Nostalgia - Abattoir: For the People, By The People (2012)

When I allow my mind to wander a bit and reminisce on the earlier and first phase ('01-'08) of Lunar Hypnosis I sometimes think about the many bands that offered their musical creations to me. Maybe it will come as a surprise but putting your mailing address out there and getting free music isn't exactly as exciting as you'd might expect and as a result not many of those bands have stuck with me and remained in my musical collection.

Nostalgia, the solo project of Mark Hunter, from California, is one such artist that contacted me back in the summer of '06 and offered his latest recording, 'The Aesthetics of Death,' which was just a start with many more great recordings to follow. 2006 also brought on the split with Cerberus called 'Axis I,' while near the end of the year the 'Infestation' EP was released and largely marked the end of the project. I'm not sure of all the reasons, I think some were largely just personal, but also because he became more involved with the black metal bands Dona Eis Requiem, Chaos Moon, Xasthur, Temple of Ascension and Spiculum Iratus and just simply didn't have time for Nostalgia. The reason I bring this up is because Nostalgia is one of those few bands that has stuck around on my CD shelf through the years and is often pulled out and played still to this day.

Jumping ahead six years Nostalgia is finally back through one final EP titled, 'Abattoir: For the People, By The People,' which is a six song compilation of unreleased material. The earlier recordings from Nostalgia were dark requiems alternating between the more typical dense droning ambient style, to a much more melodic style that’s full of life and emotion, with orchestral undertones, spooky voices and samples, whereas 'Axis I' marked a shift towards more experimental territory.

'Two Eyes Void' opens this compilation with droning ambiance, pulsating industrial vibes, various samples and other dark oddities before moving directly into 'Third Eye Gaping,' which isn't too different initially, but soon enough acts like a total descent into abysmal territories of absolute horror. The remaining four songs carry on in a similarly scary style with pulsing rhythms and occasional gradual buildups to nearly epic heights and even nods towards a more power electronics vibe, though with actual substance and changes throughout the songs that constantly make them interesting. The songs feature an assortment of great samples and while I don't know their exact origin I can easily say that they work perfectly amongst these diabolical macabre creations.

'Abattoir: For the People, By The People' isn't available in physical format, which is shame since its definitely strong enough, but since it merely acts as a way to close out the legacy of Nostalgia its only available as mp3's through the Voidecay Blog. As far as I know Mark is currently working on a new release under a new name as well as continuing his work with Spiculum Iratus. Having been a fan since the beginning I definitely look forward to seeing what sort of hellish journey he has in store for us next.