Maud the moth : "The Distaff"

 I really loved the last healthyliving album, so when I saw this project was their singer Amaya Lopez-Carromero, I jumped at the opportunity to give it a listen. In some ways, it's darker. It falls outside the realm of what we define as rock music, so if it's goth it's the same way Dead Can Dance is goth, but two songs in it's lush and grandiose at times but not dark. There is an almost prog-rock climax to "A Temple by the River builds up". Her voice is even more impressive in these songs than it was in healthyliving.  Scott Mclean from healthyliving plays guitar on this album. But it's not loaded down with guitars. Amaya handles all the piano, which is the backbone of the songs as more abstract sounds come in contact with it, 

In fact "Exuviae" wanders in this neo-classical ambiance, and holds less hook to its melody, but she is not writing anything in the realm of pop hear. Her multitracked harmonies work well on "Burial of the patriarchs".  The piano lines are not riffy like say Tori Amos or Elton John who adhere to more traditional song structures. Though this music owes more to classical than jazz, I can hear a slight hint of Kate Bush influence in how the songs hang in this hovering haze of magic. Her voice flows along this to add to the ethereal swathe of sound she is creating, at times darker modes shift into play as a dynamic, but not the overall mood of the album. The almost ten-minute "Despenaperros" serves as the centerpiece of the album. 

In comparison to some of the previous songs the four-minute 'Fiat Lux" is almost a pop song. It is certainly one of the album's most well-written pieces as it uses contrasts of sonic intensity well. The final song is possessed by a more dissonant ambiance. I will give this album a 9, while I  might listen to a new healthyliving album more I can appreciate the artistry and talent invested in creating this piece of sonic whimsy.

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Lana Del Rabies : "STREGA BEATA"

 This time of year finds me catching up on all the music that passed me by under the radar. Often they are albums like the third release from this solo project that passes under my radar. "Strega Beata" came out back in March. I was looking for industrial albums I might have missed, and this name keeps coming up. Though highly experimental and based on electronics, I am not sure I would define this project as industrial even given the role the percussion plays in the second song. Drone and ambiance seem to be the driving factors when capturing the mood of these songs. This is her third album under this moniker so, three albums in you can assume she has fully realized where she wants this project to go. The sound is draped in such a sonic quality it threatens to smother everything in its haze.

Where are the industrial beats when you need them,? This is the question I find myself asking when it comes to the song "Master". Song also begins to become an objective term, as these pieces take on the form of ambient art rather than songs. "Mother" does not do much to really shift my perspective, though the dynamics do take a turn into a more intense noise-ridden pound. With things not getting there until after the four-minute mark. It is the first thing that sounds industrial to me. The rest of the song finds it ebbing back down into a more opaque ambiance. "Grace the Teacher" also wallows in the incorporeal for longer than it feels it needs to. However the payoff is minimal, as it hovers over a stagnant cello line.

 "Mourning" works better in terms of the electronics used to paint a swathe of electronic noise. Her vocals gain more substance, and her lyrics are articulated with purpose. Does the song warrant being nine minutes long when it wanders out into a bleak nothingness? Not really, I think the impact of where it does go into a more intense refrain could have worked with more economy in the arrangement just as well.   The is more of a backbone to "Hallowed is the Earth" as the beat is at least there to provide movement.  Though the vocal narrative sounds like a spoken word sampled bite. So it lingers about but does not progress. 

What I do like about this project is the darkness it tends to reflect in. Things delve deeper into this with "Reckoning". Her chanted vocals are more effective in the context of this song, which holds a more cinematic quality. At times it reminds me of Diamanda Galas. Her screaming on "Apocalypse Fatigue" works really well to contrast the otherwise languid simmer of the mood. She also delivers some impressive vocals on the last song, I just wish, they were given a more structured environment with which to thrive.  This factors into the reason that has inspired me to give this album a 7. More than fair considering droning music is not always my thing, but I like the dark places she emotes from here. 

