Chain D.L.K. - All Reviews

URAL UMBO : "Ural Umbo + Latent Defects" [CD review]

10 February 2010, 6:24 am

Review by: Maurizio Pustianaz
Formed by Reto MÄder (Sum of R, RM74) and Steven Hess (On, Haptic) Ural Umbo release on Utech Records their self titled début album. The nine track of the CD present a wide palette of influences and sounds. The opening track "The Lights Would Stop Flickering" recalls me the first Coil vinyl release "How to destroy angels", because of its gong/cymbal sounds but soon after the duo show us their true spirit by adding French horn, guitar drones and a xylophone. "Theme of the Paranormal Feedback" is a kaleidoscope of guitar improvisation duetting with cymbals. Toward the end of the track, from the chaos, rise a feedback melody which add a particular melancholic effect. "Förlåta Jag" mix guitar drones, slow drum beats and horns making result Codeine an happy band. "Voices from the Room Below" mix drones, metallic percussions and feedback while the following "Don't Eat Carrots, My Little Ghost Horse" sounds quite rarefied with its mix of clean electric guitar spare sounds, light guitar drones and little-bells. "Stumbling Upon Blood and Mercury" is a tense tune with low guitar drones and metallic percussions. On its middle a drum starts its funeral beat and between rising high frequency guitar drones a two notes catchy melody cries like a siren. "Among the Bones" is another track that got my attention because of its jazzy approach using organ sounds as background while brushes run on a snare drum and guitar sounds clashes creating sometimes some melody. Also available as mp3/flac download is a sister mini album titled LATENT DEFECTS". It is based on the sounds of the album but it shows the minimal side of Ural Umbo: its six tracks have less sounds interactions and I can define them as monolithic. Personally I prefer the album, because it is kinda extreme but more varied.
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{ Artist: www.myspace.com/uralumbo }
{ Label: Utech Records }
Category: Industrial Music / Industrial Metal / Aggro Industrial / Electro Metal
Experimental / Avantgarde / Weird & Wired / Odd / Field Recording

POEME ELECTRONIQUE : "The Echoes Fade" [12" review]

5 February 2010, 9:46 am

Review by: Maurizio Pustianaz
We left Poeme Electronique two years ago with the release of a renewed version of The Echoes Fade 7" and we already knew that something else was going to be released but I wasn't thinking it would be this huge! THE ECHOES FADE double vinyl album contains sixteen songs recorded during the 1981/1982 period of which fourteen are never been released before! Basically this is an extended version of the first Poeme Electronique unreleased album. The first record begins with the original 7" versions of "The echoes fade" plus "Voice" and follows with "Rendezvous" and "She's an image" the first tracks of the unreleased lot. Since the first melodies I hear echoes of Gary Numan and Toyah/Nina Hagen for the vocal parts and this is so true on "Theories" thanks to the rich female vocals and the synth lines. With "Inside his Head" the atmosphere gets darker and robotic late 70s synth lines (it recalls me of "Oxygene") are the perfect background to a theatrical vocal performance. A perfect atmosphere for a song that talks about someone in coma (the refrain says: "Oh God don't let him stay this way, hear my prayer and what I say, release him from the cage he's in, bring him out of this tormenting"). Also "Fragile" offers interesting atmospheres coupled with upbeat rhythms, a catchy refrain and tons of synth leads and bleeps. The second vinyl opens with a slow epic/atmospheric tune titled "It's in the atmosphere", it introduce you to a sort of horror poem where the refrain says: "It's in the atmosphere, on the wings of the breeze, the force of almighty, in the tombs of the beasts". Also "This night" is quite atmospheric while the following "My complicated personality" mix upbeat tempos, pop sensibility and a certain dark feeling. Poeme Electronique used electronic equipment but weren't minimal at all (all their songs have many synth sounds and rich arrangements) and unfortunately they had to wait for thirty years to get the exposure they deserve! If you are a vinyl addict don't miss this luxurious gate-fold edition with glossy inner sleeves with lyrics of all the songs, as well as individual mini 7” sleeves for each of them. Next to follow Anna Logue will issue also the CD but I don't know if it will include all the tracks.
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{ Artist: www.poeme-electronique.com }
{ Label: Anna Logue Records }
Category: Synth Pop / Electro Pop / Synth-Electronica

