Neraterrae/Scenes Form the Sublime/Cyclic Law/Liberation Through Hearing/2020 Full Length Review

  Italy's  solo  project  Neraterrae  has  returned  with  a  new  recording  which  shows  the  music  going  more  for  a  mixture  of  dark  ambient,  drone  and  noise  and  the  album  is  called  "Scenes  From  The  Sublime"  and  was  released  in  2020  as  a  joint  effort  between  Cyclic  Law  and  Liberation  Through  Hearing.

  Dark  ambient  style  synths  and  soundscapes  start  off  the  album  while  programmed  beats  can  also  be  heard  in  the  background  at  times.  The  songs  also  add  in  a  decent  amount  of  atmospheric  and  cinematic  sounding  drones  along  with  a  great  portion  of  the  tracks  also  being  very  long  and  epic  in  length.

  All  of  the  tracks  also  sound  very  different  from  each  other  while  harsh  noises  are  also  added  into  some  parts  of  the  music.   Most  of  the  songs  are  also  instrumentals  along  with  one  track  also  adding  in  some  spoken  word  parts  and  throat  singing  which  also  gives  the  music  more  of  a ritualistic  feeling  and  as  the  album  progresses  a  brief  use  of  female  vocals  can  also  be  heard.

  The  songs  also  add  in  some  collaborations  from  Alphaxome,  Dodsmaskin,  Leila  Abdul-Rauf,  Mount  Shrine,  Phelios,  Phragements,  Shrine,  Shrine,  Xerxes  the  Dark,  Martyria,  and  Cober  Ord.  The  production  sounds  very  dark  while  the music  is  also  inspired  by  ancient  paintings  and  their  meanings.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Neraterrae  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  dark  ambient,  drone  and  noise,  you  should  check out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The  Last  Abjurer"  "Passion  Domain"  "The  Collapse  of  Matter  And  Time"  and  "Virtues  of  the  Dawn".  8  out  of  10.

https://cycliclaw.bandcamp.com/album/scenes-from-the-sublime     

 

Neraterrae 2019 Interview

1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the musical project since the recording and release of the new album?
“The Substance of Perception” came out on April 26th via Cyclic Law, after over two years of unceasing work. Did I take a break from producing music since I completed the record and forwarded it to the label? Of course not. Basically I’ve been working on the follow up (which will be out in 2020) since then.
Apart from that, right after the album release, a video was realized by SMI Video for the track “Shadows of Regret” (featuring Northaunt). You can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1dxxhqRCFs
I’m actually making up my mind about the next videoclip too.

2.Recently you have released a new album, how would you describe your musical progress on this recording from previous releases?
It’s been long journey, I feel like I’ve learned a lot throughout the process even though I still have to learn much.
I approached the music differently and I “watched” at it from other perspectives.
I think the tracks sound more immersive than ever, they have a strong evocative feel, and they have a strong character too.
Many techniques were adopted both mixing and mastering wise and what matters the most is that I’m happy with the results, and people seem to be enjoying the album too, which makes it all way gratifying.

3.While all of the earlier releases where instrumental, you added some spoken words and vocals on the new album, can you tell us a little bit more about it?
True, there are some vocals on this record.
You can clearly hear Alexey Tegin’s incomparabile voice on the second track “To Reveal the Unseen”, for example; well, that vocal line was recorded live, one take straight, no editing at all was made, I just treated it a bit in post-production, and the result is mysterious and beautiful.
Also you can notice the eerie voice of Treha Sektori on tracks 3 “Becoming the Nightmare” and 5 “That Which Shall Not Be Witnessed”. I’ve always been a fan of Treha Sektori’s Dehn Sora’s music visions, his unique style and language (yes, that’s his own language) are so original and inspiring and it was just great to have him part of the album.
Some spoken passages can be also heard on track 1 “Shadows of Regret”; that was Northaunt’s idea, which I found very intriguing and I think it gives the song an interesting nuance.

4.How would you describe the artwork that is presented on the new album cover?
The artwork for “The Substance of Perception” was realized by Nihil and Daria Endresen, and let me say that they’ve done a fantastic job, I couldn’t be happier about it. It perfectly fits the overall feel of the music and its theme. I find it to be evocative, a work of beauty enshrouded in mellow obscurity.
The limited edition CD comes in a stunning 6 panels digipak version, you’ve got to see that.

