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Temple Of Clear Light – Eosphoros (2023)

Dan Serbanescu’s best known project is probably Tanz Ohne Musik. He makes music under more monickers. On his Alone In The Hollow Garden Bandcamp, you can find (of course) A.I.T.H.G., but also MMXXIII, Amaterasu and Temple Of Clear Light. There usually are the typical and beautiful grey esoteric designs on black backgrounds. The sound is often the A.I.T.H.G. type experimental, slightly ritual industrial music which is alright, but not entirely my thing.

Also “Eosphoros” opens with a ritual industrial soundscape and an ambient track. Things get more interesting when a bit of rhythm appears in the third track. That tracks is perhaps a little (too much) “trance ambient” (to just name a phrase), but a little further, there is perhaps more IDM. The combination of esoteric, ritual, industrial ambient, could also go into the direction of an Oake type dark techno. Serbanescu could probably do that too.

In general I want to suggest you scanning the A.I.T.H.G. Bandcamp if you like ritualistic ambient and industrial music. The most interesting to me there are the T.P.C.L. releases. Perhaps not brilliant, but certainly interesting.

Link: T.O.C.L.

Abscheu – Creed (2023)

Contrary to some other noise projects, Abscheu has only released a handfull of albums since 2016. After some releases on Unrest, the project found its way to Tesco.

As on previous releases, “Creed” contains dark industrial noise with very extreme vocals. Some tracks are harsher than others. I again prefer the death industrial type tracks over the more ‘ambient’ and chaotic noise ones and especially the tracks that contain vocals.

Abscheu sound somewhat ‘typical’ for an Unrest project, but when it is good, that does not really matter. “Creed” is another good noise album.

Links: Tesco

Moral Order – Backlash (2023)

Moral Order is an active ‘new’ project. After the 2018 album on Tesco that I reviewed, there have been no less than five albums and as many ‘other releases’. The project released through labels such as Tesco, Malignant and Old Europa. Two of the shorter releases were made available by Cloister who now also release this vinyl full length.

The sound of Moral Order goes from dark ambient, to ambient noise, but often working towards more of a ‘wall of noise’ type of noise and death industrial. Extremely distorted vocals bring an extra layer to the fairly extreme sound. However this is my kind of sound, I cannot say that I listen to Moral Order a whole lot. Perhaps it is good, but does not really stand out or something. Also there are other kinds of tracks, more experimental soundscapish things which work less for me, so I would probably not just play an album from start to finish.

In any case, all I can say is that “Backlash” is a good new album in the noise type of music.

Links: Moral Order, Cloister Recordings

Slow Slow Loris – Solve Et Coagula (2023)

In spite the fact that this is not the first release of Slow Slow Loris and that earlier releases are made available by labels that I know, such as Zaetraom and (like the present title) Cloister, the odd band name did not ring a bell.

“Solve Et Coagula” is released today through Bandcamp and on tape. When I put on the album I thought ‘hm, some sort of experimental soundscape type of thing, not entirely my cup of tea’. The vocals reminded me a bit of Alzbeth of The Moon Lay Hidden and on closer listening, the project brings memories of the pre-TMLHBAC project L.A.A.

The music consists of sound experiments which go from soundscapes to more industrial and noise(y) parts. There seems to be guitars and then there are the almost constant vocals of Angela Nina Yeowell. The result is certainly uncommon compared to what I listen to more often, but the more I hear of the album, the more it grows on me. This is actually pretty interesting music. I will have to listen to the previous releases of this project.

You can listen to (and buy) this new album here.

Links: Slow Slow Loris, Cloister Recordings

Michael Idehall – Unending Crisis (mc 2022)

Apparently already out since March 2022, a tape of Idehall on a new label from Berlin, Kontralamakina. “Unending Crisis” is a tape of around half an hour. The sound is on the rhythmic side of Idehall’s spectrum, sometimes perhaps even going a bit further into an EBM-ish direction. There are also the ritual elements, here and there a flinch of IDM and of course Michael’s vocals. There are more ambient tracks and towards the end there is a somewhat noisy indutrial track

“Unending Crisis” makes another nice release.

Links: Michael Idehall, Kontralamakina

Gruntsplatter & Underneath The Deadlight – Predation Monoliths (2022)

Gruntsplatter I have known for a couple of decades. Underneath The Deadlight is a new project to me, and (I think) a new project in general. Discogs has only one release listed which is also from 2022 (and released on Gruntsplatter’s label Crionic Mind!). The project’s Bandcamp has six. Discogs has them listed as “dark ambient, industrial”.

