dark ambient / electronic

Eprom is an album released on January 20, by Italian electronic dark ambient musical duo Diaspora Psichica, consisting of Francesco Maggi and Riccardo Martucci. With eight tracks – Transmission, Vision, Equilibrium, Daleth, Vertigo, Aeternum, Hysteresis Human Mind and Thelema –, Eprom reveals itself to be a deep, transient and dense dark ambient album. With a somewhat awkwardly ostensive sense of originality, there is a coherent and expressive sense of objectivity present on this album, which greatly helps the development of its purpose, intensity and musicality.

Besides the ostensibly slow harmonies prevalent on the album, here the calmness of sound, the exhilaration of silence and the anxiety of expectation are brilliantly combined, to greatly express the agonizing drifts of the genre. Like a slow shadow descending into the nothingness of an abyss of conformity and obscurity, Eprom revolves around a salutary, creative and deep understanding of the genre, as the two musicians behind the project magnificently elaborate – from a genuine correlation of concept – their own style of sound. 

Contrary to a lot of other albums on the genre, Eprom is coherent, lucid, discreet and evasive, and you never gets resented of any boredom. Astoundingly building a resonating wall of delusional musicality – although the sound is merely concrete – Eprom is a great example of a Dark Ambient album done in the right way. It’s never vague or tedious, and its primary harmonic expansions are quite unique. A strongly recommended album, it’s by far one of the best I’ve heard on the genre. With very singular tracks – each one having its own musical characteristics –, but retaining a solid unity, Eprom is a very good record! Far from being redundant, ordinary or generic, this is an impeccable album, that not only deeply comprehends dark ambient, but thoroughly and truly communicates to the listener the real meaning and the primary purpose behind the genre. 

The right choice for each and every enthusiast of dark ambient, Eprom, by Diaspora Psichica, have the potential to become a reference in the genre. With an impressive sonorous quality that easily functions as a bridge between the reverberation of a marvelous sound and the ecstatic dread of a very subtle, but hopefully imminent darkness, this album has everything the genre demands, combined in the right order, with the correct components, exactly as it should! Nobody could have done this better.  
     

Wagner

punk rock / garage rock

I admit, I was completely wrong about this album. To be honest, I was expecting some lame ancient Iron Maiden rip-off, probably from looking at the cover and band logo. However, what I got was something completely different, something that made me turn up the volume immediately. Swedish rockers Nightmen come up with an infectious blend of garage rock and punk, reminding me of a mix of Ramones, Sex Pistols, Blondie and The Cars. This is a tremendous throw-back in time and an absolute must-have for fans of sweet but raunchy rock 'n roll. I promise you'll be quickly singing along with songs like 'I Only Want You', 'Go Go' and 'Tonight Is The Night'. Awesome stuff...

electro

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Since we're dealing with strange music, let's introduce this electronic dance single by Morgane Lhote (ex-Stereolab), A.K.A. Hologram Teen. Yes, strange, because even though the whole thing reminds me a lot of a blend of French house music and acts like Add N To X or even Kraftwerk, there is a great deal of joyful experimentalism in here. It also reminds me a bit of the acid house and new beat scene in the late eighties and early nineties, two scenes that I secretly loved back then. I still love them today and I quite like this single too. So check it out, get your rave-pants on and prepare for a little party with Hologram Teen. It'll be fun, I promise you.

ambient / experimental / neoclassical

Eilean Records

øjeRum is Copenhagen based musician and collage artist Paw Grabowski. Since 2014, he released several albums but this is his first one on Eilean Records. The compositions on this album somewhat reach the avant-garde scene, but are still gentle, calm and quite immersive pieces of minimal music. With this minimal and often repetitive approach, these tracks are very interesting to explore. They show different sides each time, sometimes reaching out to classical music, sometimes almost medieval folk and sometimes calm and soothing ambient. So yeah, like most of Eilean's releases, this is a highly recommended piece of work, one I will be listening to quite often from now on.

avant garde / experimental / ambient / noise

Eilean Records

Another odd and quite varied album from Eilean Records, this time by German sound artist Florian von Ameln. And this album should be seen exactly like that: sound art. Some of the track on 'Rvvr' could barely be described as music. I mean, 'The Last Before Settlement' partially consists of bleeps, bird sounds and minimal drones until the real musicality fades in. Yet, that doesn't make this album any less interesting. It remains an adventurous journey, loaded with weird noises, strange electronic and acoustic passages and a mystical atmosphere. The more you listen to 'Rvvr', the more a map of an otherworldly, imaginary universe opens. Truly recommended material...

black metal / crust

It looks like these will the most varied brieviews yet, from punk over experimental ambient to electronic music and now a fierce slab of blackened crust punk, courtesy of Minneapolis, US residents Feral Light. Yet, it isn't just brutal and aggressive crust you get here. These guys are obviously inspired by the ancient Scandinavian hordes, judging from the awesome riffs. Yet, they also bring in the layered sound from today's post-black metal scene, turning these little pieces of extremity into hypnotic metal songs. As far as crust is concerned, these guys are well on their way to become my favorites in the genre. Try it out, you'll be pleasantly surprised, if you survive the trip...

