Sombres Forêts - Royaume De Glace (2008)

Sombres Forêts was formed back in 2005 as the solo project of one, Annatar, from Quebec, Canada and quickly he produced a demo in early 2006 and at the end of 2006 the debut album, ‘Quintessence’ was released. Admittedly I did enjoy the debut quite a bit, though I really don't think I could call myself a fan of this project until two years later when, 'Royaume De Glace' was unveiled.

Sombres Forêts (that's 'Dark Forests' in the French language FYI) music is a cunning mixture of raw black metal with depressive funeral doom characteristics that could possibly be compared to bands like Burzum, Nargaroth, Abyssic Hate and Xasthur, though I fully believe Annatar stands firm ground as a unique composer in the black metal underground.

When listening to this guys music the listener is driven downward in a misanthropic assault through slow creepy raw guitar riffs, poignant synths and acoustic guitars as Annatar’s bloodcurdling cold screams guide you on a path through misanthropy and melancholy. As I listen I can hear a soul that’s truly tortured by his own existence and one that longs for salvation from this wretched world and perhaps a cleansing of the human race. His music carries such a chilly hypnotic pace to it and with all the riffs sharing a rather dark character this really makes for some excellent music to listen to during the dark months of winter, which oddly haven't quite shown their faces 'round my neck of the woods just yet, but surely when they do I'll be pulling this album out again.

It's true that this second release from Annatar does fall into the same sort of genre as the debut although this time around the production sounds fairly better, there are more acoustic guitars added and the synths seem even darker and atmospheric. Although impressive on the debut, another improvement is certainly Annatar's vocals as they sound much more painful and emotional, especially on the songs with French lyrics. To find a truly great black metal vocalist these days is always tough since most singers just sound like Nocturno Culto or Legion, but then again there are some unique voices out there and Annatar is definitely one of the finest I've heard in the past couple of years. Its also worth noting that the guitar work all around is vastly improved and even contains some cleaner guitar parts that sound just fantastic.

In the end you opinion may differ as to which Sombres Forêts album is better, but what I can tell you is that this is one band you really need to check out, be it the debut or this excellent and improved sophomore release.

During 2009 and most of out current year Annatar was busy with his side-project, Miserere Luminis, which is a collaborative project with Neptune and Icare of Gris, but I've heard that 2011 should bring a new Sombres Forêts release, which I'll definitely be interested in hearing.

Thy Serpent - Christcrusher (1998)

My first experience with Finland's, Thy Serpent, occurred about ten some years ago when I picked up a black metal compilation released by Metal Blade called, 'Blackend IV.' I remember enjoying their contributing song, 'Circle of Pain', but never checked them out beyond that song, however about six years ago that changed when I found, ‘Christcrusher’ brand new for a single $1 at a local record stores big, big Sunday sale dealy.

Anyway, all personally accounts aside, Thy Serpent was formed in Espoo, Finland in 1992 as Sami Tenetz solo project and remained a solo band through the first two demo tapes, but became a full band in '96 when their debut, 'Forest of Witchery' was released. 'Lords of Twilight' followed a year later and in '98 their third and last album, 'Christcrusher' was unleashed.

If your unfamiliar with TS's sound, they play mid-paced melodic black metal (or perhaps dark metal would be more suitable) with mostly slower guitar & drum work (only two songs with blastbeat drumming & frantic dissonant riffing here), plus some usage of backing synth, acoustic guitars, crafty solos and clear male singing. The music also has a sort of darker quality to it that somewhat brings to mind bands more rooted in gothic or doom metal. However, what really shines through on the album though is Sami’s guitar work, which is nothing short of being superb. His melodic riffs can be found all over this album and each song has some catchy hook to it that makes each one memorable. This can be best heard on songs like, ‘Chambers of the Starwatcher,’ ‘Circle of Pain,’ and ‘Calm Blinking.’

So, considering I paid a whole $1 for this album I can’t complain one bit, and I would think anyone that’s into the more melodic and less chaotic side of black metal should definitely check this album out as well. Obtaining this album also provoked me to pick up the previous two Thy Serpent efforts as well, and while I do enjoy them I still think this album is their true legacy.

