“Behind the headlines, between the frequencies, beneath the surface… there are occult transmissions, audible to those whose ears are attuned.”
This is the second release I hear from Tugend, a rather rightwing project ‘dedicated to the new aristocracy and the new formation of an ancient tradition’. “Optimism is for the weak”, also released on the Somnambulant Corpse label, was a conceptual album dealing with war, which you could hear in the samples used and the overall mood. “Occult Transmisison” is more of a ‘classic’ dark ambient album, though it has some death industrial elements, think of Megaptera. I think that Tugend certainly has evolved, with stronger sounds and more interesting compositions. The atmosphere is very grim and and desperate. The music remains rather cold and distant, as if you are listening in a concrete building, with your loudspeakers located at another floor. Most songs are rather minimal and monotonous, with only subtle changes in sound. But they are effective. The reverberating ambient layers and deep drones are combined with dark string sounds and not too fast industrial percussion. Towards the end of the cd the tracks get more structured focus, being noisier with heavier percussion, some speech samples and clearer neo-clasical elements. Especially the 7th track, ‘Disorder’ is to my liking. A decent album that shows progression for Tugend.
I believe that this highly limited cd-r (100 copies) is now sold-out. However in the coming months a new split re-release of “Occult Transmission” and a re-mastered version of the Survival Unit release “Running on Emptiness” with additional material will be released, in an unlimited DVD-case edition CD-R.
