Cold Meat Industry &#8211; SIDE-LINE

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

Desiderii Marginis announces new ambient album on French label Cyclic Law – Pre-orders available now

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Tue, 26 Mar 2024 12:00:31 +0000

The latest album from the Swedish ambient act Desiderii Marginis, “Bathe In Black Light”, will be out on May 3rd via the French label Cyclic Law.

The album will be available in various formats, download, a CD edition in 4 panel digipak and a double vinyl edition limited to 100 copies in Marbled grey and black, and 200 copies in black.

Desiderii Marginis, a Swedish dark ambient music project, was created by Johan Levin in 1993 in Mjölby, Sweden. Initially a solo project, it released its first three tapes — “Consecrare”, “Via Peregrinus”, and “Triptych” — in very limited editions, which were later included in the 2009 compilation album “Years Lend a Golden Charm”. The project’s debut album, “Songs Over Ruins”, was released on Cold Meat Industry in 1997. Over the years, Desiderii Marginis has produced several albums, including “Deadbeat” (2001), “Strife” (2004), “The Ever Green Tree” (2005), and more recent works such as “Vita Arkivet” (2018), “Departed” (2020), and “Serenity / Rage” (2023), showcasing its evolving dark ambient sound.

You can check already a few tracks on Bandcamp.

Bathe In Black Light by DESIDERII MARGINIS

Atrium Carceri – Forgotten Gods (Album – Cryo Chamber)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Sat, 10 Feb 2024 08:00:00 +0000

Genre/Influences: Dark-Ambient, Ritual.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: By the end of 2023 Simon Heath (involved with numerous projects and Cryo Chamber-owner) struck back with a new album of his main sonic project Atrium Carceri. The album has been released twenty years after Atrium Carceri’s first album ever “Cellblock” (released by the defunct Cold Meat Industry). “Forgotten Gods” invites the listeners to explore the underworld beneath our cities.

Content: Atrium Carceri bring us back to the essence of good-old Dark-Ambient music; obscure sound waves accentuated by deep sound resonations, the unavoidable field recordings and mysterious, Ritual, chants. Simon Heath even added a few passages with slow rhythms.

+ + + : Simon Heath remains a prolific artist but I get the impression he patiently composed this new Atrium Carceri moving back to the early years of the project while injecting, explicit, Ritual elements to the work. It creates a freaky, fascinating, experience. It feels like looking at what’s happening behind a closed and forbidden door. This work has a strong visual appeal which is coming through at multiple tracks. I can’t fully say Heath reinvented Atrium Carceri but he strikes back with an overwhelming and ultra-accomplished production. Hard to say if this work is the ‘best’ one he ever composed under the Atrium Carceri moniker but it definitely belongs to the best ones in time. I also want to say a word about the front cover of the album which is intriguing and totally matching to the sound.

– – – : I don’t see any minus points.

Conclusion: This is a true masterpiece bringing Dark-Ambient and Ritual music together in a freaky experience.

Best songs: “Chamber Of Rebirth”, “Revelation From The Book Of The Flesh”, “Throne Room”, “Ritual For The Abyss”, “Pathway To Nothing”.

Rate: 9.

Artist: www.atriumcarceri.com / www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063521439906

Label: www.cryochamberlabel.com / www.facebook.com/CryoChamber

About Atrium Carceri

Atrium Carceri is the dark ambient project of Swedish musician Simon Heath, born in Stockholm in 1977. Heath debuted the project in 2003 with the album “Cellblock” on Cold Meat Industry. In 2011 he left Cold Meat Industry and founded the dark ambient label Cryo Chamber, which has since become Atrium Carceri’s home. The project’s discography includes “Seishinbyouin” (2004), “Kapnobatai” (2005), “Ptahil” (2007), “Souyuan” (2008), “Phrenitis” (2009), “Reliquiae” (2012) and “Void” (2012), alongside collaboration albums with Kammarheit and Apocryphos such as “Onyx” (2015) and “Echo” (2017). Heath also records as Sabled Sun. “Forgotten Gods” arrived at the end of 2023, twenty years after “Cellblock”.

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.

Lẽtum – Dreams And Illusions (Album – Cyclic Law)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Tue, 19 Dec 2023 08:00:00 +0000

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Genre/Influences: Dark-Ambient, Cinematic.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Mattias Henriksson strikes back with a new album of Lẽtum. “Dreams And Illusions” is the sixth full length by the Swedish project and the first one released by Cyclic Law.

Content: Henriksson invites the listener to visit dark sound atmospheres which are moving in between pure Dark-Ambient and Cinematic music. Low sound resonations and overwhelming, monstrous, sound treatments create the illusion of an imaginary horror universe from which you can’t escape.

+ + + : Lẽtum remains faithful to its intimate sound universe where you sometimes get the feeling to become the witness of a sacred rite created by the power of music. The tracks sound like sonic collages with a strong visual appeal. The atmosphere supporting the work is menacing which is accentuated by some overwhelming sound blasts. The work is polished by dark strings.

– – – : I no longer experience the same magic as on the early works released on Cold Meat Industry. That was already back in the early millennium years.

Conclusion: Lẽtum remains a true sonic experience for lovers of Dark-Ambient music although there’s no similar climax as in the early years.

Best songs: “Dreams And Illusions”, “The Roar Of Death”.

Rate: 7.

Artist: www.facebook.com/mintm.mintman

Label: www.cycliclaw.com / www.facebook.com/cycliclaw Read the news on ‘Dreams And Illusions’.

Listen to “Dreams And Illusions”:

Dreams and Illusions by Lẽtum

About Lẽtum

Lẽtum is the dark ambient solo project of Lindesberg, Sweden-based musician Mattias Henriksson. The project released its debut album, “The Entrance to Salvation”, via Cold Meat Industry in 2001, followed by “Broken” in 2006. “Dreams And Illusions” is Lẽtum’s sixth full length, issued by Cyclic Law in an edition of 300 copies in a 4-panel digipak, holding seven tracks mastered by Frederic Arbour.

Raison D’Être – Prospectus I / Sublime Edition (Album – Cyclic Law)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Thu, 19 Oct 2023 07:00:00 +0000

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Genre/Influences: Dark-Ambient, Experimental.

Format: Digital, 4CD.

Background/Info: This special work by Peter Andersson as Raison D’Être brings us back in time. “Prospectus I” was originally released in 1993 on the defunct Cold Meat Industry and became a historic work by the Swedish master of Dark-Ambient. This new format meant as a celebration is featuring 4 CD’s; there’s a reworked disc of “Prospectus I”, the original, remastered, album, previously unreleased material re-recorded in 2022 (the year wherein Andersson reworked “Prospectus I”) and other additional cuts in their original versions.

Content: Back in time“Prospectus I” revealed a new kind of ‘Industrial/Ambient/Experimental’ work; a creation characterized by obscure, haunting, atmospheres, Gregorian chants and other sounds/noises like church bells, bombastic sound arrangements, drones and crashes plus multiple effects. The original tracks have been empowered by a better sound production but I also got the feeling Peter Andersson injected some new, extra, sonic details like effects to the composition. All extra unreleased cuts are more diversified; still Dark-Ambient like but also into pure Experimentalism and Cinematic music. I noticed a very few unusual cuts which I would not directly link to Raison D’Être but maybe to one of the numerous other projects of the artists.

+ + + : “Prospectus I” remains a terrific production and for most of the Raison D’Être fans ‘the’ album that let us discover a new dimension of ‘dark music’. The original magic of the work is still there and even seriously boosted at the reworked edit. The strong visual appeal of the work remains intact. The work still took me by surprise, revealing a detailed and precise writing featuring an endless number of noises and sonic details which you can fully enjoy by using headphones. It’s also a nice bonus getting an impressive number of previously unreleased material. And here again the artist took me by surprise revealing a few unknown ‘pearls’ driven by oppressive atmospheres carried by great string parts, liturgical chants and heavy drones.

– – – : There are no real minus points to mention.

Conclusion: Raison D’Être has released great stuff and “Prospectus I” definitely remains one of the most significant and accomplished works in the impressive discography of the artist. This box is a great format to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of this legendary work.

Best songs: “Katharsis”, “Ordeal In Chapel”, “Anathema / Apotheosis”, “Cenotaphium” + “Enshrouding”, “Inquest”.

Rate: 9.

Artist: https://raison-detre.info / www.facebook.com/raisondetreofficial

Label: www.cycliclaw.com / www.facebook.com/cycliclaw

About Raison D’être

Raison d’être is the dark ambient project of Swedish sound artist Peter Andersson, formed in 1991. The project’s debut album, “Prospectus I”, was released in 1993 on Cold Meat Industry and became one of the defining works of the genre. Cyclic Law reissued the album on vinyl in 2018, and Andersson reworked the material again in 2022. “Prospectus I / Sublime Edition” gathers that 2022 rework alongside the original remastered album and previously unreleased material across four discs, marking the album’s thirtieth anniversary.

Prospectus I – Sublime Edition by raison d'être

Raison D’être releases 30 year anniversary 4CD boxset for ‘Prospectus I’

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Thu, 13 Jul 2023 11:26:18 +0000

Out on August 25th via Cyclic Law in a limited edition of 300 copies is the 30 year anniversary boxset of Raison D’être’s “Prospectus I” album. The set holds 4 CDs in sleeves, housed in a rigid box with lid, with matt lamination including a fold out 12 page booklet.

This classic dark ambient soundscape album was originally released in 1993 on the now defunct Cold Meat Industry label. Offered in this massive 4 CD boxset is a completely new re-recording of the original album, made in 2022, in order to obtain the highest sound quality and mix of this 30 year old opus.

Disc 2 in the set contains additional unreleased session tracks, also re-recorded in 2022. Disc 3 gives you the original album in a remastered version and finally disc 4 offers additional session tracks from the period in their original versions.

The boxset is a co-release with Yantra Atmospheres. Read the review of ‘Prospectus I’.

Through Alien Eyes – The Veil Between Worlds: Echoes of The Past by Karsten Hamre

The return of the prolific Norwegian artist Karsten Hamre with 2 new albums

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Thu, 04 May 2023 09:32:30 +0000

Norwegian ambient/experimental artist Karsten Hamre, now based in Sofia, Bulgaria, is back with two releases. The first one is under the Defraktor moniker with the album “From the Netherworld” for which he has started to perform live with a forthcoming live appearance on the 13th of May in Sofia Bulgaria. The next that was just put up on Bandcamp is Karsten Hamre’s new instalment in the ‘Through Alien Eyes’ series: “The Veil Between Worlds: Echoes of The Past”.

You can order both releases below. The first is Karsten Hamre’s new instalment in the ‘Through Alien Eyes’ series: “The Veil Between Worlds: Echoes of The Past”.

And this is Defraktor’s “From the Netherworld”.

From The Netherworld by Defraktor

About Karsten Hamre

Hamre has created music across various genres such as dark ambient, drone, neoclassical, and experimental electronic music. With more than 25 years of experience in the music industry, Hamre has established himself as one of the most innovative and influential artists in Norway. He is also a visual artist and has created a number of striking album covers and artwork.

Hamre’s musical journey started in the early 1990s when he formed the experimental music project, Penitent, which released the debut album “Melancholia” on the legendary Cold Meat Industry label. With Penitent, Hamre explored the darker and more atmospheric side of music, incorporating elements of industrial, neoclassical, and dark ambient music to create a unique sound that would later become his trademark.

Count to that his work under aliases and in groups such as Arcane Art, Beastus Rex, Defraktor, Dense Vision Shrine, Veiled Allusions, Museum Of Transient Lights and The Flux Komplex.

Here’s part of his large discography:

“The Beauty of Pain” by Penitent (1997) – Released by Draenor Productions.
“As Life Fades Away” by Penitent (1998) – Released by Draenor Productions.
“Roses By Chaos Spawned” by Penitent (1999) – Released by Memento Mori.
“Through The Corridors Of Time” by Veiled Allusions (2000) – Released by L.S.D. Organisation.
“The Cursed Artist” by Arcane Art (2000) – Released by Memento Mori.
“A Curious Dimension” by Veiled Allusions (2000) – Released by Bestial Records.
“Visions Of The World” by Veiled Allusions (2001) – Released by Counter Attack Productions.
“Reflections Of Past Memories” by Penitent (2001) – Released by Counter Attack Productions.
“Songs Of Despair” by Penitent (2002) – Released by Beyond Productions.
“Split” by Vinterriket/Veiled Allusions (2002) – Released by Neodawn Productions and Regimental Records.
“Rosenkranz” by Veiled Allusions (2002) – Released by Dragon Flight Recordings LLS.
“Litanies Of Desire” by Dense Vision Shrine (2003) – Released by Beauty And Pain.
“Dream A Little Dream” by Museum Of Transient Lights (2004) – Released by Trinity Records Hong Kong.
“A Shapeless Beauty” by Penitent (2004) – Released by Trinity Records Hong Kong.
“Themes For The Lunatic” by Defraktor (2004) – Released by Trinity Records Hong Kong.
“Lost Illusions” by The Flux Komplex (2004) – Released by Trinity Records Hong Kong.
“Deserted Dreams” by Penitent (2004) – Released by Beyond Productions.
“Nightly Terrors” by Arcane Art (2004) – Released by Trinity Records Hong Kong.
“Die My Illusion” by Dense Vision Shrine (2005) – Released by Einzeleinheit.
“Broken Whispers” by Karsten Hamre (2005) – Released by Flood The Earth.
“A Voyage Of Imagination” by Dense Vision Shrine (2006) – Released by Epidemie Records.
“Unwinding The Inside” by Dense Vision Shrine (2007) – Released by Rape Art Productions.
“Placenta World” by Karsten Hamre vs. Kenji Siratori (2007) – Released by Hypermodern.
“Among The Sleepless” by Penitent (2007) – Released by Hydra.
“A Hole In The Void Of Time (Part 1 & Part 2)” by Defraktor (2007) – Released by Lona Records.
“Time Lost In Oblivion” by Dense Vision Shrine (2009) – Released by First Fallen Star.
“Magic & Mystery” by Dense Vision Shrine (2012) – Released by NeoKunst.
“When The Gods Die” by Arcane Art (2012) – Released by NeoKunst.
“Compendium II” by Karsten Hamre (2014) – Released by Black Mask Media.
“When Darkness Descends (Defraktor Remix Session)” by Veiled Allusions (2014) – Released by Black Mask Media.
“Through Alien Eyes Volume I” by Karsten Hamre (2017) – Released by Wounded Hearts Productions.

Maschinenzimmer 412 – Malfeitor (Album – Cold Spring)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Fri, 13 Jan 2023 08:00:00 +0000

Genre/Influences: Industrial.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: “Malfeitor” brings us back to 1989 when MZ.412 was still active as Maschinenzimmer 412. The Swedish masters of ‘Black Industrial’ released this album by Cold Meat Industry as vinyl format and later on in 2001 as CD. It also was the last album released as Maschinenzimmer 412.

Content: The work brings us back to early Industrial works. The composition is carried by non-stop dark percussion parts. It sounds like heavy loops now and then mixed with spoken samplings and half-spoken, tenebrous, vocals.

+ + + : You clearly can feel the Industrial 80s spirit which I’ve always liked for its creative and authentic spirit. It’s magic to realize how this album from forgotten times still has this original power and impact.

– – – : The sound formula becomes a bit repetitive and predictable after a while.

Conclusion: Back to the 80s which was a golden era for Industrial music.

Best songs: “Malfeitor”, “Virus”, “The Death Of Lasarus”, “Ecaf Dloc II”.

Rate: 8.

Artist: www.nordvargr.com/mz-412 / www.facebook.com/MZ412official

Label: www.coldspring.co.uk / www.facebook.com/coldspringhq

About Maschinenzimmer 412

Maschinenzimmer 412 was formed in Sweden in 1987 by Henrik Nordvargr Björkk, Jouni Ulvtharm Ollila, and Leif Holm, alongside their other project Pouppée Fabrikk. The band’s debut release, “Macht Durch Stimme”, came out in 1988 on the tape label Mechanik Cassettes in an edition of just 50 copies; it was later reissued by Cold Spring with a previously unreleased bonus track. Jonas Drakhon Aneheim joined in 1995, replacing Holm, and the band was renamed MZ. 412. “Malfeitor” was the final album released under the Maschinenzimmer 412 name before that change.

Rome returns with second single ‘Solar Caesar’ ahead of new album

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Fri, 02 Sep 2022 17:43:10 +0000

“Solar Caesar” is the 2nd single to be released, after “No second Troy”, in advance of Rome’s new full length “Hegemonikon”.

The new single for the Luxembourg based dark folk act is out as a black 40 gramms 7″ vinyl in a high quality, super-audiophile disc, German pressing. Strictly limited to 500 copies.

Just like the previous single “No second Troy”, Jérôme Reuter added electronica elements on “Solar Caesar”. Also the B-Side “This Surrender” blends rock and electronica.

Rome rapidly gained a name in the neo-folk scene by the early works released on the defunct Cold Meat Industry. Rome next moved to Trisol while the music progressively evolved, touching ground with different music genres.

Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio reveal new single on release date new album ‘Nihilist Notes’

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Tue, 24 May 2022 09:38:38 +0000

Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio release their new album “Nihilist Notes” today and now also share the new single “I remember, the perpetual Search for the Meaning in Nothing”, which follows the 4-track mini-album “La Fleur du Mal” released in March.

“Nihilist Notes (And the Perpetual Quest 4 Meaning in Nothing)” is the fourth full-length album by Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio on the German label Out Of Line to which they signed in 2010 following the demise of Swedish cult label Cold Meat Industry.

“Nihilist Notes” is released today as CD Digipak and on cassette (in red incl. a pencil), and as a deluxe wooden box set, strictly limited to 444 pieces, which, in addition to the CD, also exclusively includes the album on 10″ vinyl and 5 collector’s coins with a noble case.

Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio explains the album’s concept: “In a world where the idea of hero and tyrant never has been more urgent. In a world where disinformation has become the new gospel. In times where the concept of good and evil is colored by crayons in various shades of grey. Nihilist Notes kindles the last fires of hope and takes us on a perpetual quest 4 meaning in nothing.”

Here’s the new single.

Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio offer new ‘Nihilist Notes’ album as CD and boxset

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Tue, 26 Apr 2022 12:57:57 +0000

“Nihilist Notes (And the Perpetual Quest 4 Meaning in Nothing)” is the 4th full length album by Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio on Out of Line to which they signed in 2010, following the demise of the Swedish cult label Cold Meat Industry. The release will be out on May 20th.