The last sign of life for Thy Serpent came ten years ago when they released an EP titled, 'Death,' but all things have been silent since then, which would probably imply that the band is finished, but who knows. I'd imagine Sami has most likely been busy running Spikefarm Records, but he did re-appear last year as a musician again when he joined Beherit for their marvelous comeback record, 'Engram,' so, hopefully Thy Serpent's return is imminent too...

Dead Silent Slumber - Entombed in the Midnight Hour (1999)

Dead Silent Slumber was a short lived side-project of Jens Rydén who back then was well known as the sadistic screamer who fronted Swedish blackened melodic death metal legends, Naglfar. In September of '99 some friends and Jens released a much overlooked gem titled, 'Entombed in the Midnight Hour' through now defunct record label Hammerheart Records.

Although Dead Silent Slumber has typically been labeled as a symphonic black metal band I've always found that label to be considerably off since the music is overly melodic in character with plenty of colorful riffs and impressive solos, the vocals are hardly in a black metal style, the lyrics have absolutely nothing to do with satanism or destruction of Christianity and the synthesizers have a sound that's more reminiscent of classic horror movies then the actual symphonic sound that bands like Emperor and Dimmu Borgir were striving for back in the day. Honestly I've always felt calling DSS something like horror metal would be more appropriate and I think you'll understand once you hear the music and read the lyrics.

The album kicks off with the hard driving and catchy, 'In the Glare of the Moon,' which is a fantastic mid-paced metal song with some fine guitar work throughout and towards the end features cleanly sung power metal-ish vocals from a guy named Jensa Carlsson alongside Jens screamed voice, which is just killer sounding, to say the least. The title track is actually an acoustic piece with both slow acoustic guitars, highly atmospheric synths, a stunning electric guitar solo, whispery lead vocals from Jens with guest female singer Ann Åkerman and cello player Maria Hamrin added to create quite an impressive piece of music. I've also always been a big fan of the song, 'Blood Collapse' since the solo at the end is quite good though it tends to remind me of a solo from an old Ceremonial Oath song, while the synths in, 'Raising the Suicide Chalice' sound like they were influenced from the old 60's sitcom, 'The Munsters,' and finally the solo at the end of, 'Lick the Wound' is just fantastic too.

Collectively the album consists of seven atmospheric melodic mid-paced songs, which totals in for just thirty nine minutes, but it's an album I've constantly come back too and at least in the ten years that I've owned it I've never grown bored with it.

Nowadays Jens is still involved with music as he's the front man for Swedish epic/viking metal band Thyrfing as well he also did another solo project four years ago called Profundi, which I've heard sounds similar to DSS, but I haven't gotten my hands on it, for whatever reason...

Lazarus A.D. - The Onslaught (2009)

Formed in Kenosha, Wisconsin, USA back in 2005, Lazarus A.D. originally formed under the name of Lazarus, but added the A.D. suffix to differentiate themselves from the four or five other bands using the Lazarus moniker.

As far as I can remember I first became aware of these guys sometime back in 2007 when they opened for Anthrax on their, 'Spreading the Disease 20th Anniversary Tour' here in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Although probably really drunk on that evening, I remember being impressed with these guys, met them after they got off stage and also got my hands on their 2006 demo. Shortly thereafter the band released, 'The Onslaught' independently in a limited quantity of just a 1000 copies. Nearly two years later the band hooked up with Metal Blade Records who re-mastered/mixed the album with James Murphy (Obituary, Death, etc. guitarist, producer duder) and re-released this up till then hidden gem.

In case you don't know, Lazarus A.D. plays fast, technical and aggressive thrash metal, though unlike a lot of the bands within the thrash revival, Lazarus A.D. isn't a complete retro band. This holds truth simply because their song writing is way above average, the solos are just jaw droppingly amazing, the drums kill, the bass is thick and heavy, the vocals are angry and intense and finally with plenty of catchiness, hooks, energy, breakdowns and groove to keep me coming back for more and more, and honestly I never tire of this record one bit.

