dark ambient

We have enjoyed listening to Druhá Smrt's dark ambient creations since their debut Okhult in 2013, which was released on CD-R. Jindřich Spilka and Lucie Spilková are the duo behind this Czech project. The main theme flowing in their music is an eschatologically fueled attempt to create a magical and philosophical evocation, a time beyond time. Immanentized was created and recorded under lockdown.

Immanentized contains three tracks of exactly eleven minutes. Druhá Smrt fuses distorted guitar drones with mysterious spoken words and the haunting voice fragments of Lucie Spilková in the distance. Folk elements and chiming bells are introduced between the dark and enigmatic sound structures. The tension on this dark ambient EP is combustive, showing the couple’s awareness that the focus on the eschatological musical approach has lost its ominous magic. Druhá Smrt is not looking for anything outside this world, because the outside is the inside now, with no transcendence. 

The music cuts deep in the flesh and evoking thought patterns about the awareness that the present is haunted by lost futures (Jacques Derrida's hauntology) and the final destiny of humankind. Druhá Smrt sees a world that can be interpreted as a body of infinite Deleuzian folds which surface and weave through compressed time and space. Immanentized sounds dirtier, more industrial influenced than their previous work. This is awesome foreboding music with an interesting philosophical input. A dark ambient infused mind cracker.

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Patsker

shoegaze / indie

Ryan Frederiksen’s band after These Arms Are Snakes releases another record full of pearling hardcore and emotive indie-rock. Listen up!

We all know the following scenario: one of your favorite bands breaks up, the members go their separate ways and after a while one of them comes along with a new band. What do you expect? The same or the new sound? Honestly, one is better off, when expecting something new. The very same thing can be said about the new band of Ryan Frederiksen who was part of three of the most sensational hardcore bands of all times – Nineironspitfire, These Arms Are Snakes and Narrows. After the end of the latter one, Frederiksen started another band that is very different from those three giants: the indie-rock meets punk-rock quartet Dust Moth which just released their second full-length after 2016’s “The Scale”.

“Rising//Sailing” is a very interesting band because it is Frederiksen’s baby and yet one needs to really listen to hear that it is him. But there are some elements that show his involvement: The characteristic chopped off stop and go guitars, for example in the second track “Everything Anew” which functions like another bridge between TAAS and slightly gothic-influenced post-punk. Or the fine-pearling click-drumming of Jim Acquavella which sometimes remind one of the finest moments on “Tail Swallower and Dove” (compare Dust Moth’s “How To Sleep” to TAAS’ “Prince Squid” for example). These stylistics are there and should not e denied; however, one should also note the unique-ness of Dust Moth as a band on its own. “The Scale” already showed this by placing Irene Barber’s vocals dead-center and they certainly leave an indelible mark on the sound of her band.  Her voice is like a mixture between Stevie Nicks and PJ Harvey, very smooth and a bit ethereal – combined with the music, it becomes clear how special Dust Moth is.

The band shows so many things on these eight tracks and forty minutes that each song seems to function on its own and in its own genre. There are the aforementioned hardcore elements in “Everything Anew” and the gothic-like synths in “How to Sleep”), but there is also this very post-rock-like depth of the crescendo's in “Other Worlds” which seems like a crossing between The God Machine and This Will Destroy You. “Flinching” then starts off like a very hard hitting piece of rock with Barber singing about a very sexualized encounter with an apparition, maybe the thought of a love long lost? That love still holds a tickling sensation for her “crawling down her spine”. 

The next songs also each have their own sound but one thing is interesting that nearly every song has one instrument contributing a remarkable line – be it the guitars, the synths or as in “Melted Monuments” the bass, which plays a very unique chopped up line in one part of the song only to provide some crunchy distortion and give a little fuzz-edge to the later parts. Very often we talk about the rhythm section being the integral, unifying element of a band giving the different songs some cohesion. With “Rising//Sailing” this role is taken on by Irene Barber whose vocals (combined with the placement in the mix and with a bit of hall and breeze on it) are the one trademark that all songs share and that holds the record together.

