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Band: Hymnambulae
Album title: Orgelhuset
Release date: 15 May 2016
Label: Hypnagoga Press
Hymnambulae is the product of siblings Par and Asa Bostrom. The Swedish duo release Orgelhuset as the first album on their nascent label, Hypnagoga Press. Par's magnificent grasp on sound manipulation, field recordings, and deep emotive drones is quite obvious throughout Orgelhuset. It seems that Asa has brought a very mystical, warm and more personal aspect into the fold, giving a perfect balance to Par's often cold and desolate musical output. These opposing forces naturally feed right into the concept of Orgelhuset. The siblings seem to speak from many places without ever leaving the organ house. The dichotomy of these opposites coming together brings a strong sense of mystery enshrouded in mysticism. Cold winds are felt as they penetrate the organ house while there is at once a warmth radiating from within. Fans of ambient, dark ambient, and neo-classical will all find aspects of this album to embrace and enjoy.
Read a full review HERE
Band: Phonothek
Album title: Lost In Fog
Release date: 17 May 2016
Label: Cryo Chamber
The Phonothek debut appears to be one more step in the expansion of the Cryo Chamber image. On Lost In Fog, we hear a lot more overtly musical elements than are often present. The dichotomy gives the entirety of Lost In Fog a brilliantly dramatic and cinematic edge. The cinematic aspect is further displayed in the choice of track titles. It seems as though we are being guided through a story, and each title gives a bit of a hint into the narrative. As with many dark ambient releases, there are enough hints here to suggest a theme and a progression of scenes. Yet luckily these hints are not commanding enough to steal the sense of mystery and discovery from the listener. Phonothek prove that there is still quite a lot more to offer in this area, much of which we may not even realize is possible until someone comes along and pushes the boundaries just a bit further.
Read a full review HERE
Band: Wormfood
Album title: L'Envers
Release date: 20th May 2016
Label: Apathia Records
Five years after their rather overlooked album Posthume and right in time for their 15th anniversary the French ensemble Wormfood returns with their fifth album entitled L’Envers. The band did quite a change in their sound if compared to Posthume, the avantgarde elements are still there, but not so evident, also the album doesn't sound so very depressive and is more compact and consistent, as well flamboyant, but overall it's so very theatrical and most of all decadent, with almost entirely francophone orientation. L'Envers is more than anything kind of a perverse and obscure horror stage play transformed into sound. There are many captivating catchy hooks and melodies on this album, but it's because of a rather avantgardish compositional structure of the songs that it doesn't really flourish out, it keeps everything a bit psychedelic and the listener is left in a kind of a suspension almost until the very end when the band offers such a captivating refrain in the "Poisonne".
Read a full review HERE
Band: Mesarthim
Album title: Pillars [EP]
Release date: 31 March 2016
Label: Avantgarde Music
Mesarthim enthused and shocked the black metal scene with their own brand of atmospheric or so called cosmic/space black metal on their debut album, but not only, you will find in there several elements, ranging from dsbm to symphonic, from blackgaze to electronic and yet much more, everything perfectly arranged and composed into one well flowing mass of sound that takes the listener into the galaxies unknown. Now, if Mesarthim didn't even land on this earth yet, they went even further into the vast space, into complete darkness, inhospitability,... Pillars offers four very unique tracks, even if the elements used are nothing new and the use of those diversities might cause some second thoughts in some of you, but believe me that everything is performed so well that the only consequence is transcendental, rich, yet dense sound and hypnotic multilayered soundscapes that offer nothing but pure joy while immersing yourself into this otherworldly sonic mass.
Read a full review HERE
Band: Mütterlein
Album title: Orphans Of The Black Sun
Release date: 22 April 2016
Label: Sundust Records
Truly insane, wicked, haunting and absolutely unique is the debut album of French act Mütterlein. The band is conducted by vocalist, songwriter, composer and performer Marion Leclercq, joined by multi-instrumentalist Christophe Chavanon, and the two describe their musical output as witch wave. Mütterlein on their debut album presents six tracks clocking in around 35 minutes, but what minutes those are, there's not a single moment where the intensity is lacked, nor there's a part without emotional outpours, even if at moments it might sound a bit minimalistic, there's no single moment without being thrown into some kind of a bewitching magical world. Orphans Of The Black Sun is not an easy album, at least after a first couple of listens it might be even disturbing, but the whole thing might drastically change if you immerse yourself a bit more into this musical creation. With Mütterlein's sound we are like being trapped in some sort of underground world or dungeon. This is an opus that conveys sadness and anguish of being, as beautiful as the biting cold of winter, yet as gloomy as a funeral of a loved one. It's all in one - sadistic, dreadful and mesmerizing!
Read a full review HERE
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