Reviews: martial

(bombastic / orchestral / military soundscapes)

Othila – Yula

Othila is a French act, which earlier released a cd on Divine Comedy Records. This 10″ contains 3 brandnew tracks, and they are excellent! ‘Acte I’ of “Yula” contains an original mixture of dark ambiance, heavy percussion, sacred choirs and bagpipes. Ranging from militant and martial to moody atmospheres, this is powerful stuff…

Arditi – Marching on to Victory

Arditi is a new project of M. Björkman and Henrik Möller, of Puissance fame. And that can clearly be heard! This is not an album for peaceful minds… “Marching on to victory” was recorded in 2002, and was released after the EP ‘Unity of Blood’, both released by the new label Svartvintras Productions. Arditi has much in common with Puissance…

Blutharsch, Der – Time is thee enemy!

For people not familiar with this band, their stage show and music will most likely call to mind (old) Laibach. Both the militant image and music of Der Blutharsch have some clear references to the music of the Slovenian band. The music on Time is thee enemy! is overall a more subtle character than that of Laibach…

Melek-Tha – Evil Indoctrination

If you want your music dark, Melek-Tha is your man. No sugar or milk is added to his black industrial cocktail. Lord Evil fuses dark ambient, industrial noises, orchestral bombast, ritual spoken words… There is a clear occult and sinister undertone in this French project. “Evil indoctrination” is already the fifth album of the apocalyptic war machine…

Von Thronstahl – Bellum, sacrum bellum?

War, what is it good for? Well, for countless works of art in any case. Music and war are a fruitful and long-term combination. Not only has war inspired many songwriters in their lyrics (both pro and anti), it also did so in their sound, by imitating the sounds of the battlefield with the rolling of drums and the sound of trumpets…

Laibach – Laibach

Laibach is one of the pioneering bands for the industrial scene, not only when it comes to music, also their (controversial) imagery has had a deep impact on the genre. Even nowadays bands still make use of their heritance. The band themselves also think it is still interesting to play the same music and stage the same show…

Dernière Volonté – Les Blessures de l’Ombre

After the fine album “Le feu sacré” and some very good single and compilation tracks, expectations were high for the second album of this French project around Geoffroy D. Well, it certainly has fulfilled the promise completely, because it’s excellent. “Les Blessures de l’Ombre” is a pleasure to listen to, with a lot of variation and atmosphere and very good songs…

Radio Eichenlaub – Coats devoured by Colours

Radio Eichenlaub is a mysterious German project, originally a duo, later reduced to a solo project of Hans Johm. This is the third release on their label Sonderübertragung, after an untitled debut album and a compilation with various acts called “Funkfeuer”…

Ophir – Saat und Ernte

In a nice blue sleeve and on nice blue vinyl as well comes this 10″ record from Ophir. It is released by Greyland Records, also home to the related acts Wappenbund and Coinside. ‘Saat & Ernte’ is also available in a cd-version, but the vinyl version looked to me more special…

Puissance – Genocidal

The Americal label L.S.D.Organization is specialized in limited releases on vinyl, often with special packages. They have released music from the likes of Nordvargr/Drakh, Survival Unit, Slogun, Merzbow, Ah-Cama Sotz, Iron Justice, Slogun, so mostly in the industrial field. This single by Puissance was released in 2000…

Dawn & Dusk Entwined – Remergence

The third album of the French project Dawn & Dusk Entwined. I appreciated the debut on World Serpent, but somehow missed the second album on the same label. Now there is a new album on the French label Athanor, dealing with familiar themes, like European pagan traditions…

Toroidh – Testament

Of all the countless Nordvargr projects, I think I like Toroidh the most. Perhaps because it has the most song-based music, because of its folky and nostalgic elements, or the large variety on the Toroidh albums. “Testament” is the third part of the ‘European’ trilogy, dedicated to the ‘madness and turmoil of the last century when two world wars raged Europe, and brothers turned on brothers’…

Predella Avant – Noviomagus

Last week I already reviewed the debut album of Predella Avant. The cd I have in front of me right now is more of a little treat to visitors of the recent Thorns of Avalon festival, being limited to only 25 copies. This festival was held in the city of Nijmegen, hence the title “Noviomagus” (Noviomagum is latin for Nijmegen)…

Predella Avant – Predella Avant

Predella Avant is a new project by a musically very talented, and very productive guy from The Hague (the Netherlands). He has released tons of other releases in quite different musical styles and with Predella Avant now focuses on neoclassical-industrial, a style that I guess was once started by Laibach…

Von Thronstahl – Re-turn your revolt into style

Von Thronstahl, the project around Josef K., is better known for its political controversies than for its musical qualities. Perhaps a bit of a pity, because they have created some fine music if you see through the political incorrect games. This was especially the case on “Imperium Internum”, which contains some nice neo-classical hymns, in which you can hear the hand of Raymond P…

Turbund Sturmwerk – Sturmgeweiht

No, this is not a new Turbund Sturmwerk album. “Sturmgeweiht” is a re-release of a historical sound document, that so far only appeared on a limited tape, way back in 1992. Sturmgeweiht was written to be performed live in 1992, but was canceled then, because of its controversial nature. In the booklet you can read more about that happening…

In the Nursery – Cause + Effect

After looking at the tracklisting I was a bit disappointed. This is not a new In The Nursery (ITN) album but rather a tribute to them. There are twelve different acts featured on this disc with an interpretation of a ITN song. The band themselves is only featured with one song. All bands pay homage to ITN as their inspirers (Cause) and display what they have done with their heritage (Effect)…

Dernière Volonté – Le feu sacré

A nice French discovery in 2001, besides Tribe of Circle, was Dernière Volonté. Apart from a few singles, they released this fine debut album on the Hau Ruck! label. At the time I neglected to review it, but it certainly deserves attention. “Le feu sacré” contains some fine orchestral hymns, bombastic, at times militant, but often surprisingly melodic and light…

Tribe of Circle – Rien ne disparait jamais vraiment…

The nice debut cd of Tribe of Circle was released by Athanor in 1999. This French one-man act earlier released the 7″ ‘Altered State’ on the Hau Ruck! label. “Rien ne disparait…” contains some strong solemn and martial tracks, combining industrial strength and orchestral majesty. The music is mainly instrumental, enriched with speech samples and choirs…

Tribe of Circle – The advent of redemption

This is the second album of this French project from Jean-Paul Antelmi. It comes in an impressive looking digipack. Although the first song is an innocent children’s song, we are treated again to a bombastic mixture of orchestral music and martial industrial sound collages. Overall I find the atmosphere a little darker and more threatening than Tribe of Circles debut album…