IGNIS URBIS MITHRAE : "Sacrae Romanae Origines" [CD review]

5 February 2010, 6:06 am

Review by: Maurizio Pustianaz
Born from a collaboration of ex Camerata Mediolanense and Pavor Nocturnus members, Ignis Vrbis Mithrae (it should mean "Fire in the city of Mithra") release on Wolf Age Records their first album SACRAE ROMANAE ORIGINES ("Holy Roman Origins"). Sung in Latin language the ten tracks of the album will make you revive the atmospheres of ancient Rome with melodies and sounds that actually seem inspired from ancient music. Brasses, percussions, strings and chants will enchant you with songs born from the pride of being part of the Roman Empire. The first track "Vbi bene ibi patria" is the only one that contains lyrics in Italian language and it sounds like the band's manifesto. It says: "We fight for the truth of the ancient traditions guarded in everyone's blood, so that the quality of men and their work will be over everything else. We cannot make otherwise on this path and on our living". Energetic, melodic and sometimes seducing (check the melodies of "Mores maiorvm") SACRAE ROMANAE ORIGINES is a convincing album that will give a new meaning to neoclassic martial music.
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{ Artist: www.myspace.com/ignisurbis }
{ Label: Wolf Age Records }
{ Distributor: HauRuck! SPQR }
Category: Industrial Music / Industrial Metal / Aggro Industrial / Electro Metal

Simon Klle : "Res dej inte! [Stay Down]" [CD review]

4 February 2010, 10:02 am

Review by: Ivan Racheck
Simon Kölle is debuting as a film composer and he just continues to impress me and I have begun to look forward to his music alot.From the eerily mysterious albums of Musterion and Abnocto to the often rousing ethnical and fantasy inspired sounds of Za Frûmi.Simon have shown us that he can do action-adventure before but with the soundtrack to Res dej inte! [Stay Down] he delivers a work that immediately signifies itself as being for a dark drama. Not that it should be a surprise to anyone seeing as how well he manage all genres he work with.Like the Thin Red Line and even Schindler's List this score is rather quiet but in a good way. Already from the overture you get the idea of a dark film. If you are a fan of dark ambient or a soundtrack fan just looking for something different, you might want to give this one a spin. Simon Kölle keep on showing us that he knows his stuff and that he can score for whatever situation is needed, and with over and hour of beautifully dark music, what more could you ask for? The music grows darker as it progresses, though it doesn’t turn too depressing. It is rather more sentimentally saddened at times and also break out hard with a couple of more fast paced tracks. "The Strangulation of Arash" is one of my favourits in its simplicity. It is also a track used in the great trailer (see it on youtube). The title track is based on guitar, pump organ and some violin and it is beautiful. The use of the pump organ is great and "Erik's World" is really a minimalistic masterpiece. "For the Rest of my life" is a cue filled with emotions and I can only imagine what is happening in the film when that song is heard. The film is part of an important swedish project which works with street violence. The film has been shown on film festivals and will also be seen on swedish national TV and in schools! It was written by Sebastian Ylvenius, Erik Bolin and the director Richard Jarnhed. In the press material I read things about the film which makes me want to see it: "A dark, realistic story, the film follows three youth gangs and their time spent on the streets and their lives. Over a relatively short span the characters deal with paranoia, pain, violence and more. This film is powerful and grim. The last scenes are totally unforgettable. The plot comes to a sudden end and there are no truths about what really happened. More than a film, Res dej inte! is a comment about the ongoing violence in society."All what the characters deal with are heard in the music and it embrace a frightening aspect, as if sharing the increasingly terrifying dangers of the youth's portrayed in the film. is a quite superb score in every respect, and can easily be counted amongst the best efforts in the genre. Despite the relative obscurity of the composer to the public (even though we know him), and the art-house sensibilities of the film, the score stands up with the best Hollywood has offered the last month's and I sincerely hope Kölle follows the trail blazed by director Richard Jarnhed and they embark on a road to the mainstream.Overall, this is an excellent score and if you've loved the music to films like Alien and The Omen you will definitely love this one as well. But you also here hints of the music of John Carpenter and Michael Suby.It's a terrific score that fans of the genre for sure should waste no time in obtaining.
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{ Artist: www.simonkolle.com }
{ Label: Neuropa Records }
Category: Ambient / Electronica / Ethereal / Dub / Soundscapes / Abstract

