RADIO SALVA - KATH' ARA ep

ARTIST: Radio Salva
TITLE: Kath'Ara
ARTIST LINKS: myspace.com/radiosalva
radiosalva.wordpress.com
soundcloud.com/radiosalva
reverbnation.com/radiosalva
facebook.com/salvamusic
ARTIST COUNTRY: GERMANY
LABEL: Self-released
GENRE: Dark Ambient

Tracklist:
1_ Falling Backwards
2_ Insight
3_ The Subsiding of the Flood
4_ Outside

Christian Salva is one of the newest and absolutely brightest to hit the PostIndustrial Dark Ambient world. This young man hit our scene only last year, but I feel he is well on his way to being one of the leaders of the Ambient sound. There is a great amount of depth in his work, and I'm not gonna use the word "potential" here because this guy has already proven himself to me. I'm hoping that others will pick up on his talent soon. Hurry before he starts charging!
Mr. Salva is already showing us that he is very capable of integrating abundant emotion into his music. Take a listen to any of the three releases he has let us have so far, and not only will you find that there is a new, modern accent to his offerings, but that he accents his tracks with variety. This is one quality that can assure name recognition with Dark Ambient fans. I was pleasantly surprised at the diversity of sounds found in this, the Kath'Ara ep.
There is more than layers of drones put through different reverb parameters here [which is all a lot Ambient artists seem to think they can get away with]. There is so much more. Out of the four tracks that comprise this ep, there are two that are side by side that will stay with me for the rest of my life. These two are "Insight" and "The Subsiding of the Flood". I can not remember the last time I let two tracks just repeat in a hypnotic loop, not only for hours, but as was the case for this past weekend, DAYS. This pair is hopelessly beautiful, putting you in the very center of your Universe, letting you experience just how vast your own psyche can be because the ethereal nature of the pieces are just that, vast...
"Insight" is the dreamiest of the four, and much like "The Subsiding of the Flood", everything comes at you in waves. Both works are progressively melodic, but sparse. Samples included in "Insight" are taken form "The Passion of the Christ", these being screaming samples that only make the track sound more intensely emotional, giving the feel of a man desperately calling for someone that is being torn from him in some intensely romantic haze.
But even more intense is "The Subsiding of the Flood". While still being as sedate as "Insight", this track is much more powerful. As cold as is sounds, it is still very condusive to the most comforting and self-indulgent fantasy/meditative/intoxicating states of mind. Not only do we get a fair amount of expansive ambiance, but there is a sample of a choral passage from a gnostic mass, deep in tone and register, adding a very human contrast to the very Navicon Torture Technologies-style bass-noise that is included. Lee M. Bartow would be proud, or at least he should be, as this seems to do much to proliferate the "Power Romance" genre he practically pioneered.
Also worth noting is the last track because of its closer resemblance to a move away from the Dark Ambient sound. This track, while not my favorite, is the one that surprised me the most. "Outside" is a very great track because it is much more indicative of a Depeche Mode-like style, like something that would have made the final cut for "Ultra", one of Depeche Mode's most brilliant, but terribly underrated albums. There is a one-note bass sequence that actually sounds like an electric bass, the most melody to be found in the whole ep, shifting its sound here and there, but not to excess displaying awesome synth textures, and the thought provoking sample of the phrase "Jeder ist allein" [everyone is alone].
There is such an incredible amount of beauty in this ep. And its free! I know I don't write about anything I don't recommend myself, but I REALLY mean it when I say that your life will be enriched so much more if this work is in your collection. This is proverbial opium of and for the mind. I am deeply grateful this exists.

DOWNLOAD LINK: http://www.archive.org/details/RadioSalva-KatharaEp2010&reCache=1

ARTIST STATEMENT:
The "Kath ´Ara" ep is about wandering the small space between thoughts and emotions. It´s about taking a look through the outer shape of the things we call "reality". It´s about the human being inside us. It´s not about religion. It´s about a deeper kind of belief.