So with Dust Moth, Ryan Frederiksen has a new band and even though their sound and style is distinctly different from his former bands – one thing remains the same: His work stands out among the sheer number of indifferent bands. This one is another milestone for indie music. Maybe less hardcore but still unique. And that was always what he was striving for. As all musicians should. 


Thorsten

doom

After only a few weeks another review for 1782, who now release a perfectly balanced and heavy doom-sludge record with twists and turns.

After their awesome contribution to Heavy Psych Sounds’ “Doom Sessions”-Series the band from Ossi, Sardignia, went straight back to work and wrote some more songs to bless our ears and get rid of the cleanliness inside by purging it with fire. The same fire that they hint at in their name – 1782 was the year the last witch was sentenced, tortured and finally killed. The last one in all of Europe! 

More than 220 years later, December 2018 to be precise, drummer Gabriele Fancellu and guitarist / singer Marco Nieddu formed 1782 and had the chutzpah to go straight into recording mode. But this decision was perfect as their first single quickly became a hit all across the continent and now in 2021 they release their second full-length a mere 28 months after their inception. 

“From The Graveyard” is just what the title hints at – it is grave, serene, dark, compelling and certainly scary in a way – if you listen to pop radio. The now trio, after the addition of Francesco Pintore on bass, lays out a carpet of heavy riffs whose tempi are pretty mid-tempo but nicely distorted without ever being dragged out too long. One might say that there is a lot of repetition and fuzz in their sound, but hey – it’s Heavy Psych Sounds, what did you expect? What you see is what you get, and this band once again shows HPS unique standing as one of Europe’s main stoner/sludge/doom labels and certainly Italy’s standout label for all things fuzzy and distorted with a focus on grooming Italian talent. 

The record is a real grower but it is also quite appealing at first listen. Its eight songs spanning 43 minutes of doom and sludge shows you the dark lurking in the darkest corners of the graveyard with voices from the undead speaking to us, trying to lull into a false sense of security. Not false because they will attack soon, but false because you can never leave – the graveyard, the allure of 1782 and the growing attraction this band emanates with every bassline, riff and drum kick. Of course, the first you notice are the fuzzy and yet, somehow warm riffs because they are mighty but the most interesting bit might be the bass. Take “Black Void” for example – the bass holds Marco’s guitars aloft by pushing them to the forefront where they can join his vocals as the center of attention. But “Black Void” also shows the band’s willingness for very moody parts they let the organ-synth-outro slowly fade out for more than two minutes. Interestingly this also works as the watershed in the middle of the record. 

The level of pagan occultism is also on display on the cover where the eye beholds a sea of skulls below a lot of candles and a horned goat in the middle – all symbols being connected to paganism and heathendom, the occult and the witchcraft that ended in 1782. Nieddu’s vocals are not always present because he only seldom uses his voice on the record and very often it has a grave-like quality to it. It sounds as if he is talking to us “From the Grave(yard)”. 

By and large one cannot but congratulate the band for deepening their doom appeal without turning to funeral doom. One might criticize their lack of completely new structures, but is that really something one should expect by 1782? Probably not, because if you don’t you will find a lot of epic and dark structures on this “From the Graveyard”! 


Thorsten

noise rock

Norway’s noise-rock king and queen duo just released a record full of awesome references, hints, and pop-cultural references. AOTY? Maybe!

In 1930 Grant Wood painted one of the most iconic and scary pictures of the 20th century – American Gothic. 90 years later, that picture was at the basis for the artwork to the ninth full-length by Årabrot from Norway. Karin “The Dark Diva” Park and Kjetil “The Tall Man” Nernes took some inspiration from Wood’s picture as well as some from the horror stories about sects in the American midwest, the latter being clear when watching the two terrific and terrifying videos for the songs “Kinks Of The Heart” and “Hailstones For Rain / The Moon Is Dead” which form the short film “Norwegian Gothic”. The video shows a cult follow their leaders – Park and Nernes – and in the end both seem to tower over them with the audience not knowing if the followers are still alive or not. The latter of course quickly reminds one of the massacres in Waco and Jonestown where hundreds of people lost their lives. 

