It is virtually impossible to write a review which does justice to this impressive release. No less than 4 cd’s at a time of one of the best dark ambient acts around, which has always stood more for quality than quantity. Since the early 90’s this German project, consisting of René Lehmann & Knut Enderlei, only released three albums, plus a couple of hard to obtain vinyl and tape releases and compilation appearances.
All the material included in this boxset was recorded during live performances and rehearsal sessions. The recordings span almost their entire career, from 1995 to 2002, at appearances in Germany, France, Russia, Prague, the UK, the USA and Canada. While listening you will hardly notice that these are live recordings, since they were edited and mastered to create the highest possible sound quality.
A very interesting aspect is that many of the tracks are either rare to find in their original form or completely unreleased. Of the known material, many tracks sound more powerful than ever in these live versions, like perhaps my favourite ‘Chapel Perilious’. In the accompanying booklet many live photos are included, a gigography and a discography and an essay about Inade by Marcus Stiglegger.
I will not even try to discuss single tracks, I would not know where to start. These cd’s really sound impressive. The deep drones, heavy percussion, low speech voices and surprising samples and sounds fill the complete room and surround me completely, as if they are performing next to me. The oppressive atmosphere and occult sound art are totally convincing.
These are certainly not static background soundscapes to relax to while reading a book. It also is not your typical scary horror dungeon ambient. Inade sounds original and very demanding. The carefully constructed layers of sound, ingenious arrangements and mysterious rituals ask for all your energy and attention. Therefore I suggest to not listen multiple cd’s of this set in a row. This music is exhausting but brilliant.
