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Of The Wand And The Moon * I Crave For You / In A Robe Of Fire (7″ 2001 prophecy productions)

  • neofolk

It was a nice show of mr. Larsson and friends yesterday in Bochum (ger). Too bad about the other two bands (Tenhi and Dornenreich unplugged) who bored the shit out of me. Of The Wand wasn’t even headliner…
Anyway, I didn’t have this 7″ yet, so I decided to buy it. It contains two tracks in alternative versions. I Crave For You this time with Matt Howden and In A Robe Of Fire this time without Matt Howden in contrary to the versions on the latest cd (see review elsewhere). However to be played at 33 rpm, this is a very short 7″. Only for collectors I guess.

Von Thronstahl * E Pluribus Unum (cd 2001 cold spring)

This is the second cd of Von Thronstahl. “E Pluribus Unum” contains contributions to compilation cds and other rare material, which I actually find a bit cheap for a second cd. On the other hand, it makes up for 64 minutes and there is also material that I didn’t have, so… What you will find are the contributions to Riefenstahl, Cavalcare La Tigra, Thorak, Audacia Imperat, Za Dom Spremni, the upcoming Iron Guard / Cordreanu compilation, Judas Kiss magazine compilation and some compilation of the Russian RWCDistribution. Further live in Leipzig, the 10″ and some re-works. All in all mostly unknown to me or different from what I already had. Of course most material is quite old, some tracks even sound more like Forthcoming Fire than Von Thronstahl. Also there is no coherence between the songs, but still this is a very nice cd. I am very curious about new material.

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The second cd of Von Thronstahl (which I first reviewed on 29/9/01) contains hard-to-get material. Compilation contributions, the 10″, etc. The material is a bit older and not all is as good as on the first cd. Still this is a very good album that has now been made available again in a digipack. Beside the packing and the order of the pages in the booklet (nothing left out this time), this new edition is completely the same. Dark industrial, ‘neofolk’, orchestal tunes, martial tracks and at the end a long compilation of ‘traditional music’. Again available for those who missed it.

Coph Nia * Holy War (mcd 2001 cold meat industry)

I still play the debut cd “That Which Remains” quite often and I like it a lot. Now we get a mcd in a simple but well-done digipack. A disc containing 4 tracks (or 7 if you are lucky), beginning with a short piece of dark ambient and followed by a magnificent heavy piece with fierce drumming and shouting about holy wars. The third track is a long dark ambient piece and the last track is a bit ritualistic of style. All in all again a good piece of music from Coph Nia.

Aurum Nostrum/Sonne Hagal * Sinister Practices In Bright Sunshine (lp 2001 ring tor elementarer klangkunst)

  • neofolk

This is the first time that I hear Aurum Nostrum, since their previous lp on the same label passed me somehow. I understood that it was a drum-oriented neo-folk band, but the four songs on this lp are just tranquil neo-folk with not much drumming and not too special or good either. Also the Sonne Hagal songs are fairly traditional, but with some ‘other’ elements like we may expect after the 10″ on Eislicht. Anyway, both sides are alright, but nothing smashing.

Anenzephalia * s/t (cd 2001 death factory)

This isn’t the first band that I expected to release a cd on Cold Meat Industry, but obviously the world is not entirely forsaken of wonders. This untitled cd contains live recordings from september 1996 which are mastered by Peter Andersson and like the Blood Axis live cd put on cd without clapping, cheering and shouting of the audience. Those who know Anenzephalia will know what to expect: noise. Anenzephalia isn’t as extreme as many of their colleagues though. Maybe “sophisticated noise” is a good description for this music. You will hear the usual high frequencies, distorted sounds and samples, but not as a massive attack of noise. The most extreme element in the music on this cd are distorted screamed vocals.
Anyway, this untitled live cd is pretty good since the back-catalogue of this band is hard or no longer available, this is an easy way to get some Anenzephalia.

