Billed as “depressive black metal,” a more accurate description of Force Fed Life would be “repetitive guitar riffs and incoherent mumbling”. The first half of the Reminiscent Nostalgia's four tracks consist of an acoustic guitar and a dude whispering about pain or something, while the final half is an electric guitar and laughable black metal style vocals. To top it all off, the last track is an agonizing 14 minutes long. No thanks.
Smell the Stench
Fossils From the Sun – Blood '08 c38
Blood '08 begins with a sidelong jam of barley audible rhythmic pulsations, glitchy vocalizations, and, towards the end, some metallic sine waves. Not a promising start for the album. On the flip things are slightly more interesting, but really the three tracks there are just variations of what you heard before. It feels like Fossils From the Sun has the potential, but it just never manifests. All and all? Meh.
i AM esper – Sun & Moon: Between
Dimensions cd-r
Damn, this is a massive slab of drone
right here. Broken up between “day music” and “night music”, the sun portion is strummed guitar riffs that have been looped and
layered creating tracks that slowly unfold, while the moon half utilizes low note reverberations for melancholy pieces. With each song clocking
in at around 10 minutes, by the time Sun & Moon: Between
Dimensions concludes one can't help but feel overwhelmed and
engulfed in an ocean of sound. While the cd-r version has sold out,
you can buy a digital copy from i AM esper's bandcamp or wait for one
of the two cassette reissues.
Either way, just make sure you get you hands on a copy of this.
Northern Forest/Pandemonium – Là où
la Nature Reflète Sa Majesté cd-r
This split gets kicked off with four
tracks from Northern Forest of mixed synth action and nature
recordings, with a bit of black metal for good measure. These are
decent enough, but I've heard better stuff from Northern
Forest. The album is rounded out by an impressive track of drone from
France's Pandemonium. Consisting of looped ritualistic chanting,
electronic rumblings, and an unknown stringed instrument, it's
completely mesmerizing. Worth checking out if drone and dark ambient
is your game.
Pan – Pan c60
Pan's a tough nut to crack. The songs
here range from chaotic electronic soundscapes to folksy, pop
psychedelics and a fair share of things in between. I find myself
more drawn toward the psych tracks than the sound collage &
electronic antics, but to each their own. Pretty impressive that such
a diverse array of music was created with just a synthesizer,
electric guitar, and vocals. For whatever reason, I feel a little out
of my element with this one. I'm liking Pan, but it's not the thing
for everybody. If you dig odd birds, Pan will be right up
your alley.