BJRN SVIN : "Browen" [CD review]

3 February 2010, 5:09 am

Review by: Maurizio Pustianaz
Active since 1995 as a live performer and producer of experimental electronic dance music, Bjørn Svin has released several albums and 12"s as well as music for films and theatre. In the late nineties he became a "techno pop-star" with the hit “Mer Strøm 2” and reached cult-status in most of Scandinavia. His new album BROWEN will be released on March by Danish Rump Recordings and it shows a different side of Bjørn as composer. The twelve tracks of the album take inspiration from the rhythmic richness of techno/i.d.m. music but add to the mix an experimental attitude. If tracks like "ROwmOR" or "mPmWree" show still traces of techno structures, others like the opening "Browen" or the following "bowbroW" are more experimental oriented thanks to an evolving flow of metallic sounds that form little melodic/rhythmic loops. Minimal tiny melodies change their sound from dissonant to melodic and clashes with other hundreds forming a constant flow of sound. Techno, dub (check the opening part of "mOmWree"), i.d.m., experimental influences blend very well giving to the listener an interesting and wide sound spectrum to explore.
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{ Artist: www.myspace.com/bjoern_svin }
{ Label: Rump Recordings }
Category: Techno / Trance / Goa / Drum'n'Bass / Jungle / Tribal / Trip-Hop
Experimental / Avantgarde / Weird & Wired / Odd / Field Recording

VNV Nation - live on December 17 2009 [Small Club Concert review]

20 December 2009, 8:04 am

Review by: Krzysztof Kramarz
[ concert pictures available online ] "Thank you for coming despite the bad weather. We'll warm you up". With this words, Ronan Harris of VNV Nation welcomed fans, as it was heavily snowing in Warsaw.Soon, it turned out that the audience warmed up the band with their enthusiastic reactions and radiating energy. The gig consisted mostly of energetic, club track such as Chrome, but the band didn't forget about slower, emotional songs such as "Illusion". Harris seemed to be shocked with the enthusiasm of Polish fans, who cheered the band after every song. "Wow, you are amazing" said Ronan and he repeated it a few times. "This is why I love playing gigs in clubs. In such venues gather people with passion," he added.The band was returning from Serbia and Croatia, where they sold almost all their merchandise. The leader of the band decided to give away left T-shirts and CDs from stage. "We have few items left, no point in selling it, so just take it" he said. The fans had gifts for the band too. Ronan said that he didn't drink beer because it was a waste of time. "It takes a few hours to drink five beers and you can have the same effect if you drink 3 vodkas. You can do it within 10 seconds though," he explained. He didn't need to repeat. Soon, he was served with cold vodka and there was no way back. He enjoyed his drink and the audience sang one of the traditional drinking songs.The gig was amazing. Apparently, the key to success was interaction with audience. Actually, a setlist is of minor importance if you can chat with a band on stage, make them drink with you and, if you are lucky enough, receive a gift. Obviously, in the case of VNV Nation the technical side of the performance was impeccable too. Good quality of sound, nice selection of songs and decent duration of the concert proved that VNV Nation deserves prominent position on the futurepop scene.It was the third VNV Nation gig in Poland and Ronan promised it wasn't their last visit. "We'll be back" he declared with emotion.The concert deserves the highest note, not only because the excellent performance of the band itself, but also due to the awesome reaction of fans.
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{ Live Act(s): www.vnvnation.com }
{ Venue: Progresja }
Country: Poland