A Challenge Of Honour * Only Stones Remain (cd 2001 divine comedy)

Strange history of the band. First ACOH was a German named Johan König, who got to know Peter S. of Above The Ruins / Materialschlacht, who eventually released the “The Right Place” demo on his Stahlklang Audio label. Later Johan and Peter made some music together and now ACOH is only Peter S. This definately did do anything wrong to the music though! The demo is alright. I haven’t heard the cd-r “Wilhelm Gustloff” (which will be rereleased) yet, but this cd is actually pretty good. Martial industrial reminding a bit of Dernière Volonté sometimes, but mostly sounding very original. Pretty simple, sometimes orchestral, sometimes folky and with a few magnificent tracks. Including two tracks from the demo “Only Stones Remain” is a 52 minute cd with 11 tracks. Plans and contracts for future releases are already there and I am very curious what the future for ACOH will bring! <29/9/01><4>

Propergol – Music As A Weapon (cd 2001)

Here we have a real Tesco release. A 71 minute noise cd in an oversized package of a French band. 11 Tracks with a lot of variety in styles of noise and power electronics including everything from high to low-frequency noise, from relatively tranquil to very extreme, lots of rhythm, lots of samples, sometimes with distorted vocals and most of the time pretty dark. Get it before it is gone! <29/9/01> <4>

Chamber (l’orchestre de chambre noir) * Pleasure And Pain (cdemo 2000)

I had never heard of this band until they played at a free festival in Rotterdam (Netherlands) which had a “Cybergothic” stage. I saw a beautiful neo-folk performance with a male singer and an acoustic guitar and four young women on violin (2), cello and bass. It took me a while to find this band, there was nothing available at the festival and in the end the band turned out to not simply be called “Chamber”, but with the double name “Chamber / l’Orchestre de Chambre Noir”. “Pleasure And Pain” is the first cd of Chamber and actually it is a very professionally looking demo. The actual cd will be recorded this autumn and should be available from Trisol records coming spring.
The line-up on this cd is a bit different from when I saw them. On the cd there are two men and three women, two guitars and only one violin. Also the music is a bit different from what I remember. The cd has a more gothic sound while I remember a more neo-folk oriented performance. I think that if you want to compare this band with anything, it is best to say that it sounds something like the “From The Heart” cd of Shadow Project. Chamber is more orchestral though and there is a bit more neo-folk in Chamber as well and some medieval influences. The music is always very moody and very beautiful and if you like classically oriented gothic music or neo-folk, I suggest that you visit the band’s nice webpage and get a copy of this cd.

A Challenge Of Honour * The Right Place (mc 2001 stahlklang audio)

Just released a few days ago and very limited (30 copies) comes a nice tape in a videobox.
“The Right Place” opens with a few tracks that remind of Der Blutharsch and Dernière Volonté and after an acoustic track there are a couple of monotous soundscape-like ambient/industrial tracks that I don’t like as much as the first few tracks. These are a bit harder, slightly militant and with talking-samples, like you may expect with the two comparison projects.
However I think that this German band would fit well on Hau Ruck!, it seems that Cold Spring showed interest. Not the least label indeed, so I’m curious what the future will bring. I’ll patiently wait and see. And for the moment, get in touch with Stahlklang before all copies are gone. <1/4/01><3>

4th Sign Of The Apocalypse * Lost Hour World (cd 1998 the order of the suffering clown)

I knew 4th Sign from several wonderfull contributions to compilation cds. It was not before Black Magazine 21 that I knew that this strange American band actually already released a couple of cds. A two page advertisement of Suffering Clown spoke about a “Frolic Of The Demons” cd, a “Box Full Of Demons” box and this “Lost Hour World” cd. I haven’t been able to find the other titles. The webpages of the Suffering Clown don’t give much of a clue and they don’t answer emails. The distributor of this label is World Serpent and they only have “Lost Hour World” which eventually remained the only title that I could track down. Since it is still available, I decided to review this cd afterall.
If you know the tracks of 4th Sign on a growing number of compilations, you won’t be surprised when I say that this is a pretty weird cd. 9 Long tracks making a cd of over 70 minutes with strange experiments and soundscapes, or in the words of Suffering Clown: “dark and humorous sentiments share equal time in eclectic visions coupled with unconventional electronics. Travelling through the subconscious via illbient loops, bizarre soundbites and an experimental tapestry of sound.” I couldn’t think of a better description!
If you are not afraid of strange stuff, try to get your hands on this cd.