Genre/Influences: Dark-Ambient, Cinematic.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Two years after RGNMNN last album “The False Dawn” we get a revisited edit of the work featuring collaborations with other artists.

Content: The work sounds as an addition to the successful “False Dawn”-album. The tracks remain driven through Dark-Ambient influences and Cinematic passages but still by inhibited atmospheres. Quite logically the album is more varied than the original edit. Line Spectrum, Nam-Khar + Sielwolf, Sysselmann, Gydja, Tineidae, Gdanian, Onasander and Argyre Planitia collaborated on this opus by achieving reworked or remixed versions.

+ + + : Remixes and reworked versions by other artists are quite unusual for this kind of music and scene so in the end it’s pretty innovative. The reworked edits and remixes are holding on the original spirit of RNGMNN while adding a little extra. I enjoyed the apocalyptic reworked edit of “The Dawning Of Falsehood” by Nam-Khar and Sielwolf but also the remix of “Confusion & Desillusions” by Sysselmann, the evasive reworked version of “Bleak And Empty” by Tineidae and the Industrial/Drone-like “Down South”-remix by Gdanian.

– – – : This work also celebrates the fiftieth release by Winter-Light featuring a great artist, an interesting concept in this genre of music but definitely not the best album of Ronny Engmann. The original “False Dawn”-album remains better.

Conclusion: An interesting- and surprising addition to the “False Dawn”-album featuring a cool selection of artists.

Best songs: “The Dawning Of Falsehood – Sielwolf & Nam-Khar Re-Shape”,  “Confusion & Desillusions –  Sysselmann Remix”, “Bleak And Empty – Tineidae Rework”, “Down South – Gdanian Mix”.

Rate: 7.

Artist: https://1mhz.org

Label: www.winter-light.nl / www.facebook.com/winter.light.1

About RNGMNN

RNGMNN is the dark ambient and cinematic project of German artist Ronny Engmann. His discography on Winter-Light includes “Arctic Interference” (2020) and “False Dawn” (2021), the album reworked on “False Dawn: Falsified”. “False Dawn: Falsified” also marks Winter-Light’s fiftieth release.

RNGMNN’s next full-length, “Never Sleep Again”, a collaboration with Karina Dorin, followed on Winter-Light in 2024.

Inferno Sound Diaries

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

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Dark-Ambient, Experimental, Minimal-Electro. 

Format: Digital, CD. 

Background/Info: Unexplained Sounds Group already released two compilations devoted to the Experimental music from Scandinavia. Both productions were released as digital formats. The label now selected twelve from these tracks to release a CD. 

Artists: Jukka-Pekka Kervinen, Andreas Karperyd, Lars Bröndum, Øystein Jørgensen, Havdis, Dödsapparaten, Vääristymä, Claus Poulsen, Untermensch, Castana, Jurko Haltuu, Sysselmann.

Content: This compilation mixes Dark-Ambient and pure Electro/Experimental-Minimalism. It’s not just classical Dark-Ambient music, but a selection revealing artists with an open-minded approach, incorporating more Electronic sound treatments and sequences into their work. Other parts are carried by monstrous sound blasts and grimy atmospheres while the very last cuts reveal an Experimental walk.

+ + + : Scandinavia remains a prolific ground for Dark-Ambient, Industrial and Experimental artists, and is still a reservoir of talented artists. This compilation is not exactly revealing totally unknown artists –most of them having already released an impressive number of works, but they’re clearly not the most familiar ones. So in the end Unexplained Sounds Group creates a new opportunity to discover interesting music like the pure Dark-Ambient opener from Jukka-Pekka Kervinen. I also want to mention the minimalism exposed by Øystein Jørgensen and Havdis. But my favorite cuts are bringing us back to Dark-Ambient fields, first with the overwhelming sound treatments of Claus Poulsen and next the tormented and chilling track by Untermensch.

– – – : In the end this compilation doesn’t bring that much new as all tracks were previously released, but some of them have been now immortalized on CD. 

Conclusion: This CD issue is a perfect opportunity to complete your selection of this great compilation series. 

Best bands: Untermensch, Claus Poulsen, Havdis, Øystein Jørgensen, Jukka-Pekka Kervinen, Vääristymä.

Rate: 7½.

