Slaughter Natives and Shock Frontier, what do you think… Or Glacier Light reinterpreting Skullflower? Or, well, you get the message, don’t you. And so this album continues. Each piece differs from any other in basic structure, but in an organic way (a lapsus: ‘organic’ with these industrial soundscapes) Grave Abyss stands for a cohesive collection of noise-distortions and discrepant sound-collages, always with an atmosphere so bleak, gloomy, harsh and suppressive. Each composition consists of different layers, apocalyptic, cryptic and chaotic, yet deep-thought at the same time. Take Coffin Drone, for instance (not new either), with these metallic clings, esoteric synth lines, ominous cello lines and harsh samples: what a monumental ‘song’. Not exactly a singalong, yet impressing in a way that it keeps on haunting under your skull. Or listen to the last track (the longest one, clocking over thirteen minutes), accompanying the listener into a mystic sphere beyond the physical world. The multiple samples, the metallic percussions, the eerie drones and so much more, all gets gathered into a haunting package, a sonic travel through a dimension of nightmare, desperation and schizophrenia. And what to think about Fresh Flowers Every Day, a reinterpretation of Chopin’s Marche Funèbre, interspersed with samples (animal sounds) and performed in the most minimalistic but mammoth-heavy and desolate way.

Fans of Aesthetic Death, Malignant Records, Cold Spring Records and the likes, don’t miss this! Zinc Room have released a monumental view into their hidden world under the working title Grave Abyss which cannot be ignored!

Ivan Tibos.

90/100

Zoloft Evra

Dirk — Fri, 07 Sep 2018 11:55:58 +0000

Artist:

Zoloft Evra

Album Title:

Murder Chamber

Release Date:

Friday, November 4, 2016

Label:

Frozen Light

Distribution:

Frozen Light

Review Type:

As you do know (or not, but then you will as from now on, so keep reading), Frozen Light are a label with many aural angles, yet always with ‘obscurity’ in mind. Of course, it is not different for this third recording by Italian act Zoloft Evra. A first acquaintance was in 2015, with Negative Infliction Pleasure (Naked Lunch Records & Signora Ward Records), followed by the three-track EP Self Destructive Comfort (Luce Sia, 2016, a split with Italian colleagues of Djinn). Later that very same year, Frozen Light released the second full length, Murder Chamber (which this review will deal with), and at the end of spring 2017, they returned with the compilation-EP Hypoxyphilia via Marbre Negre.

Murder Chamber was recorded in Italy, Norway and the U.S. of A. during winter 2016, and mixed and mastered eventually in Rome, at the Negative Propaganda Studio. The main recordings were done by Adriano ‘ZC’ Vincenti (drones & synths) (who’s also known from his projects Macelleria Mobile di Mezzanotte and Cronaca Nera, and from his nylon-based Noise-label Signora Ward Records), Manuel ‘Cold’ Mazzenga (sharp razor guitars, also mix + mastering) (involved with e.g. Nocturnal Degrade, Der Noir or Scent Of Silence), and Apolokia’s Blackfrost (ritual voices and artwork design). They have been assisted by some guests, but I will come back to this immediately. Oh yes, it came in an edition of 300 copies only, so pay attention!