EsOterica, Marilyn Manson - live on December 15 2009 [Big Stage Concert review]

18 December 2009, 9:12 pm

Review by: Andre Wiegand
[ concert pictures available online ] A concert is not only a cultural or a commercial event. It is also a social event. And gigs of Marilyn Manson tend to attract a whole variety of people. Before I could access the ticket office and get my press pass I had to walk through a group of 20-30 Christian-oriented demonstrates who protested against Manson’s concert. You would expect those guys to turn up in Texas or Iran, but not in West Europe. Is there no greater evil than Marilyn to demonstrate against? Judging by their slogans those guys were had a very confused idea about the gothic/metal scene and the content of the songs that were to be played that night. Why some Christians and Muslims just cannot let others live their lives like they wish, as long as it complies with the laws of the country? Other religious groups are capable of that. The support act Esoterica hit the stage just on time. It is not always fun to be a support act. Sometimes they are simply ignored and the audience just doesn’t turn up to see them. Sometimes they are welcomed with cold politeness and lame applause. Sometimes, and I wish it was rarely, they get to feel they are not welcome. But none of the above was the case with Esoterica rocking the house in Glasgow. Especially the younger audience was very responding and celebrated the nu metal/emo artists. Esoterica is a very young act, but their professionalism performing live is rather remarkable. Tobias was not only singing well, he also knew how to communicate with the audience and enliven those in the crowd who were less enthusiastic than the others.After “Life is Lonely” (so very true) Tobias introduced the band which was followed by a solid performance of “Silence”. This song is played in metal/emo clubs on the continent same as in the UK. “Watch this Drive” criticizes the Bush’s war in Iraq and what came out of it. It was followed by “Tomorrow I won’t remember” and “Don’t rely on anyone” closed their 40 minute performance. A black curtain was hung over the stage. After all preparations for the headliner’s show were done an obscure intro-music filled the venue. One red projector was pointed up the black certain. The hall was filled with smoke. The tension rose. Here I have to say a few words about the crowd. Except for the expected massive presence of younger emos, goths and metal heads who were optically the most interesting, there were many older people dressed nothing like gothic. An interesting exemplar was a guy dressed like the pope. Appreciate the joke. The funniest thing is that nobody removed his large hat that blocked the view to the spectators behind. On the balcony next to mine there was a father (?) with his son younger than 13 to my estimation. If Esoterica/ Marilyn Manson is one of his first concerts, there is no telling where he’ll be by the age of just 18. Marilyn and co. opened the show with “This is Evolution”. Lasers attached to the frontman’s fingers piercing the dark and the smoke. The crowd responded immediately. The second song on the set was an old hit “Dispensable Teens” and was followed by “Pretty as Swastika” from the new album “The High End of Low”. Twiggy Ramirez re-joined the band for this album. His contribution to the live sound is nothing less than enforcing. It must be mentioned that his appearance on stage has changed a lot since the “Antichrist Superstar” era. No traces of make-up were to spot on Twiggy’s face and his clothes were rather casual for (leather jacket and jeans), but it did the concert no harm. Music is not about what you put on your body. More older material followed: “Guns, God, Government” and “Irresponsible Hate Anthem” before the band moved to the newest songs. “Four Rusted Horses” with the line “Everyone will come to my funeral” was performed with a real feeling. “Devour” is another of truly personal new songs masterfully played on that concert. “Coma White” just had to be there. Performed more in-your-face than on the CD, to my opinion. Marilyn snorted some white powder on the stage. No idea what it was. And “The Dope Show” blew the venue away and was followed by another classic from the “Mechanical Animals” album, “Rock is Dead”. The way it sounded to me rock is anything but dead!The band rounded up the show with “Sweet Dreams” and the explosive “From America”. Unfortunately, no encore was played, but still it was almost 90 minutes of a great concert.The visual side was perhaps more down to earth and less extravagant than in the tours of 1998 -2003 but the ability to excite the crowd and offer one of the best live performances of the darker scene is undisputable there.
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{ Venue: O2 Academy }
Country: United Kingdom

