Vidna Obmana – Dante Trilogy / Tremor – Spore – Legacy (Album – Zoharum)
Genre/Influences: Tribal, Cinematic, Experimental.
Format: Digital, 3CD.
Background/Info: Polish Zoharum label moves on re-releasing albums from Vidna Obmana’s back catalog. Belgian artist Dirk Serries started this legendary project in the 80s and the “Dante Trilogy” belongs to the latest productions of the project. “Tremor” 2001), “Spore” (2002) and “Legacy” (2002) were originally released as separate albums by Relapse Records. Zoharum brings this trilogy now together in a massive, single, and remastered, work.
Content: There clearly is a connection between the 3 records. The albums can be described as an offspring between Dark-Ambient and Cinematic music with Tribal rhythms on top. Serries mixed electronics together with real instruments like overtune flutes, percussion, guitar, ebow harmonics, dreampipe ao. Several guest artists also contributed to a few tracks on the different albums. One of the most renowned artists was Marc Verhaeghen (The Klinik) who played trumpet on a song featured at “Spore”.
+ + + : This trilogy remains to me the most accessible and best work ever composed by Vidna Obmana. The artist composed a very unique sound experience which you can’t compare to any other artist. He brought genres together creating his own style and sound DNA. The slow rhythms definitely inject something special while the mysterious atmospheres created by overtone flutes were just like the red line throughout this trilogy. Sometimes anguishing and characterized by a strongly inhibited approach this work still sounds accurate today. It’s really great to see this trilogy being released as one album featuring a great, artistic, digipak. Zoharum did a great work on this.
– – – : The single reproach I would make is the rather repetitive and predictable sound which comes true after a while.
Conclusion: Back to the mysterious sound of Vidna Obmana which found its apotheosis by this magic, conceptual, trilogy.
Best songs: “Mindtunnel”, “The Seeker And The Spell” + Skin Strip”, “Beyond The Shaman”, “Resonant Gore” + “Bloodshift”.
Rate: 8.
Artist: www.dirkserries.com / www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063709950512
Label: www.zoharum.com / www.facebook.com/zoharum
About Vidna Obmana
Vidna Obmana is the solo ambient/industrial project of Belgian artist Dirk Serries, launched in the early 1980s. Serries built a distinctive sound rooted in ambient, tribal and cinematic minimalism, working with real instruments such as overtone flutes, ebow and percussion alongside electronics. Guest contributors over the years included Marc Verhaeghen of The Klinik.
From the mid-1990s Serries also collaborated extensively with American ambient composer Steve Roach, releasing six joint studio albums on Projekt Records and performing live across Europe and the United States. He retired the Vidna Obmana project in 2007 to focus on other experimental and improvised music under his own name.
“Tremor” (2001), “Spore” (2002) and “Legacy” (2002) were originally released as separate albums on Relapse Records. Polish label Zoharum reissued the three as the single collection “Dante Trilogy”, reviewed here, on 3CD and digital formats.
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