In the vein of the debut full length, Murder Chamber goes on in a very twisted, disturbing, sick-making way. The description ‘Negative Drone Ambient / Death Industrial’ has not been chosen by coincidence, but it deeply reveals the nasty, perverted concept. The opener Razors Deepthroat (yes, the name already explains the sadistic approach) starts with somewhat mesmerizing drones, gloomy and ominous, even Lovecraftian in attitude. Obscure noises and eerie soundscapes are collected to create a sinister, haunting wall of sound. After two minutes, things turn, step by step, darker, when everything gets penetrated with more uncomfortable noises and samples. And when the lady (Caitlin Dituro) starts to moan – you know, passion, pleasure and pain – the climax isn’t but sonically orgiastic. This track, FYI, features additional synths by Cory Rowell (of Demonologists / Harko City fame). Next comes the title track, which starts in a less oppressive way, without losing that abyssally obscure character. It rather reminds me of an extremely blackened form of Dark Ambient. Darkly whispered voices join in, followed by many layers of ferocious noises and discordant razor-sharp guitar torture. Waw, what a hypnotic creation this is, permanently attracting and repelling at the same time. Krokodil Death Ride opens almost meditative, but soon the ritual transforms into a soundtrack for a sadistic drug-ceremony. Delving deep into this piece, a suffocative atmosphere will overwhelm you mercilessly, and in a masochistic manner it is so addictive to be obedient to this sonic perversion. Nice are the many vocal samples, sometimes spoken (so cool at the end), then again summoning a malign spirit. Hypnotic guitars and anxious yet combative vocals (by Tenebra from Dreariness) are the basic essence of Deadlife Obedience. My dearest Tenebra surely is a surplus on this composition, for she spawns an extended scala of negative emotions (fear, hatred, suicidal thoughts, anger, despair and disgust, I hear them all…). Cold Hypnotic Bloodbath comes with an eerie and post-apocalyptic sound, based on many synth layers, evil whispers and dark-industrialised sound collages. This is an extremely spooky and mesmerising piece of Dark Aural Art, at the same time very minimalistic and nihilistic, as well as rich and ‘full’ in expression. The bewitching atmosphere is breath-taking in a negative sense, like an overdose of masochistic lust. Great. The album ends with The Screaming Wall, based on distorted soundscapes and floating waves of claustrophobic spells and reverbed-sounding rituals. It might be the most Ambient-oriented Drone-work on the album, and a perfect ‘outro’ for one of the best albums within this specific genre!

For fans of stuff à la Körperwelten, Testphasen Negativ, Steel Hook Prostheses and Stromstad, or even Emme Ya, Khost, earlier Atrium Carceri, Satanismo Calibro 9, MZ.412, Swartalf, Psychonaut 75 and Climax Denial! The ideal soundtrack to enjoy in a torture / murder chamber…

Ivan Tibos.

90/100

Exit In Grey

Dirk — Fri, 15 Jun 2018 12:26:18 +0000

Artist:

Exit In Grey

Album Title:

One Lumen In The Past

Release Date:

Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Label:

Frozen Light

Distribution:

Frozen Light

Review Type:

Even though this album was released two years ago, I still want to write down my thoughts on it. There are several reasons. First of all, the quality of the Aural Art. I will come back to this immediately. Also of importance is the fact that Frozen Light recently released the successor of this album. In preparation for my review on that new album, which is called моменты (‘momenty’, meaning ‘moments’), I prefer to come back on this former release first.

Exit In Grey hail from the Russian Federation and were formed at the beginning of this century by Sergey Sukhokiv aka [S] and Stanislav Wolkov aka (S). The latter left almost ten years ago. As from then on, [S] remained as sole composer. He is (or was), by the way, the same guy who composed under monikers like Sister Loolomie, Five Elements Music, радиосон, and some other short-lived, few productive but attractive projects, as well as he is the person who runs (ran) labels like Still*Sleep, Daphnia Records (created for his releases as Exit In Grey, now defunct), Semperflorens and the short-lived Teta-Morphosis.

One Lumen In The Past was recorded entirely by [S] in 2011, but it took until 2016 before getting released properly, indeed via the great Frozen Light label from Moscow. FYI: the album was remastered for that release specifically in 2015, by Oleg Hurvatov (who ran the label InterioRepertoR, and the musician behind projects like Interior Disposition or Exploplasmatic Coagulation). It appears in digifile limited to 300 hand-numbered copies, including very original, somewhat unusual artwork, also designed by [S]. The album consists of three lengthy tracks, clocking forty minutes.

