Silent Carrion - Suprematism EP I - IUPITER [EP] (2013, Self-released)

Silent Carrion has always been progressive and boundary pushing. It's the bread and butter, the heart and soul of the project. An amalgam of trip hop, electronica, dark ambient, prog and trace amounts of a myriad of other components. Established upon the first release, Ruins, in 2010 in Northern Italy, 2013 welcomed the beginning of an EP-based trilogy starting with IUPITER, the first Suprematism EP.

Right off the bat the Suprematism EP starts off heavier than previous Silent Carrion incarnations. Caustic aggression and hostile chaos ensues through heavily distorted guitars, programmed blast beats and an assortment noisy invocations, a bleak piano sometimes finding its way through the cacophony. There is a rich theme of turmoil and anxiety embedded in this work, a subject that may very well continue on or contrast with the remainder of the trilogy.

But where previous efforts were finely balanced, well-adjusted dark symphonies of careful instrumentation, Suprematism's discord borders on the outright offensive. Noise and industrial can achieve some sort of appeal through atmospheric courses and harsh moodsetters, but in that sense Silent Carrion belittles the very notion that this could be classified as structurally sound. It's entirely possible that their is a point to be made once the EP trilogy is complete, but at the time of writing that point is lost to me.

It is not until the final track (the live recording of "The Ground Seems Hollow" from Andras being considered a bonus track) that we can finally recognize the Italian ordeal. Silent Carrion has come full circle and yet again relies on synth-driven ambience, which again contrasts highly with the first ten minutes of IUPITER. There is little structure to be found, and even so the compositions don't even feel complex as much as merely disorganized anarchy. 3/10 guitars.

Tracklist:
1. Suicide
2. I'm Calm Now
3. Malphas
4. Human Maggots Swarming Round Her Bed of Death
5. Suprematism (Mercy)
6. The Ground Seems Hollow (Live)

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Read or re-read my previous SILENT CARRION review

Trou Noir - Echoes in Black Holes [Demo] (2011, Eerie Torture)

It hasn't taken long for Trou Noir to produce their first demo. Released the same year the band was formed, Echoes in Black Holes is an international effort consisting of Worbid and Monork from Russia and Dunkel supplying the vocals from France. The internet has made it possible for musicians from all over the world to easily collaborate and create diverse variations of genres that are otherwise often heavily coloured by its regional scene. Between them the three members of Trou Noir - or "Black Hole" in French - have been in at least nine bands that have collectively released in excess of fifty demos, EPs, splits and albums, meaning that this unholy trinity are at least in some way seasoned musicians.

A vital element within Echoes in Black Holes is the way they utilize ambience. Monork's arpeggiated notes form the backbone of the demo with the minimalistic drumming of Worbid providing the rhythmic coherence. The two usher in the raw vocals of Dunkel, which bear a striking resemblance to those of Varg Vikernes on Det Som Engang Var. The transitions between the ten tracks on Trou Noir's first demo are seamless and immaculate, making the whole demo coalesce with each element being consistently integrated without much effort. Each track neatly segues from cold and melancholic melodies to more ambience-laden passages with the arpeggiated notes working to add depth to the music. To continue the Burzum analogy; If the vocals are Det Som Engang Var, the music itself is closer to Filosofem or Hlidskjalf, but without opting for the same droning approach.

Any music enthusiast will know that it's hard to get riled up if the musicians delivering the music aren't engaging about their business and deliver their tunes in a convincing way. Accusing Darkspace's first demo from 2002 of being varied, extravagant or musically eloquent seems almost an insult, and yet Darkspace have become a modern day cult in themselves. Their music is droning and monotone, but it works extraordinarily with the monotony becoming the main attraction which makes it all the more hypnotic. You might be wondering why I'm talking about Darkspace rather than Trou Noir, but when it comes to spacy ambient, atmospheric black metal a band such as Darkspace automatically becomes the standard to which similar bands are held, and while Trou Noir and Darkspace have only minute elements in common, it seems as a necessary comparison to make. Trou Noir have opted for that very style, yet deliver their music with total abandon and insincerity. I can feel they're going for a trippy, psychedelic feel with the drawn out drum sequences and almost randomly picked guitar notes, but it becomes stale and unhypnotic in the execution process. There are a few good riffs once in a while, with the main riff in Black Hole Reverb being the prime example, and the vocals seem to generally be held to a higher standard than the rest of the demo, but all in all it feels like most songs are written the way they are for the sake of consistency rather than actually contributing a memorable element to the release as a whole. Their songwriting makes it very hard to remember any one moment on the demo, which in itself isn't inherently bad as proven by similar groups, but it becomes a fundamental problem when there is nothing else to remember the band or demo by.

My problem is that the demo is too long for such an ineffective delivery of stale ideas. Darkspace got it right when they released their demo in 2002 featuring 25 minutes of their trademark spacey black metal, consisting of little other than spaced out walls of distorted guitar accompanied by ferocious blast beats. Echoes in Black Holes is overflowing with poorly executed melancholy that misses its target by a wide margin. The cover art made a promise of better things - It made a promise of cosmic black metal engulfed in the cold, galactic aspects that this sound usually brings with it, but it was a promise it could not keep. The atmosphere is bedroomy rather than spacy, which is what primarily sets it apart from the great ones within the genre. Instead of going exploring within the psychedelic possibilites of their chosen style, they follow a linear path which doesn't suit their sound terribly well. 4/10 guitars.