TZII - EARTHLY EXCRUTIATE

ARTIST: Tzii
TITLE: Earthly Excruciate
ARTIST LINK: http://www.myspace.com/tzii
ARTIST COUNTRY: Belgium
LABEL: Night On Earth Records, and as part of the Earsheltering project, or directly from Connexion Bizarre
LABEL LINKS:
NIGHT ON EARTH: http://nightonearth.info
EARSHELTERING: http://earsheltering.free.fr
Connexion Bizarre: connexionbizarre.net
GENRE: Power Electronics

TRACKLIST:

1_ Earthly Excruciate

This has to be among the most powerful of all the Tzii releases out there. This is one of those single-track items that is guaranteed to evoke, provoke, or nurture a strong emotional response. As with most three-inch discs I have come across [this one unfortunately limited to only 23 physical copies], this is a bullshit-free statement with a bullshitless message. This is expressed in a few simple sentences you will find if you choose to download this track from either Connexion Bizarre or archive.org:
“Human beings always felt the need for domination on their fellow comrades. Unfortunately torture is too often a way to achieve it, treating like pigs the victims. This recording is against all form of excruciate on any living creature.”
And I repeat, ANY living creature. Aside from being a heavy declaration of the right to exist, it is more driven by its opposition to cruelty.
I hate to keep it short and sweet, but this song is a very simple one, and sometimes when one seeks to be empowered, you don’t need a sonic overload. Just something close to an emotional one.
The track is basically made up of Eric’s brilliant trademark drones, coupled of course with some lo-fi samples and home-made electronics. The opening has a drone that is not harsh, but undulating, fading in and out, but never stopping over the Guy Maddin-esque cut-up that I couldn’t make out but certainly enjoy because it just escalates the confusion/tension. But the craziest sound that lets you know something bigger and scarier is about to go down is this repetition of pig squeals that echoes and pans from ear to ear, raising in pitch like the swine is quickly being overcome by sheer terror. VERY UNSETTLING. But SICK! This gives way to a thirteen minute-long, low-end synth drone that will whet anyone’s appetite for that Massive sound [both literal as well as the Native Instruments synthesizer, but keep in mind, Eric is an ALL ANALOG creature!]. The drone is not alone though, as it has some shorter pig sounds, a very piercing but subtle frequency, and something of a ship-horn timbre, at times sounding like a muffled chain-saw, all incorporated in due time and with a necessary gradual pace. The use of the animal sample is key in the song’s message. We humans constantly treat each other as we do a fucking farm animal, exploiting, often times nurturing a target in a very sociopathic manor for one’s own personal benefit.
The end of the track is one of the best I have ever heard. It is a sample of a man reciting articles from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Spanish, jumping in at article five, through half of article ten.
I gotta say, empathy never sounded so powerful as this track does. Ingenious. I’m pretty sure there are no more physical copies left, but this download is too good to pass up. And here it is:

DOWNLOAD LINK: http://www.archive.org/details/ncb018_tzii_ee

TALIB AZIIZ - IBRAAHIIM

ARTIST: Talib Aziiz
TITLE: Ibraahiim
ARTIST LINKS:
www.myspace.com/crawfish81
http://soundcloud.com/aziiznoise
ARTIST COUNTRY: USA
LABEL: Self-released
GENRE: Quranic Recitation/Throat Singing

TRACKLIST:

1_ Ibraahiim Dhkir
2-8_ Untitled recitations of Surah 14 [Abraham] of the Holy Quran
9_ Salaam Dhkir