Honestly I'm quite sure once you hear songs like, 'Last Breath, 'Thou Shalt Not Fear', 'Who I Really Am' or 'Forged in Blood' you'll be hooked, but honestly not one single song on this album is bad at all or forgettable, it's in fact a nearly perfect modern thrash record. I never heard the original version of this album, but I'm going to assume it wasn't in the best shape and it's pretty obvious after listening to this album that James Murphy did a fine job making this album sound thunderous.

In the end I really believe Lazarus to be one of the most dynamic and talented bands within the thrash revival and if they continue on like this they could very easily become a thrash band of legend. For now the guys are working on their much desired sophomore release and then they'll be hitting the road early in 2011, and let me tell you these guys are something to see onstage. Don't miss them!

Necare - Ruin (2004)

Necare (Neh-Ka-Reh) is the collective work of both Ryan Henry (guitar, bass, keyboards, vocals) and Jonathan Greer Cawthon (drums, guitar, keyboards). Necare was founded back in 1999 in Lynchburg Virginia and together these two gentlemen play a style of doom/death metal very similar to early My Dying Bride and Anathema. So, if your familiar with those acts you know to anticipate slow mournful riffs, both low growls and cleanly spoken words, as well as some occasional acoustic guitars and some orchestral passages. Lyrically the band is all about death, sorrow, emptiness, and well you know what to expect in these types of bands, don’t you? Heck, they even have a naked chick on the cover, which brings to mind My Dying Bride’s debut album.

Regardless of the blatant similarities Necare is one dynamic act especially bearing in mind only two people are involved in the writing process. Although I first picked this album up six years ago when it was released I have to admit I haven't given it nearly as much attention as it truly deserves. The band’s got a very dark eerie atmosphere going for them via the keyboards, the slow crushing riffs and occasional orchestral elements are full of melancholy and the vocals deliver the anger rather pleasingly. To be forthright with you just about every song is exceptional especially the piano solo in the middle of, ‘Desire,' which is full of atmosphere and sorrowfulness, which immediately makes it a favorite of mine. While the thirteen minute doom metal masterpiece, ‘Celia’ is probably my overall favorite. Celia is a rather poky song with lots of beautiful ambient parts and slow doom metal mixed together superbly.

Taken as a whole this duo certainly hasn’t broken the walls of the genre down with waves of originality by any means, then again they’ve taken all the best characteristics of doom metal and put together one very agreeable album.

Unfortunately, Necare released this one and only album and called it quits and it seems neither member has gone onto other projects/bands either. A shame, these guys had serious potential. If you enjoy bands like My Dying Bride, Anathema, Swallow the Sun, etc., there’s probably a good chance you’ll enjoy, ‘Ruin.’

Bloodbath - Breeding Death (2000)

Bloodbath was originally initiated back in 1999 by four Swedish friends who fancied to pay tribute to the pre-melodic version (i.e. Grave, Entombed, Dismember) of Swedish Death Metal in which they all grew up with. Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth), Anders Nystrom (Katatonia), Jonas Renkse (Katatonia) and Dan Swanö (Edge of Sanity) are the four friends in question and although this band was originally intended to be a one off project it eventually became a much more serious thing when it caught on.

However before it did catch on the band simply recorded this three track thirteen minute EP called, 'Breeding Death,' which is a fast, furious and raging romp that recalls Sweden's mighty death metal scene between the years of '88-'93. We're not talking incredible amounts of innovation here, it's a tribute band, it's for the old school fans, but regardless of all these facts it is quite good. Mikael's low guttural vocals fit perfectly with this style of music, while Anders crunchy down tuned guitars sound totally vintage, Jonas' bass is decent, but not nearly vibrant enough and as expected Dan does a fine job pounding the drums.

As I'm sure you know, eventually the demand for more was too overwhelming from fans (probably a little bit of a cash in for the members too) and nowadays despite the addition and loss of members Bloodbath is a serious band with three full-length albums, two EPs and a live CD/DVD. They even occasionally perform live and having witnessed them this summer in England I can honestly say they are not a band to be missed.

