Genre/Influences: Dark-Ambient, Cinematic.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: After having released different productions on Rage In Eden, Italian Davide Del Col aka Antikatechon released his second production -and first solo-album, on Heerwegen Tod Production. “Sublime Ascensionb” is the eighth album by Antikatechon and features two long during tracks.

Content: Both tracks going over 26 minutes invite the listener to the disturbing, obscure, sound universe of Del Col. Imaginary sound corridors built up with humming sound waves and ghost-like whispers are leading the listener throughout an overwhelming darkness. The second cut moves in a similar way although also reveals unexpected, dark, relaxing passages while you’ll notice guitar effects as well.

+ + + : The title track confirms the potential of the artist. It’s a perfect mix between Dak-Ambient and Cinematic music which has been meticulously and patiently built up ending into an obscure and perverted sound universe. This is a track with a visual strength.

– – – : There’s a contrast between the great title track and “The Sacred Vortex” which in a way rather sounds as a B-side cut.

Conclusion: Antikatechon remains driven by ghost-like atmospheres and horror-like visions which will please fans of Dark-Ambient and especially Cinematic music.

Best songs: “Sublime Ascension”.

Rate: 7½.

Artist: www.facebook.com/Antikatechon

Label: www.heerwegentod.cba.pl 

Inferno Sound Diaries

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.

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Dark-Ambient, Cinematographic.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: This album is a collaboration between French artist Philippe Blache (Day Before Us) and Italian artist Davide Del Col (Antikatechon). They both were label mates on Rage In Eden Records and now joined hands together with Heerwegen Tod to unleash this opus featuring nine tracks.

Content: This album is made of dark reverie, a kind of imaginary sound universe composed with numerous instruments and noise sources. From dark electronic sound waves to field recordings and guitar effects played by guest musician Giuseppe Verticchio (Nimh), the work takes us away on a mysterious voyage. Organ sounds are reinforcing the mystery hanging over the work while delicate piano arrangements inject a somewhat classical and subtle touch. French spoken vocals have been added to a few tracks.

+ + + : “Complaintes Au Bord D’Un Autre Monde” is a dark title reflecting sadness and despair. These feelings have been perfectly reproduced by the dark reverie of the composition. Songs sometimes feel like a dark caress, created by a delicate touch of piano play and guitar. Some passages are however heavier, this way creating confusion. The album also has a strong visual appeal, which reaches its peak at “Sur Des Rivages Taciturnes”.

– – – : The song structure reveals a slow progression and even if there are a few heavier passages, I’m missing a true dark apotheosis, which wasn’t maybe the goal of both protagonists.

Conclusion: Day Before Us & Antikatechon accomplished a dark sonic voyage, which sounds like reflecting desperate souls.

Best songs: “Sur Des Rivages Taciturnes”, “Du Fond De Notre Silence”, “Pâleur D’Automne”.

Rate: (7½).

Artists: www.facebook.com/Daybeforeus / www.facebook.com/Antikatechon

Label: www.heerwegentod.cba.pl 

Inferno Sound Diaries

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.

www.side-line.com

Giuseppe Verticchio is an Italian artist, which is mainly active under the Nimh moniker since 2001. He released numerous works and collaborative productions on different recognized labels. His work is mainly dealing with darker music influences such as ambient, industrial, ritual and related genres. Quite recently Winter-Light Records has re-released the CD-album “Beyond This Crying Era”, which was originally released in 2012 on vinyl format by Synästhesie Schallplatten. “Beyond The Crying Era” features the six original tracks from “This Crying Era” (original title of the album) plus four extra songs.  The work is a fascinating sonic voyage throughout dark sonic realms, which incited me to get in touch with the protagonist of this great work.  

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Giuseppe, you’re now involved with music for numerous years and have released an impressive number of productions while experimented with multiple music genres. What have been the main facts and releases from this prolific career and where does this eclecticism comes from?