Heilung : "Drif"

 Is this going to be a band people just go see live or are they going to continue to make albums that are worth listening to when you take away the gimmick of what they do ?  For what these guys do, they employ a decent set of dynamic on the opening song, going from a guttural chant to a more sweeping melody with their female vocalist. The second song "Anoana" is a step away from the darker war like incantations they normally invoke with their music and is a lighter spirited celebration of nature. It is much more like Northern European folk music of the era they are drawing inspiration from. "Tenet" is almost like a summary of all the sounds they have worked with up until this point. It is also a sprawling 13-minute song that covers almost too much ground, after they have shown us, they are capable of writing memorable songs and not just playing with ancient sounds on the first two tracks. 

Though sprawling grandiose gardens of sounds are more than we get on "Urbani" that is just stomping and chanting. Iti very primitive and the least musical expression I have heard from them. Then there is the spoken word narrative that feels more like a dramatic book on tape that is "Keltentrauer", After two minutes of ambient sounds "Nesso" gets into a more ethereal melody, driven by female vocals. It soars off nicely. After this song, they flip back to more throaty chanting with minimal percussion for "Buslas Bann".  

They prove themselves more capable on the intricate harmonies of " Nikkal" . The instrumentation is very minimal, which for them is not surprising, things are not as layered in the studio on this album. They have been touring more these days, so I am sure they learned things are easier to perform live in this manner.  The close the album with a song called "Marduk".  When you name a song after such a dark Sumerian god, you expect the music to follow suit. It consists of bells and whispered invocations. Midway into the song the tension builds a little more.  This however does not go anywhere, and the song fades out rather than progresses.  I will round this down to a 7.5, sure there are a hand ful of good, songs which is why it scored as high as it did along with the fact, they prove themselves very consistent to doing what they do, but that is part of the problem making this predictable and sometimes riding a one trick pony into the ground when the moments they excel prove themselves capable of doing better.,     

7.4

Penelope Trappes : "Penelope Three"

 

After a teasing dark ambient intro the first real song is "Nervous" the lead single from this album. She is in the same sonic zip code as Fever Ray, though maybe mixed with Hillary Woods. Production wise there is more in common with electronic music than what she is actually using to write this song. It is minimal but well placed. Her hushed voice flutters over everything like a fall chill in the air.  "Forest" is more haunting but also more minimal. The percussion is like a dying heart beat fading into the void. Thematically she is trying to invoke the mood of the underworld for this album which is the third chapter in her musical trilogy focusing on her struggles.  "Fur and Feather| works off a couple chords she lets hang and a droning vocal that would not sound out of place on a David Lynch soundtrack. I appreciate what she is going for even if I feel the song itself is not as dynamic as what I normally ask for in music. 

I think as a song "Red Yellow" has enough of a sultry hint of blues to it for a subtle slinky groove to form while still holding true to her very atmospheric vision. This song is very sensual. "Halfway Point" is so atmospheric it is almost not there. Reverb makes it almost hard to tell what instrument is playing in the back ground. Some how these four and a half minutes manage to drift past. This is more about the sound than the song. There is just enough song to keep me invested. She taps more into the song side of what she does on "Blood Moon" . This is more of what I want from her. There is more movement rather than stagnation. I am not asking her to conform to a mainstream sound , in fact this works perfect for me, so just more of this.  "Lucky Eleven" brings in more ambiance than the previous song , but still manages to hold itself together as a song.

"Northern Light" is a more of an atmospheric interlude than a song. It does employ a violin, but works more off of waves of sound than melodies. The last song is a song , but leans more onto the floating atmospherics not unlike Julee Cruise. I will give this album an 8. I think she does an excellent job when she commits to writing a song, it just seems like there is a balance that could be reached when weighing the artistic vision of the thickly atmospheric pieces versus something I will want to listen to over and over again on my iPod. T his album comes out May 28th on Houndstooth.   