5.On the new album you also had some collaborations, can you tell us a little bit more about the musicians and musical projects that where a part of your new album?
Of course, “The Substance of Perception” features: (alphabetical order) Alexey Tegin from Phurpa, Flowers For Bodysnatchers, Infinexhuma, New Risen Throne, Northaunt, Taphephobia, Treha Sektori, Ugasanie, Xerxes The Dark.
The interesting part of the collaborations is that they were born in such a natural way; as I was almost done with the record, I asked these awesome people who I highly esteem to check it and to give me a feedback, suggestions and so on. Then it all happened. Musically speaking, no particular directions were given, not even regarding the theme of the record, I wanted all the people involved to feel free to express themselves.

6.The new album was also released on 'Cyclic Law', how did you get in contact with this label?
Right before finishing and mastering the album I started to look around label wise; the first-and-only label I sent an email to was Cyclic Law, I explained them what I was working on, they showed interest and asked me to let them listen to what I had so far, so I sent them the material, it was approved…and that’s pretty much it.

7.On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your fans with the newer music?
I’ve been getting positive feedback from literally all around the world; I got messages and emails from people in Japan, Canada, Russia, South America, people I didn’t know and never spoken to before. Plus, I’ve received some really enthusiastic words from some of my favorite artists about, which is great.

8.What is going on with 'Alma Flua' these days?
We’re on hiatus, each one of us is working on personal projects. We’ll be back, hopefully, someday.

9.What are some of the bands or musical artists you are currently listening to nowadays?
Uhm, there are many. Some new music like: “Alive with Scars” by Flowers For Bodysnatchers, which is great; Bjärgö’s “Återstoden” ; “Exoplanetary” by Ruptured World, which is a phenomenal record with a very strong cinematic feel; “Ghosts on Broken Pavement” by Mount Shrine; “Diminution” by Leila Abdul-Rauf, a very diverse and evocative album; “Vulner” by The Nent, which is intriguing.
Of course I keep listening to what I consider some of the best Ambient/Dark Ambient (and related) records too (not strictly new works): “Ur Djupan Dal” by Atrium Carceri & Herbst9; “Black Corner Den” by Atrium Carceri & Cities Last Broadcast; “Endurance” and “Thirty” by Irezumi; “Opalescent” by Jon Hopkins; “Ava” and “Be Left to Oneself” by Keosz; “Beyond”, “Dark Matter” and “The Dark Places of the Earth” by Lustmord; “Human Stasis Habitat” by Phelios; “Nihtes Niht” by Troum & Aidan Baker; “Call of the North” and “Eye of Tunguska” by Ugasanie; plus Ulver, Ulver and some more Ulver.
Apart from the more Ambient/Electronic field, I’ve been listening to Death Cab For Cutie’s “Thank You for Today”, “Kintsugi”, “Codes and Keys”, “Narrow Stairs” and “Plans” for quite a lot.
Also, during the last week I’ve been spinning: Septicflesh’s “Sumerian Daemon”; “Spiritual Black Dimensions”, “Enthrone Darkness Triumphant” and “Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia” by Dimmu Borgir; Now In Colour’s self-titled album and a lot of Steven Wilson’s solo works.

10.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Thanks for your time and your interest towards my music, much appreciated.
If you haven’t bought or listened to “The Substance of Perception” yet, you can find it at https://www.cycliclaw.com/releases/neraterr-the-substance-of-perception-cd-138th-cycle or https://neraterrae.bandcamp.com/releases

Neraterrae/The Substance Of Perception/Cyclic Law/2019 CD Review

  Neraterrae  are  a  solo  project  from  Italy  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  mixture  of  death  industrial,  power  electronics,  noise,  drone  and  dark  ambient  and  this  is  a  review  of  his  2019 album  "The  Substance  Of  Perception"  which  was  released  by  Cyclic  Law  and  consists  of  some  session  musicians  and  collaborations  between  some  very  well  known  artists  from  the  dark  ambient,  drone,  cinematic,  and  ritual music  scenes.

