CYBERNOISE DIGIZINE

#5 - 1995 - (UK)

The Reincarnation Of The Sun CD

This is the first release by a new label called Dunkel Productions. They have taken on some of the lesser known bands in Norway and produced this rather good compilation album. Not all the stuff will appeal to everyone but it's a good insight into some of the up and coming electronic bands from Norway and the Scandinavian countries. Here's a a taster for you_ Red Harvest - This is the first band of seven to be introduced to you by this new label. Wow they're manic. A uniquely styled sound much like a cross over of such electronic bands like Nitzer ebb with the hard hitting later Ministry material. The three tracks all have feeling and power in them. The band certainly enjoy making there music and force the listener kicking and screaming to enjoy it too. Plenty of drums, generous splattering of synth add ons and some great gruff vocals to top it all off. An interesting band especially if you like your music hard and fast. Anstalt - This band offer us four tracks of melody and lightness. A complete contrast to the first offering of Red Harvest. Softly played synths create a dream world where horror could rear its ugly head at any time. This is also mixed with a faster more up tempo sound which could be played in many a club across Europe. Subtle screams and gruff vocals add even more to this mixture of stuff. Even samples are a part of this bands repertoire. The club sound that this band generates could quite easily catch on with the right promotion. Valhall - Not what I expected but I'm sure this band could quite easily be picked up for distribution by Cleopatra records as it has a sound very much like some of their acts such as Nik Turner (formally of Hawkwind). Very slow, and meaningful guitar riffs over drum beats. The weak link of the chain so far. Dunkelheit - Another band I've never heard of but with four tracks to offer it would be an injustice not to listen to them. I'm glad I did. They have a superb fast drum backing track and those indistinguishable gruff vocals combined with guitars and samples. Almost a harder hitting version of Swamp Terrorists [if that's possible_ Ed]. Another one for the psycho crew to get into a frenzy for. Remyl - I reviewed the first album by this band (see issue four) and boy have they changed. At last they have heard the words that they needed to hear and have finally got themselves produced properly. These three tracks give you a good feel to what the band's about. And if you like electro/industrial dirge then you'll love this. Synths and samplers linked to computers and programmed to spit out a superb mishmash of electronic sounds which combined with their unique almost slowmo lyrics give you an explosive offering. Piledriver - That name sounds ominous but the way the first of their two tracks starts they give you a false feeling of calmness and serenity. This stuff is very minimalistic with very few instruments being played especially when the vocals are present. What vocals there are get screamed at you rather than sung to you. A different approach to this style of music. Difficult to see if it will pay off or not. Humid - This is the final band to be offered to us on this compilation and only one track too. A slow track which is very mellow and quiet. Again it has the same feeling as Valhall. Slow electric guitar riffs combined with spacey lyrical effects. The music is way out there and I suppose if you listen to it in such a state it could do wonders for you. That raps up another compilation album. Like lots of compilations it gives you a good insight to what the bands are about without taking the risk of buying an album and not liking it. This works even better by offering several tracks by the same artist. However, beware, you may end up liking some of these bands and spending loads of money on getting the albums by these artists. Well it can be a good thing then!

Email: c/o lssmith@glam.ac.uk
Return to the main index  Review index