Preceded by the super limited and immediately sold-out 4 track mini album “La Fleur du Mal” in March, “Nihilist Notes” appears to move away from the more melodic aspects of the full length album “Let’s Play [Two Girls & a Goat]” from 2019 with a sound that is more martial than folk.

Next to the 13-track digipak there is also a super deluxe wooden boxset, strictly limited to 444 pieces, which, in addition to the CD, also exclusively includes the album on double 10″ vinyl and 5 collector’s coins with a noble case.

The Last Hour – Black Eyes (Album – The White Room)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Wed, 13 Apr 2022 07:00:00 +0000

Genre/Influences: Electro-Wave, Electro-Pop.

Format: Digital.

Background/Info: Behind The Last Hour is hiding Italian composer Roberto Del Vecchio. He received some recognition with some of his other projects like Gothica (which released albums on Cold Meat Industry) and Les Jumeaux Discordants. He now strikes back with a new album of The Last Hour which is the first one in seven years.

Content: The Last Hour has less in common with Del Vecchio’s other projects. This music is driven by 80s influences getting us back to Electro-Wave. The songs are rather rudimentary and into dreamy atmospheres. Passages remind me of Neuroactive and also for the vocals’ production. There are a few short songs on the tracklist which also has a Cinematic feeling.

+ + + : The Last Hour has an own style of Electro-Wave/Pop. I personally prefer the darker part of the work and especially recommend listening to “The Dead Of Night” -which might appeal for Neuroactive fans. The somewhat whispering style of singing is also a cool aspect of the work.

– – – : The production needs a bit more elaboration.

Conclusion: This album is an easy listening but without true ups.

Best songs: “The Dead Of Night”, “Black Eyes”.

Rate: 6.

Artist: www.facebook.com/thelasthour04

Label: www.facebook.com/thewhiteroomnetlabel

The White Room issued “Black Eyes” on 2 February 2022 as a digital release. The eight tracks are “Black Eyes”, “Dead World”, “It All Falls Apart”, “Parallel Universes”, “The Dead of Night”, “Welcome to Dystopia”, “Through the Looking Glass” and “Electric Impulses”. The label describes the record as eight songs plus one bonus track.

Roberto Del Vecchio wrote all the music and lyrics, and handled voice, synth and programming as well as the mix, master and production, recording the album in his own The White Room studio. Some words in “Welcome to Dystopia” are taken from George Orwell’s “1984”. Carlo Baldini of Port Claire and The Nine Tears plays bass on four tracks and adds synth modulation to “Parallel Universes”. The cover image is by Sergey Nivens.

Listen to “Black Eyes”:

Black Eyes by THE LAST HOUR

About The Last Hour

The Last Hour is the solo project of Italian composer Roberto Del Vecchio, who has been recording since 1994. He founded Gothica, which released two albums on Cold Meat Industry, as well as Les Jumeaux Discordants on Athanor Records and Shadoworld.

The first track under the name, “Into Empty Depth”, appeared on the Cold Meat Industry sampler “Flowers Made of Snow” in 2004. A self-titled debut CD followed on Other Voices Records in December 2008. Seventh Crow Records issued the second album, “Deadline”, in December 2014, and Side-Line reviewed it in 2015.

Del Vecchio kept the other projects running alongside The Last Hour: Side-Line reported the Les Jumeaux Discordants release ‘Les Chimères’ in 2016 and the Shadoworld album in 2019. “Black Eyes” closed a seven-year gap in the project, and was followed by ‘It Is the Hour’ in September 2024.

Click Interview with Human Vault: ‘A Good Track Is About The Author Who Writes It And Not About The Audience’

Inferno Sound Diaries — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 18:00:00 +0000

Hungarian born Gyorgy Turoczy aka ‘Mortum’ has been releasing music as Human Vault since 1997. Operating from (USA) he released an impressive discography. While nearly all of his work has been (self)released on Exabyss Records he joined hands together with Aliens Production unleashing a kind of retrospective work featuring songs composed between 2011 and 2021. “God Under Construction 2011 – 2021” is an album appealing for lovers of intelligent and sophisticated Electronic music reminding artists like Skinny Puppy, Frontline Assembly, Mortal Constraint ao.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: You’re already involved with music for quite a long time, but can you tell us how you got in touch with Electronic music and how Human Vault saw the daylight?

Mortum: Well, in 1987 my sister bought a cassette album of Pet Shop Boys, the title was “Actually” and I did love it a lot. However, the old accountant guy next door had quite a big vinyl record collection, and he showed me 2 albums, both from the legendary project, Tangerine Dream. “Phaedra” and “Rubycon”, they were my first real encounters with Electronic music. No whining, crying and high pitched ‘male’ vocals that you can hear on almost every synth pop new wave album. No dancefloor oriented rhythms and easy listening melodies. Tangerine Dream opened a door to an entirely new realm of soundcrafting and sound miracles. It was just a matter of time for me to start seeking for deeper and more daring sounds.

A few years later, when I got myself into occult literature, I found a label with amazing music. That label was Cold Meat Industry from Sweden. I became obsessed with its releases [not the dungeon synth Mortiis] and super soon I found myself collecting European Industrial music as well.

Over the years I gradually emerged myself into creating sounds, field recordings, super cheap synths and noise boxes, tape modulations and found objects with contact mics. Human Vault as a music project slowly became part of my life. No exact date when the name was first used as the official project name, but the first cassette release of mine was named as Human Vault in 1997.

Q: You’re involved with an impressive number of projects, which makes me say music clearly is a true passion. What does music mean to you and what makes the differences between all of your projects/bands? Is there any project more important than another?

Mortum: Music means everything to me! I listen to music for hours and hours a day. I also can do both of my favorite activities together at the same time, reading and listening to music, which is great and a serious time saving, too. I know I am involved in a good number of projects and it can be many times very exhausting.

Lately I have put an end to many of my projects so that I will be able to focus on the few remaining ones in the future. Hence the answer to your question, yes I consider Human Vault, the Hungarian Nadragea and my super deep and personal project, Stone Wired the most important ones. All the rest are fun and cool, and I love them, and I am serious about them, but if they are over I will not shed tears for them.

Q: Human Vault is clearly driven by good-old EBM standards, mixing power with dark atmospheres. What are your main sources of inspiration and what’s your global approach in composing the songs for Human Vault?

Mortum: When I write a song for Human Vault, I focus on rhythms. Otherwise I would end up writing another Stone Wired Death-Industrial-track. My inspiration comes from different sources. I Love Death-Industrial, Dark-Ambient music more than EBM. I also prefer old-school Dark-Electro music and here I am not talking about this Aggrotech, Trancy, Cyber Glitch, ‘cheesy’ Electro. All these influences will eventually get in the flow of composing a new song. A good track is about the author who writes it and not about the audience. I want to express something, tell something in a way I wanna tell, and I really do not give a damn if you as audience understand it or not. The problem here is that people think they are so important that music should be about them, about their feelings, their life…. that music is made for them, to entertain them, to satisfy them. At the beginning of time music was created in order to tell you a story, a story that has nothing to do with you and your feelings. A story that gives you meaning and not the other way, you give meaning to the story. Human Vault is being written with no restrictions and limitations. Human Vault does not care about anyone!

Q: You last year released the album “God Under Construction 2011 – 2021”, which is a kind of retrospective, right? How do you perceive this ‘retrospective’ and how did you see Human Vault evolving?

Mortum: “God Under Construction” is the actual essence of Human Vault. If one does not want to spend hours and hours listening in order to get familiar with the project, then this compilation is the right and perfect way to go. Although this release does not show the entire evolution of the music due to the fact that I had to omit tracks recorded in the very first period. Anything before 2011 is considered as a constantly fluctuating Experimental era where Dark-Electro and Death-Industrial could walk hand in hand together. Another reason why I really could not add tracks from that ear to this compilation is that I unfortunately lost all the archive files of the songs and all I have left is DAT / regular tape recordings. After 2011, Human Vault has been focusing on authentic Dark-Electro sounds putting experimental recordings aside so that I focused on this era only when I selected the tracks for the compilation.

Q: Most of your work has been released on Exabyss Records, which is your own label and a platform for most of your projects. What have been your experiences so far and especially considering aspects like: distribution, promotion, physical formats vs. streaming platforms? And what might you expect from another label like Aliens Production?

Mortum: When I started distributing my recordings in 1997, I went through clubs, music related communities, from person to person interactions. I grabbed my cassettes and spread them amongst people, real people, not virtual existences. It took an enormous amount of time and effort, it drained my energy down to the core but it worked. People started asking me where to buy my releases. I had no platform for selling so I let it sink into oblivion. What a mistake I made. If I had grabbed that opportunity I could have built a good foundation of a fan base, but I missed that chance.

So in 2005, I officially launched my own label, Exabyss Records, and I faced the reality of a very indifferent market, a society that has been overrun and overwhelmed with abundant music. Just in the EBM genre now, at least 10 hours of new music can be reached via The Web with no effort daily. While in the 90’s, in my small town in Hungary, the EBM club community counted around 100-150 people and only 2 persons who wrote music, now in the same town the EBM fun club counts only 50 people at the most and 20 of them who write music. Put this standard pattern up in a big city scale like New York City where I live now. Only big names, such as Front 242 recently did, can draw in people in number over 300 for a live gig, which is far less than acceptable and way less than enough to pay the bills and create profit. There is no EBM club in NYC any more, and I am not making this up, that is the reality presently. All the darkwave and goth clubs can generate 80 to 150 people per club night, which is outrageous and sad. What about the musicians? Oh my gosh, NYC has got at least half a thousand musicians in the industrial genre and its sub-genres that regularly release music via the internet. You just can not keep up with this! Quantity over quality! You are tired already of digging through hundreds of hundred hours of new music just to find the real and good ones. In brief, as Exabyss Records, I realized that operating a record label is just adding to the global problem. I truly believe that stopping all distribution of music would give people time and space to breathe and relax as well as time to start appreciating music again. Therefore, as Human Vault, I create music for myself only. Aliens Production is willing to release my recordings and I am more than happy with that since I know there is a close circle of fans there that my sound can reach through the label, and that is enough for me.

Q: You’re Hungarian born, but living in the US. What are the main resemblances and differences when it comes to music and music culture?

Mortum: I honestly and truly have to admit that there is no difference between the music and its surrounding culture in the US and in Europe. Dead music market, ignorant audience, too many musicians and even more music, no appreciation on all levels, fashion freaks who dont give a damn about the music or its culture. There is no culture any longer! Only music! An overwhelming amount of music that no one listens to!
What we all have got, though!? An unoperational and deeply damaged society. A collective mind cracked open! People who scroll down the timeline of their social network and click on the like button without even reading the post or clicking on the link just to give at least a second listen to the song posted. People who gather virtual friends while not giving a damn about any of them! People who have no time to do something real in real life instead of spending hours and hours on social media networks where they also have no time to read or react to the posts. People, who are shallow and hollow in their heart! People like me, who are just meaningless and useless parts of the big machine… and we all know it but we just don’t care about it anymore!

Rome – Hansa Studios Session II (Album – Trisol)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Sun, 28 Nov 2021 08:00:00 +0000

Genre/Influences: Dark-Folk, Chanson

Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl.

Background/Info: Four years after the first edition of “Hansa Studios Session”, Jérôme Reuter moves back to the famous Hansa Studios to record some of his older songs. The studio is a legendary place where an endless list of great names (from Bowie to Depeche Mode to Iggy Pop to ZZ Top) have stayed to record their work. You better take a look at the studio’s homepage. Rome recorded eight songs in this studio.

Content: Just as for the previous work recorded in the Hansa Studios, Jérôme Reuter revisited some of his songs. The songs are taken from the
EP “Berlin” (2006) and albums “The Hyperion Machine” (2016), “Hall Of Thatch” (2018), “Le Ceneri Di Heliodoro” (2019) and “The Lone Furrow” (2020).

The songs still sound in the purest Rome vein, mixing elements of Dark-Folk, Ballads and chanson. It sounds minimal and driven by the passionate vocals of Jérôme Reuter.

+ + + : This work simply reveals the magic of a professional studio. I noticed artists like Das Ich and Deine Lakaien also recorded some of their works in this studio. I think Rome has gained a status he really deserves to record his work in a top notch studio. The production of the vocals is something magic; mixing passion and charisma. But the authenticity of the instruments is another essential element coming through. You can hear the perfectionist side of the artist. Rome’s songs are excelling in grace, emotion, sensibility, passion and melancholia. My favorite songs are “Blighter” and “West Knows Best”.

– – – : The oldest song from the album (cf. “Like Lovers”) originally released in 2006 on the EP “Berlin” (when Rome was still signed on Cold Meat Industry) is one of the few tracks that couldn’t totally convince me. It also was another period when Rome was dealing with a different sound approach than in the last years.

Conclusion: This release is an essential item in the impressive discography of Rome; this is much more than simply revisiting ‘older’ songs, but an artistic creation symbolizing the genius of Rome!

Best songs: “Blighter”, “West Knows Best”, “Skirmishes For Diotima”, “Who Only Europe Know”.

Rate: 8½.

Artist: www.facebook.com/romeproject

Label: www.trisol.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Trisol-Music-Group/104166526285471

About Rome

Jérôme Reuter, born on 2 August 1981 in Luxembourg, is the musician behind the neofolk project Rome, formed in November 2005. Before Rome he performed as Reggie Fain, played in the Oi! band the Skinflicks and contributed to the post-punk group Mack Murphy and the Inmates.

Rome’s music combines military drumming, atmospheric electronic textures and acoustic guitars with samples and lyrics that deal with war, love, pain and death. Reuter has named Jacques Brel, Léo Ferré, Albert Camus, Ernst Jünger and Jean Genet as reference points.

The first “Hansa Studios Session” was recorded in 2017. “Hansa Studios Session II” followed on Trisol in 2021 with eight re-recorded songs. Rome later issued “Civitas Solis” and “The Dublin Sessions II” on the same day in April 2025.

Raison d’Être releases 3 re-prints on double CD with bonus-tracks of long unavailable albums

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Thu, 11 Nov 2021 11:59:55 +0000

(Photo via Raison d’Être) Out via Old Europa Café on December 3rd are 3 re-prints on double CD with bonus-tracks of long unavailable c albums.

The first is “In Sadness, Silence and Solitude” which was first released in 1997. It was the fourth full-length album of Peter Andersson aka Raison d’Être. This new 2021 expanded edition is an updated version of the long sold-out expanded edition from 2014. It contains the same tracks but with a fresh new K-14 level mastering.

Next is “The empty Hollow unfolds”, originally released 2000 on Cold Meat Industry. This new 2021 expanded edition is an updated version of the long sold-out expanded edition from 2014, now being a double CD release. Disc one contains the same tracks as the previous expanded edition. The additional disc contains session-related compilation tracks (also available on the “Collected Works” album) and a selection of live tracks from the special expanded edition of “The Empty Hollow Unfolds” from 2014. All material has a fresh new K-14 level mastering as well. The artwork is, as the earlier editions, styled with the somber industrial photos by Martín Pels.

The 3rd release is “The Stains of the embodied Sacrifice”. This expanded 2021 edition is an updated version of the long sold-out expanded edition from 2012. It contains four bonus live tracks recorded at Club Revolver, San Dona di Piave, Italy, 2011 in occasion of the VIII Congresso Post Industriale (OEC’s festival) and again a fresh new K-14 level mastering.

Below are the covers of the re-issues.

Escuadron De La Muerte – Bastion XXIII (Album – Steinklang Industries)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Fri, 29 Oct 2021 07:00:00 +0000

Genre/Influences: Death-Industrial, Power-Electronics, Noise.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Hailing from Mexico,
Zihr Alphil has released a considerable number of productions between 2008 and 2013. But then the project went through a long silence till “Bastion XXIII” -which was already released a year ago.

Content: The front cover looks more than controversial, but that’s a part of this project’s image and approach. The sound is clearly driven by old demons of Death-Industrial –so it’s not a coincidence Roger Karmanik (Cold Meat Industry label owner, but also known for his Brighter Death Now project) has been mentioned among the ‘thanks to’. The hardest pieces of the album are into Death-Industrial and a kind of Ambient-Noise style moving crescendo till a total sonic earthquake. But the work also reveals a very few ‘softer’ tracks, which are more into Experimental music and even Ritual mixed with Noise.

+ + + : The diversity of the album for sure is the main strength of this work. I like the overwhelming debut, but still the passages featuring a kind of Ritual influence (cf. “Sagrada Santa Muerte”). The lovers of Death-Industrial music will be pleased discovering tracks like “Astarteastaroth” and “Satanas Montando Un Elefante Rosa”.

– – – : Most of the tracks are long, sometimes a bit too extended. The most traditional Death-Industrial pieces aren’t my favorites as they rapidly start to be repetitive.

Conclusion: Harsh and merciless sonic torture from Mexico!

Best songs: “Sagrada Santa Muerte”, “Por El Valle De La Muerte Cabalgaron Los 600”.

Rate: 7.

Artist: www.facebook.com/escuadronmuerte

Label: www.steinklang.org / www.facebook.com/steinklang

Bastion XXIII by Escuadron de la Muerte

About Escuadron De La Muerte

Escuadron De La Muerte is the Mexican industrial project of Francisco “Zihr Alphil”, started in 2007 in Aguascalientes. Its stated aim is to build destructive atmospheres and odes to death, drawing on noise, death industrial, martial, power electronics and dark ambient.

The recorded output runs from “Eraser Minds” in 2008 through “Thanatophilia Cruentus” on L. White Records in 2009, “Omnia Vincit Mors” on Ufa Muzak in 2010, and “Mörder” and “Acherontia Atropos” in 2011. The project first appeared on Steinklang Industries with “Birds Of Pain And Blood” in 2012, then went quiet after “Bautismo De Fuego: Le Dernier Bataillon” in 2013.

“Bastion XXIII” returned the project to Steinklang Industries in 2020 as a limited CD. A cassette, “Prototype (1900-2020)”, followed on the same label.

Raison d’être returns with ‘Daemonum’ – check out the first track

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Fri, 10 Sep 2021 16:06:18 +0000

“Daemonum” marks the 30-years anniversary of Raison d’être. The 6-track album “Daemonum” will be released on September 16 and comes as a standard edition CD of 500 copies in 6-panel digisleeve,and a dtandard edition 2LP of 300 copies.