It feels as if I have been waiting for an album like this for some time now. Years, even. In fact, almost as soon as I began my own Industrial music endeavors, I had seen that as my ideologies and spirituality were somewhat interwoven, I could incorporate my strongest emotional triggers and core beliefs into any art I chose to make. Everyone needs a strong philosophy to make strong music. I have had this in mind since before I was ever a musician, but this album is one more indelible example of this principle.
It is no secret to those who know me best as Rex The Ninth that over the years, I have developed a strong fascination for, support of, and feel a great sympathy and solidarity for Muslims and Islamic culture. In the advent of a post 9/11 world, I saw first hand the demonization of this culture, religion and its people. I saw how the infinitely corrupt US government reduced so many victims to ridicule, misery and death at the hands of the intolerance of the ignorant and fear stricken masses both here and on Muslim land. I saw the scope of the gravest cultural and socio-political conflict of my time, and I realized that as a Mexican being discriminated on the basis of being born on the wrong side of some fucking fence, a minority, unwelcome in a racist, separatist, and highly oppressive nation.. Well, I saw that I share much in common with my Middle Eastern brethren.
These are extreme times, and extreme situations are presented to us every day, and I knew that there had to be even ONE individual in the community that I hold such deep admiration for that felt enough rage at these modern times who actually either pertained to the Islamic faith, or that was at least of Middle Eastern descent, who’s main output of expression was Noise/Power Electroncis/Industrial… I knew that there was someone who took it upon himself to be a strong representative of an intense and brutal musical form that is also a stronger representative of his culture, and perhaps, as is the case with “Ibraahiim”, his faith. And I found him. His Name is Talib Aziiz.
Now, I know many of us in the Post-Industrial world find that faith holds no sway in their rational minds, and this is fine, but I hope no one reading this is as intolerant to any degree as to not consider what has been written about here. It’s some dark and beautiful stuff, I assure you.
I have held deeply that spirituality is the most complicated and personal aspect of any person’s life, so you will find little judgment on my part about any faith-element incorporated to make GREAT art. Cultural contributions are the true lifeblood and saving grace of any faith. Music is the cultural lifeblood that sustains me personally, so I enthusiastically declare the importance of this album, to me, is unbounded. The sound is unique, the concept is simple, and it is as powerful and meaningful as any TRUE expression of faith can be.
“Ibraahiim” is unlike any other album I have ever had the honor to hold. For starters, the sound is the provocative mixing of two distinct but equally passionate cultural faces, being Islam and Buddhism. This work is a recitation of a surah done in Arabic, but sung in the deepest of registers by way of a Tibetan throat-singing method. You could swear this guy has been doing this for years, like he was brought up in the land of the Holy Dalai Lama… reading the Quran. The vocal work is the main focus of “Ibraahiim”…
The album itself is presented in an simple and welcoming intro, spoken-word, outro format. The opening track is one in only a pair of tracks that have actual instrumentation on “Ibraahiim”. “Ibraahiim Dhkir” was recorded with a singing bowl and a dripu & dorje, which is a form of bell and a brass striker. The Surah begins here, and from here to the end of the album, you are introduced to something that, perhaps even in the respective time of the ancient caliphate, has seldom been heard. The world has seen that Islam was the faith that saw the quickest and most culturally significant establishment of its time, and as a religion of tolerance, respect, and compassion, its cultural influence was widely admired, assimilated to and with the cultures of the nations it conquered. The reach of Islam went as far as India and its northern regions that stretched to the borders of China, including Tibet, where throat singing had reached its zenith. But who can say exactly how many individuals, and what type of circles of folk, have used one highly-effective Buddhist meditation tool such as the intensely difficult to master throat method with the sheer poetry that is Quranic verse? Until I had met Mr. Aziiz, my experience with Islamic vocalization had only been that of the free-form, intensely melodic Arabic and Persian styles. So it is something special to hear! And while a melodic style is meant to heighten the emotional and sometimes pacifying nature of the Quran, a style like Talib’s [which in this album is done entirely through a reverse-reverb with delay trails] elevates it to a colder, yet still amazingly transcendent level. It’s stark, honest, and somehow very deep and vast simultaneously.
The closing track is the one that had struck a real chord with me when I first discovered Mr. Aziiz’s work. “Sallam Dhkir” is a track that has a constant rise and fall in its stereo channels, alternating and harmonizing words with only a gong. Simple enough, but when you have the lowest of octaves a human larynx can force out, and the resonant but very sharp sound of a perfectly engineered metal disc, I think you have something as Industrial as any Power Electronics or Noise. And by the way, he makes Noise as well.. and some damn good Noise it is. So stay tuned…
This is a physical release reviewed. One of three that were the very generous contributions from a very thoughtful and talented Muslim man. TRUE Muslim indeed, but also awake and human enough to express his rage at the deterioration of a society that continues to crumble beneath very stylishly [or not] dressed feet . Next, I will review Talib’s newest perversion of the perversion known as pop music, “KAWAII. SUMMER. CONFUSION. FUCK.”
It’s killer.

