Ghosts Of Breslau – Niflheim (Album – Irrwelt)
Genre/Influences: Cinematographic, dark-ambient.
Format: Digital, CD.
Background/Info: Ghosts Of Breslau is a Polish project, which is already active for a while, releasing new stuff from time to time. Breslau is the German name for the Polish city Wroclaw. This album, which was originally self-released in 2017, is inspired by a Scandinavian myth. It stands for the ‘misty, foggy realm of the dead, ruled by Hel, the goddess of death and the underworld’, but ‘Niflheim’ can also be used to describe a hellish place. Irrwelt has re-released the album on CD format.
Content: This album is a truly sonic labyrinth featuring endless corridors and corners. The tracks have been progressively built up. You get the impression less is happening and yet the atmosphere is constantly present to warn you of imminent danger. The last track is a bonus one, which didn’t appear on the digital format from 2017. The track is somewhat different for the addition of mysterious chants reinforcing the spooky sphere hanging over “Niflheim”.
+ + + : Ghosts Of Breslau has created an intimate, but anguished atmosphere. It’s somewhere in between cinematographic and pure dark-ambient music. Even if the compositions have something obscure, it also has something relaxing, creating a dreamy darkness. I like the opening cut “Brume” for its slow progression, but the already mentioned, last cut “The Crows, The Dead & The Fog” has something extra because of the incoming chants. I also want to say a word about the sober, but cool artwork of this digipak.
– – – : This album only features 35 minutes of music, but the main point is that some passages are a little less monotone.
Conclusion: I can’t say I was totally convinced by this work. I got the feeling there’s more potential hiding in this project than what came out on this album.
Best songs: “The Crows, The Dead & The Fog”, “Brume”, “Mistpouffer”.
Rate: (6½).
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