Now the artwork to Årabrot’s new record shows the same kind of pointy windows that Wood displayed in his picture – thus the masterminds behind Årabrot take up the position of the persons in the painting who display a kind of cruel inattentiveness and sheer emptiness which again is more threatening than anything else. Which murderous thoughts might be lurking behind the empty, everyday faces of the man with the pitchfork and the woman who might be his wife, his younger daughter or – even worse – his youngest toy. To show up a clearer comparison – Hitchcock’s “Psycho” will still give you the shivers even if you watch it for the tenth time, “Saw” on the other hand can only scare you once. The horror hidden in plain view is much more effective than the brutality on display in some post-millennium movies.   

But these references are only one bit of the intrigue this record emanates. The Dark Diva and the Tall Man have once again come up with so many effective songs that calling them workaholics might be the understatement of the year – they have only just released a complete EP a few weeks ago with five tracks none of them are on the new full-length and this is their ninth release in the last five years! That efficiency and productiveness might also be connected to them living outside in the wild Scandinavian countryside where they also rehearse and record their stuff inside an old church.

The sixteen (!!!) tracks combine for roughly an hour of music and you can find nearly all styles of music in it – industrial beats, soul, noisy bits, hard rocking riffs and brilliant alternative metal tracks. You can hear Park singing for her soul with all the drama of an old Motown vocalist who tries to seduce the dead. You witness Jaga Jazzist’s Lars Horntveth administer some seriously sinister saxophone lines. You will be seduced by the vocals of Karen Park who is once again as charming as Shirley Manson but with the “sorceress’” background of Siouxsie Sioux. Nernes might be the best Nick Cave-version of Jaz Coleman that ever graced the needle of a record-player. The music is a crossover between the Melvins, Killing Joke, the Birthday Party and Wovenhand. 

It is really hard for me to pick a favorite song from this record, because here that old cliché of a record that functions only as a record is so true. Even though “Norwegian Gothic” is not a record conceptualized like “Songs for the Deaf” with tracks flowing into each other, the whole record just makes sense in this particular order. To find out what holds all these songs together one should mention the awesome work by bassists Dana Schechter (Swans, Insect Ark, American Music Club) and Massimo Pupillo (Zu, Caspar Brötzman). Their earthy, raw, distinct bass lines really form the bridges between the tracks. 

Park and Nernes call this record the culmination of all their previous work and one couldn’t agree more. After “The Gospel” many thought that this would be Årabrot’s peak and yet here we are, five years later and the band has arrived at new heights with a record that might not be matched this year for all its seductive darkness. Which horrors lie behind the multilayered “Norwegian Gothic” will only be discovered in due time – but on can admit that the record is demanding your full attention at every second or otherwise it might crawl up behind and attack you. Just like the guy with the pitchfork in Wood’s picture. 


​Thorsten

post metal / blackgaze / space rock

It's a heart-warming thing to see bands who are struggling to survive in this current climate, turn their attention to those battling with something that unfortunately, can't be fixed by a laboratory made vaccine, or a quick jab in the arm. Mental health is a constant day to day struggle for so many and any way of highlighting this has to be commended. So hats off to “post-everything” newcomers Agvirre and “space-rock's” Dead Cosmonauts who are releasing their forthcoming split single titled "Eye Of Mirrors", presented on a very unique 8" vinyl courtesy of Sheffield's "Do It Thissen Records".