System: FX, Grendel - live on December 9 2009 [Small Club Concert review]

10 December 2009, 7:29 pm

Review by: Andre Wiegand
[ concert pictures available online ] By the time I got to Classic Grand club System: FX, the second support act, were already on stage. Their performance started smoothly and the English quartet overtly enjoyed playing for the Glasgow crowd. Glaswegians are known to be a warm, responding audience and they let the guests from the south feel very welcomed. The EBM beats pierced the air while the sound was truly good. Apart of some minor technical problems that did the party-vibe no harm the concert was successful. System: FX finished the performance with “Total War” and the audience sang the chorus along: “We want total war”. No need to take these words seriously. The band is no bunch of blood thirsty militarists. I guess they sing it to entertain the audience that likes it while having no clue about what a war is like.The main act Grendel hit the stage shortly after 10pm. The live line of one live keyboardist in 2004 has got fortification by a live drummer which made the sound richer and less of a karaoke-like. [VLRK] led his men into the cyber battle waving his war banners high. The 70-80 people in the club joined the leader [VLRK] in this celebration of EBM-industrial. The set successfully combined Grendel’s classics with and the new material from the recent EP “Grendel: Forces” which was also very appealing to Glaswegians. “Harsh Generation”, “Void Malign”, “Dirty”, “New Flesh”, “Soilbleed”, “Pax Psychosis”, “End of Ages” and others were all there, not necessarily in this running order. There were no technical hitches and the whole performance was very energetic and swept the audience away. Being through with the set VLRK introduced his partners in crime [M4RC] and [S42H], but instead of having some well earned rest they were called out to play encore. The show ended with “Zombie”. Unbelievable, but this song is played in very mainstream clubs of Glasgow while the average chart music fans dance their behinds to the mighty tunes of “Zombie”. They could’ve played another encore, I believe, but there’re only good things to say about Grendel’s live ability. The fans I talked to after the concert share this opinion completely.There was an after-party on the lower floor afterwards. The whole party night was more or less through by the midnight which makes sense taking in account that most people had to go to work the very next day.
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{ Live Act(s): www.grendel-base.com }
{ Venue: Classic Grand }
Country: United Kingdom

Kenny Wollesen's Wollesonic Laboratories - live on September 15 2009 [Small Club Concert review]

