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"This compilation is dedicated to our Mother... Europe." Judging by the ominous and somber tracks, this is a mother of war, death, and darkness, and we're reminded more of Kali and Hel than Freya or Demeter, or perhaps of a mother who died, and left behind desolation and gloom. This compilation, released by Polish webzine and netlabel Kaos Ex Machina, consists of dark industrial, martial and ambient. Here and there we hear a bit of folk or acoustic guitar, but those are exceptions.
In it self, there is nothing wrong with this approach, of course, were it not that this album doesn't display any innovativeness at all. All styles featuring on the compilation have been done before, and often better. Also the quality of the equipment used could be improved for some artists. The drums and effects sound rather flat with several artists, and some tracks have a bad mix. On the whole, then, I am not very enthusiastic about this album, and I'll illustrate it with some examples, and also pick out the positive highlights that this compilation contains.
The album starts off with "The Great Hunting" by Horologium, which would be a nice song, had not Laibach done exactly the same thing over 20 years ago. Unfortunately this song reminds me too strongly of "Herzfeld" from the Krst Pod Triglavom / Baptism album. There are also a couple of ambient tracks with monastic singing on the album (by (haven) and Atum). Pretty OK, but it reminds me too much of raison d'être. Most tracks, however, are extremely boring martial and/or industrial tracks, the worst being the tedious "Untitled" by Heiliges Licht, which consists of uninspired snare rolls and background waves, that just keep repeating, and the possibly even more boring "Joseph Goebbels" of D&S, which is a minimalist dark ambient background in the vein of Svartsinn and an unintelligible German speech (by Goebbels I presume?).
Conspicuous tracks are the bombastic "Ave Satani pt. II" by Dead Man's Hill, which is nice if you like the style (think along the lines of Gae Bolg). The drum 'n' bass rhythm on the track by I.V. Lab is also ear-catching, as is the pretty relaxed song with acoustic guitar and narrative vocals, "Awaken Midsummer Slumber (Lying Down) [Second Version]" by Background Projection. Then there is "Frozen" by Experiments in Darkness, which is remarkable, but not in a positive way, because of the stale combination of piano with female operatic vocals and low (goth) male vocals (and even more stale lyrics). SnowW.Wwhite's "Europa", then, is a pretty nice martial track, but the sounds are rather thin and flat. The drums could have gotten a bit more bass, and the other instruments could have benifited from a fuller sound as well. Other good tracks on the album are the two folk tracks by IWMI ("Eutopia") and Krepulec ("Lost Dream"). Especially the IMWI song is nice and varied, but "Lost Dream" is also good with the acoustic intro and accordion. The military bombast of Schlafwagen is also nicely done, although not exactly innovative, just like the dark ambient by Roto Visage and Dead Factory. "The Fall of Constantinople" by V7 is also a fine, rhythmic and very varied track, and could easily be a thrilling soundtrack for some PC game or other. Apart from these few highlights, there are sadly no exceptional tracks on this compilation, and I'm not inclined (as should be the case with compilations) to go and seek out more material by artists I didn't know yet.
The best thing about this album is that it's free for download, so you can just keep the good tracks and ditch the rest, as I probably will. Sadly though, that can't be the purpose of such an album, yet I can't give this a higher grade on account of the large quantity of tedious and unoriginal music.
D.M.K.
In it self, there is nothing wrong with this approach, of course, were it not that this album doesn't display any innovativeness at all. All styles featuring on the compilation have been done before, and often better. Also the quality of the equipment used could be improved for some artists. The drums and effects sound rather flat with several artists, and some tracks have a bad mix. On the whole, then, I am not very enthusiastic about this album, and I'll illustrate it with some examples, and also pick out the positive highlights that this compilation contains.
The album starts off with "The Great Hunting" by Horologium, which would be a nice song, had not Laibach done exactly the same thing over 20 years ago. Unfortunately this song reminds me too strongly of "Herzfeld" from the Krst Pod Triglavom / Baptism album. There are also a couple of ambient tracks with monastic singing on the album (by (haven) and Atum). Pretty OK, but it reminds me too much of raison d'être. Most tracks, however, are extremely boring martial and/or industrial tracks, the worst being the tedious "Untitled" by Heiliges Licht, which consists of uninspired snare rolls and background waves, that just keep repeating, and the possibly even more boring "Joseph Goebbels" of D&S, which is a minimalist dark ambient background in the vein of Svartsinn and an unintelligible German speech (by Goebbels I presume?).
Conspicuous tracks are the bombastic "Ave Satani pt. II" by Dead Man's Hill, which is nice if you like the style (think along the lines of Gae Bolg). The drum 'n' bass rhythm on the track by I.V. Lab is also ear-catching, as is the pretty relaxed song with acoustic guitar and narrative vocals, "Awaken Midsummer Slumber (Lying Down) [Second Version]" by Background Projection. Then there is "Frozen" by Experiments in Darkness, which is remarkable, but not in a positive way, because of the stale combination of piano with female operatic vocals and low (goth) male vocals (and even more stale lyrics). SnowW.Wwhite's "Europa", then, is a pretty nice martial track, but the sounds are rather thin and flat. The drums could have gotten a bit more bass, and the other instruments could have benifited from a fuller sound as well. Other good tracks on the album are the two folk tracks by IWMI ("Eutopia") and Krepulec ("Lost Dream"). Especially the IMWI song is nice and varied, but "Lost Dream" is also good with the acoustic intro and accordion. The military bombast of Schlafwagen is also nicely done, although not exactly innovative, just like the dark ambient by Roto Visage and Dead Factory. "The Fall of Constantinople" by V7 is also a fine, rhythmic and very varied track, and could easily be a thrilling soundtrack for some PC game or other. Apart from these few highlights, there are sadly no exceptional tracks on this compilation, and I'm not inclined (as should be the case with compilations) to go and seek out more material by artists I didn't know yet.
The best thing about this album is that it's free for download, so you can just keep the good tracks and ditch the rest, as I probably will. Sadly though, that can't be the purpose of such an album, yet I can't give this a higher grade on account of the large quantity of tedious and unoriginal music.
D.M.K.