The double-A sided split single is now available as a digital download on their respective Bandcamp stores, with all proceeds going to MIND mental health charity. Pre-orders for a very special limited lathe cut 8" vinyl with a double-sided sleeve will commence on April 2nd, so that's a nice piece of memorabilia to have for all those vinyl enthusiasts out there (myself included).

So, to the two tracks that have been released. Manchester's Agvirre release "The Letting Go", and have created a swirling and uplifting slice of blackened, grunge-infused high octane “black-gaze” that unfolds into a fierce and relentless wall of sound. The clever addition of the violin along with chanting and harmonised vocals only adds to the atmosphere and perfectly compliments the “shoe-gaze” dominated vibes. A torrent of blast-beats with double bass thuds and intense, high pitched screams complete the cacophony of fury and power. Its fresh uplifting and brings to mind the brilliance of Show Me A Dinosaur's "Plantgazer" album.  I'm definitely going to be keeping an eye on future releases from these guys. A terrific track.

Sheffield based Dead Cosmonauts take a daring and very successful stab at Vangelis' iconic Blade Runner (End Credits) theme and transform it into a crazy, psychedelic, post-rock trip. Patience is rewarded with this slow-burner of a track. Warm, textured interludes bring way to explosive guitars and crashing drums to create a futuristic and sci-fi inspired journey. Lead guitars scream and soar while the bass and rhythm guitars keep it all pinned down to the earths surface. A lot of layers and sounds are squeezed into the eight minutes running time, but it all sounds clean, airy and space-like. Re-imagining classic themes isn't an easy thing to do, but this is solid, memorable and shows the talent and creativity Dead Cosmonauts have in their arsenal. Well done guys.

Hopefully, everybody Will listen and ultimately purchase this digital download, and consider the vinyl to go with it, I know I certainly will. Congratulations to both Agvirre and Dead Cosmonauts on bringing the fight on mental health to the forefront. 

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Pat O'

grunge / shoegaze

Less than 18 months after their debut full-length, Timelost, the shoegazey Grunge-combo releases a new EP with several interesting songs and a PsychFur-Cover!

Timelost’s debut full-length “Don’t Remember Me For This” jumped on our ear canals from nowhere.  As mentioned in the review here on MoA (http://www.merchantsofair.com/albums/timelost-dont-remember-me-for-this) the collaboration between Set and Setting’s Shane Handal (here responsible for vocals and guitar) and Woe’s Grzesiek Czapla (drums and percussion; both contributed noises and bass lines) was far more than the sum of its member’s well-known bands. It was a perfect melange of Nirvana and My Bloody Valentine with lots of fine moments when the two really created some songs that didn’t want to leave one for days on end. 

Now this new release must of course be measured on its own antecedent and not on the band members’ other projects, also because now the band is a quartet. And also because one can note a certain change in the songs’ construction and structuring: When the debut was said mix called “Grungegaze” (by the band itself), this new EP sounds like a crossover between Weezer (think of “Pinkerton”), Sonic Youth (“Goo”), TAD (“4-Way-Santa”) and, a remnant from before, My Bloody Valentine. The songs are much more direct and much more listenable, however at the same time that means that there are less things to discover by listening to it over and over again. Nevertheless, having the record on repeat is not a bad thing, because it is a really fun EP. 

And here the connection to Weezer and Sonic Youth should be clarified: SY was never a band trying to fulfill anyone’s expectations; nonetheless “Goo” is such an enjoyable record because here the New Yorkers performed some of their most comprehensible songs that often even had a clear melodic structure. “Pinkeron”, on the other hand was maybe the most repelling record by an otherwise very poppy act. And right on this crossing between directness and restrictiveness sits “Gushing Interests”. What becomes clear quite quickly is how tight this band is now, every little move on the guitar arm, every tiny hit on the snare seem to fit right in while nothing seems too much or unnecessary. The songs have been skimmed down to their purest essence. 