A special edition also avaialable and holds the extra album “Daemoniacum”. The formats for this release are a 2CD and a 3LP. Think of “Daemoniacum” as some sort of anti-polarized version of “Daemonum”, as if “Daemonum” was haunted and possessed by a demon. Not our words, but that of the label Cyclic Law.

Raison d’être is a Swedish dark ambient project formed by Peter Andersson in 1991. The name of the band was taken from a sentence in a book by Carl Gustav Jung: “the individuation is the raison d’être of the self.” Dark ambient atmospheres, drone elements, industrial sounds, ecclesiastical hymns are all blended together to constitute the music of Raison d’être.

The band’s first release was “Après nous le Déluge” released on cassette in 1992. The first label release was “Prospectus I” on Cold Meat Industry in 1993. Since then the project released albums on such labels as B.o.C.a. Tapes, Slaughter Productions, Old Europa Cafe, Spirit Of Sound Source, Eternal Pride Productions, Transgredient Records, Essence Music, and now Cyclic Law.

Check out a first track from the new album, the 12:35 long “The Implacable Portal”.

Daemonum by raison d'être

All My Faith Lost – Untitled (Album – Cyclic Law)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Mon, 16 Aug 2021 20:00:00 +0000

Genre/Influences: Ethereal, Dark-Ambient.

Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl.

Background/Info: More than a decade after their last production, Italian formation All My Faith Lost strikes back with new work. The album is simply entitled “Untitled” and features eleven songs. Several guest musicians contributed to this album.

Content: The album stands for dark reverie; a mix between Ethereal female voices and Dark-Ambient atmospheres. The songs have been accomplished by different instruments while the angelic voice of Viola Roccagli supports the composition with a touch of grace and mystery.

+ + + : This work is a noticeable return for the Italian formation we all remember from their work released by Cold Meat Industry. “Untitled” is an artistic creation for its authenticity. The work has been composed with different instruments like guitar, bass, violin, piano, flute… which creates a graceful effect, but also an evasive experience. There’s a visual strength running through the production, which for some passages even has something Cinematographic like. Last, but not least I also like the ‘concept’ of the album, which is based on paintings from Surrealists.

– – – : The album is an enjoyable and somewhat relaxing experience, but I regret there’s not exactly a true climax or crescendo passages in this work.

Conclusion: “Untitled” is a refined production creating a sonic bridge between Ethereal- and Dark-Ambient music.

Best songs: “Awakening The Moon”, “Violent Dreams II”.

Rate: 7½.

Artist: www.facebook.com/allmyfaithlost

Label: www.cycliclaw.com / www.facebook.com/cycliclaw

Untitled by All My Faith Lost

About All My Faith Lost

All My Faith Lost … is an Italian ethereal and folk-influenced group formed in 1999 by Federico Salvador and Francis M. Gri. Singers and flautists Viola Roccagli and Raffaella Missio joined after hearing the early material, according to the Discogs profile, and the band’s work turned to faerie and folklore themes drawn from John Keats and the books of Brian Froud.

Discogs lists the self-released CDr “Hollow Hills” (2000) and “In A Sea, In A Lake, In A River … … Or In A Teardrop” (Sin Organisation, 2002), followed by two albums on the Swedish label Cold Meat Industry, “As You’re Vanishing In Silence” (12 February 2005) and “The Hours” (23 August 2007). The EP “Decade” appeared on FinalMuzik in 2009, the compilation “Still White Air” on Pocket Records in 2011, “Chamber Music” on Infinite Fog Productions in 2013 and the digital album “Redefine My Pure Faith” in 2014.

“Untitled” was released by Cyclic Law on 9 March 2021 as a CD in a six-panel digisleeve limited to 500 copies, as a double LP on black vinyl (200 copies) or black and white marble vinyl (100 copies) and as a download, running 52:08. The eleven tracks are “Violent Dreams II”, “We All Die Sometimes”, “Nymphs IV”, “The Ice Princess”, “Keeping Time”, “The Inconvenience Of Spirits”, “White Thread”, “Awakening The Moon”, “Flood”, “Cassandra” and “The Night Is Calm”. The label notes credit new guitarist Angelo Roccagli and state that each song takes its cue from a painting by artists linked to Surrealism, among them João Ruas, Tara McPherson, Nicoletta Ceccoli and Ray Caesar. “Untitled” is the band’s first album in a decade and its only Side-Line review to date.

’30 Years Of Journalism – Celebration Interview’ with Peter Andersson / Raison D’Être: ‘Music Had Much More Mystery Surrounded To It In The 80’s And 90’s’

Inferno Sound Diaries — Mon, 09 Aug 2021 17:00:00 +0000

I’m honoured Peter Andersson accepted doing this interview to celebrate my 30^th anniversary as journalist. He remains without a shadow of a doubt one of the absolute masters in Dark-Ambient music, but he this year also celebrates the 30^th anniversary of his main music project Raison D’Être. So to me this interview became a way to pay homage to this genius artist. He definitely injected new ideas in the ‘Ambient’ genre, creating tormenting and sometimes disturbing atmospheres with a strong visual appeal. I often experienced his work as a mirror reflecting the inner world; a way to face our most hidden inner demons and experience feelings of despair, desolation, solitude…

(Picture credits by Kirche / Interview courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: 2021 must be a special year to you as Raison D’Être is celebrating its 30^th anniversary. What comes directly into mind when evoking these 30 years of creation and involvement? What are the greatest points of satisfaction and disillusion?

Peter: The immediate feeling is, wow, that is a long time, and time goes fast. Not that I ever thought I would not make music after 30 years. During these 30 years I have done a lot of music, for a lifetime. But I will not stop, so rest assure, I will continue another 30+ years if health is with me. Music is such a big part of my life, and utterly important for my well-being.

I think every new album has been a great satisfaction. Working on the music, being immersed in the creative process, realize a plan, and being overwhelmed and thrilled about the outcome, that is a lot of satisfaction in there. On the way there has been some disillusion, I guess. In the mid 90’s I thought it was possible to live on making music and to do live performances, but such a dream became impossible when the illegal downloading started, and CD sales sharply went down. But there are really not many big moments of disappointment or so.

Q: How much of the young Peter Andersson do you still recognize in your approach and spirit of composing music today?

Peter: I think I still have a playful approach when creating sounds. I have always been attracted to sounds and to make or play sounds from both real instruments and from anything that can make noise. I can’t really play any instrument, so the approach has always been to experiment. A famous Electronic composer once said: ‘if someone gave me an acoustic guitar, I would not know what to do with it except using it as a pot for a flower’. So, we see various use for the same things depending on our needs, which may differ from time to time, and this kind of limitless approach is still with me.

Q: I can imagine you must have seen a lot of things changing and evolving over the years; the way of making and producing music, the formats of releasing music (from cassette to digital), the rise of streaming platforms, the impact of social media etc… What do you think about these changes/evolutions and what do you see as the pros and cons?

Peter: Yes, it has been a revolution in many ways. Music making and distribution has become much more democratic. Everyone can do it; all you need is a computer really. There are many fantastic things with the new technology. It is also many downsides, a mess really, too much of everything, very difficult to get your voice heard or to get visible at all. It is like drowning in a sea of shit, not easy to pick the cherries.

I might be a bit nostalgic, but I think music had much more mystery surrounded to it in the 80’s and 90’s. You could almost only read about the music and artists in obscure magazines, and it could be a difficult task to buy physical releases, especially from a foreign mail order, but when you did you treated the album like it was something holy. I do not get the same feeling now.

Q: Back in time I got the feeling Raison D’Être was bringing a different kind of Dark-Ambient; I mean different from what we’ve heard in the 80s. What was your original perception about the music you composed? Did you’d specific references and criteria?

Peter: If you google a bit on the Dark-Ambient genre you will see on Wikipedia that Roger K, head of Cold Meat Industry, coined the term Dark-Ambient to describe the sound of Raison D’Être. So, if this is true then I was doing the right kind of Dark-Ambient and everybody else must have done something else or being copies of me, or something.

So, no Dark-Ambient music in the 80’s, it was called something else. I grew up and listened to the music of the 80’s in the 80’s, and of course many bands had a great impact on me and when I started to make music in the end of that decade and more seriously in the early 90’s I created something that was my own unique sound, but with influences of those older bands. It is a pretty natural process to be influenced and then making something new out of those influences. Even if I could be influenced by bands there were no perfect band. They always had some annoying element in their songs or just too much bad song material around a few good song materials.

What I wanted to do was something perfect, for me 100% perfect. Something that I could enjoy that was not annoying. If it were annoying, I could do something about it because I created the song and had access to how the song was constructed.

Q: What did you keep in mind from your early compositions? Was there a specific way of working and how did it evolve throughout the years?

Peter: Back in the earliest days it was much about melodies and rhythms, so it started mostly by composing a melody or a rhythm and evolve from that. The equipment was just basic stuff and functions. I had no experience whatsoever so there were many trial and error moments. It could take many hours to tweak sounds because the displays were so small. I remember the first sampler I used, poor quality thing and expensive special sized floppy discs to save sound, one sound on each side of the disc. Instead, I sampled the sounds from the cassette sources each time I wanted to work on a specific song and remember all the edits. I had all such edit information written down on a paper, but it was difficult to get it right. So, each time it sounded a bit different just because of loading the sounds.

I did plenty of tracks in the beginning, I could do one a day for a month or so. Things were complicated back then, but songs were simple constructed, so it was a straightforward way to work. And maybe I was unpretentious back then, I just did things. It was just fun making music, so I did a lot of music.

Now is a different story. I am much more aware of what I am doing and what I want. I try to make it all perfect. I do not make loads of tracks just because it is possible. I follow concepts and are aiming for certain goals. And now, the equipment is high class, almost anything I possible, tweaking sounds on a surgical level, and it is easy to recall a track with one button. The tools become more advanced for every new album, so gradually my sound universe became larger for each time. Today I start with making a lot of sounds, tweak them to perfection. I am not so much into melodies and rhythms now (at least not for Raison D’Être), it is more about creating specific atmospheres with intriguing sounds. Compositions are much more complex today than in the early years. The sounds are also much more complex and varied. I strive to get an organic quality of the sounds. Maybe things were more spontaneous in the early days, a free feeling just doing stuff, but I like to have some goals with things, think about the whole package and follow concepts.

Q: You got directly signed to Cold Meat Industry, which was a leading label from the Dark-Ambient genre. CMI has been often introduced as a ‘big family’, but how did it really feel and are you still in touch with some CMI artists?

Peter: Most of the bands were really close, so yes, it was shaped like a big family. When we went on tours in the 90’s and early 00’s we were like 15 bands in three minibuses and it was great. Of course there were some fractions and people who preferred some better than others, but still we were a solid gang. Most of us also originated from the same region in Sweden, probably helped and strengthened the family bounds.

Occasionally I acted like a support centre, people from many of the other bands called me and asked how do to things. Simple things like how to connect this equipment to that equipment, or more complex like what do you think about this working method instead of doing it in another way. I am still impressed that some bands could even make any music at all because they had no knowledge how their equipment worked. Now, when CMI since not exist anymore I still have good contact with many of the bands, especially Brighter Death Now, Deutch Nepal, IRM and Desiderii Marginis. Sometimes I see people from other CMI-bands, when there are occasionally bigger festivals with CMI theme, then we got a chance to see each other again. It’s always a great time.

Q: I know it’s always difficult for artists to give a favourite album and/or song, but I can imagine there must be productions/songs, which are more important to you than others? And which song/album would you chose to make listen to people who don’t know your work?

Peter: For me, my latest album is always the most important. I mean, that is my latest creative and psychological development and something that I recently put all my effort into, and something I can relate to because it is now. It is difficult to say something means anything to me now that I did 25 years ago. It did mean something or everything back then, but not now.

If I must say an album of the past I would say “The Empty Hollow Unfolds” because it was voted to be the best release ever on Cold Meat Industry. So, that albums mean a lot to my listeners, and it has a pretty unique sound that stand out from every other album from Dark-Ambient bands done around that time. For a newcomer I would probably choose something more easy listening, like “In Absence Of Light” from “In Sadness, Silence And Solitude”.

Q: I a previous interview you said to be fascinated by the inner world; dreams, subconscious and unconscious, archetypes, symbols and imagination… It all reminds me to the psychology courses and the work of Freud and Jung. Do you feel related with their work and what’s the importance of the inner world in your life vs. artistic life?

Peter: What is going on inside us, in the inner world, is absolutely fascinating and important, because it is completely about oneself and there is a lot of hidden potential inside us, I believe.

I am not much into Freud, but to Jung, his world is much more diverse and complete. Jung is basically fundamental for understanding Raison D’Êtreand my own personal life. I see no difference between my life and the artistic life, they are one and the same. I use music as one way to get knowledge of my inner self, and Jung’s theories are there for guidance. I do not say that Jung is right or so, but he offers interesting tools to make the inner life better understandable and to realize the one’s true self.

Q: In which way does the ongoing pandemic has an impact on your personal inner world and its connection with music creation?

Peter: Well, for me the pandemic did not change much really. I live pretty much isolated in the forest so I would not even notice if the civilisation would end, it almost feels like that at least. In Sweden we did not close down things in the way most the rest of the world did. We just try to keep distance here, without having any lockdown, curfews, or other drastic restrictions. So, I still have/had to get to my work, but with optional working from home if I can.

So, life is and was pretty much normal, and did not affect the creativity in any particular way. I guess it must have been very difficult to be inside a small apartment for months only to get out a few times to buy stuff at the supermarket. Not inspiring at all, and I suffer with those who experienced a lockdown.

Q: Next to Raison D’Être you’ve been involved with an impressive number of side-projects. Which ones are still active today and where does this need to get involved with multiple projects comes from?

Peter: I do not want a particular style of music to limit my ideas. Creativeness may go any direction and you do not know what it will bring, but something. It is an ocean of possibilities. Nevertheless, I do not want to confuse people. So, I have a lot of projects instead.

Sure, I could have used one project name making various styled music and albums, but what about the audience. Some people say they cannot hear much difference between let us say Raison D’Êtreand Necrophorus. I think it is a vast difference. It is totally different concepts, methods, directions and sounds. Sometimes they are crossing, but that is just on short term or mere coincidental. A band like Controlled Bleeding could change direction on every new album, and I just got confused and almost sad. So, I do not want to make the same mistake for my followers.

My side projects Cataclyst, Svasti-Ayanam, Panzar and Grismannen are not alive at all. Stratvm Terror has been dead a little while, but it has slowly come alive again. Bocksholm and Necrophorus are slow projects at the moment, but things are happening soon. It is only Atomine Elektrine and Raison D’Êtrethat have been active lately. So, still several side-projects to nurse and care for.

Q: How do you make the difference between all different music projects and how do you switch from one till the other?

Peter: I almost never work with more than one project at time. I want to fully concentrate on one album, not run two or more different albums or projects the same time. So, having a lot of projects have not really caused me any confusion and the switching is easy since I complete an album before starting another one with another project, and having some rest in-between.

Q: Most of your work always had a very strong visual appeal, but how strong is your connection with visual expression and arts? Is there a work (movie, picture, painting…) you feel related with and, which in a way could symbolize your work as musician and especially Raison D’Être?

Peter: When composing I do not visualize my music very much. I might evoke some imagery, but it is less important. The starting point when composing is often just words: the title and basic concept. Then I follow my intuition and emotions response. However, many tells that my music got a very visual expression, and that is probably true for not only my music, but the whole Dark-Ambient genre. I often create dramatic atmospheres or soundscapes which may evoke sinister or beautiful things, and that is pretty much what can sometimes be seen in a movie or a picture or a painting too.

Paintings has been inspiring, for example the darker work of Hieronymus Bosch. At least in the earlier stage Bosch paintings could symbolize some of my work. In the mid 90’s I did a homage to Salvador Dali, by selecting six of his paintings to score (released by my side-project Necrophorus). That music needed to be visualized the very moment it was created.

Q: But you composed music for ‘film and exhibition’ so what have been your experiences so far? Does the production need a specific and/or different approach than for ‘normal’ productions?

Peter: It is indeed different making music for film and exhibition. Until now I have only made scores for my own short films, so it would probably be different to work with professional made movies.

For scoring film I have needed to adapt the music to frames and the story, follow the movie frame by frame. So, the score is very bound to the movie and its visual components. In normal production cases there are no visuals to adapt to, but the music can induce visuals to appear in the eye of the beholder, but that is something else. Music for exhibition is a bit more of a free bird than music for movies, but still many things to care for, many rules.

The exhibition music should enhance the visitor experience for everyone without being disturbing. The mixing should be done in the exhibition room using the final speakers. Length must be adapted to the typical length of a visitor experience. I prefer making music free of any rules or framing but I must admit it can be very interesting to make music with some limitations or under certain conditions, if the theme is interesting enough.

Q: You this year released a new Raison D’Être album entitled “Daemonum”. As most of your album titles, this once again sounds very intriguing. What did you try to express and how do you see this album in the wide discography of the project?

Peter: Basically, the whole “Daemonum”-album is a journey from start to end, a dive into the subconsciousness that goes deeper for each track, much like my previous albums “Alchymeia” and “Mise En Abyme On “Daemonum” the search is for the Shadow archetype, specifically the Anima/Animus representation. Each track renders one step on the path to finally reach the Anima/Animus. On such a journey one must face different parts of the unconsciousness, and not all pleasant things, one’s weaknesses for example. But for each journey one become stronger and has better understanding of the inner self. I am much into the ideas of Carl Gustav Jung as we talked about earlier. I have been dealing with his psychoanalytic theories in many, if not all, of my previous albums. So, this is another journey inside the subconsciousness, now dealing with the secrets of the Shadow archetype in form of the Anima or Animus (which is that inner voice, a Daemon). This is a part of how to get better knowledge and find hidden potential within ourselves, and part of the process of self-realization, which is the very foundation in the Raison D’être project itself. As with every new album, I see this as the pinnacle of Raison D’Être. I try to keep pushing things forward, so the next album will be even better, and be the next pinnacle moment. Each album is like climbing a mountain, when you are on the top you see another higher mountain ahead of you to climb.

Q: What are you doing in between two albums? I mean what keeps you busy next to music?