16 September 2009, 1:29 am

Review by: Marc Urselli
[ concert pictures available online ] very once in a while someone comes along and does something so extraordinarily out of the order that it blows your mind away and shatters whatever preconceived notions you might have. Kenny Wollesen was that person for me tonight. I knew how talented he is from having seen him play drums and vibes with John Zorn many times and I knew he had manu other side projects as well (some of which I’ve seen and some I have not yet). When he told me about this event, it sounded so interesting that I couldn’t pass it up, so even though I was at a rooftop dinner party, I just left for an hour to go check out Wollesonic Laboratories’ “Touchless Kaleidophonic Sonic Massages”. It was sooooo worth it!Held at the new Gallery 151 on the Bowery (co-curated by the talented urban/pop singer Miz Metro), the free donation-supported event basically consisted in two opposite rows if yoga mats where you would lay down, close your eyes if you wanted to (if you didn’t there was a psychedelic light show being projected on the ceiling) and absorb all the sounds created by Kenny’s populous crew (dressed in official looking white lab coats with woven names). For about 30-45 minutes I laid there relaxing and breathing in and out silently while the crazy professor and his assistants shuffled from one end of the gallery to the opposite making some kind of sound. Rain carousels, hellophones, sleep grinders, wind wands, rotorifics, magic cat boxes, rubber band contraptions, spinning baloons and other crazy looking things… If you can imagine it in your wildest dreams, Kenny probably built it! The sounds were pretty subtle, but every now and the there would be a subsonic rumble that you could feel in your spine through the wooden floor. I was terribly torn between wanting to keep my eyes closed to focus on the sounds and wanting to take a peak to satisfy my curiosity about what object on earth would produce such cool sounds. For those on the receiving end, if you let yourself be transported by this sonic massage you could pretty much enter an outlandish Tim Burton-esque parallel fantasy world where huge bugs hover over your head, mysterious creatures surround you and other amorphous sounds contribute to the creation of this dreamy sonic realm (which I bet might sound pretty scary if you didn’t have the comfort of knowing that they were created by friendly humans from planet earth). The spatiality and movement of the sounds makes it so much more special… Here’s an example: while you are feeling the air and focusing on the sounds of a giant butterfly flapping its wings above your head, suddenly a cricket-type sound punctures the silence from behind you on the left and when you least expect it dog comes up really close to your right ear and breaths… the Wollesonic touchless crew is pretty tactful and quiet while they run up and down the gallery and if they were even more silent it would be scary!It was a blast. I highly recommend anyone interested in experimentation with found sounds and new sonic experiences in general not to miss this event if/when it comes around again. I know I won’t.
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{ Venue: Gallery 151 }
{ Promoter/Organizer: Miz Metro }
Country: United States

Todd Durrant : "Trigger" [Paperback review]

24 July 2009, 11:08 pm

Review by: TG Mondalf
Trigger is the first complete novel by Todd Durrant, owner of A Different Drum record label. While A Different Drum is known for great modern Synthpop, Todd Durrant will quickly be known for great and philosophically thought provoking science-fiction. I was extremely impressed with this as a first work by him and anxiously look forward to more. The story was riveting and I couldn’t put it down! It is the type of story with many interesting layers of plot revelation that keeps the reader on edge waiting to see what will happen next. I loved that it was not overly predictable as I find many stories both written and filmed to often be. Instead, this just seemed to get more curious with every page turned.The most difficult thing about writing this review is that I really don’t want to include too many, if any, spoilers as the greatest fun about reading it was the interesting turns the plot took as more information was revealed. Basically, the story takes place in two different timelines. In one, you have a group of human exiles from Earth who are trying to make their way in space after forcefully leaving the planet due to a an invasion by mechanical “lifeforms”. In this timeline, there are divergent political perspectives revolving around either going back to retake Earth by force or expanding further into space and pioneering further development and growth. In the other timeline, which is pre-invasion, the focus revolves around a major corporation, scientific development, and a secret project to help prevent human annihilation by creating a device which is only activated after the calamity has occurred by using a trigger backwards in time to activate it. The only criticism I have at all about this work is that I think more development could have been done on the desperation that humans faced in the future on these remote space colonies. However, in many ways the author did make it obvious and other readers may likely disagree with me on this one as much of the first part of the book does have quite a bit relating to this in it. However, I have to admit, character development is probably the most difficult aspect of writing a fiction novel and a marked improvement was shown as the story developed. Overall, I think Todd did a great job and I really liked the characters he created. They are all unique and interesting, no carbon copies, archetypical or stereotypes here except maybe where The Admiral is concerned but that is at it should be in my opinion. I also like that he has strong female characters and sensitive male characters. He also shows many situations where their actions are very human indeed, sometimes logical and sometimes purely emotional, but most often a combination of both as their plight is very unique and unusual. I also like the tech in this book and how he stuck to realistic descriptions regarding the physical dynamics of space, unlike the hollywood movies where you see and hear great explosions and flames in space. Overall, the book has great technological ideas, interesting philosphical questions, multiple timelines, fairly well developed characters, mostly unpredictable plot lines and a very compelling story!
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{ Author: todd-durrant.com/ }
{ Publisher: Outskirts Press }
{ Buy here: }
Category: Music Industry (Biographies & Memoirs, How To...)
Fiction (Historic, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Vampires)