After two or three spins of the record it is also quite clear that there is not that one hit that can be taken as a clear example or as a unique-selling-point – also because Timelost do not care about something like that. It also becomes quite clear that they like some kind of space-core arpeggios – here Hum and (mid-era) Cave-In can be taken as a good reference. The guitars in some songs on “Gushing Interest” are arpeggios but they are not trying to swirl into nothingness, they try to move the song further forwards.

Now the only question that every one needs to answer alone is: Which version of Timelost do you like more – the bit fuzzier and more distorted version from their debut album or the new version (which is a bit more accessible but nevertheless highly enjoyable)? “Gushing Interest” will not leave you untouched, because the songs are just too good for that and the band too tight. One thing still remained the same as before – Timelost are more than the sum of their parts and really relevant in today’s music scene as they still represent new sound combinations we never knew we wanted. 


Thorsten

americana / gothic / dark country

Silas J. Dirge is the onomatopoeic moniker of a Dutch singer/songwriter whose outlaw ballads really transport the feeling of a 20th duel scene on the streets of Laredo with hayballs flying across the path.

With the release of his second full-length called “The Poor Devil”, he shows why dark country and outlaw ballads will never die. He follows in the footsteps of artists like Townes van Zandt and Johnny Cash, but also more modern heroes like David Eugene Edwards or Conny Ochs. 
The interesting thing about the genre itself is the fact that musically there is hardly anything new under the sun and in a way the most important thing is the voice and the vocal delivery of the lyrics. The same can be said about “The Poor Devil” - apart from the final track “Dolly Shot” whose harmonium and electric guitar melodies are quite noisy and make for a very different musical landscape. It’s less 19th century wild west and more 22nd century futuristic city center where the enemies meet for their final shootout which is then dismissed as both see that they are nothing more than victims of a society which pushes them to the brink of insanity. And at that moment both find the way into the next cemeteries where they sit on one of the gravestones and look and moan the fellow enemies they had to bury. 

Silas’ voice is really something as it got this little rasp like Mark Lanegan but also the sweetness like Blake Shelton. That shall not in any way imply that Silas is singing about mainstream stuff like grandpa’s gun or the typical radio stuff on country radio stations. His songs talk about inner demons, his own shadow that he can’t face, or the time he met the devil, which sounds a bit like a mix of Robert Johnson’s disappearance and “The Devil’s advocate”. 

This is dark folk and outlaw country of the best imaginable kind and Silas certainly does not need to shy away from any other European artist of this genre.


​Thorsten

black metal

Austrian black metal institution Ellende reworks the songs from an EP that he released several years ago and the new sound does some astonishing things to the tracks.

Late in 2014 L.G., the sole member of Ellende, released the EP “Weltennacht” and now he reworks the three tracks for his second release on AOP Records after 2019’s “Lebensnehmer”. Interesting is how different the three songs sound on this new release. These are not simply remastered or remixed versions but rather very, very similar tracks as he didn’t change the basic riffs and the lyrics are also the same. Interestingly, he didn’t choose the easy path and rewrote the songs in a more accessible way but he took away some of the moody violin parts (for example in the title track “Triebe II”, where he replaced some of them with really nice guitar arpeggios). And at the same time, the tracks got longer which one might not have expected as such. While the tracks turn a bit more towards cleaner passages in production they still keep the moodiness that made the original songs already stand out. 

“Weltennacht” is one of those moody black metal tracks that one should have heard if you really want to dig into the genre. With nearly eleven minutes (in the new version), the riffing and especially the dense and atmospherically interesting twists and turns of make this a standout – just listen to the brilliantly incorporated marching drums underneath the semi-acoustic passage in the middle. The drums slowly build and move towards the front before they break down in favor of a spoken word sample, which is then again broken down by another blastbeat attack that itself takes the position in front of everything else. Exactly at that one moment, when the blastbeat breaks and a little nuanced power drumming kicks in, the guitar also sets in a pitch higher than before. Those might be little details but they make the songs really interesting.