The Breeding Death EP has been re-released no less than three times on various labels and different formats and certain pressings of their debut album, 'Resurrection Through Carnage' have these three songs as bonus tracks... but I'm hip and have the original Century Media pressing.

Darkthrone - A Blaze in the Northern Sky (1992)

Amidst the bitter wintriness that was Norway back in 1991, Darkthrone, after releasing a few demos and one album in the technical death metal style the past couple years, decided to take a new approach to their music. Slathered in black and white make up and inverted crosses; Fenriz, Zephyrous and Nocturno Culto left death metal behind, and thus the Norwegian black metal scene was set in motion.

Incorporating the sounds of Celtic Frost & Bathory, the poetry of Venom (although highly refined and more intelligent than our drunken Englanders), plus with their own vicious melodicism, ‘A Blaze in the Northern Sky’ was their creation. An obvious entry eventually on this blog, Darkthrone’s sophomore album is the quintessence of what black metal is and was meant to be.

Within this darkened opus of supreme black metal majesty Nocturno Culto’s malevolent voice shrieks wildly throughout the night, while wicked, perverse, rocking, buzzsaw guitar melodies allure the listeners ears, plus mid-paced to fast drumming and a rehearsal like production that’s often refereed to as being raw or necro sounding; A Blaze in the Northern Sky is all this and so much more. At times sounding ridiculously slow, evil and atmospheric, while at other times fast paced, rocking and with more than a few headbanging moments the album even occasionally takes a desperate dirge to depraved depressive areas.

Arguably the best black metal album ever, but then again Darkthrone inspired several others like Satyricon, Burzum and Immortal who made equally impressive albums the following year. A Blaze in the Northern Sky is indeed one of the essential albums of black metal, but nonetheless for many the following two albums from Darkthrone were even godlier and largely more truly blackened in sound.

Nevertheless, A Blaze in the Northern Sky has always been my favorite Darkthrone album as well as basically one of my all-time favorites albums in general. Truly the cornerstone of black metal and although it may appear rather harsh to those new to the genre, there isn’t any other album that could be a better starting point then this one.

Moonsorrow - Viides Luku - Hävitetty (2007)

Moonsorrow's 2007 offering, ‘Viides Luku - Hävitetty’ is but only two tracks long and curiously fifty six minutes total, yet this last full-length release from these Finnish folk metalers carries on in a very similar vein as the previous album, ‘Verisäkeet’ back in 2005.

A lot of the same ideas that were expressed on that album and even the albums before it are all present here again however it’s all crunched together as two long songs. Naturally these songs could have been split up into several shorter songs since there are several slow and faster sections, sometimes at the beginning, sometimes in the middle, sometimes at the end. There’s a bit of everything in this recording too; brutal black/Viking metal moments, softer progressive melodic rock like moments, even brutal death metal like characteristics and of course some ambient and folky moments, which when formed together make up a rather decent recording. Of course it should be known that this diversity is mostly only present in the first song, ‘Jäästä Syntynyt / Varjojen Virta,’ while, ‘Tuleen Ajettu Maa’ seems to, at least after the folky opening and mostly typical Moonsorrow heaviness, concentrates more so on just being brutal.

What I really enjoy about the album is that it has a sense of voyage and wonder to it, like going on a journey through some fantasy world and at the end it feels like this journey is complete and I'm a new man, a changed man, maybe. It could also be said that this is truly the, 'Crimson' of viking/folk/black metal albums, but of course Edge of Sanity's ol' masterpiece was a single forty minute piece, so perhaps Moonsorrow will take their next albums song lengths to even longer times.

Jäästä Syntynyt / Varjojen Virta is definitely the highlight of the album and indeed one of the most epic and progressive pieces Moonsorrow has composed to date, while Tuleen Ajettu Maa is great but not nearly as pleasing as its big brother. Still, the first song is thirty freakin’ minutes long and it definitely warrants a purchase if you’ve enjoyed Moonsorrow release in the past.