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Burzum : "Thulean Mysteries"

Varg has no wish to make metal. He would see that as selling out. I understand the sentiment and respect he upholds  his convictions. I do not have to agree with some one in order to respect the fact they are 100 percent congruent with what they believe , I went into this album expecting just ambiance. So I was surprised that the song " Forebears " has actual guitar . It is not the buzz of black metal tremolo, but it is guitar.  I am sure an entire album of this is going to bore me. This is not something I need to have on my iPod. There are some of the more folk instruments on the album, but you might be surprised how conventional some of this is. "a Thulean Perspective" has piano. Not one that has been tuned in some time, but piano.

There is more of a folk feel to "Gathering Herbs". I think smoking pot might do Varg some good. However .  "Heil Auk.." is the first song to have vocals. In this case the are just a chant.  23 songs on this album and many of them are just over a minute. I think some could have been combined into one song here and there, This whole thing could have been wrapped up in ten songs.  Titles like "the Ettin Stone hear" make me think of  Dungeons & Dragons .  There is a sung vocal on "the Great Sleep" The song is only a minute and a half , but most of these are short ditties. There is a cosmic fairy keyboard ditty called 'the Land of Thule" next. It doesn't really go anywhere and he just does spoken word over it.  "the Lord of the Dwarves" is the first thing that sounds like it could be remotely metal as there are some harsher sound being made with what sounded to be distorted guitar.

"a Forgotten Real" is at least consistent with the them of this album, synth pads for him to talk over.It does drone on for seven and a half minutes which can be tiresome. "Heil Odin, Sire" is a minimalist folk ditty that he sings on. It's ok for what it is There is more distortion on " the Road to Hel" I wish he would work something like this into more of a song. I would settle for less metal than "Fallen". Instead we get the same three notes droned on for almost eight minutes. With 23 tracks there are more ambient passages with whispering than there are songs, so I am not going to rattle off the entire selection of ambient pieces. If you want to discuss those go listen to the album on your own. Some have more sounds of dripping water than others. "Skin Traveller" sounds like the beginning of a Pink Floyd song that you are waiting to kick in.  I will however at the end of the day round this down to a 7. For what it is , this album sounds good. I just don't like what it is. I am ok with Varg not doing metal, but wish he made this more along the lines of Wardruna or Death in June.

Nine Inch Nails : "Ghosts VI : Locusts"

This is the darker of the two free albums Trent Reznor released today as a reprieve for those on virus lockdown. I am going to review both , but of course I am going to be fastest to listen to the album Reznor says is the less than hopeful one. The first song is more of a droning atmospheric piece with a repetitive piano part that haunts you .Atticus Ross' partnership continues. Thus there is a more cinematic quality to the music. "Around Every Corner" has more in common with Miles Davis than industrial music. There is some atmospheric dissonance around the edges of this one to give it a more unsettling feel. Is this as dark as say 'the Downward Spiral"?  No and perhaps this is a result of Reznor's sobriety. I get why this was free since " the Worriment Waltz" would sound like something I would improvise just fucking around on the piano if it was not for the trumpet.

There is a beat on "Run Like Hell". No it is not a Pink Floyd cover. Yes, it is still closer to jazz , just a more tribal version of it. There is a more challenging tone to the chiming of " When it Happens" . It's like Avant Garde classical music that some one like John Adams might compose. There are some noisy interludes on this album that I am not counting in this review. I do not care what kind of music you are making as long as you are writing actual songs. This goes for Trent Reznor too. There are some ditties that are not noise , but not quite songs. Just sonic ideas that never go anywhere, I am not counting those either. "Trust Fades" could be the instrumental version of a more ballad like Nine Inch Nails song. "Your New Normal" is more of a song, though it is very ambient. Though that could be said about most of the songs on this album. Sometimes this is done more minimally than others.  'Turn Off Please" has sounds that would work in an actual Nine Inch Nails song. More tribal like drumming returns to this one to create some storm brooding tension.