Giuseppe: For me it’s quite difficult to identify specific ‘main’ events and/or releases in my career, because in some peculiar way each of them is a sort of ‘building block’ in my ever-growing ‘wall’ of musical activities/productions.

Anyway, thinking about it a little more deeply, I can mention something… My first two ‘real’ glass mastered CDs released by Amplexus in 2004 (“The Impossible Days” and “Whispers From The Ashes” with Nefelheim); the extremely gratifying collaborations with Maurizio Bianchi/M.B. in 2005 (“Together’s Symphony”, a 4 CDs box set) and with Pierpaolo Zoppo/Mauthausen Orchestra in 2009 (“From Unhealthy Places”); the first meeting with Andrea Marutti/Amon in 2003 (nowadays he is still a very good friend of mine) and the subsequent collaborative CDs published as “Hall Of Mirrors” (“Reflections On Black”, “Forgotten Realm”, “Altered Nights” and the recent “When Only Shades Remain”); my many travels in Thailand (since 1987) and the resulting love for Oriental music/instruments/culture that has ‘marked’ a large part of my musical production and CDs (“Travel Diary”, “The Missing Tapes”, “Krungthep Archives”, “Circles Of The Vain Prayers”…); my first (and still only one) LP “This Crying Era” published as a vinyl release in 2012 by Synästhesie Schallplatten, that was recently re-released on CD (thanks to Mark O’Shea of the Winter Light label) in a new enriched and remastered version.

I also have to mention the long-time friendship with Davide Del Col/Antikatechon and his inspiring collaboration (“Out Hunting For Teeth” and “Nothing Is As It Seems” as “We Promise To Betray”) and with Philippe Blache/Day Before Us (“Under Mournful Horizons”).

Last but not least I’d like to mention the nice experience of the two CDs published as “Twist Of Fate” with my wife Daniela Gherardi (“Tales From A Parallel Universe” and “September Winds”)… She has always been by my side since 1982, but the idea of trying to ’seriously’ compose, play and record some music together didn’t struck us until 2014.

Probably my ‘eclecticism’ simply comes from the influence that all the music I listened and loved has had on me in 54 years, and also from my ‘natural disposition’ to always search for something ‘special’, both in the music that I listen and in the music that I personally create.

Q: I think to might affirm Nimh remained your main project. What makes it different from your other projects and how do you see the evolution of Nimh over the years, which is probably linked to your own evolution as artist?

Giuseppe: Yes, Nimh is my main project, although during the recent years I often focused my activity on more ‘musical’-and less ‘dark/experimental’ sounds and atmospheres, giving birth to the aforementioned new collaborative projects “Twist Of Fate” and “We Promise To Betray”.

Probably in the future some specific Nimh releases will also become more ‘musical’ and less ‘dark/experimental’, but for the time being this is still the main difference between my main project and the others.

The evolution of Nimh over the years is strictly linked with my everyday life, and with the many changes in everything that happened around me… I began to make and record electronic music with a Desktop PC equipped with a 80386 processor and a MS DOS 4.1 Operating System. It featured only midi facilities… no Hard Disk recording… no MP3 files… no Internet…  no samples… no Amazon or any other online shop to buy stuff (acoustic, electronic and ethnic instruments, or other equipment), neither YouTube to find/see/listen/evaluate/download almost anything… It was definitely another era, another world… and my music still changes with the changing of times.

Q: Winter-Light has just released the CD-album “Beyond The Crying Era”, which is an extended version of the album “The Crying Era” originally released on vinyl by Synästhesie Schallplatten. The album features a fine selection of songs that got originally released on collaborative albums and compilations. How did this new edition saw the daylight and what do the selected songs mean to you?

