Samhain – Blind Devotion (CD Album – Aliens Production)

Genre/Influences: Industrial, dark-electro, IDM.
Background/Info: Slovakian Samhain trio struck back last year with a noticeable work entitled “One Minute To Twelve”. The album revealed a fascinating exploration of IDM, experimental- and industrial music. “Blind Devotion” is their newest opus, which is inspired by ‘the souls of innocent victims and their executors’.
Content: The sound of this album has evolved in a noticeable way. It’s less IDM-driven and more into a sophisticated industrial format mixed with dark-electronic atmospheres reminding to late Yelworc. It’s still very Klinik-al. Heavy sound blasts and overwhelming atmospheres are the main essence of “Blind Devotion”.
+ + + : It’s not that easy to define this work, but it clearly tastes like an intelligent industrial sound format. The tracks are sophisticated mixing pomposity and refinement. There are a few spooky vocals, which are totally matching with the sound approach. It all together creates a tormented atmosphere, which excels at a few cuts like “Commandments For The Restoration”, “Spahn Ranch” and “Aum Supreme Truth”.
– – – : I’m somewhat missing the more explicit IDM-side from the previous work, but I’ve to say this album remains characterized by impressive sound treatments.
Conclusion: Samhain has released two fascinating albums in two years time. The explicit care for great sound treatments and anguishing sound atmospheres both make this band worthy of examination. This is a project, which clearly deserves a wider recognition.
Best songs: “Commandments For The Restoration”, “Spahn Ranch”, “Aum Supreme Truth”, “The Narcosatanists”, “Ant Hill Kids”.
Rate: (8).
Artist: www.facebook.com/Samhain–music-1072520006194485
Label: www.label.aliens.sk / www.facebook.com/pages/Aliens–production–label/200028820052578
Support Side-Line
More people read Side-Line than ever, and there is still no paywall and no advertising. Readers pay for it instead - from $5 a month.
Why we ask
Advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news organisations we have not put up a paywall, and we refuse to add annoying advertising, so we need to ask for your help. Side-Line’s independent journalism takes time, money and hard work to produce, and we do it to push the artists we like, who are equally fighting to survive.
Handled by PayPal.

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.