The new versions are all a bit longer than the original ones and it seems as if those extra minutes or seconds really give them some kind of new life. It would have been easy to just remaster them, but L.G. wanted to do justice to three tracks he felt are essential to Ellende and thus he came up with these new versions whose seemingly little details fascinate the audience and make for a very different experience. In an age when a lot of artists just release remastered versions it is very nice to have one really dive into his own songs and re-think them. And for those who never paid attention to Ellende – “Triebe II” is good way to get to know the band, especially when comparing the two versions. 


​Thorsten

black metal / hardcore / noise rock

Hamburg’s most interesting band between hardcore and black metal complete their Rituals trilogy with the release of yet another interesting record.

Having been founded in 2016, Kavrila quickly released their first songs in the form of the first “Rituals” EP featuring four songs and a running time of 12 minutes. The songs were produced pretty noisily and generally lo-fi. They were pretty fast and raw but that was also part of their appeal. The last track “Night”, nevertheless, highlighted the band’s ability for slower, longer songs bathing in atmosphere while not denying the heavy vocals. 
In 2018, after the release of their first full-length the year prior, Kavrila unleashed “Rituals II”, with five tracks and 13 minutes. The songs were still very unpolished but a bit more on the doomy and gloomy side of things. A transition record it seemed at first glance, leaving the listener with the question where this band would go with the final part of the trilogy?

That can now be answered: “Rituals III” will be brought upon us at the end of March and all fans of noisy, heavy, uncontrolled sounds somewhere between Black Shape of Nexus and Mantar, LLNN and Ovtrenoir should pay attention. The guys from the North of Germany really have achieved a somewhat more punkish sound this time and yet there is no lack of full-throttle sonic assaults with lots – one might recognize some Turbonegro-bits. On the other side these songs not only rock like hell but also have some nice little twists and add-ons. Like the slow, atmospheric intro of the opening track “Sunday”, or the noisy swirls igniting “Longing”. The songs have a clearer and more refined production which is a real asset to the whole soundscape of Kavrila, because this way they can play with the dynamics much more. 

Another good aspect of the band is that they got something to say, take “Equality”: The band reminds us that children don’t hate other groups but that they are taught to hate. And that only through teaching them one creates inequality. 

A band one should reckon with, even if this trilogy is complete now – but who knows which beast they will set free next? 


Thorsten

doom / stoner rock

A sound somewhere between Blue Cheer and The Doors is mixed with choir enchantments to conjure the spirits on Kabbalah’s The Omen. Really spellbinding.

Pamplona in Northern Spain is the home to this all-girl trio called Kabbalah and each year a triumphant procession is going through the streets with hooded figures and pointy heads. In some ways these religious respects might be connected with Kabbalah who also teach you a lot about being one with the universe. If you live in a city with such a vibrant spirituality, it might influence young people, too, any way that it can. 

Kabbalah are not religious in a christian sense, but certainly spiritual in a certain sense. Their music is enchanting and rich in keys that would make The Doors’ Ray Manzarek proud. These keys and the synth spaces really carry the whole record in a way that it becomes ethereal and lofty. Combined with a three-vocal melody delivered by all three girls this for a really enchanting record, because that is what their harmonies also sound like: enchantments or rituals to conjure up some spirits that might help them. However, the vocals also are the one negative point that should be mentioned because sometimes they are basically non-understandable. The ladies should really work on their pronunciation. 

Some of the riffs are nice and chunky and the distortion on these is simply good. Then the band sounds like a good spiritually guided goth post-punk band. In one song the riff dominates, in the next one it’s the keys. This shows that Kabbalah really know what is best for each song, and that they develop their own enigmatic attraction song by song. No matter which instrument dominates, one thing is always the same: the melodic value is immensely high behind the eight songs of The Omen, which follows several EPs and one full-length (from 2017). With this record the trio shows once again what well-constructed shamanic stoner might sound like.


​Thorsten