I was talking to a friend about this album and told them it would be good music to paint to on a rainy day. That however is not why I listen to Nine Inch Nails. Even the more jazz leanings are not a wild departure from sounds they have used in the past. This however is more experimentation with ideas rather than committing  them to songs. For that reason I will round this one down to an 8.

5.9/7

Survive : "RR7349"

These guys are now on your radar because two of their members scored "Stranger Things". The question is what can they do as an entire unit? It's very similar to what you heard with 'Stranger Things" vintage 80's synths that take you back to the time when horror movies where innocent fun. It's highly atmospheric with more groove than drone though sonically sometimes comes closer to krautrock than say dark-wave. The second song "Other" is slower and more ghostly than the opener. It sounds like the kind of music that robots would do drugs to. "Dirt' weaves a similar web though it doesn't feel quite as compelling, I am beginning to feel like a need a laser show to go with this album. The 808 drum sound to "High Rise" and the arpeggiated synth sound gives this one better sense of movement, but the chord progressions are beginning to sound the same.

"Wardenclyffe" has more of a stomp to it's groove though never comes close to the kind of kick most industrial has. The synth melodies in this song get a little more interesting and almost have me bobbing my head despite their best efforts to drone me out with some of the narcotic sonics. "Sorcerer" is darker, but more abstract and ambient as it hangs on the lush synth pad sounds. It never really takes as much form as the other songs and has a more minimal arrangement. "Low Fog" even pushes the envelope of ambiance further and lives up to the title.

"Copter" is one of this album's strongest songs thanks to it's powerful pulse.It fades out in a wave of ambient muck, but keeps it's momentum for the bulk of the song. "Cutthroat" closes the album. It is more foreboding, but also sounds like old school arcade game music. I'll give this album a 8.5. It's not something I need to listen to on a daily basis and wouldn't make it over to my iPod, but for what it is does a great job of using analoge synths to paint these bleak landscapes.

7.7

Wyrding : "S/t"

The vocals can either be the selling point or the deal break for this band. The crooned from a very low baritone to create a very goth like quality. They are being called funeral doom and I am not sure how fitting that is. It is slow. I do give them credit for some really beautiful movements as they shine a light into the gloom. Not sure why something in the water is not computing all the way with me on this one I think it's because the metal element is toned down and the guitars are not coming out to really give this balls. It took me being midway into the second song to realize what the problem was. The mix is really murky and the drums don't pound the point home like they could. They layered vocals don't work as well as Type- O on "False Concept of Voyage". I do like the fact they don't feel the need to really drag these songs out into long sprawling pieces that lose their purpose. The vocals feel like very depressed psychedelic music on this one.

On the fifth song the guitarist chooses to play a single note guitar solo styled melody, that while elegant does nothing to create then kind of oppressive thump that doom needs. Sure there is plenty of atmosphere, but that alone isn't making this album heavy. I think we have enough melodrama and need more meat on the bones of these songs. If it's slow core dark wave, then that could work, but that is not what this band's intention seems to be. The bellow of the vocals is a little pitchy when the croon comes back in on "Ahold A Wren" , but I do like how he smooths out some of the notes to blend them into the cracks of his voice. The only thing a little off putting are the flat notes leading into some of the phrases. If this is a stylistic choice then it's not a good one. The guitar solos also leave a gap in the low end that the bass alone is not capable of filling.

"Agony in Being" is a two part song. The first song brings in a gurgled guttural growl that oozes in under acoustic guitar. Once again the lack of distorted guitar supporting this with the needed crunch leaves the low growl as the only metal element. I am a little turned off by the fact this is allowed to wallow in the atmosphere and become dynamically flat. The second part of "Agony in Being" is more ghostly and experimental. They allow some of the sonic expanses of synth drone on. So asking yourself how much atmosphere can you take is a fitting question before entering this album. They were off to a good start so it's a little disappointing to hear it fall apart at the end. I'll give it a 6.5 as the first half has some very compelling sections.