TZII - ANTI DRAMA CUT-UPS

ARTIST: Tzii
TITLE: Anti Drama Cut-ups
CATALOG #: earsheltering 044
ARTIST LINK: www.myspace.com/tzii
ARTIST COUNTRY: Belgium
LABEL: Released as part of the Earsheltering project
LABEL LINK: http://earsheltering.free.fr
GENRE: Industrial sample manipulation

TRACKLIST:

1_ God Struggles For Your Sins
2_ And Fails
3_ Look! They’re Coming From the East!
4_ And Lose Their Minds
5_ Calling From The Parallel
6_ Absorbed by Fanatism
7_ Is This Your Promised Heaven
8_ Please Keep Me Under Your Protection


Eric of Tzii is one busy man. It happens so many times that upon visiting and revisiting his enormous and ever-expanding body of work that I wish to get the fuck out of the US and be physically closer to the many buddies I am forging fast and genuine friendships with through our art. Though I had the shweeet ass privilege of interviewing Eric back when I wrote for Heathen Harvest [http://www.heathenharvest.com/article.php?story=20091031170756401&query=.], I was unfortunately left with a rather empty feeling. This was because even though I had given him a good platform to satisfy my various inquiries and [I’ll admit] curiosities, I had seen that he was really as active as anyone could obviously gather from our interview. But despite the fact we don’t talk often, I still feel proud that I know the guy in some way. We’re not friends in the way I am with a certain few that live across the pond, but it is certainly just as important to me to be at the forefront of the work of such a talented, highly artistic, and pleasant person.
But it is not just this shining personality that makes Tzii such a worthwhile entity in the Post-Industrial world. Anyone can stick to the far-left on a keyboard and make dark sounds, and anyone can certainly take a sample and make it sound cool, but I have come to realize that Eric’s strongest skill is that of composition. Sure, the guy has a big home studio filled with both common, and also with unique sound-producing devices, but what separates Tzii from most is the level of involvement, care and attention put into every single detail of a track, album, or as is often practiced for V-Atak, various video works.
“Anti Drama Cut-ups” tells a story of a world that has been consumed by the tragedy of Christianity. But the thing is, it is a good representation of the psychological hold of false belief systems, war, and ultimately, the deterioration of the mind because of these. The title is actually an allusion to the fact that this work was in fact a cohesive compiling and manipulation of many samples as the primary sound source.
What I love about this album the most is that it doesn’t give you a strained effort into using complex synthesis in its build of mood and message. The most disturbing sounds often come form our own mouths. The best examples of this are definitely “And Lose Their Minds” and “Absorbed by Fanatism”. These are two looks into a very demented mind-state that is incurred by the ravages of war. There is confusion in the fourth track, a strong sense of displacement, while the sixth track is a mix of a preaching voice laying out why you should give in to the so called glory of god, a calm voice that is soon tainted with sounds of degradation to Muslim prisoners, telling them that they “are now property of the US Marine Corps”, asking if one is “crying like a Muslim”, and finally, a beautiful recitation of a passage from the Quran, INTERRUPTED by some marine asshole who shouts “Hey! Stop praying!”
I also think its great how the work seems to take on a sort of “past-life” of its own. Many of the samples Eric used to make this collage are pretty old, and its cool how you can see the black and white form the start with “God Struggles for Your Sins”, to the last track, which is a straight maniacal, childish voice that I’m sure was made under the care of Mr. Guy Maddin.
I hate that it is only rarely that I can find albums like this that paint an effective picture with only minimal use of actual instrumentation. Maybe its more difficult to do than I imagine. But what counts is that this work exists and shows us how its done…