One Lumen In The Past opens with the title song, which clocks 16:28 minutes. It starts in a very haunting way. An eerie monotone sound glooms in the dark, soon joined by different layers of spooky synths and guitar drones. Step by step, this opening track grows, climbing up by adding new elements, effects, sounds, field recordings and sonic manipulations. With an asphyxiating precision, all those different aspects fuse into ambient fields with a cinematic noire character. As from half of this composition, things turn even deeper and further into levels of discomfort and distortion. Noises from unknown dimensions, hidden secrets from beyond space and time, make this whole listening experience breath-taking yet, at the same time, so intriguing. Towards the end, everything builds up towards an ecstatic wall of ambient bombast and droning drama, like a harbinger of pyroclastic destruction.

Old Letters And Visions (12:37) immediately continues within that breath-taking atmosphere. Like a post-life soundtrack, caused by Lovecraftian evil, this aural adventure takes us to the knowledge of our death to come. It focuses on our helplessness, impotence of leading our own life. Hypnotic melodies by (prepared) guitar and huge amounts of sounds and effects, create a sinister yet also enlightening vision of introspection and melancholia. As if a train passes by, untouchable and too nearby to decipher the details, this track deeply catches. At 2/3rd, with attention for detail, alien flutes and symphonic orchestration darken this experience, leaving the protagonist confused.

The last creation on this album, Whispers Time, is the shortest (what’s in a word) with its 11:24 of length. Both uncanny and hypnotic, this piece is a beautiful representation of this story painted by Exit In Grey. Less frightening, yet as least as woeful and alleviating, this closing chapter takes us to the Inner Self, awakening and provoking. Fine-tuned guitar riffing and floating sounds get permanently injected by heavy-livid droned, sorrowful melody lines and lots of sometimes quite unexpected yet appropriate field recordings and sound samples.

‘Time runs forward, inexorably carrying us into the darkness of the forthcoming Unknown. But sometimes our path is illuminated by short and bright flashes – flashes of light from our Past. Memory helps us not to get lost, and the Past itself gives us hope and support, because it is devoid of our death. But the Past is already dead and we’re not yet… Only flashes…’

Ivan Tibos.

85/100

Winterblood

Dirk — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 15:32:30 +0000

Artist:

Winterblood

Album Title:

Culti Segreti

Release Date:

Saturday, November 26, 2016

Label:

Frozen Light

Distribution:

Frozen Light

Review Type:

I have always adored that imaginative, winterly Ambient stuff à la Moloch, Symbiosis, Sieghetnar, Vinterriket, Nebula VII and the likes, and another act within this non-limitative list is Italian one-man project Winterblood.

Just like the fabulous album La Via Di Neve (

Ivan Tibos.

85/100

EugeneKha

Dirk — Tue, 08 May 2018 12:58:13 +0000

Artist:

EugeneKha

Album Title:

Gravity

Release Date:

Sunday, December 31, 2017

Label:

Frozen Light

Distribution:

Frozen Light

Review Type:

Sometimes it is almost an orgiastic pleasure to introduce an underestimated act, one that truly deserves deep-going fame. Okay, EugeneKha surely is a well-known name within its specific genre, and within the Russian Electronic / Ambient scene especially, but I wonder about his notoriety right here. I do follow this project for a couple of years, but this act has tens of releases, with several I have not got through yet. But what I listened to in the meantime was really satisfying, without any exception (live material included).

EugeneKha actually is the most active solo-outfit of multi-disciplined artist (dancer, poet, musician, visual artist, writer, journalist, editor, DJ and event organizer) Evgenij K. Kharitonov. This project creates ‘Intelligent Ambient Sounds’ with more than 150 releases under this specific moniker. Besides, Evgenij is involved in some other projects, such as Microbit Project, Spacebirds, Yoko Absorbing, Nameless Dancers and so on, but by far I prefer his EugeneKha outfit (my personal, and therefor subjective, opinion)! Evgenij, by the way, is the guy as well behind labels like 45 Echoes Sound (a largely underestimated Ambient label that houses artists like Jack Hertz, Christopher Alvarado, West Remi, Scott Lawlor and so on - indeed, some of the most prominent names have released material via this Russian label), Microbit-Records, 45RPM-Records, Laser Viza and Another Hemisphere. As (Rock) musician, Evgenij was active as from the Eighties, but his interest in Ambient and Electronic Music started at the very end of last century.