Black Metal History Month - Nekrasov : "Negative Temple"

Noise has a place in black metal. Atmospheric dissonance can be an effective tool in any musical arsenal, but as the saying goes when your only tool is a hammer all your problems look like nails. The title track is nothing blackened what so every and the sound of a street sweeper cleaning up after then apocalypse. There is a lot of radiation crackling, but not much in the way of actual music. I waited around for some music, but none showed up. That changes on the second song that is an industrial like blast beat, with distortion scraped loudly over the notes until it swallows it whole. It eventually becomes hard to tell where the noise ends and the music begins. The more black metal part of the song is allowed to surface and it is the rawer more punk like form of the genre. In the final minutes there is more of a hint that this might have been an actual song, but the feedback buzz coating everything, makes me not really care as much as I should. "Purity of Oblivion" is also more of a black metal affair, but rather than going for a raw lo-fi sound which is the by-product of using a more primitive style of recording it sounds like the noise was added to make this sound worse on purpose. Sure it's fast and maybe with all of this stripped down to just the instruments and voice it still might be something, but something tells me the smoke and mirrors are here for a reason.

"The Tears of Joy..." is a dark meditative piece of ambiance that buzzes to life just before the mid way point. The sheer noise of "You are Not Bliss , You are Not  Free" contains zero nutritional value for those hungering for new music , since it is performance art put to record , not  an actual song. "Clarity and Non vision" is a blast fest that is not as mired down in radiated noise. The vocals sound like a demon screaming into a baby monitor as loud as it can do distort it. Their is an unbridled chaos, that might hold more merit than the sheer novelty, but it's mixed in such a way that makes it hard to decipher and this song is one of the more conventionally presented.  While it's not the only thing on this album marked as a song , which is actually just an expansive interlude of noise, "Hanging of the Shaman" which closes things down, has the least amount of actual musical value and it a mass of sound effects for no real reason or purpose. There is a pitch shifted voice screaming, but screaming with out a song to scream over is jut screaming.

I'll round this down to a 3.5. Maybe there is a black metal project buried in here some where. I would not say it's buried treasure, but the rank sonic stench of a fart masked with cheap cologne .  Though the stream of it was playing in a loop , I thought it was just turning into a much longer piece than imagined , because static drenched noise sounds the same. Sure if you are a fan of noise and only like a side of black metal with it, then round it up a point or two. This isn't my thing though it has elements of that would be if handled differently.

Jesu / Sun Kil Moon

I love when odd things collide, like Disco era Kiss, New-Wave Alice Cooper, hair metal Celtic Frost and Ryan Adams covering Taylor Swift, so it should come as no surprise that I might be into Justin Broadrick of Godflesh fame being in collision with the slow core folk of Sun Kil Moon. The bi-polar sometimes highly emotive yet low mumbled  vocals of former Red House Painter's front man Mark Kozelek.  I can hear this album appealing more to Godflesh/Jesu fans perhaps more than Sun Kil Moon devotees. Broadrik lays down the back drop for Kozelek's narrative style that ranges from sometimes highly emotive rants to low key mumbled musings. If some of the backing vocals sounds familar that's because Isaac Brock and Wil Oldham contribute them. They are not the only guests as in the album's third act the members of Low contribute vocals to the previously released song 'Exodus" about the death of Nick Cave's son.

The album adheres to my philosophy that a great artist is going to be a great artist no matter what stage you put them upon. Meaning Mick Jagger is going to be Mick Jagger no matter if you put the Rolling Stones behind him or Burzum. Here both artists are both doing what they do best, with Kozelek adapting the most as his vocal lines tend to be spat out at somewhat more brisker pace than if left to his own devices. Broadrick indulges his more Pale Sketcher side with the electronics of "Last Night I Rocked the Room Like Elvis and Then Had Them Laughing Like Richard Pryor". It's in the final minutes of this song that Kozelek reads a letter from a fan from Singapore. The first song that is decidedly more in Mark's wheel house is "Fragile" which is an ode Yes bass player Chris Squire. It's a little cloudy as Broadrick's role in this song is.

