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dark industrial

Gnawed * Pestilence Beholden (cd 2016)

Thank you Noise Receptor for letting me know about the new Gnawed. I like the previous “Feign And Cloak” album quite a bit and I now see that I also thanked Noise Receptor for bringing that release to my attention.

“Pestilence Beholden” opens with a few pieces of dark ambient, but within the third track we go over to the death industrial style from the previous album. Well, maybe not exactly, the new album seems a little less as extreme as its predecessor, which also has more higher frequencies and overall a more noise-feeling.
The music is still very slow, somewhat rhythmic, with soundscapish tones and here and there highly distorted vocals. Maybe more like a ‘doom’ kind of industrial.

I like the new album. I think I prefer the rougher edge of “Feign and Cloak”, but the latest release may be more fitting to play when reading or something.

Links: Gnawed, Malignant Records

Ke/Hil ‎* Zone 0 (cd 2015)

Ke/Hil is one of the monickers of the people behind Tesco (Genocide Organ, Dogpop, SK1005). For some reason I had the idea that Ke/Hil was more of a death industrial project where GO is more power electronics and Dogpop lighter and more dance-oriented (I do not know SK1005 yet).

Ke/Hil indeed seems darker and less extreme than GO and here and there indeed touches upon death industrial, but several tracks are much less extreme and can (almost?) be termed ‘dark ambient’. The overall description could perhaps be ‘dark industrial’, a term that I do not use a lot, but you do not have to be afraid of some earcracking noise if you want to try this album.

A nice, not-too-extreme album.

Link: Tesco

Trepaneringsritualen ‎* The Totality Of Death (cd 2013)

You have got to love a project with such a name, right? So why did it take until I heard that Peter Johan Nijland (Distel, Hadewych) cooperated to this release before I actually listened to them? The release is somewhat confusing. There is a tape, apparently released by the band themselves and there are two cd versions, one from a label that was unknown to me (Silken Tofu) and another from Malignant. These are not two versions though, but two parts of the same compilation. Roughly said, the first part (Silken Tofu) contains more industrial sounds, the second more ambient. Industrialwise the project goes from somewhat chaotic industrial, reminding a bit of Objekt/Urian, to darker, but also to more noisy sounds. The second cd is pretty dark with, like I said, more ambient sounds but also with industrial and noise influences.

Trepaneringsritualen may not be brilliant, but they certainly released some interesting material, especially for people who enjoy the good old industrial sound.

Links: Trepaneringsritualen, Silken Tofu, Malignant Records

Vortex * Kali Yuga (cd 2013)

This is certainly the most interesting of the three recent Cyclic Law releases. The previous album of Vortex contained an interesting blend of dark ambient and tribal drummings and other experimentations, “Kali Yuga” is a nice and somewhat dirty industrial ambient release. Industrial rhythms, a little bit of noise, yep, like the previous album something somewhat out of the ordinary. Well done.
Links: Vortex, Cyclic Law

Silent Love Of Death * Donde Habite El Olvido (cd 2011)

I am convinced that I also have the debut of six years ago that was released on Palace Of Worms. Did I get rid of it at some point? It looks like nothing but two compilation contributions have been released since by Silent Love Of Death. “Where Oblivion Dwells” is a cd that reminds of bit of bands such as Dawn & Dusk Entwined or Golgatha. Ritualistic dark ambient with sometimes a neofolk track. The ambient tracks sound alright to very good. They are fairly to very dark and contain some nice ideas. What I am a lot less satisfied with is the almost constant talking vocals. The texts are in Spanish and the voice sounds like the talker is extremely bored. Only with the effects in “Cuerpo En Pena” the vocals are somewhat bearable. Also the neofolk songs are not my taste. Overall I can say that some of the music is quite alright, but the vocals make me not very fond of the album…

Links: Silent Love Of Death, Gradual Hate Records

New Risen Throne * Loneliness Of Hidden Structures (cd 2011)