Tracklist:
1. Funeral Echoes (Part I)
2. Defective Reflections
3. The Tree Into the Void
4. Somnambulistic Searchers
5. The Denying of Being
6. Black Hole Reverb
7. Nihilistic Moon
8. Echoes in Mirrors
9. March of Leprous
10. Funeral Echoes (Part II)

Visit Eerie Torture's official website

Okketaehm - Stones [Demo] (2012, Contaminated Tones Productions)

I was on my way out the door one early winter morning in freezing Denmark. I got in the car to go to work on the hitherto coldest and snowiest morning this year, and like so many times before I was going over my CDs to find a couple to bring on the trip. I was going to go with some Entombed and Darkthrone, feeling like listening to some old school stuff, but then I found Okketaehm's promo "Stones" from Contaminated Tones Productions and thought I might aswell give a listen on the way to work. Though the total play-time of Stones is a mere 18 minutes of grey, wintry, space-like ambience and raw black metal the demo never left the car's CD player even though the trip is almost 40 minutes each way.

It was early, the climate was frosty and the road to work was long. Having only ingested some toast and a cup of luke-warm coffee I wasn't much in the mood for anything as I began my journey through the soundscapes of Okketaehm. The music that met me through the speakers was well befitting of the desolate roads. Stones consists of various parts of icy black metal, dark ambience and something that borderlines white noise mixed into one long track of 18 minutes, and all these parts in conjunction with masterful production lead my mind to things like the vast emptiness of space, void-like depression and mist-veiled frostscapes. Characteristics I normally attribue to bands like Darkspace, Ash Borer and Paysage d'Hiver. I admit I at this point wasn't much focused on my driving.

Let's not kid ourselves, ofcourse Okketaehm isn't perfect or innovating, but it sure as hell did make my drive to- and from work a lot more enjoyable. Okketaehm provides incredibly accurate atmospheres, and while you at times wonder wether the music is still on or someone is just vacuumcleaning in a nearby room it simply adds to the enormous impact the half-melodic black metal pieces of Stones presents. 8/10 guitars.

Tracklist:
1. Stones

Contaminated Tones Productions official site

Silent Carrion - Andras (Full length) [2012, Self-released)

Scaia, the only member of the Italian underground project Silent Carrion, is what can best be described as an invocator of ritualistic and industrial sounds beyond this realm. Suffice it to say that some will find his music to be the soundtrack to certain nightmares while others will enjoy it endlessly.

The Andras album is something out of the ordinary. It suffers from a lot of inconsistency in the way that some of the tracks seem completely out of place, maybe even as if they were created with a completely different mindset. The tracks are a fair mix of pseudo black metal with that familiar and unwelcome tinge of programmed MIDI-drums, so often heard in conjunction with innumerable bedroom black metal one-man bands, and above-average dark ambient with influences from both industrial, noise and even some hints of 80's video game music.

In spite of the wide mix of genres and influences on Andras, Scaia's efforts as Silent Carrion makes for a rather fluent and impressive journey through his twisted mind, although tracks like Mist and Copper almost turned away from listening to the album entirely. Those two tracks were what I was referring to when I talked about inconsistensy - They are out of place and much below the otherwise high quality of the rest of the tracks on Andras, and I feel that if you cut those two away you would be left with a better listening experience.

Andras invokes an atmosphere that reminds me of old video games like Castlevania, or perhaps dark 80's sci-fi flicks with hinted horrors. A solid experience for those who seek some dark ambient out of the ordinary. 7/10 guitars.

Tracklist:
1. Mountain (An Invocation)
2. Mist
3. Fear Spread like Plague
4. The Ground Seems Hollow
5. Echoes from a Deep Chasm
6. Copper
7. Suprematism (Sickness)
8. Krieg

SILENT CARRION official site
Want to listen for yourself? Get the album for free right HERE

Moloch - Illusionen Eines Verlorenen Lebens [Full length] (2011, Glorious North Productions)

Many black metal bands utilize elements of dark ambient in their music, either as intros, by making entire dark ambient songs among black metal ones or by direct incorporation of ambience into the music to create an atmosphere. While black metal by its sheer nature already have lots of atmospheric tendencies, this feel can be emphasized by the use of ambient elements.

The Ukranian one-man black metal band Moloch sets the tone from the first track, which serves as an intro and mindsetter for the rest of the album. "Illusionen Eines Verlorenen Lebens" is in excess of 50 minutes of depressive black metal with a slew of apathy-ridden tracks of atmospheric nature. The tortured vocal efforts of Pr. Sergiy Fjordsson goes hand in hand with the ambient characteristics and the drony and heavily distorted guitars.

The 8-track album emanates a definite aura of cold desolation and is more or less the soundtrack to how I imagine a cold winter in Ukraine. As with most bands in the genre Moloch presents itself with repetitive songwriting, and while this may sound like a bad thing I've always seen it as a means to create the desired feeling with the listener.
There is one thing that bothers me with Illusionen Eines Verlorenen Lebens and many modern black metal bands in general - The drums. It's a damn shame that so many one-man black metal bands use drummachines or heavily sampled drums. It takes away a lot of the atmosphere and feeling, which I feel are essential to music that seeks to invoke those kinds of feelings with the listener.

All in all I'd say Moloch, who is incredibly productive by the way, having recorded more than 70 releases since its creation in 2002, is a fine example of depressive black metal with a boatload of dark ambient elements. Fans of Paysage d'Hiver and Wedard must check out this band. Afterall the drumsound shouldn't have that much of a say on the overall score of the album, but it is something that slightly lessens my oppinion of it. 8/10 guitars.

Tracklist:
1. Illusion des Winters
2. Ein düsterer Winter kommt I
3. Ein düsterer Winter kommt II
4. Dissonanz Tropfen eines glühenden Schmerzes
5. Weg von dieser Welt voller Traurigkeit
6. Unsichtbarer Faden des Lebens
7. Illusionen eines verlorenen Lebens
8. Abgrund meines Wesens

MOLOCH official website
Glorious North Productions official website