Peter: I am resting, accumulating energy for the next creative output. I do a lot of mastering jobs for bands and labels. I try to avoid such work during the making of an album, but in-between albums I have some spare time. I have a regular job as well, being an exhibition producer on a museum. I cannot live on music alone. And I have a girlfriend, house and garden that needs care. So, I am far from doing music all days, it is just some weeks of the year that I put on music making. That is why it can take three years to complete an album.

Q: How do you expect yourself evolving after 30 years of Raison D’Être?

Peter: Well, yes, what to expect? Maybe that things make more sense in life, deeper understanding how things are connected, and I have a more mature approach to things in general than 30 years ago. But I am not sure, it can be the other way around really.

Re-releases of 2 since long deleted Ataraxia albums

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Thu, 03 Jun 2021 11:56:43 +0000

(Poto by GothEric) Twilight Records has announced the re-release of 2 since long deleted Ataraxia albums.

The first is “Saphir”, one of the most ‘classic’ albums by Ataraxia, originally released in 2004 on the Cold Meat Industry-side label ‘Cruel Moon International’. This digitally mastered new digipak edition was first released in 2010 on Twilight, but was sold out and deleted for many years.

Next is “Nosce te Ipsum”, which is a re-print of the 2008 re-release of an early tape by Ataraxia and which was unavailable for years. “Nosce Te Ipsum” is a steep into the ancient times of this very important medieval band from Italy. All 8 songs were taken from the 1991 tape, released on the Italian ‘Energeia’ label, and later included on the band’s first ever CD “Ad perpetuam rei memoriam” out via Apollyon in 1994.

About Ataraxia

Ataraxia is an Italian neoclassical dark wave band founded in 1985. Frontlined by singer Francesca Nicoli, it combines modern technology with archaic instrumentation. The lyrical themes are frequently drawn from nature and ancient cultures.

In the first five years of the band’s existence there were many musicians in the band, until finally Francesca Nicoli, Vittorio Vandelli, and Giovanni Pagliari became the basic line-up until today.

Labels Interviews: File 1: Torny Gottberg / Progress Productions: ‘I Do Believe In The ‘Quality Over Quantity’ Thinking’

Inferno Sound Diaries — Mon, 17 May 2021 17:15:00 +0000

Progress Productions is a Swedish label set up in 2004 by Torny Gottberg. Torny already had some label-experience as he worked before for the legendary Energy Rekords. We still know him from his involvement with bands such as Project-X, Cryo ao. Progress Productions is the home of EBM, Dark-Electro and Electro-Pop bands such as Agent Side Grinder, Cryo, Henric De La Cour, Spark!, Necro Facility, Dupont, Code 64, Kite, Wulfband, Sturm Café, System and many more.

(Stéphane Froidcoeur / Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Was there a kind of ‘philosophy’ when you set up your label and did it evolve over the years? How would you define your label activities today?

Torny: Progress Productions started in 2004, but already before that, I had ideas of starting something of my own as I was not really happy with the way that Energy Rekords where I worked was going. I have always been more interested in building something from the very beginning and to evolve with bands while Energy Rekords in the end I felt was more about licensing stuff for the Scandinavian market.

But April 20^th, 2004 I finally took the step to form Progress Productions. I always loved the way labels like Cold Meat Industry and Ant-Zen were setup. That many bands together build sort of a family and that we grow together reaching small goals that we setup. To be honest it´s really the same way I work with the bands we have today. We never thought of ourselves as a label vs. band thing. It´s really a collaboration between label and bands. And the great thing is that so many bands have become friends over the years as we have no internal competition and that’s the way we really wanted it. The funny thing is that when I started Progress I did reach out the other labels we had in Sweden back then as the scene is so small and I had the idea that we all could maybe work together to make the scene a little bit bigger and everyone told me more or less ‘You will not have a chance, you will not last a year’ etc. Well, here we are 17 years later…

But the idea and philosophy behind the label is still exactly the same. Finding new interesting bands, working together and building slowly. I do believe in the ‘quality over quantity’ thinking. Something I think a lot of people should really think about. For me every release is of equal importance and it does not matter if it´s a newcomer no one knows about or one of our more established artists. If I have decided to work with something, it deserves my full attention, and that’s also a reason why we NEVER release more than one record at a time, so nothing drowns or disappear.

Of course, it means that we don’t have several hundred releases in our catalogue, but at least I know that every single one of the releases we have made have been given the time it deserves. So, in that way we have maybe not evolved since the start, but of course one has learned and adapted a lot since 2004, but we are 17 years in more active than ever I would say.

Q: I can imagine you must have specific and explicit criteria to sign an artist/band. Can you give us more details about this aspect and how important is it for you to know the person(s) hiding behind the ‘artist(s)’?

Torny: Well, for me it has always been really important that I like what I hear. It´s hard to explain, but there is something special I feel every time I find a new act that I want to work with. Something just clicks. After this I normally have a meeting with the band several times to get a feel for the persons behind it if it´s not someone I know since before. Just so we know where we both have each other and that we feel that we are both interested in working toward the same goal. Even though we intend to have a lot of fun together it is always mutual work to reach the goals that we set up together.

I think talent and attitude are of equal importance for me. There are several bands that I really like, but I have felt that it simply will not work out in the end and in those cases I would rather see that someone else can release it and I will support and buy it rather than to release it via Progress. Earlier I always asked the other already signed acts what they thought about something when I found something that I felt was interesting. I still do this from time to time. Of course, I will have the final word in what to do/not to do but it feels important that a new band also fits in well with the other acts and I really respect and value their opinion.

But I don’t really look to, and I really don’t give shit about how many followers a band has on Facebook or Instagram or something. This is something that we build together as we go along. Good music and great attitude gets you there… not followers on Instagram. Or at least it´s what I want to believe. That good music is the foundation for something.

Q: You are already active for numerous years now so you must have seen a lot of things changing and evolving; think about social media, streaming platforms, Youtube channels… but also economic crisis etc. What are the pros and cons of these changes/evolutions and in, which way did you had to adapt/change your strategy and activities?

Torny: Well I don’t know how many that knows this; but I also work a fulltime job within digital distribution in Sweden as a senior label manager/marketing besides Progress. I also founded Border Music’s digital distribution and at the moment we are building a brand-new independent platform for labels. So, I’m very aware of anything new that’s happening. Also, one should have in mind Spotify is a Swedish player, so I have more or less at least weekly contact with them on what’s going on etc. So, in this aspect we are of course very up-to-date on what is happening.

However, I think streaming is something that both has brought good and bad with it (like many other things) as I always have considered labels to be sort of a quality filter for music and nowadays anything can be added to these platforms and the listeners can more or less drown in material. It´s really a double-edged sword. On one hand I like it as anyone has the potential to reach people quickly and that you more or less, at least compete on similar terms. But like I said, on the other hand the scene has been overflooded with material which I think is not ready to be released yet. No quality filter, just straight out.

Of course, the whole marketing strategy has moved a lot as well. From in the early days; placing adverts in magazines (which we still do though) to doing more digital promotion. A big pro is of course that this is a cheaper and much, much, quicker way to reach people, but on the other hand it´s harder to get people’s attention nowadays than before as we are simply pumped with information. I think it´s in the movie “Seven” they say: ‘To get people’s attention nowadays you can’t just tap them on the shoulder, you need to hit them with a sledgehammer’ and in a way this is true. As record labels we also have a lot of new things that compete for consumer spending. People spend more money on other stuff than buying records. So, we as smaller independent labels are of course always struggling. But on the other hand, it´s also an interesting challenge for us. We can’t sit on our ass doing nothing we need to follow / learning / evolve with technology which I think is interesting and good.

But I still try to keep maybe not a whole foot but at least a few toes in the old-school promotional way of working, sending out physical promos etc. I think they key is ‘Don´t be afraid of changes, embrace them’. I mean look what happened with Napster. If the major labels would have understood it´s true potential directly instead of fighting them for years we would never have had any piracy. Thankfully Spotify and other services have more or less eliminated that scene. But I was never afraid of piracy and really never cared if people illegally shared files/music. You just needed to make sure that you released stuff that was WORTH buying. Not having 2-3 good songs and 10 fillers on an album. I know this might sound a little controversial, but the major labels really created this problem themselves and the independents as usual had to pay for their mistakes. And today an average person spends 110 Euro / year on a Spotify account and that’s far more money spent per person than the music scene has had for a long time. And I do believe that people that are still interestedin buying music will continue to do this. Physical sales will never disappear. I mean just look at all the vinyl selling on re-released material. Once again…. don’t be afraid…. Embrace!

Q: The ongoing pandemic has affected all artistic life and activities so what’s the true impact on your label activities and do you think it will also affect your long term objectives?

Torny: Well, a lot of things that were planned did not happen, that´s for sure. We were about to have loads of parties all over the world for our PROCD100-celebration. All of course, got cancelled. But who I really feel the most for during this pandemic are all the venues, tour personal etc. Thankfully Sweden has been pretty generous in supporting people/venues etc. with money and even though it´s not enough it´s still something but I can’t even understand how hard it must have been on them. And I really hope, to be honest that when venues are opening up, that people are not cheap asses asking for guestlists etc. A ticket is not so expensive so do support them when we all get there.

But for Progress I pretty quickly made the decision not to let Covid-19 have any effect on at least the release schedule. I think maybe now it’s more important than ever and that people need new music. Touring and the promotion will have to come later. So, no I don´t see it affecting us in the long run. We more tried our best to do something during these weird times. I created something called “One Hour With”… which is an hour where we invite fans/listeners from all over the world to join their favorite artist/band for an hour to hang out with them, ask questions etc. This has really been a huge success and people have really enjoyed it. But of course, all the bands are missing playing live a lot. But we really just need to hang in there, things will turn for the better and then we will all be back. But like I said what I really find somewhat devastating is record shops, venues, concert agencies, tour/crew personal etc. I really hope we all get the vaccine during the Summer so we can all meet and party in Autumn. However, this is still wishful thinking on my part, but I hope… I really do. Culture is important and we all need it.

Q: Do you think media (magazines, online platforms etc…) still have an impact and a role to play today? What’s your relationship with ‘journalists’ and how important is their work?

Torny:I still think this is really important. At least personally. We are operating on such a small scene so I think we as labels should be extremely grateful for ALL support that we can get. And 99% of people that work for smaller online zines/blogs etc. don’t get payed at all and most work is done on pure passion. This is something I highly respect and also a reason why I still do send physical records to quite a lot of people, at least it´s a small appreciation and something for their hard work. I’m sorry, but I can’t do it for everyone even if I wished I could so don’t feel bad if I sometimes just send you a download link. It´s very expensive for us to send stuff out. Funny enough it’s the postage costs which are the worst in this case.

With this said I don’t know what kind of impact it does have today as so many can listen on Spotify/YouTube or other streaming sites so easy, but for me (40+ year old dinosaur) I still read/check and discover things through these platforms. I try to treat all journalists fairly and nice as I know (I used to run a physical magazine myself) how much work it is behind it. Even though it´s online it´s still a shitload of work behind it. And like I said a BIG, BIGGER, BIGGEST even ENORMOUS hat off to all of you people keeping the scene alive with magazine, fanzines, blogs or podcasts etc. You are worth your weight in gold in my book. Keep up the excellent work and I promise I will try to do my part of delivering music your way.

Q: What do you consider as your biggest accomplishment(s)? Do you have specific goals/dreams you want to achieve and how do you prepare and see the future of the label(s)? And what are your biggest regret(s)?

Torny: Well, this will sound cliché like hell. But I do think every time we reach a small goal we set up and when we reach it it´s a big accomplishment. And honestly I’m always extremely humble every time someone gives me the chance to work with their art. I think this is way a record label should think. You should be grateful that people give you this chance. Even though it´s a lot of co-work they still have chosen YOU as a label to work with something they might have spent YEARS doing.

My biggest dream was however to build up a label that has a friendly attitude where we all respect each other within the label. And I could not have wished for better people to have with me on this journey. I really love all the people that are in the bands on the label. But we of course always aim to reach more people / new people and constantly develop together with the music market. But my objectives from start I think we have nailed and I’m really so grateful for this. In regard to the future of labels, I think we will see more labels like Progress in the future where you simply are not just a person that releases the music, but work with setting strategic goals/aims together with the artists. I’m not afraid of getting my hands dirty doing merchandise on festivals, being a stagehand, booking agency. The 1980/90s ‘label bosses’ I think/hope will go away and never come back.

Regrets….. hrrmmmm…. I don’t know. Maybe I could say it would have been smart doing Progress earlier in my life, but then again life is too short for regrets and you need to see the result that has come out of what/when you actually did something. It´s always better to look 1 day in the future rather than look back 1 day as we all learn as we go. If you stop feeling that you learn or loose your drive, then I see no purpose in doing this. As it´s for sure not the money that drives or motivates me running Progress Productions.

Last words: I really hope you all stay safe out there, and that we soon can catch up and enjoy together what we love the most: MUSIC. Meanwhile don’t forget to support the independent music scene. Buy something without pre-listening…. Take a chance… who knows….. it might be the BEST thing you have done. Or if you have a specific release you like…. Surprise a friend with a gift which lasts longer than a coffee or an expensive IPA….

Kammarheit – Thronal (Album – Cyclic Law)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Sat, 01 May 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Genre/Influences: Dark-Ambient.

Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl.

Background/Info: Swedish artist Pär Boström returns with a new album of Kammarheit, the fourth studio full length in twenty years of involvement.

Content: “Thronal” features 8 tracks, which from start on reveals the Dark-Ambient roots and influences of Kammarheit. From the very first seconds of the opening cut you can feel evil forces coming through. Boiling sound waves creating an extremely dark atmosphere create this sensation of solitude and desolation. Low sound resonations accentuate the impact of the work, which is really taking you by the throat. A few cuts are moving into a dark reverie, which is also the way this album comes to an end.

+ + + : Pär Boström takes care to compose his work a meticulous way. The tracks are well-crafted and supported by a dense and constant dark sound approach. I like the low tones the music has been made by and creating this irresistible visual appeal. “Thronal” feels to me as a sonic metaphor to a world in despair; a nightmarish view of abandoned places and lost souls. This visual strength creates an emotional experience, revealing the delicacy of the composition.

– – – : The tracks are somewhat similar; no real lows, but unfortunately no total climax.

Conclusion: “Thronal” is the kind of album belonging to the good-old Dark-Ambient school; a production appealing for Cold Meat Industry nostalgia.

Best songs: “Iron Bloodstream”, “Now Golden, Now Dark”, “The Two Houses”.

Rate: (8).

Artist: www.kammarheit.com / www.facebook.com/kammarheitofficial

Label: www.cycliclaw.com / www.facebook.com/cycliclaw

About Kammarheit

Kammarheit is the Swedish dark ambient project of Pär Boström, based in Umeå. Active since 2000, the project has released the albums “Asleep and Well Hidden” (2003), “The Starwheel” (2005), “The Nest” (2015), and “Thronal” (2020) through Cyclic Law and Cryo Chamber. Boström also runs the side project Cities Last Broadcast, whose debut “The Cancelled Earth” appeared on Cyclic Law in 2009, followed by releases on Cryo Chamber including “The Humming Tapes” (2016). He has collaborated repeatedly with Atrium Carceri, releasing “Black Corner Den” (2017), “Miles to Midnight” with God Body Disconnect (2018), and “Black Stage of Night” (2019). “Thronal,” reviewed here, marks his fourth full-length under the Kammarheit name.

Dawn + Dusk Entwined – Crossed Paths (Album – Aube Et Crépuscule)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 21:00:00 +0000

Genre/Influences: Cinematographic, Electro-Wave.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Dawn + Dusk Entwined has been active in between the late 90s and 2013. Driven by David Sabre, the project was mainly devoted to music styles such as Dark-Ambient and Martial music, releasing works on famous labels such as World Serpent and Cold Meat Industry. After a break of seven years the project unleashed a new opus in 2020, which has been introduced as totally different.

Content: David Sabre moved back to the 80s influences of his teen years. And that’s an element you directly recognize in the work. The strings supporting the production are pretty 80s like. The global production has something 80s Electro-Wave while the artist held on to his cinematographic approach. Both influences together create a minimal style with half-spoken like vocals on top.

+ + + : If David Sabre stopped composing it was because he was tired of the scene and the direction of his project. He in a way reinvented Dawn + Dusk Entwined, which is always a challenge. He not only reinvented the sound and approach of the project, but I think he also experimented mixing different genres together. The main influence remains Ambient/Cinematographic like, but with this Electro-Wave flavor on top. I enjoy the half-spoken like production of the vocals, which is totally matching with the sound.

– – – : The global production however sounds a bit simplistic. Film-related music doesn’t have to feature an endless number of layers, but a little bit more elaboration would have been a bonus.

Conclusion: Dawn + Dusk Entwined seems to have started a second life. I’m not totally convinced by this new work although I like the music approach.

Best songs: “The Breath Of Ishtar”, “Dédales”.

Rate: (6).

Artist & Label: www.facebook.com/Dawn-Dusk-Entwined-159502797406125

About Dawn + Dusk Entwined

Dawn + Dusk Entwined is the dark ambient and martial project of French musician David Sabre, also known for This Stranger Within and Godwin Point. Sabre self-released the debut “Myth, Faith, Belief” in 1995, then signed to World Serpent for “A Leftover Of Gaia” in 1999 and “Forever War” in 2000.

Athanor issued “Remergence” in 2003, before Sabre moved to Cold Meat Industry for “Septentrion” in 2007 and the split “Sang Graal” with Golgatha in 2008. Aube Et Crépuscule released “Cathédrales De Brume” in 2009 and “A L’aube Des Jours Anciens” in 2011, after which the project paused for seven years.

Sabre announced the project’s return in 2020 as Dawn + Dusk Entwined, with “Crossed Paths” marking a deliberate shift toward 80s-inflected electro-wave. He also revived the side-project This Stranger Within the same year.

‘Click Interview’ with Paranoia Inducta: ‘We Are Living In The World Of Soulless Technique And Dehumanized People’

Inferno Sound Diaries — Thu, 07 Jan 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Anthony Armageddon Destroyer set up PARANOIA INDUCTA in 2003. His first productions were released in his homeland, Poland, on Beast Of Prey. More albums got released by Old Temple, Noctivagant, Eden Records, Speculum Diaboli Records and the newest work on Heerwegen Tod Production. After some split releases he now strikes back with a new album, which is the final chapter of a trilogy that is meant as a tribute ‘to all those people who died, were killed, deceived, humiliated or stalked by the Catholic Church’. „Viri Probi” features eight tracks and is a great piece of Dark-Ambient / Ritual music. This interview is meant as an introduction to the sound universe of this fascinating project.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Can you briefly remind us the way you got in touch with dark music styles
and what was your initial goal when setting up PARANOIA INDUCTA?

