Arsenic Solaris is a label full of surprises. I mean that you never know what to expect from a new release, with exception of those projects you already know. The very same goes for Two Bridges, an adventure by two bands, one that I had not heard of before, and one that I did not know that well.
When notorious artists join forces to create something together, the result often surprises, but unfortunately it often stinks as well. When talking about the latter; too often the individual artists try to do their own thing, forgetting about the common result. But once in a while, such collaboration is a successful one too. That’s the case with the new project Stromstad.
A short one, this review.
First of all: this label. I’ve expressed my appreciation for Distant Voices a thousand times before. Check out about any review I did in the past (enter the label’s name in ‘search’ and you’ll find quite some reviews, fifteen up to twenty). I never forgot to focus on the magnificent ideology that characterises this French label.
Bolg started their activities at the beginning of this century. Via the American label Acclaim Records (they were quite active in the first decade of this century, then fading away in silence, yet back to business since a couple of years; this recording was their first release, by the way), Bolg released a split with another Bulgarian act, Exile (they reformed, but I’m not sure whether they’re still active as we speak). Then, however, everything turned into silence.
We must ponder, cogitate, muse on the dual ideas on truth. ‘Which choice holds the right opinion?’ Are we able to think for ourselves, to make our own choices based on what we think that is right or wrong? Are our thoughts and ideas constructed in our Inner Self as being part of a greater concept? Is having an opposite opinion good or wrong? And what is a good or wrong opinion on certain matters? ‘Differences of opinion do not make anyone heretical or orthodox.
We go back in time. It’s thousands of years before the birth of the Christian messiah. What if a northern soul wakes up in ancient Mesopotamia, at the source of Middle-Eastern civilization?
Despite their many years of existence, German band Chaos Invocation always took their time before releasing newly recorded stuff. The band was officially formed in 2004, and they released their first album in 2009 (In Bloodline With The Snake, Canonical Hours / World Terror Committee).
Sometimes it is almost an orgiastic pleasure to introduce an underestimated act, one that truly deserves deep-going fame. Okay, EugeneKha surely is a well-known name within its specific genre, and within the Russian Electronic / Ambient scene especially, but I wonder about his notoriety right here. I do follow this project for a couple of years, but this act has tens of releases, with several I have not got through yet. But what I listened to in the meantime was really satisfying, without any exception (live material included).
It took some time, it has been too long, way too long, but finally, after more than two years, LycanthropY return with a new epos, called A.V.R.E.I.L. A.V.R.E.I.L. stands for ‘anno volcanii, rex efferorum, imperium lucis’, and means something like ‘year of the volcano, king of savages, empire of the light’.
Astarium is the solo-outfit of Nikolay ‘SiN’ Sikeritsky, who also runs NitroAtmosfericum Records. I wrote several reviews in the past for Concreteweb about Astarium (as well as for NitroAtmosfericum Records), and as you can see (enter the band’s name in ‘search’ or go to ‘reviews sorted by artist’), I deeply like the refreshing approach of this act.
