Undirheimar – Ginnungagaldr (Album – Cyclic Law)

Genre/Influences: Ritual, Dark-Ambient, Experimental.
Format: Digital, 2CD.
Background/Info: Chris Undirheimar has released an impressive number of productions over the past few years. He now moves back to Cyclic Law unleashing “Ginnngagaldr” which resulted from very personal experiences.
Content: The first disc features 7 cuts leading the listener into an obscure sound universe featuring Ritual elements mixed with a dense, Dark-Ambient music style. Heavy droning percussion empower the impact of the work while throat singing accentuates the Ritual side. The second disc features a single cut which is the title track. Sound-wise the influences remain exactly the same.
+ + + : I remain fascinated by the technique of throat singers. It has something intriguing, definitely Ritual but still magic. It injects a true bonus to the composition which is totally fitting with the obscure sound treatments. The heavy percussion drones inject some diversity. It’s interesting using headphones to discover the sonic welfare of this production.
– – – : A few passages sound a bit monotonous and missing substance. The title track is cool and definitely interesting to accentuate visual art but also a bit monotonous after a while.
Conclusion: “Ginnungagaldr” appears to be a true offspring between Ritual- and Dark-Ambient music.
Best songs: “Gandreiðarstafur”, “Þursaseiðr”, “Uphafsdauðsþjòt”.
Rate: 7.
Artist: www.facebook.com/ThursianRitualArt
Label: www.cycliclaw.com / www.facebook.com/cycliclaw
About Undirheimar
Undirheimar is the solo Ritual and Dark-Ambient project of Chris Undirheimar, a prolific producer with a steady stream of releases over recent years. “Ginnungagaldr” marks a return to Cyclic Law for the project, drawing on throat singing and dense droning percussion to build on the obscure sound world of its earlier work.
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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.