Destroyer: In the early 90s I got a cassette with an unknown to me recording MZ.412 (Maschinenzimmer 412 – “Macht Durch Stimme”). My confrontation with this music caused a really great shock and also a reaction which could not be controlled or stopped. It was just like opening a new space, new music regions and totally different dimension. It began a new stage in the perception of sounds in me. I was looking for similar climates and then I found other performers from independent labels such as Cold Meat Industry, Old Europa Café or Fluttering Dragon Records. At the same time the thirst for musical experimentation was born in me, in my soul and heart. After a few years of evolution my interest has been taken into a material form and then my project Paranoia Inducta was born.

Q: How do you see yourself as musician/artist? I mean what are your sources of inspiration? Do you’ve referential artists and how do you proceed to compose your music?

Destroyer: Well, I must say I do not feel myself like a musician or an artist at all. Creating music, composing is just like catharsis to me. It allows me to relieve my repressed and secret emotions, embarrassed thoughts and my imagination. What inspires me the most is the surrounding world and reality. Just look around… we are living in the world of soulless technique and dehumanized people. Madness and insanity are overwhelming us more and more every day. Human emotional sphere is changing quickly and now we are fascinated by world of illusions, which changes our relationships, our views and behavior. There is no one ready recipe and specific order for my work. It is created spontaneously. When I got a theme, main topic and something intrigues me then I start theoretical (sometimes it could be a book for example) and practical (sounds, samples) preparations. Then I finally put it all together and this is very hard work.

Q: You recently released the album “Viri Probi”, which is the final chapter of a trilogy about all kinds of victims of the Catholic church. What incited you to set up this concept and how did you accomplish the different albums?

Destroyer: “Viri Probi” is the third and the last part of “Lux Mundi”. Initially it was supposed to be a single album, but I did not imagine I would have composed so much material. However, the subject matter was very extensive and I have been interested in history of Christianity for a long time.It made me deciding to release the conceptual material as a trilogy titled “Lux Mundi” which reveals the eagerly hidden secrets of the Catholic Church. The trilogy tells also about the events, which are hidden or just ignored by church servants.It is impossible not to mention here my great guests who helped me so much with my work: eLL (vocal), Hekte Zaren (vocal), Robert Marciniak (keybords).

Q: Your homeland has a reputation being an ultra Catholic county, which I think makes this concept even more interesting, but still tricky. What’s your deeper perception about?

Destroyer: I think every religion is evil. This is only an institution full of prohibitions and orders. The main goal of every religion is manipulation and making people feel fearful. People who create this institution want only power and money and they look after their own interests. They are false and full of jealousy and hatred. Religion imposes on man trivial philosophical concepts of life and death, does not tolerate others and fakes the image of reality. It terrorizes us with terrible threats, captivates mentally and economically, disregards honest science and definitely favors racism and anti-Semitism. Religion encourages people to suffer while its officers lead very luxurious life.

Q: Tell us a bit more about the writing and production of “Viri Probi”? How did this album took shape? What have been the main difficulties you encountered and what makes you proud about it?

Destroyer: Most of the “Viri Probi” material was registered years ago. The album has been quietly waited for 14 years (then the first part of the trilogy was released) for the right moment. Nowadays the topic has become very current because of the situation in our country and I decided to present the album. My great dream was to release “Viri Probi” in the same graphic design as former albums “Gloria Laus” and “Pia Fraus”. They were released as non-standard limited editions –booklets packed in sealed envelopes with special marks. Unfortunately this did not happen and I regret it very much. In the meantime, Beast Of Prey –label which released my albums, stopped their activities.

Q: You’ve released different split releases so what do you like in this format and the work with other artists? What brings the future?

Destroyer: As a matter of fact I do not like splits or compilations. I definitely prefer working on full albums. In my case there are always conceptual albums dedicated to a specific topic. Recently, however I made two splits, which I am very happy with: DeepDark & Paranoia Inducta –“Mind Games” and Corona Barathri & Paranoia Inducta – “Atra Mors”. The effect is very satisfying and the cooperation with my Russian Friends was a great experience and adventure. Upcoming plans include a split with two projects: Sealed in Blood and Simulacra. Apart from that I am just finishing mastering of the latest Paranoia Inducta full album “Into Eternal Darkness”. This time it will be a story about confusion, loneliness, lack of hope and death wish. I would like to add immodestly this is the best material I have ever been able to register.

‘Click Interview’ with Rome: ‘I Am Not Letting Anything Out Of My Hands’

Inferno Sound Diaries — Mon, 19 Oct 2020 17:00:49 +0000

Luxemburg artist Jérôme Reuter, this year celebrates the fifteenth anniversary of his ROME project. The band rapidly gained a name in the neo-folk scene by the early works released on the defunct Cold Meat Industry. Rome next moved to Trisol while the music progressively evolved, touching ground with different music genres. The new album “The Lone Furrow” features numerous guest artists like Alan Averill (Primordial), Adam Nergal Darski (Behemoth/Me And That Man), Laure Le Prunenec (Rïcïnn), Joseph D. Rowland (Pallbearer) and J.J. (Harakiri For TheSky). The work is a critical perception of the world we’re living in and sounds as a sonic osmosis between Dark-Chanson and Neo-Folk with bombastic arrangements on top and multiple guest singers. “The Lone furrow” is one more masterpiece in the impressive discography of the artist.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: More than any other album, “The Lone Furrow” appears to be Jérôme Reuter with guests/friends. What incited you to write this ‘collaborative’ album and did you handle specific criteria to work with those guests?

Jérôme: I did not really write it as a collaborative album. That idea came later. I wrote the songs and then I tried to find people to enhance and diversify it as much as possible, without changing the essence of my song. I am not letting anything out of my hands.

Q: What inspired you to write this new work and how did you transpose the ideas into music and lyrics? What have been the different stages you’d to go through?

Jérôme: I do not even know how to answer that, to be honest. Many themes on this one have been close to my heart for many years, and it just took some time to put it all in place and to see what kind of songs to even consider for tackling the subject matter. In essence, it is a very spontaneous and visceral way of writing, but I use elements that I am collecting over a long period of time…

Q: I got the impression you seriously boosted the orchestral arrangements on this work resulting in some great cinematographic passages. Did you focus on this -and/or any other specific aspect?

Jérôme: When I start out with a record, I have a vision of what it should sound like. Or rather, I know what I want to make myself (as the listener) feel. And then I use whatever means necessary to achieve that goal. Sometimes that means orchestral work, sometimes more industrial… whatever serves the purpose.

Q: Your albums are always pretty engaged and often a critical reflection about society and the world we’re living in. From that point of view I would like to know how you perceive the Covid-19 pandemic? Dystopia seems to become reality don’t you think?

Jérôme: Dystopia is a reality, Covid is only accelerating the process, in my opinion. The pandemic is one thing, but how this age of (dis)information deals with it is another thing.

Q: There’s an interesting connection to make between the Covid-19 pandemic and one of your favorite writers, Albert Camus and his legendary novel “La Peste” (“The Plague”). Do you see similarities?

Jérôme: Yes, in many ways, but more on the political side, to be fair. I think I should have that press release altered, though, cause, as much as I like him, he is not at the top of my list. I much prefer Genet and Bloy (if we stick to French literature).

Q: Because of the pandemic, artistic life has been seriously affected, but I noticed you got the opportunity to play live again. I can imagine it must be totally different from the past, but how was it for you? And what might we expect from the announced tour?

Jérôme: I am not even sure there WILL be a tour, as financially, a classic tour does not work anymore. There are just not enough people allowed in for anyone to cover the costs… Only time can tell how things will evolve. For now I am playing the odd solo show here and there, but it is really not comparable to what my job used to be like.

Q: Your album got only positive reviews, but what importance do you give to reviews? In which way a review can be constructive or inspiring for an artist? And how critical are you with your own composition/work?

Jérôme: I am very critical with my own work, so once I decide I am done with it and release it out into the world, it is not my responsibility anymore. People will hear what they will hear – it is beyond my control, and I try not to care what people write in reviews.

The neoclassical act Dawn & Dusk Entwined is dead, long live Dawn + Dusk Entwined – check the new album

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Tue, 06 Oct 2020 17:16:14 +0000

The French neoclassical act Dawn & Dusk Entwined aka David Sabre is back, albeit under a slightly different name: Dawn + Dusk Entwined. The project had been silent for over 7 years but is now returning with a brand new album: “Crossed paths” to be released on October 25.

Whereas in the past you could expect heavily atmospheric and dynamic soundscapes, mixing cinematic dark ambience with rhythms and orchestrations, musically Sabre decided to leave the martial rhythms away and welcome some kind of ‘new wave’ feeling.

You can listen to the tracks below.

Crossed paths by Dawn & Dusk Entwined

Dawn & Dusk Entwined debuted on World Serpent in 1999 and then was signed to Cold Meat Industry before taking a pause in 2013. Sabre was basically tired of the musical scene and unsatisfied with the direction his project was going. This is now the first full length album since “A l’aube des jours anciens” was released in november 2011.

www.facebook.com/Arcana-Sweden-184871171542874

Arcana – Inner Pale Sun (Album – Cyclic Law)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 19:30:38 +0000

Genre/Influences: Dark-ambient, cinematographic, neo-classic.

Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl.

Background/Info: “Inner Pale sun” was the fourth full length album released by Arcana. The original edit was released in 2002 on the great Cold Meat Industry. It also was the last Arcana full length released on CMI. Cyclic Law continues to re-releasing the band’s back catalogue, “Inner Pale Sun” being now available for the very first time on vinyl and featuring an extra song.

Content: This work brings us back to the most creative and successful years of this unique formation. The work will for sure appeal to fans of Dead Can Dance, but globally speaking Arcana sounds darker and especially more obscure. Some tracks are clearly mixing dark-ambient and even ritual music together, creating a kind of mystic sphere. Peter Pettersson’s (later named Peter Bjärgö) deep timbre of voice also is a specificity of Arcana’s work while the female chants and voices by Ann-Mari Thim injected an extra mysterious touch on top of the work.

+ + + : It’s hard to say, which Arcana album is my favorite one, but “Inner Pale Sun” definitely belongs to the best works ever released by this Swedish master. The atmosphere hanging over the work is simply unique; it feels a bit like it gets you in its grip. The bombast and epic arrangements are just sublime while at the other side, like a contradiction, the songs have been accomplished with subtle sound arrangements. You find a similar contrast –although it rather appears to be complementary, in the male-and female vocals. The album has something magic and that’s also because of the use of acoustic instruments like the dulcimer. But the best is yet to come as the bonus track entitled “Body Of Sin” (only featured on the CD and digital format) appears to be the best cut from the work. Next to the mystic sphere of the song, there also is a great neo-folk guitar running through it.

– – – : I’m not always convinced by revisiting the back catalogue of a band, but I have to admit it’s an opportunity to rediscover treasures from the past.

Conclusion: “Inner Pale Sun” definitely is an essential album in the Arcana discography.

Best songs: “Body Of Sin”, “My Cold Sea”, “Lovelorn”, “Icons”, “Closure”.

Rate: (8½).

Artist: www.erebusodora.net/arcana /

Label: www.cycliclaw.com / www.facebook.com/cycliclaw

About Arcana

Arcana is a Swedish dark ambient and neo-classical project led by Peter Bjärgö, known for the interplay between Bjärgö’s baritone and singer Ann-Mari Thim’s soprano. “Inner Pale Sun” (2002) was the project’s fourth album and its last release on Cold Meat Industry before Arcana moved to Cyclic Law, which has since reissued the band’s catalogue on vinyl, including the sixth album “Raspail” in 2022.

Rome – The Lone Furrow (Album – Trisol)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Sat, 15 Aug 2020 19:30:25 +0000

Genre/Influences: Chanson, cinematographic, neo-folk.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Hailing from Luxemburg, Rome, the project set up by Jérôme Reuter, this year celebrates its fifteenth anniversary. The band rapidly gained a name in the neo-folk scene by the early works released on the defunct Cold Meat Industry. Rome next moved to Trisol while the music progressively evolved, touching ground with different music genres. “The Lone Furrow” is Rome’s newest work, which comes as a (new) critical perception of the world we’re living in.

Content: One of the main elements of this work is the presence of multiple guest artists. Some of them like Alan Averill (Primordial) and Adam Nergal Darski (Behemoth/Me And That Man) are active in the wider fields of metal music. Other guests areLaure Le Prunenec(Rïcïnn),Joseph D. Rowland (Pallbearer) and J.J. (Harakiri For TheSky).

Sound-wise the album is getting back to the influences from the past few years, which means elements of dark-chanson and neo-folk, but the global production has been seriously boosted by impressive bombastic arrangements. There also is a more cinematic part running through the work. The songs have been mainly sung in English, but Jérôme is also singing in French and German. The contributions of numerous guest singers injects some extra diversity to the album.

+ + + : Rome has released an impressive number of works over the past 15 years and I’m each again surprised by the quality and artistic level of the work. Jérôme Reuter is not repeating himself; he’s in a constant move and tries to accentuate each of his productions with different elements. He on this time realized a new tour de force mixing different influences from his career thus far. The overwhelming orchestral treatments are impressive and very powerful. This bombast sounds a bit like the red line throughout the work. The diversity of the singers is also a noticeable element. I’ve to mention the song “Achtung, Baby” (which is a wink to the legendary U2 album) featuring Alan Averill. But one of the absolute highlights is without a shadow of doubt “The Angry Cup” featuring Adam Nergal Darski. “On Albion’s Plain” is just Jérôme Reuter and himself, but it also is a brilliant song. Some of the songs and Jérôme timbre of voice are once again evoking Nick Cave to me, but the work also reveals cool cinematic passages.

– – – : I don’t have real minor points, this artist just moving on his artistic voyage accomplishing a new masterpiece.

Conclusion: Rome remains a prolific project, but the quality of each production remains top-notch.

Best songs: “The Angry Cup”, “Achtung, Baby!”, “On Albion’s Plain”, “Kaili Yuga Über Alles”, “Tyriat Sig Tyrias”.

Rate: (8½).

Artist: www.facebook.com/romeproject

Label: www.trisol.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Trisol-Music-Group/104166526285471 Read the news on ‘The Lone Furrow’.

About Rome

Rome is the project of Luxembourg-based musician Jérôme Reuter, marking its fifteenth anniversary this year. Early releases came out on Cold Meat Industry before the project moved to Trisol.

“The Lone Furrow” features guest contributions from Alan Averill (Primordial), Adam “Nergal” Darski of Behemoth and Me And That Man, Laure Le Prunenec (Rïcïnn), Joseph D. Rowland (Pallbearer) and J.J. of Harakiri For The Sky.

‘Click Interview’ with Oestergaards: ‘An Almost Morbid Fascination For Dystopia’

Inferno Sound Diaries — Sat, 09 May 2020 17:00:52 +0000

Oestergaards is the solo-project from Swedish artist Tomas Östergårds. The dark-ambient sound of Oesteraagrds evokes the golden years of Cold Meat Industry. There’s a similar taste for dark- and obscure atmospheres. I got the opportunity to discover this artist by his debut album “Rötterna” (2018). There’s a new EP out now entitled “Moloken”, which has been released on Tomas’ own label Dovle. The title of this production can be translated as ‘depressed’, ‘distressed’, ‘sad’, ‘melancholy’… The themes have been transposed into an anguishing and sinister piece of music confirming the talent of this artist. If you like dark-ambient music you for sure gone like Oestergaards.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Can you briefly introduce us to the universe of Oestergaards and what’s your personal background related to music?

Tomas: Good question, what is Oestergaards’ universe? I’ve never thought about it. I would say a step into my deepest thoughts and my emotional world, my main form of expression. Oestergaards is simply the gloomier side of myself. A world where there are no boundaries, no right or wrong, unrestrained and free. A place that I enjoy.

When I was growing up in the 80s and 90s, I got in touch with the electronic music scene. I was fascinated and became a big fan of the early industrial music scene. I discovered the Swedish record label Cold Meat Industry in the early 90s and fell in love with their obscure and uncompromising releases, I had never heard anything like it. A whole new world opened to me as a teenager from the northern countryside in Sweden. Some of my favorites were, and still are, Aghast, Brighter Death Now, Deutsch Nepal, Raison d’être and Desiderii Marginis.

During most of the 00s and 10s, I played guitar and sang in various bands, some kind of folk-rock and country-punk, believe it or not. None of the bands released anything. The electronic music fell a bit into oblivion during that time, but have fortunately found a way back into my life. You could say that the circle is finally closed.

Q: I found an interesting quote on your site claiming ‘A dystopian world of sound with essences of Hälsinglands rural society and the desire to get away from the traditional trodden musical paths’. Tell us a bit more about this goal and what don’t you like in ‘traditional musical paths’?

Tomas: After almost twenty years in different bands, I was totally tired of adapting to other band members, I guess we became adults and other things became more important than playing in bands. Like milking cows and raising children. At the same time, I also got tired of the traditional ways of creating and writing music. You know verse / chorus / verse / chorus / bridge / chorus and so on. It was totally uninspiring. I searched for something new, bought some synths and effects pedals and started improvising abstract soundscapes. At the same time I rediscovered artists I’ve listened to in my youth and I wanted to do something similar, but in my own way. I spent two years testing and learning the gear before I started recording what eventually became ‘Rötterna’.

Q: Your music is clearly inspired by the darkest side of ambient music. What inspires and drives you to ‘go dark’ and what do you want to express this way?

Tomas: I have always been drawn to dark expressions in music, art, film and literature. I have an almost morbid fascination for dystopia. It’s not hard to find inspiration today, just go out on random social media and you’ll find just about anything. There are dystopian and dark tendencies everywhere, politically, socially, religiously and culturally. It’s easy to get depressed. I try not to read on social media or see news on TV, because there is a huge risk that my brain will overheat. The idea with Oestergaards has always been to provide a soundtrack to our present and near future, seen from a rather pessimistic point of view. I don’t want to be pessimistic, but it’s hard not to be, when we’re surrounded by idiots. The only thing I can do is to ignore it as much as possible and to be creative. Express it in my way.

