Kristoffer Nystroms Orkester 'Brakehead' Absolute Zero (review under 8/5/2006) Bloodties Chain D.L.K. Gothtronic Necroweb.de (in German) Guts of Darkness (in French) Editors pick @ Smother.net Heathen Harvest Audiodrome.it (in Italian) Ink19 Soundsect.com Side-Line Regen Mag From Asgard Root It might seem like Im overdoing the praise for the Malignant roster, but I can assure you that label honcho Jason is not sitting behind me while I type these words, with a 9mm pointed at the base of my cranium rather he has built up a collection of minor masterpieces on his label that warrant such eulogizing. I mean, for the sake of the gods, who could resist a band who cite Laphroaig whiskey alongside nature walks as two of their major influences. The band is a three-piece, who provide a cacophonous beat down of Scandinavian power electronics and visceral grinding doom that permeates ones senses until one is sure that some sort of cyborgian evolution occurs and ones one flesh is fused inextricably with the very electrical pulses transmitted through ones speakers of choice. Sampled news broadcasts run their course underneath pummelling layers of dissonant noise and euphoric post industrial on the albums fourth and final track highlight, which is for me a revelation and easily the single most impressive track Ive heard in any genre in 2009 so far . No wonder Kristoffer Oustad of this band was chosen to collaborate on the Navicon Torture Technologies finale, for he is part of one of the scenes true innovators and has contributed to one of my own favourite releases of this issue. 91/100
Navicon Torture Technologies 'Gospels of the Gash' Gothtronic Necroweb Sideline Musique Machine From Asgard Root As an epitaph for 12 years making extreme music, Lee (aka Leech) the principal menace behind Navicon Torture Technologies has produced his most complete work to date. Having researched his back catalogue (in so far as one can with a catalogue of over 100 releases) I can say with a certain degree of certainty that this is the pinnacle of the career of NTT and what a marvellous pinnacle too. Aided by the amiable and visionary label boss, Jason, Leech has come up with a package worthy of representing the final NTT release. A fold out dvd size digifile with disturbing and sensual artwork two adjectives equally applicable to the music by the way, this is a leviathan of a power electronics release and by far the best thing Ive heard in my limited time spent excavating the treats from this intimidating genre. Collaborators on this fitting farewell include Steel Hook Prostheses and Isomer. Harsh, intense, epic and apocalyptic in equal measures, Leech delves deep into the most tortured moments of his life to document their impact on his psyche through swathes of noise-drenched drone and hypnotic gloom-filled samples overlain by his lyrical content by method of narration, which is itself paradoxically sensual and violent. If PE seeks to invoke the atmosphere of hell then Leechs hell is a boudoir of unspeakable lust, sensory titillation and grave horror. This is an exemplorary funeral rite for an artist who has no peers in his genre. Farewell and bon voyage. 90/100
From Asgard Root Aside from naming their latest offering after my favourite Cure album, Aussies Terra Sancta endeared me to their cause by teaming up with Vestigial to put together a design package worthy of critique itself. A 6-panel card inlay depicting molten lava engulfing a blackened citadel representative of civilisation, the cover is an apt front for a devastatingly turbulent ride at the cross-section of dark post-industrial ambient, bleak cinematic vision and rumbling ominous noise, Disintegration is the aural equivalent of a century of intense urbane erosion whereby great skyscrapers and their associated industries are slowly but inexorably brought to their knees by a process only audible if captured and processed through the alchemic genius of Terra Sancta. Rather like a giant television screen showing a picture in standard form, one must step back from the initial reaction to the music of Terra Sancta to make sense of it. Occasional spoken word is filtered through the wash and sounds for all the world like a desperate last broadcast from an imploding planet, warning interplanetary travellers of the mistakes of a soon-to-be extinct civilisation. Let it wash over you like wave after wave of salty brine until the residue of its intention leaves its trace upon your skin and the sheer stark coldness of its vision remains marked upon your very soul. This is by no means easy listening, but a brave and tempestuous journey that will bear great fruits to those with enough patience to ride it out
Wolfskin 'O Ajuntar das Sombras' Gothtronic Theyfell.com Darkheart.de (in German) Musique Machine Connexion Bizarre From Zero Tolerance:
Essentially a re-working of the three tracks comprising 2001s The Gather Of Shadows By The Setting Sunwith the addition of seven new tracks, the title of this intriguing Malignant release has been similarly reworked. The band have taken the first part of the title and translated it into their native Portuguese. The albums title is significant as it more than hints at the mysterious musical content, itself lurking shadowlike, ominous and foreboding as multiple layers of ritualistic, textured sounds that form drifting clouds of foreboding atmosphere; a dense urban smog that permeates our subconscious. Presented in a four panel digipak, the cover of which boasts a dense forest of silver birch in an autumnal orange hew, O Ajuntar could almost be the Pagan love-child of Lustmord and Endura. Wolfskin share the same proclivity for ritualistic invocations, while the music itself has a similarly organic, droning demeanour. Temporary deviation from the dominant drone arrives as grave distant chanting accompanied by sacrificial drums and haunting electric bagpipes, peering through the sixty-odd minutes of fog-like miasma - beacons of dark chaotic element, not to be trusted. 4.5/6
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