On "Father's Day " the album returns to Broadrick's more electronic side as he lays down a backing track that might remind you of some of Nine Inch Nails more ambient moments. The guitar is coated in delay and trickles behind the programmed drums. For the bulk of the album the vocals are always way up front in the mix. The familiar down tuned guitar tone crunching into "Sally". The more rambling spoken word approach to the verse begins to feel a little redundant at this point and the chorus flows better as he actually sings. The more relaxed melody of "America's Most Wanted Mark Kozelek" find his running down the list of feeling and experiences he had over the last few days before stepping into the vocal booth. He also reads another fan letter on this song, which now must have become a thing for him. It's an ego booster and takes the pressure off having to constantly come up with snappy lyrics.

The album ends with the 14 minute "Beautiful You" which has an opaque ambiance that Kozelek lays more of a spoken word over it where he recalls wading into the ocean and having his balls frozen. Overall I think this is a success, I'm not sure that some of the longer songs where Marks is rambling about what ever he observed that day are going to make it onto the iPod and the album has more steam in it's first half, but I'll still round it up to a 9 as when it works it's strangely stellar.



the album can be streamed via the link below http://www.sunkilmoon.com/jesuskm.html

Up From the Underground Be the Hammer's " Tangled Mass"

And now for something different from out normal fare. In fact this will make some of the more experimental bands we cover here seem like radio pop. The Belgian noisemakers that comprise Be the Hammer are crafting some sounds of trippy madness on their debut album. They employ a Theremin that squeals as it is tortured. The frequencies these guys tamper with makes me think that if you play this too loudly there is a good chance you will get abducted by aliens. So this album is best listened to wearing a tin foil hat with smoking bong in hand. If you plan on running a haunted house next Halloween stop what you are doing and go down load this album as background music. " Rat Catcher" is on a different wavelength than the first piece. It sounds more like a transmission from the void being received. Wavelengths are perhaps the best way to think of some of these compositions.

You may have noticed we have abandoned musical terms here, because if you go into this thinking of it in that way not only are you missing the point but in a entirely different dimension, as this is more sonic performance art. It is an album, which is fair to refer this as since my "Sounds of the Haunted House " was also not only an album, but my first album as a child, I am sure this explains a lot in regards to the darker tastes of this blog. Dark is an adjective that can be used to describe this, however another would be desolate. I have mild synesthesia, so when I hear this I see and feel a desolate landscape much like the world Eraser Head is set in.

"Shape Shifter' feels like it is just the natural transition from " Rat Catcher" almost like they are conjoined twins. "Skull Cracker" is not as abrasive as the title suggests, I was expecting some sort of harsh industrial noise, and instead it's rather minimalist white noise. "Beast" has a laboratory bubbling to it with distant wails and samples lying in the thick of the mix just above the buzz that drones over wax sound like the blare of a trumpet until it moves higher in the mix and becomes more discernible as a Theremin. If you want something heavy on the ambiance where instruments are not played in the conventional sense as much as they are manipulated as sonic tools, then this is an audio art exhibit you will appreciate, as long as you have a high threshold for noise and drone. This is being released on Required Rate of Return.

Marissa Nadler:July

On Sacred Bones your first thought might be... they want another Chelsea Wolfe. Words like dark folk are also thrown around ,  leading you to believe they are in the same vein. This is only true in the broadest sense of what they do, but you could also compare Nadler to Lana Del Ray.  Marissa has been at this for some time she released her first album "Ballads of Living and Dying" back in 2004. She also has a metal connection having contributed vocals to Xasthur's final album "Portal of Sorrow".

The opener drive to me feels like dark dreamy country. Her subtle use of melodies grow on you. They hooks are laid back in the flow of the song rather than screaming "Here's the fucking chorus".The delicacy of what she does is spotlit on "1923" , where the chorus reminds me of  Mazzy Star or even Cowboy Junkies. This album sounds really good , most of the time she uses a very minimal accompaniment, but what she does use is very well placed in the mix.