Tenhi - Maaäet (2006)

Tenhi is a three person collective from Finland that makes absolutely breathtaking folk, classical and piano based music that I've been enjoying immensely for the past five years. Compared to a lot of the bands in the current neo folk scene, Tenhi has a sound that’s very complex sounding with intricate guitar work plus the addition of drums/percussions, bass, grand piano, harmonium, synth, violin, flute and vocals. Most of the songs are very tranquil, relaxing, melancholy and mysterious sounding and truly teleports the listeners mind to places they may or may not have been before. All songs titles and lyrics are wrote in the beautiful Finnish language and despite my lack of understanding these words I still feel that they speak to my inner soul and tell me of wonderful places and times.

After what was a four year span between this and their previous album, 'Väre' Tenhi made a triumphant return with, 'Maaäet' in 2006. Again, its a richly beautiful experience, spanning twelve songs at just a few seconds over an hour in length, and quite honestly its their finest creation to date.

This time around though things are much darker, melancholic and calmer sounding, while retaining some of the more up tempo moments from previous recordings. Most of the time the music primarily consists of just acoustic guitars, violins or piano, light drumming, and softly sung vocals, but there are moments where the music will take a sudden twist and becomes louder and slightly faster.

I’m always really impressed by just how gorgeous, distinctive, and stylish sounding Tenhi’s music is, and this album is certainly no different. These guys are definitely at the top of their class, and it seems with each recording they keep getting better. I don’t think it will take any more than one listen to this album or any Tenhi recording for that matter to realize this. One thing I did notice though is that this particular album sounds a bit better with headphones on. It seems to fully capture the atmosphere and you get the rich gripping feelings the band intended you to feel. It also creates the effect of vocalist Tyko Saarikko speaking directly to you as the songs progress onwards.

The album also comes housed in a digipak with a half sized booklet, which has various stunning paintings by Tyko himself as well as both the Finnish lyrics and their English translations for those that might be curious to know what the songs are about, though personally I've never read the translations before.

Maaäet surely comes off as one engaging and mighty fine album, which I've enjoyed tremendously over the past four years. Tenhi doesn't release music very often, but when they do you just know it's going to be something special. Last year the band lost long time member Ilkka Salaminen and they now continue on as a two piece, which makes me ever more curious to hear the long awaited new recording, 'Saivo,' which is still in production. If you've never heard Tenhi I highly suggest Maaäet, Väre or their debut, Kauan.

Old Man's Child - Born of the Flickering (1995)

Life for Old Man's Child began in the early 90's under the name Requiem, but when the members of Requiem took notice of their mutual love of all things grim and black happening in Norway at the time they took on typical black metal pseudonyms for each other and eventually changed the bands name to Old Man's Child.

The bands first offering was the demo, 'In the Shades of Life,' which appeared in '94 and was later re-released as a split release with Dimmu Borgir in the late 90's. A year later their debut album, 'Born of the Flickering' was released through Shagrath's (Singer of Dimmu Borgir) own Hot Records, but attained true attention a year later when Century Media re-released it with an awful alternative cover and largely made their existence more well known to those that cared to pay attention to black metal at the time.

Although most people lump this early release into the keyboard driven symphonic black metal field the album in fact tends to push the sparingly used keyboards into the background with more melodic guitar parts and occasional backing acoustic sections at the forefront. Of course there are plenty of raging fast dissonant parts to this release that show their influence from their Norwegian black metal forefathers, but largely the album is melodic in character and moves at mid-pace. Some female choirs also make their appearance on this release, which admittedly were a fairly new thing at the time within this sort of music, but as bands like Cradle of Filth rose to stardom more or more bands copied the idea and ultimately ruined its novelty too.