Giuseppe: When in 2012 Matèo Montero (the guy behind Synästhesie Schallplatten) proposed to me a vinyl release, I decided to put together and publish some old (and good, in my opinion) tracks that, for different reasons, were left ‘scattered’ among compilations, net releases and split CDs, and still not gathered in an ‘organic’ and ‘physical’ way. But a vinyl record can’t hold the same amount of music as a CD, so I was ‘forced’ to leave out or shorten some of the tracks. I also have to note that the LP was pressed in a limited edition of 100 copies only, and that – to be completely honest – I’m not the greatest ‘lover’ of music on vinyl: when I was younger I used to ‘suffer’ quite a lot listening to records full of tedious noises, ‘clicks’ and crackles… So, after some years, I decided to rework the album for the CD format using solely the original full-length versions, adding some missing tracks, making additional edits and completely remastering the album to get the best possible result.

The ten tracks included in this new CD edition, released as “Beyond The Crying Era”, are a meaningful ‘journey’ through more than ten years of musical activity and research in dark/experimental ‘territories’, and I’m very grateful to Mark for having accepted to publish it with incomparable enthusiasm.

Q: You just mentioned the songs have been remastered and that’s an interesting item as most of the re-edited albums get remastered. Why is that important and does it mean you were not satisfied with the original mastering? Or do you think a production is never finished and can be always improved?

Giusepeppe: Theoretically (but also as a matter of fact, actually…) even the addition of a single new track in an existing tracklist generates the need to re-evaluate and readjust the entire mastering work. In my opinion, it is mandatory to check again the audio levels, the volume peaks, the compression parameters, the timbric and dynamic uniformity, the pauses between tracks and -in the end, the ‘pleasantness’ of the complete listening experience of the album in its new defined ‘flow’. Having said that, I guess you have a picture of what it means, on the technical side, to insert four new tracks in an old tracklist, also changing the sequence of the existing tracks to obtain the best final result, using only the original ‘uncut’ versions.

The new structure of the album simply turned out to be something completely different from the first incarnation, so a careful remastering work was absolutely necessary. I also have to add that the original master was made for a vinyl edition, with its specific technical needs and intrinsic limitations that are not necessary and binding in a master for CD production.

Q: The influences running through your music are multiple, but globally speaking the music remains ‘dark’-minded. What fascinates you in this dark-artistic exposure and do you have favorite themes and/or sources of inspiration?

Giuseppe: Yes, most of my music is characterized (although in different ways) by ‘dark’ sounds, ‘suggestions’ and atmospheres. But there’s no premeditation in this, it is not intentional and deliberately ‘planned’ or ‘designed’. Probably I’m often instinctively attracted to this kind of sonorities… But sometimes I am intrigued by ‘brighter’ sounds and atmospheres too, and that is clearly perceptible in some CDs/projects (“Twist Of Fate” and “We Promise To Betray” above all). I think it just depends on my mood and different situations. I have no ‘rules’ or a ‘public face’ to ‘build’ and promote. I don’t have well-defined favorite themes or ‘special’ sources of inspiration… Anything in my everyday life can touch and inspire me, thus influencing my musical experiences.

Q: I noticed Nimh has no Facebook-page. What’s your perception about social media, streaming platforms etc and their importance/impact for artists, labels, promoters and music lovers?

Nimh: I am well aware of the importance and usefulness that social media as Facebook and other web platforms have for ‘common’ people, artists, labels, promoters, music lovers, etc. I evaluated the option to open a personal Facebook page many times, mainly to ‘support’ the Nimh project and to promote my music on the web in a better way. To be honest, I don’t have much spare time to spend on ‘social’ activities, and I don’t really like Facebook a lot as a platform (here I speak both as a common ‘potential user’ and as a software developer, which has been my main profession for many years), so I kept putting it off.

I don’t want to speak ill about it, and of course I know that my choice of not having a Facebook account (until now) may be seen as a little bit ‘anachronistic’… Simply, it is not my cup of tea for many reasons (technical matters, the company’s policy, censorship issues, data management…) so for the time being you still won’t find an official Nimh (or Giuseppe Verticchio) page on Facebook.      

