Refuse To Die * Collection Of Agnostic Flies (cd 2008 the eastern front)
It seems that this is my first encounter with Refuse To Die, even though they have released material since 1996. However the bandname suggests a martial industrial project, the cover of this album is a better pointer of the style: weird and ‘collagic’. Most tracks are sound-collages, either or not with an industrial tone, sometimes a bit soundscapish, sometimes more industrial/noisy. It is all pretty strange stuff, so do not be surprised to get a little bit of cabaret as bonus. An album full of odd ideas without much of a definate style is of course a ‘dangerous’ thing to do. I can hear the humour in some tracks, some tracks are nice to listen to, but there is also a totally awfull track called “Who Are The Brain Police” and there are things that simply don’t ‘work for me’. I doubt that I will play a cd like this very often. Perhaps I should put a few tracks on the mp3 compilations that I play in my car, but 45 minutes of such weird stuff…? Of course you might actually enjoy crazy industrial sound collages, so just visit the band’s website to listen to some tracks and see if this is an album for you.
Links: Refuse To Die, The Eastern Front
The Eastern Front has released a very nice double cd compilation with a whole range of famous bands on the first cd, most of them not from their own label. Cd 1 (“Grief”) has bands such as the resurrected Belborn, Cold Fusion, Cawatana, Kammer Sieben and Horologium and includes a cooperation between H.E.R.R. and Von Tronstahl. Most tracks are bombastic and militant, sometimes more orchestral, sometimes more neofolky and in most cases quite enjoyable. The second cd (“Birth of Psyche”) has mostly more minimalistic and ambient tracks from Artefactum, Rose Rovine, Shining Vril, Bisclaveret and a range of projects that are new to me. This cd surely isn’t bad, but less interesting than the first cd, but the projects Wach and Sitra Ahra offer a nice surprise. Both cds have a running time of well over an hour, so you get what you pay for! The simple but very nice booklet looks good, like we get used to from this label and also the limited amount of 1000 copies goes for this compilation. I noticed that it is available from about every descent mailorder, so it shouldn’t be too hard to lay your hands on a copy.
The Eastern Front has quite some (ex-)Russian artists on their list, the same goes for Majdanek Waltz. In a very nice package comes a 40 minute cd with a tranquil and minimalistic form of neofolk with lots of moody violins and which because of the spoken text in a strange language reminds a bit of Scivias. I think that this album will appeal to people who like the more atmospheric kind of neofolk.
The Eastern Front usually releases strange experimental cds, but this album of Phragments is a lot easier to describe. Dark ambient with beats and industrial elements, some orchestral and atmospheric influences, but also marchdrums and a flinch of noise. The cd is very nice, but here and there tracks tend to become a bit monotous. When the sound gets more industrial, things get more interesting and the short noise eruption is great. All in all “The Burning World” is a very nice album to listen to with ‘just fine’ and great parts, but an above average total for the field of dark ambient/industrial. The package is a simple, but well done very glossy three-folk A5 cover. Next up for our Israelian label is a compilation with an interesting line-up, but no Phragments.
Here we have a cd full of “a small collection of old postcards” of Rose Rovine e Amanti. The tracks vary from silly experiments, to more ‘dance’ track, nice poppy (and bluesy?) neofolk songs and a not-too-good Von Thronstahl-like collection of sounds and samples. I particularly like the neofolky songs which have a nice atmosphere and an atypical sound. The cd is 42 minutes and as the title says, contains old and unreleased material (either completely new, or in an alternative version). There are some references to my own country. Two tracks are called “Holland Sea” and Theo van Gogh is on the cover.
Of this strange, German band I earlier reviewed a cd on Cold Spring from the UK. This new cd is released by this much smaller label The Eastern Front from Israel, but the band surely fits on this label. Way Of Crosses opens with a nice martial neofolky track and continues with a two minimalistic tracks with dance rhythms with are either a bit dull or interesting as sounding new (and with a very amusing variation on the “Woher stammst du?” scene from Triumph Des Willens). Also there are of course the traditional (Russian?) songs, strange experimental soundscapes, some poppy and industrial tracks… You read it, this cd does not contain a single and predictable style of music, but an interesting collection of ideas and tracks of which most are interesting enough to get a copy of this nicely packages (but limited to 1000 copies) album.
This album opens with IDM (‘intelligent dance music’) and something that I would call ‘ethno-ambient’, a very interesting start. Ambient music, soundscapes with flutes and German poetry. Halfway the music gets less interesting with instrumental and experimental parts, but not too much of my liking. The last third has even more experimental sounds with an industrial sound that sometimes reminds of Sanctum, sometimes of a band such as Knifeladder; guitar, industrial sounds, screamed vocals and the clear sound of a flute or some other instrument. Towards the end, Bardini goes back to where he started with tranquil soundscapes with a flute. There is some very interesting music on this album, but also some less interesting music. The whole album is highly experimental and progressive which is good; so, if you are into something new, you might want to try “Sentinelle del Mattino”. <5/5/07><3>