  Dark  ambient  style  synths  start  off  the  album  while  rain  sounds  can  also  be  heard  briefly  along  with  the  music  also  adding  in  a  great  amount  of  atmospheric  soundscapes.  Spoken  word  parts  can  also  be  heard  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording  and  a  lot  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length.

  Atmospheric  sounding  drones  can  also  be  heard  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording  while  one  track  also  introduces  throat  singing  into the  music  and  it  also  adds  in  more  of  a  ritualistic  atmosphere.  All  of  the  tracks  sound  very  different  from  each  other  and  as  the  album  progresses  power  electronics  are  also  added  into  some  parts  of  the music.

  At  times  the  music  gets  very  avant  garde  and  experimental  sounding  while  some  songs  also  add  in  some  touches  of  death  industrial  and  noise  without  getting  chaotic  or  brutal  sounding.  Some  of  the  session  members  on  the  recording  are  also  known  for  their  work  with  Phurpa,  Treha  Sektori,  New  Risen  Throne, Flowers  For  Bodysnatchers,  Taphephobia,  Ugasanie,  Xerves  The  Dark  and  Infinexhuma  and  the  production  sounds  very  dark.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  album  from  Neratarrae  and  you  are  a  fan  of  death  industrial,  noise,  drone,  power  electronics  and  dark  ambient,  you  should  check  out  this  recording.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Shadows  Of  Regret"  "The  Wicked  Pulse  Of  Conscience "  and  "Echoing  Scars".  8  out  of  10.

VIEW ON CYCLICLAW or VIEW ON BANDCAMP      

Neratarrae Interview

1. For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the musical project?

Before I even start talking about NERATERRÆ, I gotta say that I’ve always been a huge music fan, especially if it’s rock and metal music, I’ve been following several bands since their very beginning, and one of those bands was (and actually still is) Ulver, from Norway. I’m saying so ‘cause their never-ending musical and conceptual evolution has always been inspiring to me. It was 17-18 years ago when Perdition City was released, and to me It was life-changer. After all these years I still do believe that no one has ever topped such a monster of crossover-Electronic album. I can say that that record really moved something inside of me, unconsciously It was the start of something that today I call NERATERRÆ.
As the years passed I explored the classic Electronic scene and the mainstream Electronic scene, but I quickly found myself digging deeper and deeper into the Ambient and Downtempo fields, It was at that very moment that I fell in love with the darker sides of such genres and styles. Since so, Dark Ambient, Drone, Industrial Ambient (and -related) have always been catching my attention. And that is what I’ve been doing as NERATERRÆ since 2009/2010: Drone/Industrial Ambient, and such, I suppose.


2. How would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recordings?

I’d definitely say that the sound is industrialized, alienated, dynamic and multi-layered; I do that by interlacing and intertwining layers of sounds and atmospheres.
Each track has a its own ‘personality’, or a different ‘color’ if you wish, but there’s one thing that all of my tracks have in common: dynamics.
Due to the ‘digital era’ the industry has been compressing music for almost twenty years, and that has brought to a lack of dynamic music; It does not sound good and It’s not how It should sound at all.
At least, that is not how I want my music to sound like.
Music should be about nuances, colors, dynamics, and I do my best to keep that in mind.


3. Most of the musical released so far, has been instrumental, are you open to using vocals?

I recorded some vocal patterns for a couple of tracks so far, they were recorded and manipulated in order to get some kind of unusual effect and make them sound disturbing, you can hear something here and there…
Even though I’m not going to tell much about what the next record is gonna sound like, I can say that there will be some vocals on the next album too, but, not ‘vocals’ as the common sense may suggest.


4. Originally the solo project was known as 'NHART', what was the cause of the name change and also the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Neratarrae'?

Even before ‘NHART’ was born, the project was running under another name: ‘NAART’. I started to look for another name when I realized that the material recorded as NAART/NHART would have been a stand-alone project, I already knew that I would have changed direction, musically. Just a matter of time.
I switched the name to NERATERRÆ when I cleared things up in my mind and decided which path I’d have followed next.
“Why did you release “The NHART Demo[n]s” under the NERATERRÆ name, then?” You might ask. Well, I did not want to release just one record under the ‘NHART’ name, and then abandon the project in order to start over again with NERATERRÆ. It looked disorganized to me.
Plus, I feel somehow affictionated to that music, I spent a lot of time on it and I wanted to do justice to those tracks, so I re-stored, edited, re-mixed them and gave them a new voice, in order to claim them under the NERATERRÆ name. That is the concealed meaning of the title “The NHART Demo[n]s”, those tracks are my demons that I’ve been struggling against for long time.
The battle might be over now.
About the meaning of NERATERRÆ: it is a word-play between “NERA” (black, in Italian) and “TERRÆ” (land/ground/earth, in Latin); I think it sounds pretty interesting and catchy, yet obscure, doomed and somehow lofty.