DOWNLOAD LINK: http://www.archive.org/details/earsheltering044

ARTIST STATEMENT:
The idea of this album was to do an exercise of collages and cut-ups, mostly influenced by the early collages of Nurse With Wound, Ghedalia Tazartès, Severed Heads, Zoviet France, and more, plus by some of Guy Maddin's films mostly, of course. What's funny is that the text accompanying the release written by the label's owner says that it's a new approach to my work, but the first tracks I made under the name of Tzii back in the 90's were collages. So for me, it's more a back to the roots thing. I like this kind of stuff because it usually tells a story, something... and maybe because I'm also a filmmaker, I don't know, I love when something is told, I'm not so attracted by creation without any sense, impulse, intentions, concept, so this release is like several acts of the same drama (that's why it's titled like that), it's a story. I think the titles speak for themselves but I can explain a bit:

"God Struggles For Your Sins": Here you can hear some violins with thunder....violins are the holy and pure spirit, the thunder is an act of god ]or any superior entity, you can call it what you want] but it's at the same time a menace... then you hear religious chorals [Christians], added with it the sample "drinking, murder, gambling... from suffering and pain". These words comes from a religious propaganda movie, so is god who struggles for your sins!!!!

"And Fails": but he fails, the living creatures on earth don't need him to sin, and they're ending their allegiance by listening to some pagan German song, making monstrous moaning...

"Look! They're Coming From The East! ": The main voice comes from the Guy Maddin movie "Tales From The Gimli Hospital", and it makes a parallel with "Archangel" in which the action is set in Russia.. This eastern reference follow the German one.

"And Lose Their Minds" : but when fighting and crossing Europe, it is not always so easy to stay of sound mind, and nobody knows who's crazy or not. Everybody loses his mind in the general chaos of nature.

"Calling From The Parallel": The parallel dimension. Something can be heard from there, does any living creature knows where and what is this dimension? We don't know, but one thing is sure: everybody hears it...

"Absorbed By Fanatism": Everybody knows that religion is a very important factor in the world order and fanaticism is the disease of the beliefs. All human decency is absorbed by it. Samples come from "The Road to Guantanamo", while at the same time, you can hear on it Christian propaganda.

"Is This Your Promised Heaven": What gets a hold of us is the promise of this heaven, the afterlife, but maybe it's more chaotic and perverse that we think...

"Please Keep Me Under Your Protection": ...we need a guardian angel to survive...

SCHATTENSPIEL - SCHATTENKRIEGER

ARTIST: Schattenspiel
TITLE: Schattenkrieger
CATALOG #: UFA 35
ARTIST LINKS:
SCHATTENSPIEL - www.myspace.com/phalanxfeatthewhiterabbit
BARBAROSSA UMTRUNK - www.myspace.com/barbarossaumtrunk
IGNIIS - www.myspace.com/igniislilithsson
IRIS TRAUMANN - www.myspace.com/iristraumann
ORPHEUS ENTHRONED - www.myspace.com/pentheusthefourth
ARTIST COUNTRY: Germany
LABEL: UFA Muzak
LABEL LINK: www.ufa-muzak.narod.ru
GENRE: Neo-Classical/Dark Ambient

TRACKLIST:

01_ Alone in the dark [Intro]
02_ Schattenspiel & Barbarossa Umtrunk- Sturmwarnung
03_ Schattenspiel & Igniis- El Gato Negro
04_ Niemandsland
05_ Schattenspiel & Orpheus Enthroned- Symphony of Loneliness
06_ Solang mein Herz noch schlägt
07_ Tigerauge
08_ Schattenspiel & Igniis- U-29
09_ Schattenspiel & Barbarossa Umtrunk- Orages d'Acier Act II
10_ Dunkle Wolken ziehen auf
11_ Vendetta
12_ Schattenspiel & Art Abscons- Väterchen Frost
13_ Schattenspiel, Barbarossa Umtrunk, Igniis & Ouroboros- IV Schattenkrieger
14_ Flashback
15_ Falling Down [Space-RMX by Iris Traumann]