While Born of the Flickering surely isn't an awful album (like everything else they've released) its main strength lies only in the fact that there are some cool riffs, killer solos (see track 9) and the looming darkness the album seems to give off at times. Unfortunately, it's biggest problem is quite simply the fact that no single song stands out and genuinely blows me away. I've owned this album for a number of years, listened to it tons of times and even at this moment find that I like just parts of the songs, but no single song. I've also always been perplexed by the fact that the rhythm guitars were played by a couple of candles and the drums were handled by a vaporous green cloud, which probably doesn't make much sense, but if you see the photo within the booklet you'll understand.

Within the past ten years or so Old Man's Child has become one of the most recognized and oddly respected names within the black metal scene despite the fact that they haven't composed anything even slightly black metal sounding since, 'Born of the Flickering.' Nowadays their music is some sort of slightly melodic metal with slightly black metal sounding vocals that's, oh whatever, I'm sure you've heard it and know.

Of course a lot of that recognition is probably due in part to OMC's mastermind Galder playing in Dimmu Borgir, Century Media's popularity as a label and just simply the fact that most people (even metalheads) have some pretty horrendous taste in music. At least they made one decent record...

Ophthalamia - A Journey in Darkness (1994)

My first and only experience with Sweden's Ophthalamia was about ten years or more ago when I picked up the, 'Nordic Metal' compilation and heard the band's cover of Mayhem's, 'Deathcrush.' I remember saying to myself back then that if I ever came across any of their releases I'd pick them up in a heartbeat. But I never did come across any. It wasn't until May of this year that I stumbled upon the bands debut, 'A Journey in Darkness' and got to hear first hand that I've been missing some interesting music.

In case you don't know Ophthalamia (no idea how to pronounce it either) is a fantasy world created by Tony Särkkä (AKA 'IT' the mastermind behind the band Abruptum) and all of the songs lyrics are about this realm of his, which is a nice break from all of the Tolkien stuff, though back in the day the Tolkien thing wasn't insanely popular just yet, anyway.

A Journey in Darkness featured the line-up of IT on guitars, Winter (AKA Benny Larsson of Edge of Sanity and Pan.Thy.Monium) handling the drums, Mourning (AKA Robert Ivarsson of Pan.Thy.Monium) playing bass and Shadow (AKA Jon Nödtveidt of Dissection) performing the vocals.

Although Ophthalamia has commonly been associated with the black metal genre due to it's participants the bands sound is in fact quite a bit distant from the traditional Scandinavian black metal sound of the early 90's. Musically A Journey in Darkness is a slow gloomy ride through IT's fantasy world that has tons of heavy doom riffs, which sound reminiscent of early Black Sabbath (at times). Throughout the entire album the music remains slow or mid-paced and never reaches the point of having raging blast beats or hastily picked tremelo riffs either. The album has an interesting vibe to it, which I could describe as being dark, mysterious, majestic and even slightly melancholic in places during the albums forty seven minute duration. In the end the band's only connection to black metal would be Shadow's vocals, which are excellent as expected as he displays a great deal of range from his usual rasped/growled style to using some whispered voices and even some cleanly sung parts. There's also the presence of some very brief female singing, though the booklet doesn't indicate whom she is.

I find it hard to pick favorites from this album due to its unorthodox nature and varied riffs and tempos, but the first two songs definitely stand out due to their epic and melodic nature and I also just love the ending of, 'Little Child of Light / Degradation of Holyness' since it's a total grooved out doomy head banging moment for sure.

In the end A Journey in Darkness is quite a pleasing release, though I've found that it takes time for it to grow on you, but once it does you'll find that it's truly worth your time. The original AvantGarde Music version is most likely out of print and going for some large bucks on eBay, but thankfully Peaceville Records recently released it, which should make it easier to hunt down.

Melancholic Epiphony (The Trance Formation is shattered)

The 2010 edition of the annual Hypnotic Dirge Records compilation series is being released to commemorate two years of activity as a record label. Once again we are offering this album as a free download to showcase a unique and diverse group of black metal artists from a variety of different sub-genres. This year's edition has been named "Melancholic Epiphony (The Trance Formation is Shattered) Within the album, you will find a total of 11 tracks - 8 of which are from Hypnotic Dirge Records roster artists, offering a glimpse into past HDR releases, as well as a look towards some future HDR material. Asides from that, we are also featuring three diverse and respected guest artists on this compilation album - Funeral in Heaven, Njiqahdda, and Autaric. Also as a bonus on this year's compilation, we are also including some music videos as well, including the premiere of netra's first-ever music video for the track 'La Page' , the premiere of Old Forgotten Lands' 'Hour of the Wolf' video, and an exclusive video premiere from the mighty Njiqahdda....

