Out of Hell - City of the Dead.

Album: City of the Dead 

Artist: Out of Hell 

Label: Self-released

Catalogue no: N/A

Tracklist:

     1.      Catacombs

     2.      Funeral Noir

     3.      Insomnia

     4.      Distant Dream

A short four-track album (or taster if you will) of the work of Swedish artist Boris Tyurin, of what could be termed deep dark horror ambient. What we have here are barren nuclear wastelands, denuded of vegetation and other forms of life, a hellish infertile desert dotted with the occasional rotted ruin of a shack or wind-pump, creaking forlornly in the radiation-filled wind of a winter unlooked for. The sky is black, with vast continent-covering clouds continually churning and boiling above, pent-up fury crackling in their every movement, relieved but rarely with a flash of lightning followed a few seconds later by rumbles and grumbles of anger and bitterness. This is a catalogue of beauty defiled and mortified, besmirched and dishonoured – a world, once filled with riches, now irrevocably reduced to rags.

The opening piece, ‘Catacombs’, begins with distant, keening winds, a lament for the wasteful and needless havoc that has been wreaked upon the planet. Voices accompany those winds, the ghosts of the innocents caught up in other people’s wars and skirmishes, a haunting refrain set to linger on for the millennia needed for nature to recover. Wandering shades weep black tears on ‘Funeral Noir’ which, falling upon the bare Earth, poison it still further. The cortege is an insubstantial parade, ragged, clothed in ripped and torn black robes, marching disconsolately to the metallic peal of a broken bell. There are no living creatures left to mourn the passing of Mother Earth, just the howling gales, or perhaps that sound is Cerberus, guarding the new Hades that Earth has become.

After the funeral comes ‘Insomnia’, the restless spirits of those still carrying their bitterness and animosity towards those responsible for the nuclear holocaust, when all they asked for was life. That has now become a ‘Distant Dream’, a cause now lost for the aeons to come. A lone peal and metallic scraping, set against a vast silence with only the soft sussurations of a breeze interrupting it, mourns for the vanished pearl of life that once bestowed its graces upon the world. That yearning is palpably real, the infinite spaces of an empty Earth keening for its glories to return.

As I’ve often noted, darkness doesn’t have to be portrayed in terms of loud, guttural rumbles or thunderous crashes in order to get its qualities across: quiet emptinesses can do the job just as effectively, if not more so. This is why I think City of the Dead works on the level it does – there’s the sense here that nothing has survived so there’s no one to be mourned or to mourn. The world has become a veritable irradiated Hell, only a place of ghosts robbed of its future. An introspective work that nevertheless poses some awkward questions about what it is we want as a species, who do we put our trust in, and how do we change the path we’re on so we head to a better and clearer destination? On top of that, it’s an astute observation of the current state of humanity – and it isn’t a particularly rosy summation at that.

Available as a digital download via Bandcamp on the link below:

https://outofhell.bandcamp.com/album/city-of-the-dead

Psymon Marshall 2019

Världsbrand ‎– Något Ur Inget

Världsbrand ‎– Något Ur Inget – Download - Dead Field Records ‎– [DFR514] – 2019.

https://varldsbrand.bandcamp.com/

https://deadfieldrecords.bandcamp.com/

Tracklist.

1. I Okakt Med Samtiden.
2. Något Ur Inget.
3. Kestina.
4. Bödelstaxa. 

     

Något Ur Inget is amongst eight Världsbrand recordings that have been recorded and released this year, this Swedish act formed around 1997, did a few recordings that were shelved then the project was revived in late 2018. This four-track release is on Russian label Dead Field Records.

The work is introduced by huge rotating, repetitive pulsating drones as zappy, sharp sounds that cut into the work. The sharper, cutting sounds begin to dominate and dictate how the sounds work. The dialogue between the two sets of sounds shifts well, repetitive yet changing within itself too. There is a futuristic feel to ‘I Otakt Med Samtiden’, I’d like to see how these simple electronics function in a live setting.

Cold, distant electronics and beats form Något Ur Inget, there is a mournful electronic guitar frequency that controls the sad mood of the work. I am loving the beats as I’m generally loving beats in noise right now. Strong atmospherics are demonstrated here, and I love it.

Again, Kestina takes a very different approach to the other two tracks. This starts with some wavery pulsations that shift in speed as if warped around rapidly. Distorted vocals come in the distance and add an extra dimension. The electronics seem to intensify after the vocal, with warped pulsations intensifying to revved electronics that seem simultaneously repeat and morph. Warped instrument tones, beats and metallic percussion play around each other to make Bödelstaxa,

The album doesn’t have a clear cohesion that binds all four very different tracks; yet it can be split into two tracks without beats and two with. There is a warpage of sound throughout and a consistent playfulness amongst the range of methods presented here. But saying that they’re all strong, making Något Ur Inget an enjoyable listen.

Choppy Noodles 2019.