I have never been part of a project that was this intense before. I mean, The Tarot Serie was certainly intensive, but even I was not privy to just how much of a theatrical production this album would turn out to be. I also know now how much the creation of this album was also in league with its size and scale of achievement. Many artists have slogans, mantras, sometimes clichés, but this is really a solid example of what Sven Phalanx loves to tout in order to assure everyone knows the extent of a sort of purity that runs through his art: "No politics, just music".
This was certainly an aggressive effort. Not only is the amount of artistic collaboration an indication of the time and dedication this work required, but also the considerably varied and harmonized variety of styles and personalities involved as well. There really is an almost overwhelming sense of pride in each track, but more than this is the feeling that was the main animation source of the songs.
The main semblance of this album is an undulating spectrum of negative emotion. There is despair, as with "Alone in the Dark", and the well-constructed piece done with Argentinean Neo-Folk adventurer, Igniis, "El Gato Negro", a musical adaptation and tribute the the immortal Edgar Allan Poe. A great piece of that work is the vocals, which to me sounded like a very calmer-toned version of "Lobo Hombre En Paris" by Rock En Tu Idioma pioneers La Union. But Igniis also pushed the gears in "U-29", a borderline-industrial piece of sort of noisy Dark Ambient that marks a more intense place in the albums development. But before that, the work displays a very melancholic side, with "Niemansland" and my own contribution to this release, a shared work Sven christened ”Symphony of Loneliness". The first of this pair is a warm one, one that might induce mental visions of something like the Elysian fields of ancient Greek lore. The second happens to be an effort on both parts to exorcise a shared bout of anxiety concerned with matters of the heart...
But things take a turn. A big size of the second half of this disc is devoted to the "Krieger" side of things. The biggest offerings here happen to be "Orages d'Acier Act II", a joint effort with Barbarossa Umtrunk that equals the ample production value of the album's second track, "Sturmwarnung", and the epic four-way collaboration between Sven, Baron Von S, Gr Mateo, and everyone's good buddy, Marco Grosso, "IV Schattenkrieger". A twelve minute joining of forces that travels is so many directions, its difficult to tell where it will take you, but it is the best melting together of almost all the other elements that came and went before it... Then the droning, semi-tense stepping aside that is "Flashback" makes the closing transition into an very tender and also mature remix of Sven's "Falling Down"...
This album is certainly something special, but the worth it has to the persons involved might never be fully comprehended by the listener, though everyone certainly hopes it is respected. The were many elements of fate involved in the making of this album, I can surely attest to that.
It is a wonderful notion to all of us that we all had something or other in common before this came together, but the term "full circle" applies to us just as much as the general camaraderie and development of a musical brotherhood does.
This is a physical release limited to 150 hand-numbered copies.

ARTIST STATEMENTS:

SVEN PHALANX:
SCHATTENSPIEL spent overall one year to finish the album SCHATTENKRIEGER. We imposed an obligation to ourselves: When someone listens to the album, the music has to be so mystic and catchy, that you want to hear it again and again. We decided to produce it in that way we ourselves would
like to hear it many times.

Then we had the problem with the lack of time, because we all work or study in our normal lives. The former Project PHALANX FEAT. THE WHITE RABBIT grew up from two to four band members, and so we all decided to re-name the project Schattenspiel in 2010.

The Songs of "Schattenkrieger" are very private, we tried to assimilate our personal experiences, and we do not want to wait on typical clichés concerning our styles of music. We all had blows of fate during the time of working on the album. The music is our way of letting off steam. That's why we built up Schattenspiel. No politics, just music.

While creating the album, we wanted it richly colored, and so we collaborated with other musicians, too.

We want to thank Barbarossa Umtrunk, Igniis, Kazeria, Rex The Ninth, Andrea R. & Nicole W., Fiedler! and our label UFA Muzak.

Carpe Noctem.
SCHATTENSPIEL.

IGNIIS:
I think working with "split" songs is a very exciting option, and in turn quite complex. It is not easy to get the mixture of different musical styles to blend correctly and fluently. That is the challenge. One must have his head open to a wide range of sounds, and put aside the elitism that adheres to music nowadays. It's very comforting having participated all together with other musical projects in these songs.