I only knew New Risen Throne by name. I do not even think I knew that they had a cd on Cold Meat. Listening to “Loneliness Of Hidden Structures” that last bit is not very strange. NRT makes pretty dark ambient with deep drones and stretched sounds and I indeed hear the ‘CMI-sound’ here and there and the titles could have been of Raison D’Être tracks. I must say that however I am quite critical about many of the recent dark ambient releases, this album does not disappoint me. The music is quite interesting, Northaunt and Nordvargr give the album a more industrial twist with their remixes and the atmosphere is good for the dark winter nights to come.
Links: New Risen Throne, Cyclic Law

Post Scriptvm * Grey Emminence (cd 2010)

I very much looked forward to this new album of our American masterminds of industrial dark ambient. The last album is 4 years old. When putting “Grey Emminence” in my player, my first thought was: “Post Scriptvm plans to do something different.” The first tracks of the new album sound like (analogue?) experimental soundscapes, the first not the least bit dark of tone and thus nothing like I expected (hoped for). The second track is also a strange compilation of sounds, but already a bit darker. Slowly the sounds evolves towards the dark industrial ambient that we love Post Scriptvm for. There is even a noise track. I have listened to “Grey Emminence” a couple of times now and it starts to grow on me. Post Scriptvm sounds different than before and “Grey Emminence” is surely something different altogether. Not (yet) as good as previous releases, but definately interesting.
Links: Post Scriptvm, Tesco

Land:Fire * Shortwave Transmission (cd 2009)

I always thought that Land:Fire was a dark ambient project. I have some music on compilations and maybe I (unconsciously) heard that Herbst9 is another project of this duo, but when I recently heard a great noise track of Land:Fire it became time to really listen to this project. “Shortwave Transmission” opens brilliantly with very dark ambient noise with industrial rhythms. There indeed are a few dark ambient tracks, but the larger part is really my kind of noise. Great material!
Links: Land:Fire, Power & Steel

v/a * 2008 Maniacs (cdr 2008 bone structure)

Bone Structure is a label from the French part of Belgium and very active in releasing tiny edition cdrs, apparently most in DVD cases. This compilation comes in only 50 copies and shows the more noisy side of the label. When you have a look at the ‘website’ of the label, you might get the idea that this is some kind of metal label. The band logos look like death metal logos, there is a fascination with gory horror, satanic artwork and titles. The description of the music is as varried as “rhythmic assault of unfriendly ambient soundscapes”, “industrial doom”, “death ambient and old school industrial sounds” to “cyberblasting and grim blackish noise mayhem” and “badass noise” (and indeed, also some metal). All very interesting, so I decided to try two compilations to get a taste of the label. “2008 Maniacs” opens very noisy, but lateron there are more soundscapish tracks, not devoid of noise. There is also complete noise overkill though (Toby Dammit). When track 8 sets in, things finally start to become really interesting and indeed, this is the Dutch project Dead.Circuit. This track sounds nothing like the Propergol-like album that I recently reviewed, but is a nice soft industrial track, perhaps a little technoish. To my big surprise there is also a band that I know: Bleiburg! Together with Rhesus Factor they have created a very good industrial ambient soundscape. After some old school industrial and two monotous sounscapes, the 67 minutes are over. “2008 Maniacs” is another cheap compilation (5 euros) with a bit too many poor tracks, but also a few very good ones. Bone Structure is way too fast with releasing to keep up with them, especially when the good/bad rate of the normal releases is the same as on the two compilations. On the other hand, if you want to take a gamble and spend a few euros on crazy material of projects you never heard of, why not send them to Bone Structure and try some of their material?
Link: Bone Structure

v/a * Fear Is Thy Name (cdr 2008 bone structure)

This compilation is not as noisy as “2008 Maniacs”, it contains dark soundscapes, drone and here and there a bit of noise. Most tracks are a bit too monotous for my taste, but there are also some darker and more industrial things, which I like better, but the very dark soundscape of Dirk Geiger is pretty good too. For only 7 euros plus posting, you will get 80 minutes of music, so that is not a bad deal, is it?
Link: Bone Structure