Genre/Influences: Ethereal, Dark-Folk, Cinematographic.

Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl.

Background/Info: This album is a reissue of Theordor Bastard’s “Velvi”-album, originally released in 2015 on the band’s own label Theo Records and Fulldozer Records. This is probably the Russian’s formation most successful work, which has been now re-released in France by Season Of Mist.

Content: This is the kind of album that doesn’t suffer from the weight of time. Theodor Bastard transposed their mystical, conceptual themes into a music composition composed by electronics and authentic instruments. The Ethereal chants and vocals create a sensation of evasion and reverie while a few tracks sound like pure Cinematographic music.

+ + + : Theodor Bastard is a band I’ve always liked for their global approach and composition. It’s an Ethereal and Mystic sound, which can be connected to bands like Dead Can Dance and Arcana, but this formation also has something very personal. “Vetvi” is an essential work in their discography, which perfectly represents Theodor Bastard. An artistic and poignant composition, which creates a transcendental effect by the listener. The sensation is accentuated by the magic of the female vocals, but also by the authentic feeling of the instruments.

– – – : Reissues are, always cool for those who missed the original edit, but it clearly doesn’t bring anything new… except the English edit of the title song. 

Conclusion: “Vetvi” stands for mysticism and reverie; an album leading the listener into an imaginary world of forgotten myths and fairy tales.

Best songs: “Salamelka”, “Vetvi – English Version”, “Belly Gorod”, “Veter feat. Namgar”.

Rate: 8.

Artist: https://theodorbastard.com / www.facebook.com/TheodorBastard

Label: www.season-of-mist.com /  www.facebook.com/seasonofmistofficial

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.

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Coitus Interruptus Productions and Crunch Pod are to release “Channeling The Solar Lodge”, a free Coil tribute compilation next month. The tribute will offer 20 different electronic and experimental projects covering their favourite Coil track.

Bands featured on this compilation will be the following ones (next to their names you’ll find teh respective tracks they will cover):

• AkA – Artillery Night Space
• Brien Hindman – Boken Fabiola
• Dead Receptors – Defrag
• Dreamscape Invocation – Empusae
• Fetal Distress – Flint Glass
• Fluxion A/D – God Module
• Grave of the Opal Golem
• Law-Rah Collective – Manufactura
• Morlox – Michael Idehall – NDSTRY
• The Present Moment – Pyroclastic
• Snowbeasts – Sylvgheist Maëlström
• Talvekoidik – Theodor Bastard – XISIX

About Coil

Coil were an experimental music group, founded in 1982 in London, England and concluded in 2005. Initially envisioned as a solo project by musician John Balance (of the band Psychic TV), Coil evolved into a full-time project with the addition of his partner Peter Christopherson (formerly of pioneering industrial music group Throbbing Gristle).

Balance and Christopherson were the only constant members; other contributors throughout the band’s career included Stephen Thrower, Danny Hyde, Drew McDowall, William Breeze, Thighpaulsandra, and Ossian Brown.

After the release of their 1984 debut EP “How to Destroy Angels”, Coil joined Some Bizzare Records, through which they released two full-length albums, “Scatology” (1984) and “Horse Rotorvator” (1986). After departing from Some Bizzare, Coil established their own record label, Threshold House, through which they produced and released “Love’s Secret Domain” (1991).

In 1985, the group began working on a series of soundtracks, among them the rejected score for the first “Hellraiser”.

Financial difficulties slowed the group’s work in the early 1990s before they returned to the project on releases such as “Astral Disaster” (1999), and the “Musick to Play in the Dark” series composed of “Vol. 1” (1999) and “Vol. 2” (2000), as well as releasing several projects under aliases such as Black Light District, ELpH, and Time Machines.

The group started several smaller independent record labels, including Eskaton and Chalice. The group’s first live performance in 16 years occurred in 1999, and began a series of mini-tours that would last until 2004.

Following the accidental death of John Balance on 13 November 2004, Christopherson announced via that Coil as an entity had ceased to exist, ending the Coil discography with “The Ape of Naples” (2005).

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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!

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