Q: Your latest work “Moloken” has been introduced as ‘a kind of psychic exorcism, a settlement with depression and anxiety’. It all looks like it must have been a very personal work. Can you give us some details and how did you transpose a state of being into sounds and songs?

Tomas: Yes, “Moloken” is a very personal one. After struggling with mental illnesses such as exhaustion, depression, anxiety and social anxiety for many years came a turning point in my life where I began to feel much better. I started going to a very good psychologist, training Muai Thai and met a wonderful partner. I felt that I wanted to have a musical ending with that time in my life. A kind of ritual to leave that darkness behind me. Musically, it was a process of finding appropriate sounds, field recordings, samples and voices. You can hear me breathing and mumbling from real anxiety attacks, lonely sighs and wheezing out invoked spells to get rid of the torments. I have tried to recreate the feeling in the body during a depression through icy sounds, the shaking of the grumble, the heavy squeezing bass and panic-roaring noise. But also the calm and apathy that comes after a seizure. The sound of walking alone in the woods, trampling on stones and dried branches. The sound of a sizzling radio as if you were the last person on earth. Looking out over an abandoned world.

Q: I noticed Simon Heath did the mastering of “Moloken”. I can imagine “Moloken” could have been released on his label (Cryo Chamber) while you finally self-released it on Dovle Records. How comes and what are the plans and aims with Dovle Records?

Tomas: I don’t know, I never asked Simon to release it. But I don’t think that “Moloken” fits into Cryo Chamber’s concept of themes and cinematic soundscapes, it lacks storytelling in that way. I wanted him to master the record and he said yes. I have great respect for Simon and love his various projects, the collaboration between him (Atrium Carceri) and Pär Boström (Cities Last Broadcast) is probably the finest in the whole dark-ambient community in my opinion. For me it was interesting to hear how the songs would end up sounding through Simon’s ears, he is a true professional and he did an excellent job.

I wanted “Moloken” to be the first release on my own label. The reason I started Dovle Records was because I want to have a label to release my music on, both as Oestergaards and upcoming side-projects. Where I have full control over the creative and artistic process, where I can set my own deadlines, be spontaneous and don’t have to rely on anyone else. I like to work fast, from recording to release. One example is my latest release “Borrowed Time (A Collection of Forgotten Obscurities)” which was released only digital via Bandcamp a couple of weeks ago. A compilation album with live tracks and old improvisations. It took three days to release, from idea, selection, cutting the tracks, to mastering, produce the artwork and finally release it.

I have never reached out to the bigger record companies to release my music. Sure, I’ve been thinking about, but it hasn’t come to me. Maybe I’ll do that for my first full length album. Of course, if anyone is interested, it would be interesting to release my records on a larger label. I’m always open to collaborations and new experiences.

Q: Your debut album “Rötterna” (2018) was released on digital platforms and cassette format. The contrast between streaming and cassette is quite interesting; something modern and trendy at one side and a pure underground format at the other side. I would like to get your opinion about it and especially about artists moving back to cassette and vinyl?

Tomas: For me, music has always been important in physical formats. I want a product to hold and smell. The reason “Rötterna” was released on cassette was mostly because it was fun. And a cost issue. I don’t even own a cassette player. In my world, vinyl is the ultimate format, both in terms of sound and cover. “Moloken” both sounds and looks better on vinyl, I think. I try to buy as much vinyl records I can afford from artists I like. The number of artists releasing vinyl just seems to increase, to my delight. Then I have to say that streaming is a fantastic complement, to always be able to bring good music, wherever you are.

Oestergaards – Moloken (mini Album – Dovle)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Wed, 08 Apr 2020 19:30:26 +0000

Genre/Influences: Dark-ambient.

Format: Digital, vinyl.

Background/Info: I got the opportunity to discover the debut album of this Swedish dark-ambient artist. The album “Rötterna” was an impressive debut reminding me of the golden years of Cold Meat Industry. This new work features five compositions and has been released on the artist’s brand-new label, which is meant to release Oestergaards’ productions plus side-projects. “Moloken” is a kind of psychic exorcism, ‘a settlement with depression and anxiety’. Notice by the way the album has been mastered by Simon Heath (Atrium Carceri).

Content: “Rötterna” already was a total surprise and “Moloken” only confirms the writing skills of this artist. The songs again remind me of some masters of dark-ambient music. It’s the kind of album that would have found its place at the CMI-roster. The visitor feels like trespassing a danger zone, which is created by the strength of obscure sound waves, humming sounds and multiple little noises and effects. Voices have been used as an extra effect, empowering the ghost-like sensation of “Moloken”.

+ + + : Oestergaards simply confirms being one of the ‘next big things’ in the dark-ambient world. The compositions are elaborated and animated by multiple sonic details creating an imaginary sonic labyrinth of horror and despair. The work has a strong visual appeal, bringing feelings of angst and loneliness alive. Oestergaards stands for torment and in a way perfectly transposes the fetish theme of illness into an ambient masterpiece. The last track (cf. “Stavsberget (No Horizon Left)” is a brilliant apotheosis to this mini-album.

– – – : The work is maybe missing a total climax, but globally speaking there’s no reason to complaining.

Conclusion: The title of the album is a Swedish word, which can be translated as ‘depressed’, ‘distressed’, ‘sad’, ‘melancholy’… which has been remarkably adapted into a fascinating dark-ambient trip.

Best songs: “Stavsberget (No Horizon Left)”, “Dihovle (The Whining of Ordinary People)”, “Moloken”.

Rate: (8).

Artist: www .oestergaards .net / www .facebook .com /oestergaards

Label: www.facebook.com/Dovle-Records-2333543083365903

About Oestergaards

Oestergaards is a Swedish dark-ambient artist, born in 1977 and based in Älvkarleby, with a background as a festival organizer. The project debuted with the album “Rötterna” (2018) and the “Maal Niir” EP (2018) on the artist’s own label Dovle Records, the same label behind “Moloken”. A remix set, “Marianergraven (Remixed Pt. 2)”, followed in 2020, and the album “Öde Verser” was released via Fluttering Dragon in 2024.

Oestergaards discussed “Moloken” in a Click Interview with Side-Line the following month.

Dahlia’s Tear – Across The Shifting Abyss (Album – Cryo Chamber)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Fri, 13 Mar 2020 21:00:21 +0000

Genre/Influences: Dark-cinematographic, dark-ambient.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Swedish ambient musician Anile D. is striking back with the sixth full length album of his Dahlia’s Tear project. It’s the second work released by Cryo Chamber while some of you might remember his “Dreamsphere” album released in 2012 by the now defunct Cold Meat Industry. This opus embarks the listener on an imaginary trip ‘from the abyss to the portal of the stars. Come drown in ancient knowledge and technology at the end of humanity’s beginning…’.

Content: The album features 9 cuts taking off with an overwhelming mix of drones, cinematic atmospheres, dark sound waves and some delicate electronic treatments. It in a way perfectly symbolizes the entire album. There’s an anguishing, but dreamy sensation emerging from the tracks, which from time to time –but definitely for the last track, are moving crescendo to an apocalyptic vision. Even if you feel there’s a danger nearby the album has something relaxing, like revealing a dark prosperity.

+ + + : I feel a strong sensitive aspect emerging at the surface of this album. It feels a bit like the composer wants to share his most inner thoughts and visions with his audience. The secret lies in little details adding refinement and elegance to the work. There are numerous beautiful passages running through the work, but especially the very last cut (cf. “A Pale Shroud Of Time”) is a brilliant exposure of this artist’s composing skills. This track is also more elaborate than the others so there’s no better final.

– – – : Dahlia’s Tear is not exactly innovating and that’s maybe a bit symbolic for Cryo Chamber, but on the other side “Across The Shifting Abyss” is a meaningful work.

Conclusion: It’s intriguing to realize that dark, frightening music production can also illustrate grace and beauty! This is an album I highly recommend to all lovers of cinematic experiences.

Best songs: “A Pale Shroud Of Time”, “The Wreck Of The Forgotten”, “Sidereal Gardens”, “Celestial Bodies”.

Rate: (8).

Artist: www .dahliastearband .com / www .facebook .com /dahliastear

Label: www .cryochamberlabel .com / www .facebook .com /CryoChamber

About Dahlia’s Tear

Dahlia’s Tear is the solo dark-ambient project of Swedish musician Anile D., based in Stockholm. Earlier albums, including “Dreamsphere” (2012), were released on Cold Meat Industry before the project moved to Cryo Chamber. “Across The Shifting Abyss” is Dahlia’s Tear’s sixth full-length album. Anile D. followed it with the album “Adrift On The Edge Of Infinity” in 2022, also on Cryo Chamber.

Gothica founder returns with new Shadoworld album – preview the album here

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Wed, 20 Nov 2019 15:51:11 +0000

“Desertland” is the all new album for Shadoworld, which is actually the duo consisting of Roberto Del Vecchio and Old Boy aka Claudio Carluccio. Especially Roberto Del Vecchio will ring a bell, he is an Italian composer since 1994 and founded projects such as Gothica (Cold Meat Industry), The Last Hour (Other Voices Records / Seventh Crow Records) and Les Jumeaux Discordants (Athanor Records). Claudio Carluccio from his side is an Italian multi-instrumentalist he worked with various musicians.

Shadoworld debuted in 2017 with a self titled album on The White Room Netlabel, followed by the “Silver Rain” in 2018.

On “Desertland” you can expect dark folk with a touch of western style and modern electronica, combined with neo-classical. The band’s label describes it as music that “in some parts reminds of Nick Cave, Death in June, Depeche Mode, Johnny Cash, Ennio Morricone, Mark Lanegan.”

Check it for yourself below.

Mortiis releases album teaser for ‘Spirit Of Rebellion’ – US tour announced

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Thu, 14 Nov 2019 12:25:58 +0000

As we reported earlier, Mortiis has announced the release of “Spirit Of Rebellion”, a re-interpreted expansion and continuation of the 1994 Era I classic “Ånden som Gjorde Opprør”. “Spirit Of Rebellion” is set for release on January 24th, 2020 via Omnipresence Productions / Dead Seed Productions.

Today Mortiis launched a brand new album teaser for “Spirit Of Rebellion” which you can see below.

Mortiis: “I had to fend off a lot of demons to get to this point. They’ll be back, they always come back, but at least my vision is no longer clouded…When I was working on re-interpreting my old music for the Cold Meat Industry festival in Stockholm almost two years ago, I had no idea that I´d eventually create an (almost) new record, nor that a section of it would be used for my first Dungeon Synth video since 1996. But here we are.”

Check also the recently released video clip for “Visions of an Ancient Future” which gives a first taste of things to come for the re-interpreted music of “Spirit Of Rebellion”.

US tour

In early 2020 Mortiis will be returning to North America for an Era I headline run, supported by avant-garde black metal hybrid T.O.M.B. The 14-date strong US tour kicks off on 24th January @ The Whiskey Junction in Minneapolis and finishes on 08th February @ San Francisco’s legendary DNA Lounge.

24 Jan The Whiskey Junction – Minneapolis (MN)
25 Jan Reggies – Chicago (IL)
26 Jan Civic Music Hall – Toledo (OH)
27 Jan The Masquerade (Purgatory) – Atlanta (GA)
28 Jan The Orpheum – Tampa (FL)
30 Jan White Oak Music Hall – Houston (TX)
31 Jan Come and Take it Live! – Austin (TX)
01 Feb Gas Monkey Bar & Grill – Dallas (TX)
02 Feb The Riot Room – Kansas City (MO)
03 Feb Oriental Theater – Denver (CO)
05 Feb Club Red – Meza (AZ)
06 Feb Brick by brick – San Diego (CA)
07 Feb Catch One (Underground) – Los Angeles (CA)
08 Feb DNA Lounge – San Francisco (CA)

Mortiis announces new release: ‘Spirit Of Rebellion’ + 2020 US tourdates announced

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Thu, 17 Oct 2019 08:05:39 +0000

The undisputed inventor of dungeon synth, Mortiis is set to release “Spirit Of Rebellion” which is in fact a re-interpreted expansion and continuation of the 1994 Era I classic “Ånden som Gjorde Opprør”. “Spirit Of Rebellion” will be released on CD, vinyl and digital format and physical pre-orders will be available from Dead Seed Productions.

Says Mortiis about the release: “I had to fend off a lot of demons to get to this point. They’ll be back, they always come back, but at least my vision is no longer clouded…When I was working on re-interpreting my old music for the Cold Meat Industry festival in Stockholm almost two years ago, I had no idea that I´d eventually create an (almost) new record, nor that a section of it would be used for my first Dungeon Synth video since 1996. But here we are.”

Check out the recently released video clip for “Visions of an Ancient Future” which gives a first taster of things to come for the re-interpreted music of “Spirit Of Rebellion”.

US tour in 2020

In early 2020 Mortiis will be returning to North America for an Era I headline run, supported by avant-garde black metal hybrid T.O.M.B.. The 14-date strong US tour kicks off on 24th January at The Whiskey Junction in Minneapolis and finishes on 8th February at San Francisco’s legendary DNA Lounge. Tickets to all shows are on sale now at right here. Read the review of ‘Spirit Of Rebellion’.

24 Jan The Whiskey Junction Minneapolis (MN)
25 Jan Reggies Chicago (IL)
26 Jan Civic Music Hall Toledo (OH)
27 Jan The Masquerade (Purgatory) Atlanta (GA)
28 Jan The Orpheum Tampa (FL)
30 Jan White Oak Music Hall Houston (TX)
31 Jan Come and Take it Live! Austin (TX)
01 Feb Gas Monkey Bar & Grill Dallas (TX)
02 Feb The Riot Room Kansas City (MO)
03 Feb Oriental Theater Denver (CO)
05 Feb Club Red Meza (AZ)
06 Feb Brick by brick San Diego (CA)
07 Feb Catch One (Underground) Los Angeles (CA)
08 Feb DNA Lounge San Francisco (CA)

Raison D’Être – Enthraled By The Wind Of Loneliness (Vinyl 2 Albums – Cyclic Law / Old Europa Cafe)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Sat, 04 May 2019 20:00:13 +0000

Genre/Influences: Dark-ambient, dark-cinematographic, ritual.

Background/Info: After the vinyl (re)release of Raison D’Être’s debut album on Cold Meat Industry “Prospectus I”, Cyclic Law now releases the second one, “Enthraled By The Wind Of Loneliness” for the very first time on vinyl as well. And just as its predecessor it got also re-released in 2013 by Old Europa Cafe. The songs have been again remastered by Peter Andersson while we also get 4 bonus cuts.

Content: This work moves on there where “Prospectus I” stopped. The dark-ambient, industrial, experimental and dark-cinematic influences have been picked up again while the composition is more elaborated. It still sounds icy and freaky-like while the ritual passages appeal for the darkest thoughts of our imagination.

+ + + : And here again you can realize why Peter Andersson is considered as a genius in the dark-ambient music genre. His compositions have a very strong visual appeal and the images you might figure have something tormenting. The ritual side of the work accentuated by sacred elements like bells and choirs are leading the listener towards stupor, but that’s precisely the experience we want to live while listening to this music. The atmosphere created by Raison D’Être is mysterious, but still hostile.

– – – : If you consider this album has been originally released in 1994 and still has a great impact more than 20 years later, you probably will have to agree it’s a masterpiece. The only thing I can say is that it not my favorite Raison D’Être in history, but there are still more albums that have to be released on vinyl format…

Conclusion: The sound of Raison D’Être is comparable to a spider patiently spinning its web to catch innocent victims.

Best songs: “The Narrow Gate”, “Spiraal”, “Sophrosyne”.

Rate: (8).

Artist: https ://raison –detre .info / www .facebook .com /raisondetreofficial

Labels: www .cycliclaw .com / www .facebook .com /cycliclaw

About Raison D’Être

Raison D’Être is the dark-ambient project of Swedish musician Peter Andersson, active since the early 1990s and historically associated with Cold Meat Industry. The project’s debut album, “Prospectus I”, appeared on Cold Meat Industry in 1993, followed by “Enthraled By The Wind Of Loneliness” in 1994. Both albums were reissued on CD with bonus tracks, “Prospectus I” by Old Europa Cafe in 2003 and “Enthraled By The Wind Of Loneliness” in 2013. Cyclic Law and Old Europa Cafe announced vinyl reissues of both albums in October 2018. “Enthraled By The Wind Of Loneliness”, reviewed here, is the album’s first-ever vinyl edition, limited to 300 copies and remastered by Andersson with four bonus tracks not on the original release.

Raison D’Être – Prospectus I (Vinyl 2 Albums – Cyclic Law / Old Europa Cafe)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Sat, 04 May 2019 19:00:31 +0000

Genre/Influences: Dark-ambient, dark-cinematographic, ritual.

Background/Info: Raison D’Être is a dark-ambient project, which is for a long time considered as one of the major projects in the genre. Set up by Peter Andersson, Raison D’Être gained recognition through the early productions released on Cold Meat Industry. “Prospectus I” was the first official album released on Cold Meat Industry (1993) and, which for its 20^th anniversary in 2003 got a redux version on Old Europa Cafe featuring multiple bonus tracks. And now for the very first time the work has been released on vinyl by Cyclic Law. The original songs have also been remastered.

Content: The early sound featured at “Prospectus I” features all familiar elements that would make become Raison D’Être one of the absolute dark-ambient phenomenon in history. It’s not only a dark-ambient experience, but still a ritual-one empowered by the numerous Gregorian chants, choirs passages, speeches, bells ao. Industrial sound treatments, field recordings and epic arrangements are easily recognizable and were the basis of the later successful releases.

+ + + : Raison D’Être revealed on this debut album on Cold Meat Industry why Peter Andersson has been considered as a visionary artist in his genre. He created very proper sound DNA mixing dark-ambient, cinematic and ritual elements together. The result is cold and frightening and even featuring disturbing passages. The compositions are elaborated while the four bonus cuts make this vinyl format even more interesting.

– – – : The vinyl format definitely is the single good reason to purchase this record. We already know the “Prospectus I”-album while the bonus cuts also appeared on the 2013-edit on Old Europa Cafe.

Conclusion: The destiny of all great artists and influential albums is that they’re re-released at regular basis. This vinyl format is available in two different editions, but both are strictly limited so this is stuff for collectors.

Best songs: “Ordeal In Chapel” , “Cenotaphium”, “Chalixtins”.

Rate: (8).

Artist: https ://raison –detre .info / www .facebook .com /raisondetreofficial

Labels: www .cycliclaw .com / www .facebook .com /cycliclaw Read the news on ‘Prospectus I’.