BARBAROSSA UMTRUNK:
Barbarossa Umtrunk & Schattenspiel have begun to work together with the song "Sturmwarnung", which is a remix of the song "Thule Gesellschaft", originally released on the CD-Split of the same name by Seuchensturm & Barbarossa Umtrunk for the SkullLine label. Baron Von S & Sven Phalanx, the two respective leaders of BU & Schattenspiel have decided to continue working together regularly for some tracks in the future. Many other collaboration tracks have been done, and BU has done his own remixs of Schattenspiel's original songs "Falling Down" [which becomes "Falling Moons"] , Aus der Tiefe ["La Montagne du Califat"] and Aufbruchstimmung ["Le Centre Supreme"], and from his side, Schattenspiel has done his own remix of BU's tracks "Winter's Reign" and "Orages d'Acier" [both renamed "Act II"].
The two bands have always kept working together for several compilations: the song "Tell-Tale Heart" based on Edgar Allan Poe's short novel, has been released on V/A "Tales of the Grotesque & Arabesque" for Q23/Notariqon & "Vive le Quebec Libre!" will appear soon on the new SkullLine Anniversary compilation. One tribute song in memory of Mishima Yukio, the last Samurai called "Sun & Steel" has been done recently, and also the track "IV" which is a 4-way collaboration track created with Ouroboros, Igniis, BU and Schattenspiel.
Currently, Kazeria, Igniis, Barbarossa Umtrunk and Schattenspiel are working together on a conceptual CD based upon the historical figure of Vlad Tepes and BU and Schattenspiel have decides to re-release all their tracks in common on "Tatenokai", a Split-Cd that will be released in a few months on SkullLine.

ESCUADRON DE LA MUERTE - Hic, Inquit, Debes Habitare

ARTIST: Escuadron De La Muerte
TITLE: Hic, Inquit, Debes Habitare
CATALOG #: MNT105
ARTIST LINK: www.myspace.com/escuadronmuerte
ARTIST COUNTRY: Mexico CABRONES!
LABEL: Maquinaria
LABEL LINK: www.myspace.com/maquinarianet
GENRE: Power Electronics/Noise

TRACKLIST:

1_ ...El horror... El horror... (6:52)
2_ 26 de Diciembre de 1914 (7:04)
3_ Días De Destrucción y Gloria (5:52)
4_ El Principio Del Final (6:23)
5_ Atravez De La Ventana De Mi Junker87 (4:38)
6_ Pasaje Mental 1 | La Casa Arafna (5:33)
7_ Genocidio (8:23)

Though technically a demo, there is nothing about this album that suggests a lack of, well, anything. Matter of fact, this has to be one of the most aggressive and sharp demo releases I've ever heard. Though this work has been cleaned up and been released officially by the Order Of Wolves label based in the UK [www.myspace.com/orderofwolves], this first version should definitely NOT be dismissed or ignored.
The main themes that run through this piece primarily allude to the incitement of industrialized warfare, AKA, World War I. The sound itself specializes in harsh high-end distorted frequencies, with a surprisingly focused array of waveforms that give the album movement on account of the different shapes of the tracks. There are gradual build ups of mood and sound, a very strong feature of the opening track, as well as of the second, which has the album’s best example of Zihr Alphil’s talent with low-end, a shaky bass frequency-oriented arpeggio. As the album progresses, a different strength possessed by the track that proceeded it is included in the next, which then gives you another surprise, then placed ahead.
The two most brutal tracks have to be “El Principio Del Final” [The Beginning of the End], and “Genocidio”, while my favorites have to be the opener and “Atravez De La Ventana De Mi Junker87” [Through the Window of my Junker87], which despite not having harsh noise walls like tracks 3, 4, and 7, shows strong compositional skill, and a more prominent use of synth sounds via loops and a distorted piano sequence.
“Pasaje Mental 1 | La Casa Arafna” carries the more subtle and eerie characteristics of the track before, only with some piercing screeches thrown in which prepares you for the upcoming “Genocide”. There are a good number of Nationalistic European music samples in this album, but not to excess, and about the same quantity of samples that are of voice and single-instrument orientation. Most are heavily distorted, sometimes beyond recognition…
All and all, I consider this one of the strongest debuts I’ve been privy to in my two short years in this scene. Anyone else that had noticed potential in this young man’s work knows now that they were right because of how much Zihr has grown and progressed only a couple of releases later.

