Trepaneringsritualen - The Totality of Death (Malignant Version - Programme A)

Like a conjuring of the old school collegiate of Ritual Ambient and Dark Noise, Trepaneringsritualen (aka Thomas Martin Ekelund) presents "The Totality of Death", an exquisite 6 panel digipak of out of print and unreleased recordings of obscure and narcotically dreadful fever dreams of the apocalypse.

The album is being released in two versions: one as a US version to Malignant Records (the one being reviewed here) and another as a EURO edition to Belgium's Silken Tofu (the one I review next). The packaging is very well done, with minor differences on the interior art between the two. The track *is* different though, so if you enjoy one album, I strongly advise you to try out the other- it only gets better and better. Another high point is the plastic packaging of the albums- with some previous albums the packaging was very tight and hard to take off without damaging the exterior. Here, it is tight but loose, allowing for an easy grip and release that keeps the album packaging pristine and undamaged.

This album is the nuclear fallout of audio. "The Totality of Death" is a staggering collection of brilliant tracks produced with that sometimes grainy, sometimes clear sound and depressive atmosphere known to only the most well produced dark and ritual ambient musicians. Pure death.

Track 1 - Death Reveler
The first track starts us off with the faint questioning of the album's stated genre. Is this supposed to be ambient or grunge? Perhaps a bit of grungy black metal? The first track could certainly be a lighter Celtic Frost track, but by the mid point we've been exposed to the synthetic noise and other hits of the track to realize we are still within the lunatic orchestra of magnified death industrial. The slowly strumming guitars here, coupled with the distorted vocals and other instrumentation, create a very well done progression of tempo and sound. A very well done opening to the album as a whole.

Track 2 - Edifice of Nine Sauvastikas
Track, the second longest track on the Malignant Records version of the album, bears a long opening of very ambiently minded darkness. Amidst the churning murk and echoing, swampy soundscape that is created, strum these eerie strings of enigma. This is one of the more experimental tracks I've heard in a while, and though by now most listeners are used to the formula of "repeat this drone for 2 minutes while adding new effects every 30 seconds", this track does it so well that it's almost undetectable. I could see this as the ambiance to Book of Eli, or perhaps Dark Souls (for those of you who prefer your post-apocalypse on the big screen or with a controller in hand). At around 10 minutes long, time flies quickly on this track, but it goes by well enough- this track is one of the highlights of the album for me.

Track 3 - For Svears Val
Track 3 brings back a more grim and industrial bent, with a low, brooding sound. The instrumentation here is minimal, but still exceedingly good. The vocal track speaks low and threatening tones of Germanic inflection that lend itself well to the developing feel of the album, though if one bends an ear closely to the track's deeper mysteries, you can hear a richly crafted soundscape full of shrieks, cries, and the screaming wind laid over a strangely sonorous deep voice.

Track 4 - All Hail The Black Flame
Track 4 begins a bit like Track 1, with a more intense and steady rhythm. The distorted vocals make a return, but in a new tone and mesh. I would have probably liked the track to get a little louder, but it does well enough staying at a low relative volume. The track progresses quickly, laying on more effects expertly. Again, it could benefit from an increase in volume though- even on an amp cranked to 11 (Kudos to those who get the reference!), it still seems to low a volume for work like this.

Track 5 - Ohersm
Track 6 opens like something out of a Phragments album, but quickly coalesces out of the tempting trap of neo-classical into a much more miasmic tempest of industrial fear. I think I've reached my limit by this point of what to compare this to. It's too interesting and unique. Should I break out the big guns? Fine. Until about halfway through, I had to double check that I wasn't listening to a new Arktau Eos release. This is some really genius stuff. Another definite favorite.

Track 6 - Lord of this World
The words "Seven Epithets" are crossed out before the track name, so lets get ready for some vintage ritual ambient. The horns are here; the screams are here- even the scary distortions are here. This track sounds like it would be a good addition if Funerary Call ever asked for remixes. Finely tuned stuff, and not suffering from Track 4's low volume.

Track 7 - Drunk with Blood
I give up. It's like this guy has read my mind and divined everything that I or anyone else who enjoys this type of music would like in a track. He's either a magician or, worse, a really good musician. The tempo on this track is devilishly fast, and the assortment of sounds would go well with a heavier beat and could possibly masquerade as a Breakcore track were Thomas Ekelund so inclined. One of the few times I'm genuinely afraid of what else is on this album- or Silken Tofu's version for that matter.

Track 8 - Van Zeven Manieren van Heilige Ninne
Borrowing the lead up that Track 2 gave us a few centuries ago, Track 8 continues the ritual with a subtle male intonation laid under a thrumming pulse. This is the longest track on the album, and the source of my only other compaint- the length is undeeded. The tonal and vocal progression is so slow and sparse that it could have been compressed rather well into a smaller segment about 5 minutes shorter. Not to say the track isn't good- when we finally get about 70% done with it, it really begins to shine (relatively speaking- this *is* dark stuff). The heavy drum hits and almost tribal patterns and noises create a very interesting juxtaposition of electronic and natural noise, something you don't usually find on albums these days unless you're listening to Dead Can Dance. Even with the unneeded length, the album still does rather well and garners a suitable outro in the final minute or so.