About Raison D’Être

Raison D’Être is the dark-ambient project of Swedish musician Peter Andersson, active since the early 1990s and historically associated with Cold Meat Industry. The project’s debut album, “Prospectus I”, appeared on Cold Meat Industry in 1993, followed by “Enthraled By The Wind Of Loneliness” in 1994. Both albums were reissued on CD with bonus tracks, “Prospectus I” by Old Europa Cafe in 2003 and “Enthraled By The Wind Of Loneliness” in 2013. Cyclic Law and Old Europa Cafe announced vinyl reissues of both albums in October 2018. “Prospectus I”, reviewed here, is Raison D’Être’s 1993 debut album, pressed on vinyl for the first time with remastered sound and four bonus tracks not on the original release.

Desiderii Marginis – Deadbeat 2018 (CD Album – Cyclic Law)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Tue, 12 Mar 2019 20:00:46 +0000

Genre/Influences: Dark-ambient.

Background/Info: This album from Johan Levin aka Desiderii Marginis was originally released on Cold Meat Industry in 2001 and featured 10 songs. It also became a work that increased the recognition of this dark-ambient composer from Sweden. Next to the recently released new opus “Vita Arkivet”, “Deadbeat 2018” will take us back in history. The work has been remastered and the CD format features 2 extra songs (that were already available on a digital re-release from 2014).

Content: When you listen to this album nearly 20 years after its original release you rapidly understand why Desiderii Marginis became a reference in the dark-ambient music genre. “Hardbeat” features all essential elements of great dark-ambient music; overwhelming, anguishing atmospheres, drones, industrial sound treatments, spooky-whispering vocal passages and obscure field recordings (or samplings).

+ + + : “Hardbeat” feels a bit like waiting in front of the gates of hell. It’s an anguishing sound experience tickling men’s fantasy to move throughout unknown fields. This is great sonic darkness composed with noticeable industrial sound treatments and ghost-like sound waves. The drones are injecting an extra scary touch. The album is also diversified featuring one great track after the other.

– – – : In my humble opinion, Desiderii Marginis never has been a stereotypical dark-ambient project. It always is a wider mix of influences and that’s why it sounds a bit unique.

Conclusion: There’s nothing wrong with re-releasing masterpieces! “Deadbeat 2018” still has its original magic!

Best songs: “Deadbeat I”, “A Bolt Out Of The Blues”, “In harm’s Way”, “Mantrap”, “Unlcean”.

Rate: (8).

Artist: www .desideriimarginis .net / www .facebook .com /Desiderii –Marginis -172940436056471

Label: www .cycliclaw .com / www .facebook .com /cycliclaw

About Desiderii Marginis

Desiderii Marginis is the dark ambient project of Swedish musician Johan Levin, active since 1993 and signed to Cold Meat Industry, where the project released its debut album “Songs Over Ruins” in 1997; that album was reissued on CD and LP via Cyclic Law in 2017. “Deadbeat”, reviewed here under its “Deadbeat 2018” reissue title, originally appeared on Cold Meat Industry in 2001 and was remastered and expanded with two extra tracks for this Cyclic Law edition. Desiderii Marginis released the new album “Vita Arkivet” on Cyclic Law around the same time, which Johan Levin discussed in a Side-Line interview.

Mortiis premieres brand new video for ‘Visions of an Ancient Future’ + offers 24 FREE album downloads to celebrate forthcoming North America tour

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Tue, 26 Feb 2019 17:45:24 +0000

Norwegian artist Mortiis, also known as the godfather of dungeon synth, is preparing for another cycle of his Era I material and has just launched a brand new video for the song “Visions of an Ancient Future” which is taken from his forthcoming album “Spirit Of Rebellion”. The video was directed and produced by Finnish film maker Ari Savonen who is known for his work for “Takapihan Pojat: Joulutarina” (2011), “Törkypukki vol. 2” (2016) and “Backwood Madness” (2019).

Check out “Visions of an Ancient Future” here:

Asked about the video Mortiis says: “I had to fend off a lot of demons to get to this point. They’ll be back, they always come back, but at least my vision is no longer clouded…When I was working on re-interpreting my old music for the Cold Meat Industry festival in Stockholm a little over a year ago, I had no idea that I´d eventually create an (almost) new record, nor that a section of it would be used for my first Dungeon Synth video since 1996. But here we are. New video and (almost) new music, and my first Era 1 US tour since 1999.”

24 albums for free download and North American tour

Mortiis recently announced his return to North America this year and will be embarking on a 10-date strong trek this Spring which kicks off on March 28th and finishes on April 7th 2019. To celebrate the forthcoming tour, Mortiis is for a limited time only offering free downloads of 24 of the Mortiis (& related projects) digital releases via Bandcamp!

North American tour dates

Mar. 28 2019 Metro Gallery Baltimore MD: Event Page, Tickets
Mar. 29 2019 Brooklyn Bazaar, New York NY: Event Page, Tickets
Mar. 30 2019 The Raven, Worcester, MA (Northeast Dungeon Siege): Event Page, Tickets
Mar. 31 2019 Petit Campus, Montreal QC: Event Page, Tickets
Apr. 01 2019 Velvet Underground, Toronto ON: Tickets
Apr. 02 2019 The Forge, Joilet, IL: Tickets
Apr. 04 2019 El Corazon, Seattle, WA: Event Page, Tickets
Apr. 05 2019 Hawthorne Theatre, Portland, OR: Tickets
Apr. 06 2019 Oakland Metro, Oakland CA: Event Page, Tickets
Apr. 07 2019 Lodge Room, Los Angeles CA: Event Page, Tickets

‘Click Interview’ with Atrium Carceri: ‘I Am A Very Technically Inclined Producer’

Inferno Sound Diaries — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 18:00:35 +0000

In 2003 I heard the debut album “Cellblock” from the Swedish solo-project Atrium Carceri. This dark-ambient opus was one more great production released on the legendary Cold Meat Industry. Simon Heath should rapidly became a recognized artist in his music genre. He went on unleashing noticeable albums, started with side-projects such as Sabled Sun, Krusseldorf… and set up his own label Cryo Chamber in 2012. Simon Heath is a busy and prolific artist who by the end of 2018 released the newest Atrium Carceri opus “Codex”.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: 2018 has been a prolific year for Atrium Carceri. How do you look back at your different releases?

Simon: It’s been a creative year. I got the opportunity to work with a lot of talented artists and finally managed to finish up “Codex”, my solo album I have been working on for quite some time. All in all I tried pushing my boundaries, but my memory is getting blurry now that the year is drawing to a close.

Q: Your newest album “Codex” took you three years to get accomplished. What have been the different stadia you had to gone through to achieve “Codex” and what have been the main challenges and difficulties you encountered?

Simon: Since I created art, text, sounds, mastering, design, I could go back and forth between it all instead of finalizing stages and moving on. Both a curse and a blessing since it is a lot more time consuming, but being able to move freely within each step creates a lot of opportunity to tweak the coherency. If I had to name something to be happy about regarding this album it is how everything fits together.

Q: I experienced “Codex” as one of your most intimate releases in history. What is it really all about and how do you perceive this album in the Atrium Carceri discography?

Simon: I try not to explain too deeply how to interpret my works since it will ruin some of the personal interpretations out there and no interpretation is wrong. But for me the overarching theme is how we move between different states of mind and our relation to the reality of the majority. A pretend relationship based on lingual guesswork too primitive to fully cross reference our own reality.

Q: You like to work around ‘concepts’ so what is it all about for “Codex” and how do you transpose a concept into sounds, which become tracks and finally an entire album?

Simon: For me it comes down to justifications of sound within the concept. Each sound should represent something within the concept of the track; ‘cool sounds’ just aren’t enough justification for me. And then the tracks themselves have to be justified in relation to each other, and of course we can’t stop there, the artwork has to be justified in relation to the tracks. The reverse is also true, and going back and forth between everything to re-align/re-edit and adjust until it all fits together takes time. You tweak a sound, and it can mess with the flow of the album, mess with the artwork and the feel of the tracks change and so on.

Q: The music –properly speaking, is important, but the CD-version of “Codex” also features a digibook. What did you try to express by this artwork/digibook?

Simon: I made a decision on this album to not include any vocals in the audio itself, instead the DigiBook shoulders the responsibility with the narrative this time around. A big challenge is to find a balance with the narrative; don’t want too much exposition, but do not want to be overly ambiguous either and me working with art and text at the same time makes this process easier, if a bit more time consuming.

Q: Especially during the past few years you’ve collaborated with an impressive number of artists. What fascinates you in the work with other artists and does it have an impact/influence on your own way of working/composing/producing?

Simon: I thoroughly enjoy to dive into the workflow of other artists and am often blown away by different approaches to creating sound. While I am a very technically inclined producer, I often find myself the most creatively stimulated working with artists on the other side of the coin, true artists like the toy maker Pär of Cities Last Broadcast who has his weird tape-loop laboratory with self-made instruments, or musicians like Bruce of God Body Disconnect, a microphone connoisseur that jazz it out on his drums like it’s no big deal. They blow me away with their skill sets since they are so very different from my own.

Desiderii Marginis – Vita Arkivet (CD Album – Cyclic Law)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Tue, 01 Jan 2019 19:00:40 +0000

Genre/Influences: Dark-ambient, cinematographic.

Background/Info: Active since 1993, Desiderii Marginis (Johan Levin) can look back at an impressive discography, which started during the golden years of Cold Meat Industry. The Swedish artist now strikes back with a new album on Cyclic Law.

Content: Desiderii Marginis always has dealt with the darkest tones and most disturbing atmospheres. This new sonic travel doesn’t sound that different and invites the listener to join in for icy tones, humming voices, epic blasts, mysterious voices, and also fine noises. The work features 5 tracks, which you feel progressively growing.

+ + + : Dark-ambient music can also have something very intimate, getting you the feeling to penetrate in a secret and very personal universe of the artist. That’s precisely what I felt listening to “Vita Arkivet”. The composition gives me the impression of an imaginary spider web where the music is getting imprisoned. The obscure atmosphere has a strong visual appeal. This album stands for a truly sound chemistry, which reaches a climax on “Capsule” and “Eulogy”.

– – – : There’s no real diversity between the tracks; you get the impression that you are listening to one single cut made of 5 chapters.

Conclusion: Desiderii Marginis confirms great composing skills and this particular taste and talent to accomplish a poignant work, which is here accentuated by some epic blasts and arrangements.

Best songs: “Capsule”, “Eulogy”, “The Scattering”’.

Rate: (8).

Artist: www.facebook.com/Desiderii-Marginis-172940436056471

Label: www.cycliclaw.com / www.facebook.com/cycliclaw

About Desiderii Marginis

Desiderii Marginis is the dark-ambient project of Swedish musician Johan Levin, active since 1993 and originally associated with the Cold Meat Industry label.

The discography includes “Songs Over Ruins” (1997), “Deadbeat” (2001), “Strife” (2004) and “Seven Sorrows” (2007). “Vita Arkivet”, reviewed here, was released on Cyclic Law in 2018; Desiderii Marginis continued on the label with “Departed” (2020) and “Bathe In Black Light” (2021).

Atrium Carceri – Codex (CD Album – Cryo chamber)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Sat, 29 Dec 2018 20:00:27 +0000

Genre/Influences: Cinematographic, dark-ambient.

Background/Info: Cryo Chamber label owner Simon Heath returned to his Mother-ship project Atrium Carceri releasing the thirteenth solo-album of the project. “Codex” took three years to finish and features 11 tracks.

Content: “Codex” brings the listener instantly in a sonic labyrinth of dark vibrating sounds, bursting noises, resonating drones and multiple field recordings. It creates a sensation of desolation mixing oppressive sound passages with more evasive parts. The work also reveals piano passages and arrangements adding an authentic touch to the work.

+ + + : It’s interesting to see the evolution of Atrium Carceri from his very first releases on Cold Meat Industry towards the recent productions. It’s a move from pure dark-ambient towards a more dark-cinematic work. The common element remains the overwhelming darkness supporting all of the productions and, which now again characterizes the new work. The anguishing passages have a very strong visual appeal. Simon Heath creates an obscure, but harmonious fusion between all the dark ingredients. The musician transforms himself into a truly sound scientist who knows the formula to transpose sounds into imaginary images.

– – – : I maybe would have preferred a few longer and more elaborated cuts instead on these eleven cuts. But globally speaking, Atrium Carceri remains faithful to its poignant sound universe.

Conclusion: Darkness can become something intimate and even personal so you sometimes feel as a voyeur discovering the sonic universe of “Codex”.

Best songs: “Sacrifice To The Machine”, “The Ancient City”, “The Void”, “The Citadel”.

Rate: (8).

Artist: www .atriumcarceri .com / www .facebook .com /Atrium –Carceri -376509390774

Label: www .cryochamberlabel .com / www .facebook .com /CryoChamber

About Atrium Carceri

Atrium Carceri is the dark-ambient project of Swedish musician Simon Heath, launched in 2003 with the album “Cellblock” on Cold Meat Industry. Heath went on to found the Cryo Chamber label in 2012 and also runs the side-projects Sabled Sun and Krusseldorf. The catalog continued with “Seishinbyouin” (2004), “Kapnobatai” (2005), “Ptahil” (2007), “Souyuan” (2008), “Phrenitis” (2009), “Reliquiae”, “Void” and “Sacrosanct” (all 2012), and “The Untold” (2013). Heath also teamed up with Apocryphos and Kammarheit for “Metropolis” and “Onyx” (both 2015) and “Echo” (2017), alongside the archive release “Archives I-II” (2016) and the soundtrack work “Black Corner Den” (2017). “Codex”, reviewed here, took three years to complete and arrived alongside “Miles To Midnight” and “Ur Djupan Dal”, both also released in 2018. Atrium Carceri continued with “Black Stage Of Night” in 2019, “Colossus” in 2022, “Forgotten Gods” in 2023 and “Apparatus” in 2024.

Oestergaards – Rötterna (Cassette Album – Lamour)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Wed, 31 Oct 2018 19:30:44 +0000

Genre/Influences: Dark-ambient. Background/Info: We here welcome the debut work of Oestergaards. This Swedish artist started organizing festivals and finally started to compose his own music. “Rötterna” (translated “Roots”) reveals 6 cuts and has been released on the good-old cassette format. Content: This work brings us back to the essence of dark-ambient music and the ‘Swedish ambient school’ remains one of the most recognized and inspiring ones from the scene. “Rötterna” makes me think to a sort of sound collage based upon dark themes. It’s not a coincidence if the music has been introduced as a ‘dystopian world’, but it’s definitely more obscure than the most evil dystopian nightmare… + + + : This is dark-ambient music getting us back to the real sense of what this music genre means. It’s dark, obscure, anguishing and revealing a strong visual appeal. The atmospheres are getting you into paranoia while some ghost-like voices are leading you to an imaginary climax of angst. It’s an overwhelming production, which especially on the B-side is slowly reaching its ultimate point of terror… but also revealing the talent of this new artist. – – – : This is a very efficient and great work so I don’t have real minus points! Conclusion: Sweden reveals a new dark-ambient talent, which will appeal for all lovers of the lost Cold Meat Industry period and/or current leading labels such as Cyclic Law, Malignant Tumor and of course Cryo Chamber. Best songs: “Nihilist”, “Ladan”, “Parad”. Rate: (8). Artist: www .oestergaards .net / www .facebook .com /oestergaards Label: www .lamour .se / www .facebook .com /Lamour -368013736559175

About Oestergaards

Oestergaards is the solo project of Swedish artist Tomas Östergårds, who played guitar and sang in several bands during the 2000s and 2010s before turning to dark-ambient music, citing the Cold Meat Industry roster as a formative influence. “Rötterna” was Oestergaards’ debut album. In 2020, the project released the “Moloken” EP on its own label, Dovle, and spoke to Side-Line in a Click Interview.

MZ.412 preps double vinyl re-release for 1995 classic – check out the pre-order details

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Thu, 25 Oct 2018 14:49:11 +0000

“In Nomine Dei Nostri Satanas Luciferi Excelsi”, the 1995 album by MZ.412, will see a re-release in a deluxe double-vinyl format. Originally released in 1995 by Cold Meat Industry on CD format only, this is the first time the album will be available on vinyl.

It was this album where this Swedish collective shifted their aesthetic toward what would eventually shape the “black industrial” subgenre. You an pre-order this re-release on vinyl right now.

In 1988 Swedish musician Henrik Nordvargr Björkk (frontman of Pouppée Fabrikk) became part of the influential black industrial combo Maschinenzimmer 412 (later Mz.412). The first album, “Malfeitor”, was released in 1989 on the Cold Meat Industry label. This first album was limited to seven hundred copies. Since then, Henrik has systematically explored the broad field of post-industrial music, releasing solo records covering noise, power electronics, militant, dark ambient, drone, blackened noise, experimental and avant garde. In parallel to his band activities, he has pursued a solo career with a vast amount of record releases.

Darkrad – Heart Murmur (CD Album – Audiophob)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Sun, 26 Aug 2018 18:30:22 +0000

Genre/Influences: Experimental, industrial, electro-ambient, cinematographic. Background/Info: Russian artist Jana Komaritsa is based in the USA and has been involved with many projects dealing with music. She’s also member of Tanzfront Project, is active as a DJ, runs the label Mrakmur and is promoting the Russian underground scene. After a debut album (cf. Abnormal Love”) released in 2012 on the now defunct Cold Meat Industry and the album “Little Black World” (2014) released on her own label Mrakmur as cassette format and on Audiophob as CD, she now joined hands with Audiophob to unleash her newest opus. Content: “Heart Murmur” is a work revealing an impressive arsenal of influences. It makes me think to a carousel of sounds and noises, which have been now assembled into an experimental creation and next becoming pretty ambient-like. There’s a constant anguishing sphere recovering the work, which finds its apotheosis on the very last songs of the album, which are bonus cuts. Indeed, next to the 9 tracks you get 6 bonus tracks featuring among others previously released cassette pieces and remixes by Flint Glass and Mortaja. + + + : This work is diversified and eclectic. It feels like there are different parts running through the work. We all have to make our mind, but I personally prefer the overwhelming, haunting cuts. It’s a cold and bewitched side of the album, which don’t get you feel comfortable. It might create a paranoiac reaction, getting the impression an invisible presence is watching you. The sensation is only accentuated by some rare, manipulated ghost-voices. Resonating sounds and slow rhythms are accentuating the global feeling of fright. The bonus part of this work is the greatest one. – – – : I can’t say to have been totally convinced by the ‘new’ songs of the album. Some of them are maybe too cinematographic-like, creating a contrast with the heavier bonus cuts. Conclusion: This is an album with multiple influences and 2 distinguished ‘faces’. There’s a more dark-dreamy side, which I think is the less interesting one and a great and overwhelming one on the industrial side. Best songs: “Sleepwalking – Album Version”, “Stone Upon Stone”, “Dead Bodies – Flint Glass Remix”, “Krovomet – Mortaja Remix”, “Dead Bodies”. Rate: (7). Artist: www .janadark .net / www .facebook .com /darkradproject Label: www .audiophob .de / www .facebook .com /audiophob

About Darkrad

Darkrad is the dark ambient project of Jana Komaritsa, a Russian-born multidisciplinary artist based between Russia and the United States. The project’s debut album, “Abnormal Love”, appeared on Cold Meat Industry in 2012, followed by “Little Black World” in 2014 on Komaritsa’s own label Mrakmur. “Heart Murmur”, reviewed here, followed in 2018 on Audiophob, a partnership that continued with “13 Years Of Melancholia” in 2023.

