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Loki

Turbund Sturmwerk * Weltenbrand (cd 1999 loki)

In 1996 this strange German industrial act debuted with an lp on L.O.K.I.-Foundation. I believe it was the first full-length on that label back then. Soon Turbund reached some kind of a cult-status in the alternative industrial scene. They were compared to the (then still upcoming) American Blood Axis, even though the music isn’t really similar.
Anyhow, in 1997 there was a no-so-interesting 7″ and last year the debut was re-released on cd. Now there’s Weltenbrand. It’s still an odd form of industrial. It’s very melodic, sometimes orchestral, but also rather harsch at times. Sometimes there’s singing, but at other times Turbund can be pretty militant as well. Always there’s this mystical atmosphere around the music which is unlike anything else that I know.
Also again there’s a lot of (German) text in the booklet, which is the carrying of the philosophical part of this project.
I like this quite a lot and anyone into tranquil industrials might too.
This review was written when the lp came out, way before there was Gangleri.nl

Predominance * Nocturnal Gates Of Incidence (cd 2000 loki)

In a beautiful digipack comes the new offering of Predominance from Germany. Fortunately it doesn’t sound like their contribution to the “Collapse” festival sampler (noise), but it is in their dark industrial/ambient style. As we know from another compilation (“Book ov Shadowz”) the band isn’t afraid of using vocals (singing and talking), which they do in a few tracks.
I don’t like the first two tracks too much, but after those Predominance presents their wonderfull extremely dark ambient with a lot of industrial influences. Extremely low frequencies, minimalistic approach, just not too monotous and not too many samples. One track may sound a bit like Deutsch Nepal with slow, hypnotic rhythms, while the next is a dark soundscape with no rhythm whatsoever.
Unfortunately the cd is pretty short (not even 41 minutes) and not all tracks are equally good, but overall I find this cd quite enjoyable. <5/1/01><4>

Predominance * Hindenburg (lp 1998 loki)

Predominance is an industrial project that wanders the outsides of the German industrial scene. This lp was probably released somewhere around the change 98/99 on a label that is finally harvesting some recognition. As you may expect from Loki, it’s a strange piece of industrial. It’s quite atmospheric, but can at times be pretty dark. Both heavy pieces and sung vocals are to be found on the transparant vinyl. Minor point is that sometimes the tracks stay too much the same. Further there’s little negative to say about this lp. Another proper Loki release!

Inade * The Crackling Of The Anonymous (cd 2001 loki)

It was a pretty long time ago (1994/5 or so) that I slowly got acquainted with the gothic/industrial scene. For some reason I soon landed with the small label/mailorder L.O.K.I.-foundation from Germany. From them I got the Abraxas/Endura demo, I ran into TMLHBAC and I bought some of their own releases, such as the “Burning Flesh” demo tape of Inade. I wasn’t too fond of it then, I was more looking for medievalish kinds of things and dark ritual projects. For some reason I have always unconsciously followed Inade, downloaded mp3s, every now and then buying some music, like the split lp with Turbund, “Saturn Gnosis” and compilations, but I never really got to buying an album. A while ago I was listening to mp3s again and decided that it was high time that I bought an album over 10 years after my first acquaintance with this project. But which? The new Japanese collection cd, the 4 cd box or rather something cheaper and/or older? In the end it became “The Crackling”. The album sounds exactly like I expected. Very dark ambient soundscapes with here and there some ritual influences, rather monotous, but not too much. Not too exciting, but very fit for background music while reading and since I do that a lot…! A very nice album, I think that I will play it every now and then. I don’t know yet if I want to buy more albums of this German project, but who knows.

Herbst9 * :Eta Carinae: (cd 2001 loki foundation/tesco)

When I write this, the review of the first Herbst9 cd is on the bottom of this review page, written three months ago. “:Eta Carinae:” was already available back then, but I happened to receive a copy of “From A Dark Chasm Below”. I like that album quite a bit as I also do “:Eta Carinae”. This is really dark ambient which is quite minimal, not too monotous with only here and there a sample and often with rhythms and deep drones.

Herbst9 * From A Dark Chasm Below (cd 2000 loki foundation/tesco)

Herbst9 from Germany just released a cd on Loki, but this is not that cd. Apparently they released their debut (?) a while back, also on Loki Foundation. This first cd landed in my mailbox yesterday because the friendly Tesco crew shared a copy.
I thought about buying the (I didn’t know that there were two) Herbst9 cd, but I wasn’t sure if I would like it. The contribution to the Loki 2×10″ compilation “Saturn Gnosis” (see archive) is alright. Anyway, “From A Dark Chasm Below” is pretty damn good! This is what deserves to be called “dark ambient”. It is not too monotous, there are eight tracks of averagely 8,5 minutes which is a good length for an ambient track in my opinion and the music is tranquil, dark, haunting and has a descent amount of dark drones and deep beats without making it too industrial. I think this would not only appeal to those into the ‘Loki-corner kind of industrial’, but also lovers of the good old CMI-sound. And me…? I am definately going to try and get my hands on the new cd as well. Await a review some time soon (I hope).