Track 9 - The Birth of Bablon
The shortest track on the album should sound familiar to anyone who partakes of Steven Kalpamantra's remixes, sounding very similar to some of the tracks on Saur Maas. It's short, but it's sweet. And by sweet I mean absolutely terrifying and very eerie. The vocal distortions sound like something out of a Laibach introspective with a heady dose of demoncraft and blackness. Good stuff.

Track 10 - Lightbringer
Track 10 expands on what we heard in Track 9 with a slower and more trotting overlay of electronics and distortion. The vocals here are also more intermittent and not as all-encompassing as on Track 9. Lightbringer brings a lot of the previous effects seen on Tracks 1-8 to light once more, picking and choosing various sounds and synths and mixing them together as a grim dessert once most of the main course of the album has finished.

Track 11 - Judas Goat
Track 11 sets a baseline of screaming vocals that transform into the sort of clear meditation on anger and madness that we saw in Track 1's very Death Industrial opening. Track 11 is very similar to Track 1 in some ways, but again very different in others. The transitions here are evolved and more focused, and when the "chorus" as one might call it comes into view, we are given very jarring but well done bridges of sound on which to flee from the mounting madness that follows us. The outro echo is also nice, given a bit of a wobble for good effect.

Track 12 - C'est Un Reve
A fitting outro for such a diverse and varied album, Track 12 begins with those grungy, distorted guitars we remember from the beginning, and then changes them with very electric vocals that shout out a grim message of warning. The track truly never gets old, and when it begins to drown in the endless muck of nothingness and the infinity of crystal oblivion, it has truly emphasized the untimely theme of the entire album: death.

"The Totality of Death" is a mastercraft exercise in audio amazement. Thomas Martin Ekelund has worked wonders of grim and bleak shadows that lay over the dying and dead world. Whether your tastes fall to the brooding malice of hate-strummed guitars paired with faceless shades, or the hysterical vocals singing fatalistic chants of despair over effulgent electronics, Trepaneringsritualen has delivered a very compelling album that should be high on every fan or neophyte's wishlist.

Phragments - New Kings and New Queens

 

"New Kings and New Queens" marks the newest release since Phragments' 2008 "Earth Shall Not Cover Their Blood", and it presents a very nuanced project that combines with startling proficiency the realms of the neo-classic and the dark. Here, the atmosphere is the night, and the night is long and dark. Parallels could be drawn to many other groups, but Phragment's "New Kings and New Queens" is something that's worth listening to on its own- it's akin to an art piece, an art piece that should be listened to, analyzed, and admired.

We begin our journey with the dark and brooding "The Foundations Shatter", a track that gives the illusion of proceeding slowly when it is actually moving very quickly. Very minimalistic and atmospheric here, very False Mirror esque. The sound bridge to track 2 is also very well done, though at times the background noise can be a bit grainy.

Track 2, "New Kings", begins with a very long and modulating note that ends with the low piano key. The brooding darkness gathers and waits. The piano notes, reminiscient of video-game composer Inon Zur's plays, are very dark and not overdone at all. Rather, they might be a little "underdone", yet one can't fault the sheer artistry that is the solid composition of the track. "New Kings" flows very quickly from one viewpoint in the macabre palace to another, yet it does so with an interesting energy.

You probably won't realize that Track 3 has begun unless you eye your player. The sound bridging here is impeccably solid, and were it not for the stab of synthetic noise at the beginning of "Bridge Burners". The stab rears its head amidst the gathered clouds of shadow again and again, always surprising amidst the very soft, very Anja sounds. In fact, most of these tracks sound like something inspired by dark ambient group Anja's "Anatomy of a Nightmare". Here though, it is more polished and sorted as compared to that other project. A softer, almost grinding synth sounds out the rest of "Bridge Burners"'s soundbed, and the song soon bridges onto the next.

Track 4, the poignantly named "When Memory Fails, We Disintigrate" begins with a much more heavy and coporeal tone. The opening is fairly monotonous, but does not bore for long as the song quickly gives itself depth and reverb through other synths and sounds. These sounds quite suddenly drop out with the tone, leaving us with ephemeral noises that leave as quickly as they appear. The tonal buildup is slow and subtle, utilizing unique sounds not found in the other tracks. For best listening, turn down the lights to a low glimmer- I found candlelight to work best, as this is dark- but not a despairing dark. This is a scary, twilit dark.

The sound bridge to Track 5 is once again barely noticeable, and "New Queens" begins with a low and expansive sound somewhere between an organ and a piano. The opening is almost an exact mirror to the opening on Track 2's "New Kings", which is to be somewhat expected as the tracks are twins of each other on the eponymous album. After hearing "New Kings" already though, "New Queens" doesn't build upon the rhythm sufficiently- it's too similar to what we've already heard.

The final track, "Aftermath", begins with a low collection of sounds similar to some of the other, non "New" tracks. Here, rather than progressing from a high note to a low soundbed, we hear a low soundbed morph into a gradually increasing note. The note quickly drops out, leaving us in silence very quickly. This is actually the end of the album- even though there is 2 more minutes of silence at the end of the track.

"New Kings and New Queens" is not a perfect album, as it seems to be drawing from a pool of material that is a bit small, but it is an album worth listening to. At times, music provides good background noise to the other mundane tasks of our secular lives, and it is here that the latest of Phragments' albums succeeeds. So, if you want expertly crafted soundscapes of very minimalistic dark neo-classical, you know where to go (Malignant Records).