Skip to content

martial industrial

Arditi ‎* Imposing Elitism (cd 2014)

Eight albums Arditi released so far. This is only the third that I hear.

Arditi seems to grow towards the pompous martial industrial style with orchestrations and drumming, a bit like Puissance perhaps, but not that bombastic. “Imposing Elitism” reminds of a decade or so ago when many of these not too harsch, somewhat orchestrated “martial industrial” was very popular. Arditi does not bring anything new on this album, but when you miss the steady flow of similar releases, you could give this album a try.

Links: Arditi, Equilibrium Music

Karjalan Sissit * …Want You Dead (cd 2015)

When I write this, Discogs only has a tape version listed, released by a label called “Total Black”. There is also a cd version released by Cyclic Law though.

Six years after “Fucking Whore Society” Markus Pesonen did not find any inspiration to develop his sound. Putting on the latest attemp initially brought me the idea that I put on the wrong cd. There is the usual orchestrated bombast with manically screamed vocals as on previous albums. The only thing that catches my ears is that guitars are added, or mixed more towards the front.

Now however “…Want You Dead” is just another Karjalan Sissit album, the style is still amusing so the new album makes me think back of the days when Karjalan Sissit was the most aggressive exponent of the ‘martial industrial’ sound that has mostly passed away. For old times sake!

Links: Karjalan Sissit, Cyclic Law

Parzival * Die Kulturnacht (cd 2012)

I was curious if Deezer would have Parzival releases that I do not and then I saw this new album! It was not even listed on Discogs and just today I got a Tesco newsletter with the cd in it. Inspite of the year 2012 still fresh I guess. “Die Kulturnacht” does not have the oldstyle EBM sound of Parzival, but an orchestral sound, sometimes pompous with drumming, sometimes more neo-classical, but usually with the typical vocals. Parzival manages the sound quite well, but I noticed that I enjoy the previous albums better. A suggestion for people into martial industrial and pompous neoclassical music.
Links: Parzival (note, when I write this (12-2-13) Google has blacklisted the website because of malware!), Euphonious Records

v/a * Cyclic Law’s 10th Year Anniversary Label Sampler (2cd 2012)

Cyclic Law has also been around for ten years and to celebrate they looked up unreleased material of their projects. Knowing the “roster” of Cyclic Law, you will not be surprised that the larger part of this compilation is formed by dark ambient soundscapes. There are but a few exceptions and they are Karjalan Sissit, the surprisingly noisy track of Therradaemon and a great track of Sophia. Bringing 2,5 hours of music, this is a must-buy for people who like the ambient sound of Cyclic Law.
Link: Cyclic Law

Kreuzweg Ost ‎* Gott Mit Uns (cd 2012)

“Iron Avantgarde” 2000, “Edelrost” 2005 and now “Gott Mit Uns”. Kreuzweg Ost take their time to make their music. The previous two albums sound a bit like a parody on the martial industrial style with amusing experiments with samples, rhythms and song-structure. Both albums are quite good, but I rarely play them. So what would the third album in 12 years time sound like? First let me tell you that the comedy element is mostly left out. No silly samples of Dutchman trying to speak English or happily marching boots. Almost every track opens with a well-done rhythmic experiment and slowly builds up in melodies and samples. Also, as before, the tracks are stuffed with samples, this time with a (martial) Christian content. The tracks are seven to over nine minutes long with not a whole lot of variation. Again Kreuzweg Ost come with nice ideas and work them out meticulously resulting in very good tracks. The only thing is that they may be been a bit shorter here and there. A good album again, not with the typical martial industrial orchestral bombast, but the Kreuzweg Ost version of the genre.
Links: Kreuzweg Ost, Cold Spring

Triarii * Exile (mcd 2011)

This 7-track mcd was presented during the Rauhnacht Festival in Leipzig at 31 December 2011. As all of Triarii’s releases, it is made available by Eternal Soul. The music has no surprises. Triarii sticks to its pompous martial industrial sound loaded with orchestral samples, speeches and “I am…” lyrics with the well-known effect. Regarding musical quality I must say that after a few rounds in my player, it is comparable to that of the previous releases, but then again, listening to them more, I tend to always find the last album Triarii’s best, so perhaps “Exile” will be the best Triarii album again within a couple of weeks.
Links: Triarii, Eternal Soul

Rome * Die Æsthetik Der Herrschaftsfreiheit (3cd 2011)