avant-garde / experimental 

Merdumgiriz

Controversial, weird, angsty, insane. Those are words you can use to describe this strange album by Turkish experimental act Viranesir. The former extreme metal act has been banned from facebook and bandcamp for their often questionable content. This time, they deliver a firm kick in the nutsack of the metal industry by combining technical death metal drums with spooky synths and a massive avant-garde attitude. That way, this album reminds me more of acts like Virgin Prunes, Sex Gang Children or Alien Sex Fiend. It feels like this album was meant as a pop-induced middle finger to one industry, but unintentionally it has become an interesting piece of dark cult album. Yep, that's talent, no matter how controversial it is...

death metal / thrash metal

Headbanging time again, right now with Italian quartet InAllSenses. This ep has been released awhile ago but for some reason it escaped my attention. If you're a fan of strong but melodic metal, this should not escape yours. This is a great crossover between old school thrash metal and the melodic death thrash of the Swedish scene. A little In Flames, a little Testament, a dash of Arch Enemy and a hint of Fear Factory, but all perfectly fitting in with today's metal scene. I'm absolutely sure that songs like 'The Anthem Of Revolution' will cause massive moshpits wherever these guys play this stuff live, moshpits where young and old extreme metalheads will have the time of their lives...

grindcore 

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Well, here's another album that is completely void of musicality, not because it consists of a bunch of field recordings and noises but merely because this is raunchy porngrind, goregrind or whatever you like to call this stuff. Hyperspeed drums, thick riffs, screams, squeals and other torturous noises will continuously blast through your speakers until your sanity is sick of it and leaves that deranged body of yours. Don't worry, you don't need your sanity to enjoy this album. All you need is a bunch of good friends, a mouthgag and plenty of sick bondage equipment and you're ready to go. Have fun being tortured by this shit. And yes, in this case that's probably a compliment...

doom / folk / ambient

One long track, about forty minutes, divided into four pieces of gloomy, highly atmospheric music, blending elements from doom metal, folk, classical and dark ambient ànd featuring an appearance by Thomas Helm (Empyrium), that's what this strange gem delivers. Created by Iranian one man act The Unknown (Aria Moghaddam) and aided by Kevin Pribulsky from US band In Search Of, this album is a brilliant piece of work. There aren't even so many doom metal elements present. The majority of the music is orchestral and symphonic ambient and quite immersive if you ask me. It fits perfectly in today's post-metal/rock scene too with its elaborate soundscapes and hypnotic riffs . Beautiful stuff...

stoner rock / psychedelic rock

This album by Berlin, Germany stoner rockers Samavayo is their first one as a trio. There used to be more members but apparently, three is enough to make a blast of an album. 'Dakota' is a groove and fuzz-loaded riff-beast which will undoubtedly get your wasted ass shaking. Yet, these aren't simple in-your-face stoner rock tunes. These are quite complex pieces of work where psychedelic rock meets alternative rock, grunge even. They show a great deal of musical craftsmanship and songwriting abilities.The more you listen to the album, the more layers of fuzzy bliss you will discover and the more you will like it. I have no favorite songs, as I simply like to play this thing loud and ride along with the grooves. Awesome...

EBM / industrial

You might not have expected it, but I've been quite the goth back in the days.  As a DJ on several goth parties, I often filled the dancefloor with heavy beats and immersive electronics.  I actually do remember playing Bak XIII at one of those parties, somewhere between tracks by Front 242 and VNV Nation.  So when this album reached my inbox, I was quite curious. After all, when I moved towards the quieter genres, I completely lost track of the EBM scene.

Bak XIII hails from Switzerland and have been around since 2001.  By then, the genre was already evolving and incorporating more modern sounds, a trend that Bak XIII seem to follow. Besides the typical beats and pounding bass lines which effectively remind me of Front 242 or Nitzer Ebb, there are loads of  keyboard melodies, ranging from nineties Eurodance to industrial electro acts like Covenant or Neuroticfish.

The album opens with the almost classic EBM track 'Fear Business'.  Yet, although this song clearly brings back memories of the eighties sound, Bak XIII incorporates some modern elements.  Even dubstep seems to be a small part.  That combination returns in nearly all songs on this album, highlighting in songs like 'La Stratégie De L'Echec' or 'Death Is The New Hype', which could have been a Suicide Commando track.

As often with this genre,  I sometimes wonder if I'm listening to underground electro or modern day dance music.  Sometimes there is very little difference between the two, except maybe for the fact that acts like Bak XIII have a little more purport in the form of vocals with more meaning than just 'put your hands up', 'twerk till you drop' or 'I hope you crash and die tonight'.  Otherwise, 'Fucking Bloody Song Of Shit' would be merely a happy hardcore tune.

In all, I think it's safe to say that Bak XIII makes modern day pop songs for dark souls.  Beats, sequencers and synths for the foundation on which the vocals can bloom.  Oddly, sometimes the vocals remind me of punk rock bands for some reason, especially in 'Living In Video Games'. That song delves into the eighties and brings back memories of Pet Shop Boys or Erasure, sung by that guy from Blink 182.

Other acts that often come to mind are Blutengel, Diary Of Dreams and And One, the latter mostly in 'No More Tomorrow'. and in the somewhat slower 'Wake Up'.  The fact that I think I can mix this one perfectly with 'The Macarena' doesn't matter that much.  That says more about my DJ-mind than it does about this song. Fact remains that these are all possible dark dancefloor fillers, perfectly suited to get some more goth parties started.


​Serge