ARTIST:
> V/A
ALBUM:
> New Aeon Symbols V - The Pentagram
GENRE:
> Dark Ambient, Neofolk, Neoclassical, Industrial, Drone
PUBLISHER:
> Quartier 23
YEAR:
> 2009
FORMAT:
> 2CD
TOTAL PLAYTIME:
> 68:33 & 43:39
CD 1
[01]Temple Musick - 61
[02]Akoustik Timbre Frekuency - Evoking Thee Kliphoth (Star of Set Rite)
[03]Aleph Naught - Blood
[04]Paregorik - Inverted Temper
[05]Igniis - Tema 41 16
[06]Bethlehelle - 864
[07]Ouroboros - Ourovorax (Litania Mix)
[08]Gothick - Man ov Earth
[09]Nimheil - Liter V vel Reguli
[10]Flat Affect - ?
[11]Malachia - The Hammer
[12]Emme Ya - The Backward Path
CD2
[01]Kristus Kut - She Is In the Waves
[02]Praying for Oblivion - Ultimatum
[03]Merankorii - Methodicka
[04]F.Leo-Crovey - Phallique (Pentagram)
AUTHOR:
> M
Another rather ritualistic release by the label Quartier 23. As the title implies, this compilation features tracks themed around the pentagram and it's various meanings. The bands present a wide scale of the darker experimental and ritualistic music, as the compilation features almost two hours' worth of dark ambient, neoclassical, neofolk, drone and industrial/electronic music. On the first disc the tracks are usually around five minutes in lenght, whereas the tracks on the second disc are around ten minutes long.
Temple Musick starts the first disc with an eight-minute track. It's repetitive, rhytmic and pulsatingly progressing dark and rather minimal electronic track really sets the mood right. The low spoken and whispered vocals and the even disturbing electronics in the background really enchance the darkness. A good opener that's sure to stick to your mind due to it's catchy rthythmics and good atmosphere. After this kind of a track, ATF's skillfully crafted droning ritual ambient doesn't really draw attention to itself, especially as most of it's elements being hidden behind the droning. Aleph Naught's slow and simple droning ambient has a nice atmosphere, but has musically little to give due to it's thin soundscape. Paregorik succeeds better with the thin soundscape due to having more interesting and varying sounds, and more small spices in it's rather minimal ambient soundscape. After this, Igniis comes armed with a greatly higher volume level than the previous tracks. Some heavy and somewhat cheap-sounding percussions and some small atmospheric sounds create the background for this really melodic (and, in this context, very conventional) neofolk-track that's driven by some acoustic guitars and slightly echoed singing. It's good, but it's small amount of ideas leave me to think that it's truly not the best the band could offer. Bethlehelle offers a mainly orchestral track with a feel of old sci-fi/horror-movies. The composition is good, as are the spoken mid-parts, but the one-dimensional sounds do no justice to the track.
Ouroboros presents a really solid and harsh mid-pitch droning ambient track with some speaking and atmospheric sounds imbued to the it. The track's well composed and executed, but five minutes with such harsh sounds in this context just isn't enough for the track to really kick off. Gothick's 3-minute effort is rather annoying: really plastic and simple drum patterns, some rather improvised-sounding bass-riffs and way on top of them there's some low, spoken and amateurish-sounding vocals. The track has a twisted feeling, but overall it's something to skip. Nimheil's track is again some harsh, droning ambient, but with a good amount of twists and "additional" metallic and even space-esque sounds here and there amidst the droning to keep your interest up. A truly enjoyable piece. Flat affect's song is based on low drone with some twisted ambient synth-melodies and talking-samples behind it. The track lasts for seven minutes, and as it builds up and fades out slowly, it leaves the feeling of wasting the space it would have for it's ideas. Still, it's minimalism is really bold, it's well executed and the track has a good, distressing atmosphere. Malachia's 11-minute track opens up with some slowly evolving flanged ambient sounds, with some crackling, hissing, and harsh clanging occasionally behind them. Despite the small changes within the track, it's slow "evolution" and it's simplicity, it has an appealing atmosphere and keeps your attention for it's whole running time. The sounds are also well chosen, and overall the slow&simple progression was a good way to go. Emme Ya's track, being the last on the album, is a really ritualistic piece. It's based on some low drones (some of them most likely produced with a didgeridoo) that really take over the soundscape with their wavy progression and hypnotic sounds. There's also some beats here and there, but along with the drone the attention really goes to the vocal work; the vocals are some whispered and shouted, really distant mantras and laughter. Overall the track sounds good, and it's really, really ritualistic atmosphere is pleasing and really appealing. A good closer for this CD.
The second disc concists of four songs only, and it provides a rather noisier view to the darker sounds. The rather famous Kristus Kut starts this CD with the eleven minutes long track "She Is in the Waves". The track is mainly based on low droning and some higher, echoing and harsher ambient soundwaves. These two sounds progress by changing their pitch and volume in a wave-like way throughout the track, creating a good-sounding and interesting soundscape. On top of this harsh ambience is some really harsh and really echoed beats that just come from nowhere rather frequently during the track and follow no mathematic pattern. These bea(s)ts are occasionally quite back in the mix, but more often they are really loud and on top of the ambience, really forcing you to focus on the track. A daring choice, but one that also works. Skillfully crafted noisy droning. The next track by Praying for Oblivion is a little over six minutes long, and it is stylistically power electronics. A wall of harsh white noise and feedback, mostly around mid-pitch except for one higher screeching sound in the background, topped with some really distorted shouting. Really noisy stuff, unsurprisingly, but there's some really short rhythms amidst the noise around the song's end to take your attention. A truly violent and overall really good track, and one that progresses and changes well during it's playing time.
Merankorii's 11-minuter sounds like you accidentally dialed to hell and the connection is in bad condition. You know what those dial-up-sounds are like, right? It's like a broken synth. Notes similar to that are played in a steady pace but without any melody, while being backed by some thin gritty distortion is what you'll hear for seven minutes. After that, more distortion, echoing and noisiness kicks in to give the track more structure, but the overall distortion soon fades and the track comes to it's end just barely more noisy than it was in the beginning. It's a really interesting track despite it's few elements, and a daring one too. I don't know how soon the track will lose it's appeal due to it's mostly thin soundscape, but it's a good listen nonetheless. The last track is a 14-minute piece by F.Leo-Crovey, which is nowdays a part of the band/project Viginti Tres Saecula... and actually this track features many sounds and elements familiar from VTS's track "Ritual". Low, repetitive bass drone humming in the background provides the backbone, and on top of it is some really echoed and harsh beats, and some equally harsh ambient sounds and effects. Around seven minutes the track calms down to a organ-based piece with some sparse vocals and other effects to spice the track and to keep it interesting. The track remains as a simple organ-ambient-piece until it's end, with the aforementioned spices. Due to the track's unconventional soundscape it might be a difficult listen at first, but with time one learns to appreciate it's originality. The track's rather calm ending is a good closer for this noisy record.
Visually the release is bare to the bone, which is a shame as I would've liked to know more about the participated bands and the compilation's idea itself. It of course might be that the lack of info is just due to my copy being a promo, but somehow I don't think so. This album presents a good selection of darker bands and artists from various styles and locations, the song quality is overall well above average, and the record feels like a whole despite the variation. The criticism goes to not adjusting the volume levels on all songs, non-existant info, and for the dull packaging. I'd recommend this release for people who want a quick look at the darker and/or noisier arts, and for people with need for ritual music.