Various Artists - Earthen, A Cold Spring Sampler
dark ambient / noise / drone / experimental
The Cold Spring label celebrates their 250th release with a 29 track double CD. This UK label is specialized in all kinds of extreme music. This compilation contains a broad view of artists who create uncompromising underground music. All the tracks were already previously released. The only exclusive and unheard song is from Coil with Spastiche (Trumpo).
The songs are drowned in the darkest and coldest atmospheres you can imagine. From the harsh noise of Merzbow to the addictive dark ambient sounds of Sonologyst, or from the doom punk escapades of Zeni Geva & Steve Albini to the creepy sounds of MZ.412. There is enough to discover on this sampler.
The most curious artist on this release is Barry Adamson, former bass player of The Bad Seeds (Nick Cave). In collaboration with Pan Sonic, Barry Adamson composed this ice cold vocal song, The Hymn Of The Seventh Illusion, that ends this compilation in beautiful darkness. The sampler is a true guide in dark music for beginners and for experienced listeners. This double CD, limited to 4000 copies in a gate fold Eco-pack is more than worth its money!
The songs are drowned in the darkest and coldest atmospheres you can imagine. From the harsh noise of Merzbow to the addictive dark ambient sounds of Sonologyst, or from the doom punk escapades of Zeni Geva & Steve Albini to the creepy sounds of MZ.412. There is enough to discover on this sampler.
The most curious artist on this release is Barry Adamson, former bass player of The Bad Seeds (Nick Cave). In collaboration with Pan Sonic, Barry Adamson composed this ice cold vocal song, The Hymn Of The Seventh Illusion, that ends this compilation in beautiful darkness. The sampler is a true guide in dark music for beginners and for experienced listeners. This double CD, limited to 4000 copies in a gate fold Eco-pack is more than worth its money!
Various Artists - Servants Of Chaos II
black metal / industrial metal
During the darkest days of the year a flock of blood sucking bats were released with the compilation of Servants Of Chaos II. The French label Debemur Morti Productions indicates fifteen years of dedication to dark metal music. In fact, this is a very original release that contains fifteen exclusive tracks of fourteen bands. Au Champ Des Mort has the honor of having two hunting and atmospheric black metal tracks on the album. The variety of this extreme metal compilation is high. The psychoactive guitar riffs of Blut Aus Nord and Throane next to the more experimental and industrial approach of Terra Tennebrosa and Manes and the old school attitude of Behexen and Wallachia, show us the broad spectrum of the label in extreme metal. With no doubt Servants Of Chaos II leads the black metal fans to a dark and scorched heaven.
Sarah-Jane Summers - Solo
folk / celtic
With a fiddle and Hardanger fiddle as the only instruments used on Solo, Sara-Jane Summers shows her diverse talents on these folk instruments. She has already made several live performances at rock, jazz, folk, country, and noise festivals worldwide. Sarah-Jane Summers is releasing music as a duo with her husband Juhani Silvola and solo since 2008. She has made already many recording contributions in the folk-scene. Her playing embraces the historical Celtic melancholic mood. This release of old folk covers received an intelligent input. From happy dancing tunes to the sad sounding fiddle vibes, Solo, has the wisdom not to be boring or sleepy. Sarah-Jane Summers managed to revive Celtic music from a different perspective.
Stvannyr - Secrets Of Black Ruins
folk / acoustic
Stvannyr is a project of the Hungarian guitar player István ‘Musicformessier’ Csarnogursky. This artist from the Carpathian basin is a multi active guitar player involved in several projects. From guitar ambient (Musicformessier) to black metal (Realm Of Wolves) and much more (Silent Island, Black Hill). István Csarnogursky has the talent to create special floating guitar sounds that make you drift away. With Secrets Of Black Ruins he brings a more folk touch to the ambient guitar licks known from his other project Musicformessier. Six beautiful atmospheric folk instrumentals overwhelmed us with day-dreaming peace. Only available as digital download. Do not hesitate to have a listen to this artist’s other projects.
Bluetech - Liquid Geometries
ambient / electronic
Evan Bartholomew has been performing electronic music for nearly 20 years as Bluetech. He has also credits in composing music for video games and TV/movie scores. With Liquid Geometries this American electronica artist from Portland joined the DiN label of Ian Boddy. Evan Bartholomew explores the electronic sounds like the old masters of the Berlin School did. A lot of sequenced vibes are put together into an interesting trip of soundscapes. Nothing new on the horizon but the recording has a high quality production and sounds refreshing. Bluetech provided nicely constructed and moody tracks on this release. This is a grower.
Athrox - Through the Mirror
heavy metal
Athrox plays a groovy kind of old school metal, a mixture between Armored Saint and Anthrax. This hardworking band from Italy released with Through the Mirror their second album. The songs have lots of variety in style and tempo. When they speed up you can feel and hear fragments of Metal Church. Athrox perform their music with finesse and deliver good melodic tracks. The down tempo songs don’t lose strength and have no disturbing effect on the album. Some compositions contain a welcome input of thrash metal. Athrox released with Through the Mirror an old school metal album carrying a wide range how heavy metal should sound. Nice work.
Patsker