5. With this project you record everything by yourself, are you open to working with other musicians or do you prefer to work solo?

I also play the drums, so as a drummer I’ve always been playing music with people, as a whole band or as a trio, etc, but NERATERRÆ is way different, NERATERRÆ has been and will always be just one person, I’m open to collaborations, remixes, etc, but I need a lot of time and space in order to achieve what I have in mind.
Plus, I’d like NERATERRÆ to be stylistically ever-changing, It’s challenging, and this would make It kinda hard for someone else to stay on board.


6. Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest?

Yes, I have, but right now I can’t say much about what’s going on label-wise; I was asked not to talk about it yet, but I can tell you that something’s moving, and I can’t wait.


7. On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of death industrial or dark ambient?

It has been pretty good I gotta say, I wasn’t expecting such positive feedback so far! Magazines, websites, zines and blogs have been giving good ratings to my release and I got some really amazing reviews.


8. Are you also involved with any other bands or musical projects these days?

I play drums and percussion (and I handle mixing and mastering duties too) in Alma Flua, my touring acoustic trio.


9. Where do you see yourself heading into as a musician in the future?

Man, I really do not know, I’m not going to preclude anything, but the future is always uncertain…I have some ideas about the future as NERATERRÆ, but we will see.


10. What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

Hard question. I’ve always been a big fan of music. I own a huge collection of albums and I have a “small” bunch of favourite ones: about 250 records, so that may give you an idea of how many albums I actually own.
Long story short, the bands that have had an influence on my music (and they still do have) are (alphabetical order): ASC, Atrium Carceri, Bass Communion, Biosphere, Carbon Based Lifeforms, Cities Last Broadcast, H.U.V.A. Network, Jon Hopkins, Kammarheit, Keosz, Lustmord, New Risen Throne, Northaunt, Phelios, Richard Barbieri, Solar Fields, Steven Wilson, Svartsinn, Ulver, and maybe a few more.


11. What are some of your non musical interests?

I’m a graduated fitness instructor, so: fitness/nutrition/wellness in general. Then: photography; I love travelling; I like reading thriller/noir books. That’s pretty much it. Oh, I’m cymbals-addicted, such beautiful instruments, ha!


12. Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

I do: I’d like to thank you for supporting the underground scene, your efforts are admirable and I appreciate that.
Then, please keep an eye on www.facebook.com/neraterrae for info and updates! Thank you.
-Alessio Antoni | NERATERRÆ

Neraterrae/The NHART Demo[n]s/2017 Compilation Album Review

   Neraterrae  are  a  solo  project  from  Italy  that  plays  a  mixture  of  dark  ambient,  death  industrial,  power  electronics,  noise  and  drone  and  this  is  a  review  of  his  self  released  2017  compilation  album  "The  NHART  Demo[s]".

  Dark  ambient  style  soundscapes  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  elements  of  drone  while  the  music  also  mixes  in  more  power  electronic  and  noise  influences  as  the  album  progresses  as  well  as  keeping  everything  in  an  experimental  direction  while  later  tracks  also  bring  in  more  death  industrial  touches,  a  great  portion  of  the  tracks  are  very  short  in  length  and  also  sound  very  different  from  each  other.

  Neraterrae  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  dark  ambient,  death  industrial,  drone,  noise  and  power  electronics  and  mixes  them  together  to  create  a  sound  of  his  own  as  well  as  keeping  everything  instrumental  and  the  production  also  sounds  very  dark.

 In  my  opinion  Neraterrae  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  dark  ambient,  drone,  death  industrial,  noise  and power  electronics  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  solo  project.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Core"  "Night  Visit"  and  "New  Faith".  8  out  of  10.

www.facebook.com/neraterrae