Most of  this album finds her vocals beautifully layer, in a way that solidifies the Cowboy Junkies comparison.Her lyrics are most pronounced in the lower vocal, where the higher head voice floats above it. Her lyrics are more reflective than despondent or tortured. This is great rainy day music or a soundtrack to my first cup of coffee.

"Firecrackers" strikes me more camp fire country than folk, despite the strum of the acoustic guitar. It's an alright song, but I think her talents are better displayed  on "We Are Coming Back" . It carries more of her signature, utilizing the layered vocal harmonies that give these songs their most haunting qualities. The guitar lines are more of often than not pretty simplistic, leaving her vocal chords to the heavy lifting when it comes to holding the weight of the song.

The first single off the album was "Dead City Emily" and I think it paints a pretty accurate portrait of what Nadler does best. It might even lean more towards the ethereal side and away from the country undertones.
The simple guitar lines form drones and the drifting is really amplified by the swirl of sonics that echo into this song.

 
The most movement stirs in the strum of " Was it a Dream", which is a pretty flawlessly penned tune.The strings setting the background are a welcome element that makes this song stand out. The piano on the slightly poppy "I've Got Your Name" takes on a more morose Lana Del Ray or Norah Jones vibe. These are at times weepy break up songs, but not in the teen angst way that makes you feel like it's the soundtrack to a vampire drama on the CW.

The darker echo of  "Desire" returns to the sound that first drew me into this album.The regretful contemplation seems to be lyrically in the same vein. "Anyone Else" brightens it up a tad. This is mainly in the chord progression though her voice does take on a more Joni Mitchell tone until the familial layers of ghostly coat the over dubbed vocals. The lighter tone continues on "Holiday In" this one has a little more of a country twang hidden in it. It has also become evident that what you see is what you get here. There are no hidden surprises that jump out midway into the songs.They never veer into unexpected territory once the mood is established.

Despite the lyrics "Nothing in My Heart" seems to be a sweet note to end the album on. I expected it to get darker as if progressed, but that isn't always the case.It's just her voice with a little piano and organ  sprinkled in sounding like a ballad from the pop days of the 50's. At the end of the day however I like where this goes, it's go subtle songwriting that grows on me so I will give it a 9.5.

Sigur Ros: Kveikur

With The 2002 album ( ) being so incredible, it  defined for me what they were. They continued down another path with latter releases and I stayed enamored with that particular album in such a way it was hard for me to give the following albums a fair solid listen . So that is what I set out to do with this one.

There are no whale sound symphonies of the womb, there is a post-industrial shoe gaze sugar coating that unwraps the album that follows. The child like counter tenor vocals of Jón Þór Birgisson  hover with cherubic ease over everything. They do not sound like Bjork trying to communicate with elves and seem to follow a verse chorus pattern. Some of the angelic vibes might have to much hope in their Hopelandic delivery if you are not on your meds.

Compared to their earlier work the songs have taken on more form to the point of where they conform to  traditional pop songwriting at least in the sense the hooks are more defined . I can see how they have grown into a larger audience, as the most Kate Bush quirk and dreamy grandeur occupies the edges. Songs like "Yfirbord" keep their cinematic quality in check while holding a lucid dreaminess to provide a sound track to a hallucinogenic morning wake up.

There first album as a trio, there isn't a feeling that they are being forced to scale things back due to the departure of their Keyboardist. "Stormur" in it's breezy fairy wonderland chorus is more straight forward but   if alternative radio still exists in america , this is still to abstract.

The darker murk to sonic gateway into the title holds a post-apocalyptic weight and the band has admittedly state this was going to be their most aggressive album. Birgisson's voice keeps the tone from becoming too  ominous, though the element of  down right bliss they normally soar with is trod over by the giant robot who seems to be pounding the drums.