Грабитация, to be pronounced as ‘gravitatsiya’ or something, gets translated as ‘gravity’ on this album. Actually, it must be ‘gravitation’, but that’s just a minor detail. So I’ll continue with ‘gravity’…

Gravity is the xxxth EugeneKha album, a conceptual recording, and being, like stated on the Bandcamp-page of (superb and mighty) Frozen Light: ‘a fusion of meditative space ambient, progressive post-krautrock and dreamy synth-electronics’. Sounds somewhat trusted, does it not? It’s a double-CD with fourteen quite differing hardware-recorded studio tracks (especially Korg and Roland equipment were used) and two live pieces as bonus. Evgenij did record everything himself at the White Art Studio in Moscow. The result, both live pieces included, lasts for almost two hours (!)… 300 double-digipack copies have been pressed, being available hand-numbered, and with the whole visual aspect taken care of by Frozen Light trustee Olga Matveeva.

To keep it easy, I’ll name the album Gravity. Or is it because of laziness?... I will do the same for the tracks, if mentioned: using their English translation…

Gravity is a mixture of different related genres, but in this case, the organic symbioses has resulted in an own, new unnamed genre, courtesy of the artist. There are elements from Electronic Music, different types of Ambient (Ambient, Dark Ambient, Psybient), and hints from IDM (Intelligent Dance Music; mind the effects in e.g. Rhapsody), Psych-Electro (I just invented it, but why not?), Space Rock (without the guitars or the drums), Dark Electro (without the EBM-beats), Cinematic Drone and Ethnic. Besides, EugeneKha make use of some samples and sounds, tribal percussions (cf. Fading) and even female vocals (spoken words by Anna Guseva on the mesmerizing and semi-droning track Trust).

As said, there is quite some adventure to experience, but the global thing is one-directional. The main basics are based on soft, melodious and mindful Ambient-Electronic structures, without the harsh beats, yet full of psychedelic, cosmic and progressive sounds. Despite the ‘soft’ approach, it’s energetic for sure, yet not of the danceable kind (though, with your eyes closed, there is no reason not to turn slowly with your head – or any other part of the corpse). Let’s take the (short) opener Winds Of Mars (Part 1), for example. A hypnotic dark repetitive background line, varied yet well-balanced dreamy synth lines, some spacy interludes and the addition of different samples / sounds come together (maybe bizarre, but it does remind me of the interludes on Project Pitchfork’s Entities album). Saga then again, which is the next track, is comparable, yet rather seen from a New Age approach, and permanently injected with subtle spacy sounds. A first glimpse of the ethnic-oriental influential aspect appears in this track, by the way. There are both ‘lighter’ parts (the majority withholds that levitating character), often quite chill-out oriented, and some which are obviously darker (cf. Winds Of Mars (Part 2) or the title track, which comes, by the way, with a huge dose of Dungeon Synth alike majesty), and that equilibrium is excellent for it focuses on the whole experience of this lengthy album, rather than the individual efforts on it – you won’t lose interest or your attentiveness. With tracks like the esoteric, floating Noiseless Steps or the lengthy Tangerine Dreams-alike Crossroads, EugeneKha show a more intimate side, transcendental and meditative at first, and at the same time constantly building up to harsher proportions.

Both live pieces differ from the original studio recordings from this album, but hey, that’s okay of course. Geometry Of Light was recorded in St. Petersburg in early 2017, and it’s part of the Silent Tea Room session, which previously released via Evgenij’s 45 Echoes Sounds, if I’m not mistaken). This interpretation is a full, rich Drone / Ambient experience with many levels and layers, and a pity that it lasts for such a short time (5:44). The other live piece is a Moscow-recorded edition of Crossroads, offering much more ‘intensity’ and ‘bravery’ as from the beginning. Excellent en worthy bonus material it is indeed, terminating another fine and surprising Frozen Light release.

Ivan Tibos.

80/100