A quick scan shows that UTD makes guitar based drone noise, so I guess that explains the amount of guitar on “Predation Monoliths”. The guitar wall of noise with stretched sounds and highly distorted vocals is actually pretty damn good. Perhaps this release is should be more lined with bands such as Khost, Sutekh Hexen or Gnaw Their Tongues than with the ambient death industrial of (early) Gruntsplatter.

There are several platforms where you can listen to the album before deciding whether or not to buy it. I may need to listen to the other releases of UTD as well.

Links: Gruntsplatter, Underneath The Deadlight, Annihilvs

Am Not – Cold + Disloyal (2022)

  • noise

It has been five years since the last cd of Am Not. The meantime has seen some tapes and vinyl. Now suddenly there is a double cd. It is not entirely clear to me what the history of this release is. The album can be listened to on the Bandcamp of a label called “Kampf Unrest” which has the logo of the (defunct?) Unrest Productions label that also released “Unpunished : Appendix” (2018). Bandcamp does not offer buying a physical copy. These physical copies appear to have to come from Tesco, but are not yet available.

Bandcamp says that there are: “10 new songs about dispossession”. According to the Tesco website, there are: “11 new songs about dispossession”. Perhaps the Bandcamp release is one of the cds and there is one long track on the other?

For now, based on the Bandcamp release, I can say that “Cold + Disloyal” has the ‘harsh noise’ style of Am Not. Walls of noise, industrial blasts, metal clanging, extreme vocals. There are not the more dark and structured tracks of the brilliant “Unpunished” (2015). Towards the end there is an ambient track and the Bandcamp album closes with an ‘organ track’.

Update 16/12. The digipack is a nice threefold double cd. The extra cd has an alright 23 minute noisy soundscape.

Am Not remains one of the more interesting ‘new’ noise acts. I am curious what the 11th track will bring.

Links: Am Not, Tesco

Dødsmaskin – Herremoral | Slavemoral (2022)

I noticed an announcement of a new Dødsmaskin and just as before I thought ‘right, that’s that project that made a very descent ambient noise album’. Well, no ‘ambient noise’ on the new album!

The new album starts with a very rough piece of noisy industrial. Loud blasts, metal clanging, distorted sounds. The second track leans a bit towards death industrial and then we go to some sort of technoish rhythmic noise that ends ‘ambiently’. More tough industrial, ambient that goes over into ‘wall of noise’, downright noise, this is mostly pretty damn good too!

Industrial noise lovers beware, you may have to check out the latest Dødsmaskin.

Links: Dødsmaskin, Ant-Zen, Malignant

Thorofon – Gladio (2022)

Out today, but the 200 copies of the 12″ have been long sold out (and I did not get one).

“Gladio” opens with Hoffman singing a hymn over some noise. After that the new album is pretty much what I call “industrial disco”. Ant-Zen describes it as “a diversified and contemporary collection of minimal electro pop tunes, industrial power electronics and retro-body beats”.

The music is not as energetic as Thorofon can get. Besides the more ‘atmosphere’ tracks, the music indeed seems to lean a bit more towards (old school) EBM as we are used to. But the sound is industrial, sometimes noisy and recognisably Thorofon.

Not their best material, but a nice album.

Links: Thorofon, Ant-Zen

Ulvtharm – Wrēkō (2022)

Jouni Ulvtharm (Jouni Heikki Ollila (1972-)) is a long-time collaborator of Henrik Nordvargr Björkk. They not only share MZ.412, but also Pouppée Fabrikk and he collaborated on a Nordvargr album.

Ulvtharm has lived in Malaysia for a while, also during the time of the creation of “Svartmyrkr“. His surroundings brought some other influences than the snowy landscape of Sweden, or so the blurb says.

“Wrēkō” does have the more bombastic sound of “Svartmyrkr”, contrary to the more industrial/noisy earlier sound of MZ.412. Ulvtharm is (even) more ‘martial’. Stretched orchestral sounds, blasting drums, some vocals. Perhaps ‘dark ambient’ would even somehow describe the sound, but not as ambient as -let us say- Raisdon D’Être. It reminds a bit of In Slaughter Natives (but much slower), early Sophia, but also of more recent material of MZ.412 and Nordvargr. So perhaps “martial ambient”?

The album is moody. Not entirely my kind of music, but if you like the more bombastic ambient type of material, this new project may be worth checking out.

Links: Ulvtharm, Cyclic Law