As the sky empties its tears outside my window, the album unfolds more with each listen though the romantic recollections of  the band I heard 11 years ago surface but followed by a more upbeat propulsion. The whole lazy post-rock label might be applied in the broadest definition but there is to much crystalline sparkle that harkens back to the Cocteau Twins for it to really fit. Shoe gazing elements are present though while the album remains as sonic or more so than the more recent album , it never loses you into a drone and uplifts more then lulls the listener into a hypnotic state.

There is little doubt in anyone's mind they are capable at their craft, the harsher electronic elements  and some hefty fuzz added to bass lines of songs like "Blapradur" have expanded their dynamic change and adds more color for them to draw from without diminishing the ethereal nature of what they do. Does it impact me as much as their 2002 album, no the emotional frequency on this one is different, but they are pretty flawless at the soundscapes they have crafted and there isn't a moment that sounds unsure of it's intentions , so as it has continues to grow on me with each listen I'll give it a 10.  


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6

Burzum: "Sol austan, Mani vestan"

Despite the album cover I had a talk with myself to prepare for no metal. I like hypnotic ritualistic music , sure I have sat on the Wardruna album ,unable to really sit down and dissect it, this doesn't seem to be organic or earthy in any nature, though from the album cover I am sure Varg sees this as the music of the elves, though the reality is it is the soundtrack to the movie "Forebears" Varg made with French Film Maker Marie Cachet, a documentary about returning to nature and the connection with pagan ancestors.

Peter Gaberiel’s soundtrack to the Last Temptation of Christ sets the bar for going into this sort of thing though it was more world music in tone. Still they stood on their own as songs, rather than tinkling bell here and there so it sounds like im sampling keyboard sounds at guitar center, the second song comes closer to achieving this than the opener. “Runar munt..” or "You Shall Find Secrets" is more percussive to by nature it will move where the intro had no sense of progression. There is a droning quality to this, I wouldn't say this music is particularly dark in fact I would say the new Wardruna is darker.

The Tangerine Dream like synths of "Haugaeldr" or "Burial Mound Fire" sounds like it was left off of the soundtrack to a seventies sci fi movie. "Feorahellir" has almost a Cocteau Twins cadence to it but without Elizabeth Frasier to come in and actually make it a song, for what it is it's decent if not monotonous , which is the main problem with a lot of these compositions is they just seem like a cool keyboard part that he never developed into an actual song. "Solarguoi" or sung god, kinda drifts like a relaxation cd from any new age bookstore, elevator music for hippies would be on way to think of it.

"Ganga at solu" is more interesting than the previous song and sounds more fitting for the exploration of caves and historic reenactments the movie depicts. Like the other songs it sticks to the one thing rather than transitioning or adding layers for it to go anywhere."Hid" or "Bear's lair" is surprise surprise a synth patch that feel like waves a night, so the bears must have been into night swimming as that the vibe I get here. Two minutes of this was enough for me to imagine my horror when I looked up to see I had four more minutes.

"Heljarmyrkr" or " Death's sarkness " is of course no where near as exciting as it's title its synths for hippies again, who unfortunately unless they are into Germanic neo paganism will never get to hear this, as I can see them getting stoned and doing yoga to this song."Mani vestan" or "West of the Moon" is rather lunar and in fact I wrote something just like this when I was tripping on mushrooms in 1996 and I remember feeling very lunar at the time as well, so this must be what the moon sounds like. "Solbjorg" or "Sunset" has more interesting sounds than most of the other songs on this aside from the one that reminded me of the Cocteau Twins.

Seems like a good way for him to get this out of his system and make another metal record. This album does do what it sets out to accomplish, most of this sounds like the sounds-cape channel on demand that I take naps to so I personally do not see the need to own this, even if I went back to doing drugs , though this would be a great I in a drug cocoon music as well or to help babies fall asleep. I will give this a 4, even though I might round it up if I get to take a nap but not anything I need on my ipod.



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