Anyway, my personal website is online since more than fifteen years and my e-mail address is public. Anyone wishing to contact me or needing information about my music can easily google my real name and the Nimh monicker to find lots of results… So, I would say that I’m not absolutely ‘disconnected’ from the World Wide Web.   

Talking about streaming platforms as YouTube, Bandcamp and others, generally I’m completely in favor of them: I often use them to discover new music, to check audio previews of CDs that I would like to buy, or to listen to music that is both good and scarce. I don’t believe that streaming platforms and file sharing practices can heavily damage labels and artists that still invest in the production of CDs and other physical releases. I’m quite sure that real music lovers (as I am…) will always purchase an original CD even if -or exactly because,  they already have downloaded, listened and strongly appreciated an album in its digital form. People who occasionally download music or, on the contrary, have an habit of downloading albums in a continuous, almost ‘compulsive’ and ‘pseudo randomic’ way, probably would never spend money to buy a physical release anyway.

Official Nimh/Giuseppe Verticchio Website: http://www.oltreilsuono.com/nimh

Inferno Sound Diaries

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.

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Dark-ambient, cinematographic.

Background/Info: Italian artist Davide Del Col is back on track unleashing the fifth solo-album of his sonic brainchild Antikatechon.

Content: This new opus features only 2 long duration cuts. The artists takes you away in a shimmering sound universe featuring a truly arsenal of noises and rough sound treatments. There’s a slow progression operating. The second cut is more noisy-like and accomplished with a kind of Eastern-like guitar playing.

+ + + : There’s a great, overwhelming sound wave running through this work. The progressive evolution of the tracks ends into a cool electronic sequence at “The Stations Of Servitude”. The next cut “The Sanctum Of Saturation” sounds more minimal-like, but here again Antikatechon brings a fascinating input by this mysterious eastern-like atmosphere.

– – – : Both cuts are easily going over the 20 minutes, which also create some monotonous passages.

Conclusion: Antikatechon remains a fascinating project, which sounds as a solid sonic bridge between dark-ambient and cinematographic music.

Best songs: “The Sanctum Of Saturation”

Rate: (7½).

Artist: www.facebook.com/Antikatechon

Label: www.rageineden.org / www.facebook.com/rageinedenrecords

Inferno Sound Diaries

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.

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Dark-ambient, experimental.

Background/Info: Davide Del Col better known as the operator behind Antikatechon is back on track unleashing his newest opus. The Italian dark-ambient musician feels comfortable unleashing his work on the Polish label Rage In Eden.

Content: This new work feels like having been composed on top of an ocean filled with boiling noises. We’re visiting a dark-ambient space accomplished with multiple sound treatments and noises. The experimental touch has been injected by the field recordings and other kind of noise experiments. Low electronic sound resonances accentuate the dark-ambient approach.

Some of the tracks have been built up in an interesting progressive way to slowly reach an ultimate point carried by a kind of inhibited noise production.

I also noticed interesting guitar playing adding an elevating dimension to some passages while another noticeable part consists of the French spoken monologue running through the second cut.

Notice by the way that 2 more familiar bands from the Rage In Eden Roster contributed a song to the album. I’m speaking about Day Before Us and Nimh.

+ + + : This album definitely tastes like a pure dark-ambient work, but there’s a different approach in the global conception, which is mainly due to an impressive arsenal of noises and field recordings (or samplings). There’s an interesting progression running through the cuts.

– – – : I would say that has Antikatechon clearly has accomplished his goal; this is a noticeable release in the genre and also confirms the progression of this band, but I’m missing a real climax to make this album totally immortal.

Conclusion: Antikatechon is one of these dark-ambient formations deserving more recognition. This album simply reveals the huge potential of the artist although I’m still waiting for that unique and outstanding opus.

Best songs: “And All My Dreams, Torn Asunder”, “I Feel Nothing But Repulsion”.

Rate: (7½).

Band: www.facebook.com/Antikatechon-169442316495747

Label: www.rageineden.org / www.myspace.com/rageineden

Inferno Sound Diaries

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.

www.side-line.com