Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Silentium/Ars/The Ancients Wisdom/The Eternal Circle Of Life/Casus Belli Musica/2012 Split CD Review


  This  is  a  review  of  a  split  album  between  Ukraine's  Silentium  and  Ars  called  "The  Ancients  Wisdom/The  Eternal  Cycle  Of  Life"  which  was  released  by  Casus  Belli  in  2012  and  we  will  start  of  the  review  with  Silentium  which  is  a  1  man  band  that  plays  pagan/dark  ambient.

  Synths  are  very  epic  and  atmospheric  sounding  combine  dark  ambient  with  pagan  folk  music  as  well  as  some  experimental,  industrial  synth  pop  and  new  wave  with  a  variety  of  many  different  musical  keys  and  there  are  no  traditional  instruments  and  vocals  being  present  on  this  recording  with  the  music  being  all  instrumental.

  Song  concepts  cover  Darkness,  Nature  and  Slavic  Paganism  themes,  while  the  production  has  a  very  dark,  raw  and  primitive  sound  with  all  of  the  songs  being  short  in  length.

  In  my  opinion  Silentium  are  a  very  great  sounding  Pagan/Dark  Ambient  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  the  musical  genre,  you should  check  them  out.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Dying  Nature  (Requiem)"  and  "The  Hidden  By  Veil".  RECOMMENDED.

  Next  up  is  Ars  a  band  that  mixes  Pagan  Dark  Ambient  with  neo-folk  music.

  Synths  are  very  atmospheric  and  epic  sounding  mixing  Dark  Ambient  with  Pagan  and  Neo-Folk  music,  while  the  drum  programming  brings  a  very  militant  and  tribal  sound  to  the  music  calling  up  the  Pagan  Gods.

  Vocals  and  traditional  instruments  are  absent  from  this  recording  with  the  music  being  all  instrumental,  while  the  song  themes  cover  Nature,  Darkness,  Occultism  and  Slavic  Paganism,  as  for  the  production it  has  a  very  dark,  raw  and  primitive  sound  to  it  with  the  songs  being  short  in  length.

  In  my  opinion  Ars  are  a  very  great  sounding  pagan/dark  ambient  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  them  out.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The  Return  Of  The  Horned  One  (The  New  Spring  Comes)"  and  "Occulting  Light  (Taking  Charon's  Ferry)".  RECOMMENDED.

  In  conclusion  I  feel  this  is  a  very  great  sounding  split  album  and  I  would  recommend  this  to  all  fans  of  pagan  dark  ambient  music.  RECOMMENDED  BUY.

https://shop.casusbellimusica.com/catalog/product/view/id/32?___store=en&___from_store=default     

Thursday, September 6, 2012

The Cold View Interview


1. Can you tell us a little bit about this project for those that have never heard of you before?

The Cold View is a small Drone and Funeral Doom project which is completely run by myself. It arose in November 2011 when I was experimenting with some open source and free music software for Linux. There was a very high potential for creating professional compositions. After finishing experimenting and moving forward to a more serious approach the first song Empty November was created. I was convinced that I will be able to go on to further satisfying results, even as a one-man project. I set the goal to create one song per month aligned to the concept of a winter album. I wanted to bring in my special feelings and nature experiences of the particular winter month. Maybe I needed an outlet for the creative pressure I had inside.

2. How would you describe your musical sound?

The sound of Weeping Winter is of a very droning, bass driven and noisy kind. It is oriented on Funeral Doom and maybe also Industrial. It's a dark and depressed, desperate and brutal sound. I wanted to create sound structures and themes that get varied and iterated, meditated in the end. The compositions are in one way abstract, but in the other way there are always points and simple melodies one can hang on.

3. What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?

According to the concept all lyrics center on winter. My emotions affected by personal experiences and the influence of the nature and the winter climate flowed into the lyrics and also the music. But in the end one must not forget that Doom has its stylistic devices.

4. What is the meaning and inspiration behind the band’s name?

Seven years ago I had the very small band project Bestial (http://www.bestial-metal.com/) with a friend of mine, who also mixed and mastered my current record. I have chosen "The Cold View" as the name of our second demo, but it never got finished or even really started. The name was perfect for my new project. It derived from a term of Nietzsche who in this case described a philosophical concept, a concept how to view the world or reality around.

5. Currently there is only one member in the band, are you planning on expanding the line up in the future or do you choose to remain solo?

I have to admit that I do not really know what ways I will go in the future. I only know that the next step has to be a step forward. One possibility could be to found a band with several members. But currently I do not wonder too much about this. I am happy with doing things self dependent.

6. Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label and if so what kind of label do you feel that would be a perfect fit for your music?

I was looking for a label for some time. But in spite of the very positive feedback of befriended musicians the interest of the labels for this very underground record was too little. There is not a high commercial potential for this kind of music.

7. Are there any other musical projects besides this band or is this full time?

Currently there are no other projects. The Cold View is also not full time. I have a full time job that involves a lot of my time.

8. What direction do you see your music heading into on future releases?

As I stated before it has to get a step forward. A full band line-up could bring even more creative input.

9. What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

I do listen to many styles of Metal, mainly different types of Doom and Black Metal. There are lots of good bands I like to listen to and who influence me, too many I could mention at this place.

10. Does Occultism play any role in your music?

Occultism or Satanism does not play any role in my music or life. If I use diabolic ideas it is just for stylistic devices like metaphors. I have an antireligious world view. This involves Satanism or paganism or other cult related things, too. Nevertheless a certain kind of spiritualism is an aspect in my music and also in my own philosophy. But this kind of spiritualism emerges from the unconscious and from deep, intense experiences of nature.

11. Outside of music what are some of your interests?

Music is the most important of my interests, but I also like art and literature. Currently I'm reading some novels of E. T. A. Hoffmann; I love to dive into his dark, fantastic and insane worlds.

12. Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview?

If anyone has interest in my record, look after the direct download links in the posting about my record at this blog. Or go to my official sitehttp://www.thecoldview.com/ or http://thecoldview.bandcamp.com/ Support the underground, support free culture!

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

The Cold View/Weeping Winter/2012 Album Review


  The  Cold  View  are  a  1  man  band  from  Germany  that  plays  a  mixture  of  drone  and  funeral  doom  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2012  album  "Weeping  Winter".

  Drum  programming  is  all  slow  beats,  while  the  synths  bring  a  very  dark  and  depressive  ambient  sound  to  the  music,  as  for  the  bass  playing  it  has  a  very  strong  and  powerful  tone  with  primitive  drone/funeral  doom  riffing  that  dominates  through  out  the  recording.


  Guitars  are  all  absent  from  this  recording,  while  the  vocals  are  mostly  deep  funeral  doom  growls  mixed  in  with  some  black  metal  screams  on  the  last  song  while  the  lyrics  are  a  concept  album  about  the  winter,  as  for  the  production  it  has  a  very  dark, raw  and  primitive  sound  with  the  songs  being  long  and  epic  in  length.

  In  my  opinion  The  Cold  View  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  drone  and  funeral  doom  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Grey  January"  and  "Mournful  March".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.

320 kbit/s MP3 - http://www.thecoldview.com/thecoldview-weepingwinter-mp3.zip 

FLAC - http://www.thecoldview.com/thecoldview-weepingwinter-flac.zip