Following the ‘route’ Rome has taken with their earlier releases, I did not ignite in enthusiasm when I heard about the new album, especially not when I noticed that it is actually a 3cd! “Die Aesthetik Der Herrschaftsfreiheit” comes in a luxery 3cd box with a shirt and whatnot, but this box is 100 euros new. You can also get the three cds separately, each for the full price of a cd… I have to admit that I first looked up this album on the internet because I was still interested to hear what Rome would sound like today (and then I got the separate cds instead of the box). Of course the band has three full-length cds to their disposal, but I am very happy to be able to say that this new monster-release will probably please both old and new fans. The new fans who have known Rome since they signed on Trisol might be a bit intimidated by the opening of this grand opus. After some spoken word (a sample it seems), the first cd “Aufbruch / A Cross Of Wheat” opens with a noisy martial industrial track that may not conform with some people’s idea of the romantic-sounding band. Fans of old will put up a smile knowing that the band did not entirely disbandon their old sound. Things get better though! Like on the brilliant early releases, there are tracks with the great samples-backgrounds, instantly moistening my eyes. There are also more of the singer/songwriter songs, but also more experimental, almost industrial tracks and great poppy songs. All this is alternated with (either or not backed up by ambient sounds) speaking samples. Indeed, whatever you thought about Rome in the past and think about them now, you might want to listen to these three new cds. Overall “Die Æsthetik Der Herrschaftsfreiheit” might not be a masterpiece like the first cds, but it sounds better to me than the previous releases and there sure are some masterpieces on “Aufbruch / A Cross Of Wheat”, “Aufruhr / A Cross Of Fire” and “Aufgabe / A Cross Of Flowers”.
Links: Rome, Trisol

Blood Axis * Ultimacy (cd 2011)

The people who were present at last Friday’s Blood Axis show in Waregem, Belgium, were the lucky ones who could get the latest cd on the first possible day. “Ultimacy” is an overview of the carreer of Blood Axis, presenting newly produced (by Robert Ferbrache) compilation and 7″ tracks in reversed chronological order. I (of course) had most of them already. However Michael Moynihan usually is abundant with information in his booklets, saying where samples come from, etc., “Ultimacy” does not even say where the tracks originally appeared. I first heard Blood Axis on the 1996 compilation “Mysteria Mithrae”. I knew about the track “Electricity” that appeared on “The Lamp Of Invisible Light” compilation of 1991, but these contributions are here listed as tracks 9 and 10 from 14! Still, “Ultimacy” is subtitled: “MCMXCI – MMMXI”, so the next four tracks have to have appeared in 1991 as well. The tracks concerned are “Light”, “Eternal Soul (Germania mix)”, “The Storm Before The Calm” and… “Walked In Line”. The only track from “Ultimacy” that I did not have, is the Alraune song “Mandragora”. The cd is of course musically varying. From folksongs such as “The March Of Brian Boru” to the dark soundscapes of “Der Gefallene Engel” and the old bombast of “Electricity”. In most cases I hear but little of the re-producing of the tracks. Especially “Lord Of Ages” would do well with a ‘ticker’ mixing. Overall “Ultimacy” makes a very enjoyable cd with tracks that not every new Blood Axis fan may know.
Blood Axis / Storm

Dead Man’s Hill * Spirits (cd 2010)

Dead Man’s Hill has an impressive discography, but I do not have all that much material of them. The In Slaughter Natives-like sound mixed with more bombastic martial elements sometimes works out very well, but often not all that much. Besides, DMH tends to keep sounding the same all the time and the same goes for “Spirits”. Pompous, orchestrated industrial with highly distorted vocals is what you expect and also what you get. The music is alright, but this album does not seem to have any real peaks. When you like DMH, you will like the new album and you know what to expect.
Links: Dead Man’s Hill, Steinklang Industries

Von Thronstahl * Conscriptvm (2cd 2010)

Another album with rare songs and alternative versions of Von Thronstahl. I feared I would have most of them, since I have most material of the band and quite a few compilations with Von Thronstahl on them. The nice thing about “Conscriptvm” is that there are songs that were recorded, but eventually did not make it to albums because they did not fit. Therefor there are not only different versions of tracks that I already had, but also new songs. Good news for the people who prefer the early style of the band is that most tracks of the first cd in the old style, there is even a version of “Sturmzeit”. Not that there is much of the dark orchestral industrial style, but the music for the larger part is not of the rocky kind of nowadays. The second cd has more ‘neofolky’ songs. All in all I can say that “Conscriptvm” might not contain the best material of the band, but as usual it is a very nice album to listen to.
Links: Von Thronstahl, Cold Spring