Label: www.facebook.com/unexplainedsoundsgroup

Inferno Sound Diaries

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

www.side-line.com

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

Format: Digital, Double CD.

Background/Info:  The album marks the return of Italian composer Gabriele Panci aka ‘Stielh’.  “The Outside” is the first album since 2011 and the fourth chapter in  a conceptual soundtrack, which took off in 2007 with the album “Whispers Of The Approaching Wastefulness”. “Crossing The Withered Regions” (2009) and “Loneliness Of Hidden Structures” (2011) both were the next albums in the series. The main idea is that ‘after centuries of isolation the human race begins a journey in search of the causes that led to the end of its world, and for the first time it approaches the Structures, new life forms that have developed and evolved in the emptiness of “The Outside”. The second disc features older tracks that have been remixed by other artists.

Content: The main disc is a true fusion between dark-ambient music and pure cinematographic music. It feels like music for ghosts who are haunting lost places. The composer creates a dark sonic universe leaving the listener into suffocation. Whispering vocal effects and multiple little noises are awakening our darkest fantasies of angst. The tracks have been meticulously conceived and each single noise has been accentuated to empower the atmosphere the listener will have to get through.

The second disc features 8 remixes by Sysselmann, Visions, Taphephobia, Phantom Ship, Vestigial, Apocryphos, TeHôM         and New Risen Throne himself. 

+ + + : It all depends what you like to hear when listening to this kind of work, but the visual strength of the production is definitely an element making me say it’s a successful work. The power of the composition lays in little details, the author mixing an impressive arsenal of noises together. It feels a bit like ambient music that has been composed with a scalpel. The sphere hanging over the album has something ominous. Both last cuts from the album create the ultimate climax of fright.

Among the remixes I especially recommend the remixes of Vestigial and Visions. Globally speaking this second disc is an interesting way to rediscover older cuts, which have been accentuated by different elements from the remixers.

– – – : I’m not a huge fan of albums filled with remixes and it’s even something rare for this music style. So I have some reservations about it, but I have to admit there are a few noticeable cuts on it. Let’s consider it as a nice bonus to the main disc.

Conclusion: “The Outside” is a cool resurrection from a talented dark-ambient musician. 

Best songs: “The Outside IV”, “Birth Of A New Disciple II”, “What We Have Seen”  + “Echoes From The Loss – Visions Remix”, “Sad Silent Prostrations Before The Monolith  – Vestigial Remix”.

Rate: (8).

Artist: www.stielh.com / www.facebook.com/NewRisenThrone

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

Inferno Sound Diaries

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

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Dark-ambient.

Background/Info: Sysselmann is a Norwegian solo-project driven by Thomas Narverud. After a few previous releases featuring the full length album “The Northern Chronicles” (2016) Sysselmann now joined hands together with Winter-Light to unleash this four-track EP. The work is meant as a “tribute to the collective consciousness of the Northern parts of Norway….. A celebration of the magical coastal landscape and those who came before us.”

Content: The work takes off with the long-during and progressively built up title track. This cut takes you in its grip for more than 10 minutes, revealing a kind of electro-analogue sound wave joined by drones. A similar sensation emerges from the next cut. Overwhelming sound treatments and background drones are suddenly interrupted by a kind of electronic trumpet sound on “The Long Wait – Memorial Mix” while the work comes to an end with the dark-astral sounding “First Winter Light”.

+ + + : The opening title-track is a fascinating composition, which is slowly built up and crescendo moves towards its ultimate point. You feel like moving through a dark and endless tunnel vision where the monotony –which has something exciting, is sometimes interrupted by a few extra sounds or noises. This is a work that slowly grows on you to finally get you in its sonic web.

– – – : The total climax at this work is right in the beginning with the first cut and that’s a pity as the other cuts left –which are cool, never reaches a similar level. 

Conclusion: Sysselmann is a project I have never heard of before, but which clearly has the potential to conquer dark-ambient souls.

Best songs: “Ritual Of The Aurora Noir”, “MS Nordlysnatt”, “The Long Wait –  Memorial-mix”.

Rate: (7½).

Artist: www.facebook.com/sysselmann

Label: www.winter–light.nl / www.facebook.com/winter.light.1

Inferno Sound Diaries

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

www.side-line.com