Arcana’s legendary albums get re-issued on both CD and vinyl via Cyclic Law – pre-orders available now

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Tue, 22 May 2018 14:43:40 +0000

Arcana is Swedish neoclassical dark wave band which formed in 1994 and was originally signed to the Cold Meat Industry (CMI) label. Available May 25 (CD) and mid June (LP) are the re-issues of the Arcana classic albums “Dark Age Of Reason” (full details here) and “Cantar De Procella” (full details here) which were originally released via CMI, respectively in 1996 and 1997.

“Dark Age Of Reason” was originally released 22 years ago and has often been compared to the early works by Dead Can Dance. Now Cyclic Law presents this debut album in it’s original length, remastered and with new artwork on both CD and Vinyl. “Cantar De Procella” was released 21 years ago also this Peter Bjärgö classic was remastered plus also received brand new artwork.

You can order “Dark Age Of Reason” right here and “Cantar De Procella” right here. Each album comes in a CD edition of 500 copies (4 panels digisleeve) and a LP Edition of 300 copies in standard LP sleeve with printed inner sleeve.

Enjoy the preview of both albums below.

‘Click Interview’ with Raison D’être: ‘Symbols Are The ‘Common’ Language Between Our Inner And Outer World’

Inferno Sound Diaries — Sat, 21 Apr 2018 17:00:33 +0000

Swedish artist Peter Andersson set up Raison D’Être in 1991. He rapidly became one of the most praised- and influential artists from the dark-ambient scene. He became one of the flag holders from the legendary and now defunct label Cold Meat Industry. Peter Andersson set up different side-projects such as Atomine Elektrine, Bocksholm, Necrophorus, Stratvm Terror, Panzar, Anonyma Alkoholister ao but always moved on with his main project. He this year joined hands together with Canadian label Cyclic Law to unleash his newest creation “Alchymeia”. It’s a new opus revealing the dark- and artistic sound approach of Peter Andersson. It also was an opportunity to make an interview with this talented and unique musician.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: I first of all want to ask you if you’re satisfied with the new album and what kind of work did you want to accomplish by releasing “Alchymeia”?

Peter: I can’t be anything, but satisfied with a new album, else it would not have been existing. The previous album was the same, just as the next one will be. With all of my albums I want to establish and accomplish some sort of connection with my inner self; to get to know myself better.

The process of creating the album is the most important phase because then the connection is deeper and more intense than when listening to a completed album a few years later, but after a few years I might start to understand things in or around the album better, like pieces of a puzzle finding their correct places.

Q: When listeners are listening to music they only hear the result of a long-time during process featuring numerous aspects such as sound creation, the equipment/gear to compose music, influences, eventually a conceptual theme, the writing and recording process, mixing, mastering, artwork etc… How do you manage all these aspects and do you have a specific way of working/proceeding?

Peter: Yes, there are many aspects, and the ways may vary in different degrees from album to album. I don’t lock myself to one specific way, even if that may seem like a safe and confident way. But I don’t want to be safe, it would mean stagnation. I want to find new/other methods and work with new/other gear which give raise to new/other possibilities.

The concept is never the same for one album to another, even if there may be similarities and relations between them.

Q: During the last years Raison D’Être has released several live recordings and these albums together with Troum. Does it mean it becomes more and more difficult to compose a new studio album after more than 20 years of involvement and maybe finding new challenges?

Peter: No, it’s not the case really. Sure it’s a challenge to create an album, but as long as ideas, inspiration and curiosity is part of my life I know there will be ways to do good material. The truth is this: in the early and mid 90’s I released a new Raison D’Être album each year because I had the time to do it. I was young and searching for employment, but did not get any job. In the late 90’s I got an employment and from that moment it took longer time between the albums. And times seem to go faster the older you get. And in recent years I have a family and a house to take care of, so at the end there is very little time for music.

Not many can live on their music alone, they need some kind of employment to pay the bills. I wish I would only work half as much and make more music, but at the moment it’s really not possible for various reasons. I choose to release live albums because they are unique and very different from studio albums, and the material that are performed are almost always (at least since ten years back) tracks that does not exist in studio versions, they are made on the fly during the performances. The live tracks may remind of studio tracks, but that’s just because they may share some common sounds, and then they evolve into something else.

And the two collaboration albums with Troum, well it is like making one normal studio album in effort I guess. These albums were released within a two year period but the material for the first album were completed between 2011-2014 and the second album between 2013-2017, so they were pretty slow processes. To complete a Raison D’Être album I would typically need a year (noneffective time) from the start of making sounds to complete everything including the release of the album, but before that start of making the first sounds a concept has been developed, and my mind has been accumulating energy and adopted itself to the concept maybe two years earlier.

Q: What I especially like in your sound is that Raison D’Être –and a few other number of dark-ambient projects, has created a kind of very own sound DNA; I mean you directly can recognize it’s Raison D’Être! What do you think makes your sound that specific and recognizable and what does it say about your perception of composing music?

Peter: I agree that artists can have a specific and recognizable sound profile. I think the most important (and maybe the only way) in order to get a unique and very own sound DNA is to find one self in the creative process and to find where I belong in all this, what is my talent so to speak. When this has been found, and it may take many years, than that unique sound profile will follow naturally and be a natural part in every creative process. This kind of profile is not unique to music, it can be about any type of creative output. It’s just a matter of finding one self.

Q: The album has been introduced as ‘diving deep down to the shadows of the unconsciousness’. What fascinates you in the inner world of human being, which is a path mostly explored by psychologists, and how do you transpose these themes into a sound, a track and finally an album?

Peter: What does not fascinate with the inner world? The dream world, the subconscious, the unconscious, archetypes, symbols and imagination is perhaps the most fascinating for me I think.

How things work between the inner world and the creative output, how things are rendered into music, is a bit of an enigma. It’s just happens and it works as it was a natural process. But I believe the language of symbols plays a big part. Symbols are the ‘common’ language between our inner and outer world, but the decoding process is the difficult issue. Anyway, I believe it works, a connection with the inner world must be there and I follow the voice of my inner which guides me to follow a path that may not exist, but are created while I follow it. When a sound is the right sound I will feel it, when a track is the right track I feel it, and when an album is final I feel it, and this feeling resonates in accordance with my inner resonance.

Q: I read that this album will be the first time a Raison D’Être production will be released on vinyl format. How does that feel and how do you explain the come-back of vinyl while CD sales are going the other way round?

Peter: Yes, and we are still waiting for the vinyl production. The aim was to release the vinyl at the same moment as the CD and digital release, but there is a very large queue and all is crazy because of all the records that need to be produced for the record store day. It screws up the production for the rest that are not interested in the that specific day. I think the return of the vinyl is good, but the production companies and equipment are not enough to meet the greater amount of possible vinyl releases. I like the impact and size of the vinyl, but I prefer the sound quality of the CD, at least for my own music.

Eventually all my studio albums will get a vinyl release. After “Alchymeia” I will start to make vinyl master for “Prospectus I” and then go in chronological order. I guess the return of the vinyl has to do with a reaction against the digital and less physical world of music, and also the 80’s is in retro fashion at the moment, and vinyl were big in the 80’s just before CD’s got popular. Vinyl is a collector’s item with high status while a CD don’t have high collector status at all.

Rome – Hall Of Thatch (CD Album – Trisol)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Sun, 11 Mar 2018 19:30:34 +0000

Genre/Influences: Rock-folk, psychedelic, chanson.

Background/Info: Jérôme Reuter aka Rome can look back at a successful career which took off in 2005 and an impressive discography releasing productions first on Cold Meat Industry and next on Trisol. The artist from Luxembourg became one of the Trisol flag holders. “Hall Of Thatch” has been introduced as an album inspired by the Apocalypse and a trip to Vietnam the artist made a few years ago now.

Content: “Hall Of Thatch” has been introduced as one of the most intimate releases from Rome. It’s not easy to affirm when discovering the music, but the lyrical content clearly reflects deeper thoughts from the artist’s inner life.

Sound-wise, Rome moves on there where he stopped with his artistic and sensitive ‘chanson’ style featured on previous albums. There’s more passion and even rage emerging from the songs and especially his way of singing. Field recordings and sacred chants from his trip to Vietnam inject an extra mysterious and somewhat ritual aspect to the work. Rome is covering different influences, but in the end and for one more time he reminds me to Nick Cave. One of the ‘hardest’ and most enraged cuts entitled “Martyr” even reminds me of The Birthday Party.

But Rome also experiments with more psychedelic passages, sometimes mixed with folk elements and sometimes reminding me The Doors for a background organ sound.

+ + + : Rome is not exactly the kind of artist repeating himself. He rather appears to be a musician going through different periods and “Hall Of Thatch” might be the beginning of a new era. I like this approach of an artist in constant evolution leading him reconsidering and sometimes reinventing his own sound. I like the passion running through the cuts resulting in a few enraged passages and truly climaxes. The experiment with sacred chants from Buddhist temples totally matches with the delicacy of the composition. Rome again has accomplished a beautiful opus featuring multiple outstanding songs. Last, but not least I once again have to say a word about the great artistic digipak and booklet of this ‘standard’ edition, which remains a trademark of Trisol.

– – – : I sometimes gets the feeling that the link with Nick Cave becomes too explicit, but at the other side it also is because of a similar timbre of voice.

Conclusion: If this work has been announced as one of the most personal and intimate releases from Rome, I think it first of all is one of his most passionate releases where you literally can feel the songs floating through his blood.

Best songs: “Hawker”, “Slaver”, “Martyr”, “Hunter”, “Keeper”.

Rate: (8½).

Band: www .rome .lu / www .facebook .com /romeproject

Label: www .trisol .de / www .facebook .com /pages /Trisol –Music –Group /104166526285471

Read the news on ‘Hall Of Thatch’.

About Rome

Jérôme Reuter, born on August 2, 1981, in Luxembourg, is the creative force behind the neofolk project Rome, formed in November 2005. Before founding Rome, Reuter performed under the moniker Reggie Fain, influenced by Tom Waits, and played in the Oi! band the Skinflicks and the post-punk outfit Mack Murphy and the Inmates.

Rome’s music fuses military drumming, atmospheric electronic textures and ethereal acoustic guitars with samples and poetic lyrics exploring war, love, pain and death, drawing on literary figures such as Jacques Brel, Léo Ferré, Albert Camus, Ernst Jünger and Jean Genet.

“Hall Of Thatch”, reviewed here, followed on Trisol in 2018, ahead of “Le Ceneri Di Heliodoro” the following year.

Anemone Tube – In The Vortex Of Dionysian Reality (Vinyl Album – The Epicurean/Blossoming Fern)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Tue, 30 Jan 2018 19:30:49 +0000

Genre/Influences: Dark-ambient, industrial.

Background/Info: Set up and driven by Stefan Hanser, Anemone Tube has already released an impressive number of releases. 2017 has been a prolific year for this formation. This album has been recorded in between 2013 and 2016 while the field recordings were made in Tokyo and Kyoto back in 2009. There also is a CD version available of this work.

Content: The sound takes off a rather industrial way while ambient influences rapidly join in. Spoken samples add a spooky touch . You clearly hear the multiple field recordings, which are more noticeable by using headphones. From stormy sonic waves to sweeping noises, the work sometimes sounds a bit soundscape-minded as well.

+ + + : Anemone Tube is a band for ambient finer tasters. It’s not exactly the most familiar formation and yet it features a truly sound alchemist. It’s a rough ambient exposure, which also moves into a kind of dark reverie. The industrial elements inject a harder and somewhat ‘naughty’ touch on top of the work. Hanser is a quite creative artist in the use of dark noises and field recordings. I especially recommend both last cuts of the album reaching a total sonic apotheosis reminding me of Cold Meat Industry productions.

– – – : Aside of the less accessible sound approach, this album sounds a bit versatile. Anemone Tube moves from one style to another; it however remains a homogenous entity, but I would have preferred to get a more constant dark-ambient style such as both final cuts.

Conclusion: Anemone Tube composes ambient/industrial music with a wider spectrum of influences, this way creating a very personal and diversified sound.

Best songs: “Like The Streaming Of A Giant River, Life Is Passing Without Ever Turning Around”, “Suicidal Fantasy (Negation Of Myth II”.

Rate: (7).

Band: www .anemonetube .de / www .facebook .com /anemonetube

Labels: http ://the –epicurean .transformed .de / www .facebook .com /epicureanescapism / www .facebook .com /blossoming .fern

About Anemone Tube

Anemone Tube is the project of German artist Stefan Hanser, who also runs The Epicurean label. Hanser founded the project in 1997 in southern Germany and has been based in Berlin since 2010.

Side-Line later reviewed the album “The Three Worlds: Vanity Of Allegory”, also on The Epicurean, in 2018, and the collaborative album “The Hunters In The Snow” with Jarl and Monocube in 2019.

Dahlia’s Tear – Through The Nightfall Grandeur (CD Album – Cryo Chamber)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Wed, 03 Jan 2018 19:00:53 +0000

Genre/Influences: Cinematographic, dark-ambient.

Background/Info: Swedish musician Anile D.has already been active for several years now. Dahlia’s Tear previously released four albums on four different labels. The previous work “Dreamsphere” was already released in 2012 on the now gone Cold Meat Industry.

Content: This opus is a perfect mix between dark-ambient- and cinematographic music. Both together create an intimate atmosphere, which however dark has something dreamy-like. But quite progressively the tracks are becoming more overwhelming and more anguishing. Some spoken samplings are empowering the paranoiac atmosphere supporting some passages.

+ + + : “Through The Nightfall Grandeur” has something inhibited. It feels like opposite elements are coming together in a freaky, tormented sonic trip. The tracks have been accomplished with a real finesse illustrated by piano treatments and other subtle noises you better can hear when using headphones. The melancholia of the piano-like parts also injects something authentic to this album.

– – – : The work is a pleasant voyage throughout dark territories, but it all sounds a bit similar after a while.

Conclusion: What I especially will keep in mind from this album is the refined sound treatments. Dark-ambient music can be not only tormented, but also refined in its composition.

Best songs: “Drowning In Delusions Of Grandeur”, “The Keeper Of Broken Dreams And Tattered Spirits”, “The Frozen echoes Of The Endless Moor”. Rate: (7½).

Artist: www.dahliastearband.com / www.facebook.com/dahliastear Label: www.cryochamberlabel.com / www.facebook.com/CryoChamber

About Dahlia’s Tear

Dahlia’s Tear is the solo dark-ambient project of Swedish musician Anile.D., based in Stockholm. Four albums preceded this release: “Harmonious Euphonies For Supernatural Traumas Mesmerising Our Existences In Radient Corpuscle Galaxies” (2005), “My Rotten Spirit Of Black” and “Under Seven Skies” (both 2007), and “Dreamsphere” (2012) on Cold Meat Industry. “Through The Nightfall Grandeur” followed on Cryo Chamber in 2018, and the project has continued since with albums including “Across the Shifting Abyss” (2019), “Tomb Of Primordials” (2022) and “Tomb Of Witches” (2023).

Altarmang – Void (CD Album – Cyclic Law)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Mon, 25 Dec 2017 19:15:58 +0000

Genre/Influences: Dark-ambient, experimental.

Background/Info: Altarmang is a music project set up by Pär Boström (Kammarheit, Cities Last Broadcast ao) and Kenneth Hansson. This debut work was originally released on cassette format in 2016 and on Hypnagoga Records. “Void” has been next released in 2017 as a vinyl on Autarkeia and CD on Cyclic Law. The CD version features both original cuts plus 2 extras.

Content: “Void” is a dark-ambient exposure with some extra experimental treatments on top. It’s a new experience in darkness and isolation revealing spooky sound waves and frightening tones getting the listener into fear. The music sounds pretty stormy, this way accentuating the tormenting atmosphere hanging over this album.

Both extra cuts are a bit shorter, but especially “Salamander” is a poignant piece carried by an oppressive sound atmosphere.

+ + + : “Void” features all requested ingredients to create a successful and terrific dark-ambient opus. It’s sometimes monotonous, but frightening. It especially creates this desperate feeling reminding me of great records from the Cold Meat Industry era. Both original songs of the album are cool, but especially the ‘new’ cut “Salamander” is great piece of music with a divine climax. So this extra cut is really worthy of examination and a bonus for the CD version.

– – – : “Salamander” reaches a great climax, but the next (new) cut is totally different and not exactly a track I would recommend to discover this band.

Conclusion: Altarmang reflects this desperate feeling of solitude, accentuated by the impression of an endless Winter season. This is a cool release although I prefer other projects from Pär Boström.

Best songs: “Salamander”, “Aether”.

Rate: (7½).

Band: www .facebook .com /altarmang

Label: www .cycliclaw .com / www .facebook .com /cycliclaw

About Altarmang

Altarmang is a dark-ambient project of Pär Boström, also known for Kammarheit, Cities Last Broadcast and Bonini Bulga, together with Kenneth Hansson. “Void” was first released on cassette via Hypnagoga Press in 2016, then reissued on vinyl by Autarkeia and on CD by Cyclic Law in 2017, the CD edition adding two extra tracks.

Boström launched Bonini Bulga the following year; Cyclic Law reissued that project’s debut, “Sealed“, on CD in 2018.