READ MORE ABOUT IT AND DOWNLOAD HERE

Holoscene/Tunturia - Split EP (2010)

Holoscene and Tunturia are two young bands hailing from Toronto, both carrying the flags of the instrumental prog/post-rock camp. This is the first thing either have released since 2007, when Holoscene released their EP "Nothing is the End of Everything" and Tunturia released their full-length "Maps".

Holoscene's contribution "Now She is Lost" opens the split. Following the tried and true post-rock credo of long buildups to epic crescendos, Holoscene slowly creep through a few minutes of arpeggios and reverberated tones with slow, rhythmic drumming before the drums kick frantically up and the whole mess becomes a headbanging blast of fast-paced rock. This track serves as a great reminder of the sonic power Holoscene are capable of summoning amidst their ambient soundscapes.

Tunturia's side, "Of the Valley That Was Paradise They Made into a Desert and Called it Peace", other than filling the niche of having a title almost as long as the track itself, is very similar to Holoscene's in that it features a slow build up to its peak; this track however, is, strangely, calmer in its heaviness. The drumming feels less frantic and the guitars are more calculated. For anyone familiar with their album "Maps", it is a slight detour from the more "spacey" sounds of, say, 'Panic Attack'; there is even a slight Agalloch tinge to the intro, though it is only slight.

Sure, the whole split totals only eight and a half minutes, but it's a great beginning dish to the get you into the two bands' previous, and forthcoming, albums. Plus, it's free, so you can't really go wrong there.

Link to Download

Shinjuku Thief - The Scribbler (1992)

Released eighteen years ago already, Shinjuku Thief’s ‘The Scribbler’ is an integral album in the dark classical/ambient/industrial genre that seems to be overlooked by a lot of music goers. Shinjuku Thief if you’re not familiar with them, and I’m assuming you may be, is a project put together by Melbourne, Australia based composer Darrin Verhagen. The band began as a three piece, but by their third album, 'The Witch Hammer' was released Darrin was on his own and it has been that way every since.

The thing I like about this artist is that this music has a very cinematic feeling to it, which shouldn’t come as much of a surprise since the bands name was taken from a Japanese film called, ‘Shinjuku Dorobo Nikki (Diary of a Shinjuku Thief).’ The songs within this album are mostly very dark and menacing, while some are calmer, but most are much more bombastic and stirring. The Scribbler could be described as dark classical with occasional noise & industrial sounds, ambient passages, piano crescendos and spoken samples in German. The album itself is truly supposed to be a musical performance of fiction writer Franz Kafka’s, ‘The Trial.’ So I could imagine this album would work well when reading this story.

Originally released in a limited run of just 500 copies on Darrin Verhagen’s own Dorobo Records, it saw a much needed re-issue on Cold Spring Records three years ago. This reissue contains an eleven minute video clip, which can be watched on your computer. The video shows pictures of Franz Kafka, as well as many abstract images and perhaps images from some of the film adaptations of The Trial. In any case its interesting to watch and listen too.

It’s good to see this gem of dark classical/industrial/ambient music available once again for those that have longed to own a physical copy of the album though regreatably this is the only Shinjuku Thief album I've gotten my hands on in the five years that I've known about the project.

Uruk-Hai / Funeral Fornication - Split (2010)

Since 1999, Hugin the mastermind behind Austrian battle ambient band Uruk-Hai has released an astonishing twenty five demos, thirty one split releases, fifteen full-length albums as well as several singles and best of compilations placing him as pretty much the most prolific music maker out there. You'd need some serious loot to own all of these recordings.