To close, I would like to thank Mr. Alphil for creating the image that had welcomed you when you got to the site! This collage is representative of what my efforts are with this project: to represent the vanguard of a community that, much like the skeletal and deathly motifs, finds its true place in an underground, in shapeless shapes, infinite in their defiance of material form.

DOWNLOAD LINK: http://www.archive.org/details/mnt105

ARTIST STATEMENT:
"Hic inquit debes habitare" [here is where you'll live] is the name of the demo [and album] where I put my first energies into composing my sounds. It was around the month of September [maybe little before, maybe a little after] that I created my first song "Genocidio", inspired by WWII, having grand tension and violence in it, while I was drinking rum!
This album is in general inspired by some episodes from WWI and WWII. Some of these are based around the fictional creation of history. Of course, it happened, but not as it was told.
It was published by Maquinaria, an Argentinean net label, and afterward was published in physical form by the label Industrial Heritage [a.k.a. s.t.a.u.b., Open Wound, Order of Wolves], the label owned by Trev, member of The Grey Wolves.
The decision of having two different versions, one free and another complete, was made because I know some people don't have money to purchase music, but they want to have something from their favorite bands or artists, or just to listen to it, and later buy it. This is why it is published officially in both places. Of course, if you get the physical version, is good because it shows that you want to have some physical evidence of your beloved music… or sick and destructive music… well, as you wish to consider it. Having the physical album also shows the label that it was a good decision to publish that artist.

Currently, SkullLine will be publishing a split album by
ESCUADRON DE LA MUERTE + SIEGE entitled “Adel”, a split with huge sounds and great, strong force. It cost us, Sergio [Siege, Vintras] and I some blood, sweat, and tears to create it, but it is finished… wait for it…
I have done collaborations and splits with such musical projects as Psychaotic, Eldar, Siege, Argentum, Ordo Larima Christi. I am currently collaborating with Nuevo Ideal Nacional. Many thanks to my people!
I also wish to give thanks to all the people who publish me in their labels… Trev of Industrial Heritage, Peter of L.White records in Germany, Pascal of Zero Tolerance in France, Nicolay from UFA Muzak, Russia, and Team of Maquinaria netlabel in Argentina.
And last but not least to the people that listen to Escuadron De La Muerte and spreads these sacred sounds, and special thanks to Rex for this review, muchas gracias carnal!

The principal basis of this or any of my following albums was, and will always be DEATH as a sacred energy, entity, idea, and the absolute. This inspiration is drawn from murders, crimes, war, natural death… Death as itself is the mysticism of life.
Naturally, it's the reconfirmation of life.
Above it all is Death.
Cheers.
Francisco/ESCUADRON DE LA MUERTE

The Kingdom is Nigh

Welcome! This is a site dedicated primarily to reviewing material from Net Labels, posting worthy news, and helping to support those who have decided to share their art electronically. The name of this site alludes to the nature of these releases, and their lack of physical form. Though my goal is to prioritize the institutions that let the world have free musical art, this site has no prejudice toward actual physical releases. ALL are welcome.
Here, the focus is mainly Noise, Power Electronics, Dark Ambient, NeoClassical, and of course, anything else from the Post-Industrial community that is worth sharing.
There are no scheduled decrees here, all contributions that I choose to remark upon will be posted as I complete them.
As I begin, I would like to thank my good buddies Malakhi and Sage form the soon to be closed Heathen Harvest. Without the extraordinary dedication of these two, the past two years of my life would have been some rotting limbo indeed. They opened the door to the true Industrial underground for me, and helped pave my way to where I am now. You guys rock!
Thank YOU as well for dropping by! For submission inquiries, feel free to email me at industrialpenisnine@gmail.com, visit my music page on myspace at myspace.com/rextheninth,
or on facebook at facebook.com/ratafour
Your faithful servant,
Hossein Raul Chavez