Personally my first experience with Uruk-Hai was about four years ago when I came across his, 'The Battle' full-length at a second hand store, and a few years ago his split with Symbiosis appeared in my mailbox for review, but besides that I haven't heard any other releases.

This being his most recent release I can see that musically and conceptually (Tolkien/high fantasy stuff) not much has changed within Hugin's style, although the synths on this release surely do sound better than that album from five years ago. The music as I briefly mentioned is basically bombastic ambient/neo classical music with Hugin's screams and samples from the Lord of the Rings movies with the closest comparison being Polish project Blakagir. Of course not all of Hugin's material has been in this style as some records are more strictly neo classical in character while as I understand it the earliest material was cheap Casio/midi Burzum style ambient. In the end this is definitely the best of the three recordings I've heard from Uruk-Hai, but I suppose if you've followed the band in recent years then don't expect anything different here.

After the fourth song we move onto Funeral Fornication, which is the solo project of Vultyrous from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Although initiated as a thrash/black metal project back in 2003 with two albums under his belt, by 2008 Vultyrous took his music within the realm of depressive black metal and thus far released one album titled, 'Solitude and Suicide' with 'Pandemic Transgression' coming out in 2011 through Hypnotic Dirge Records.

I have no experience with any of Vultyrous' previous four albums, but one thing is for sure and that is quite simply that this is first rate depressive black metal music. What makes this work is simply the fact that it's depressive in character. The legions of other bands in this genre completely forget that depressing music needs atmosphere, it needs to be dark sounding, it needs to sound fucking depressing! As well personally I think this sort of music needs more than just a buzzing pulse for the guitar, but almost all bands within this genre opted for noise rather than riffs. Fortunately Vultyrous knows what he's doing as these four songs have synths that are drenched with a desperate misery of utter despair while the guitar work features various dark haunting riffs that only enhance the mood further plus the harsh screams sound like a soul truly in pain.

All four songs from FF are quite exceptional, though the unexpected sounding, 'Chamber Below the Abyss' stands out as a favorite since with the slow bass guitar work, light percussion, spoken voices and ghostly cemetery synths make it not really a metal song, but just simply an overwhelming atmospheric masterpiece.

In the end I'm quite satisfied with Funeral Fornication's songs on this split and greatly look forward to his next album, while Uruk-Hai is Uruk-Hai on this album. It's an interesting split, but perhaps its because of the highly different sounds that the whole thing works out.

Our Diabolical Embrace - Immortal Night Laments (2010)

Our Diabolical Embrace is the latest project from Nick Skog who also performs in Ancient Tundra and runs Hypnotic Dirge Records.

Completely different from his glacial ambient work with Ancient Tundra, Our Diabolical Embrace's sound is more situated in the symphonic/Gothic black metal genre though I find it hard to make any obvious comparisons. It's no real surprise with this genre, but the main focus is the synthesizers while the guitars are mostly just a pulse in the background with a drum machine rumbling alongside it. The synths however are performed quite well and they paint a musical portrait of various atmospheric qualities that keep my attention and allow me to return to this EP with just as much interest as I had upon my initial listening.

'Tragedy 'neath Nightfall's Grace' stands out as the EP's strongest point and perhaps it could be because it's made in collaboration with Mort from Exiled From Light who handles the guitar and vocals on this song. This one has a really strong driving edge to it, which is quite gripping too. It's also the only song that makes better use of the guitar as some interesting work is present, plus the production is slightly better on this song compared to the other four songs. After two more songs in a similar vein (track 3 being the best) the EP concludes with a short ambient piece and then moves to the bonus track, 'Untitled B,' which is from a defunct project of Nick's called, 'A Dark Fantasy.' This particular song is actually my second favorite song on the EP as its an orchestral ambient/neo classical piece with just the drum programming and although it's a bit hard to describe it has it's own unique flavor to it.

As a whole the listener is treated to some fine music here, although I'd make better use of the guitar on all tracks as well a more fitting production would benefit the project in the future. At 31 minutes this limited 40 copy EP could go fast once word spreads among the symphonic/Gothic black metal hordes.