Taphephobia/Blue Hour/Cyclic Law/2020 CD Review

 

  Norway's  solo  project  Taphephobia  have  returned  with  a  new  recording  which  shows  the  music  going  into  a  cinematic  mixture  of  dark  ambient  and  drone  and  this  is  a  review  of  his  2020  album  "Blue  Hour"  which  was  released  by  Cyclic  Law.

  Ambient  style  synths  start  off  the  album  which  also  uses  a  variety  of  many  different  sounding  keys  while  the  music  also  has  its  atmospheric  moments.  Drones  and  cinematic  sounds  are  also  added  into  some  parts  of  the  songs  along  with  all  of  the  tracks  also  sticking  mostly  to  an  instrumental  musical  direction.

  Spoken  word  parts  can  also  be  heard  on  a  couple  of  the  tracks  while  all  of  the  tracks  also  sound  very  different  from  each other.  One  song  also  adds  some  dark  soundscapes  and  noises  into  the  music  along  with  the  2  closing  songs  also  being  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  all  of  the  music  also sticks  to  a  slower  direction,  when  voices  are  utilized  they  also  add  in  a  touch  of  black  metal.

  On  this  recording  Tapephobia  takes  cinematic  music,  dark  ambient  and  drone  to  create  a  sound  of  his  own.  The  production  sounds  very  dark  while  the  song  themes  focus  on  dreams.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Taphephobia  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  cinematic,  dark  ambient  and  drone,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Flashlights" "The  Front  Line"  and  "The  Omen".  8  out  of  10.

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Taphephobia/Kave/Monuments/Cyclic Law/2018 CD Collaboration Review

  This  is  a  review  of  a  collaboration  album  between  Norway's  Taphephobia  and  the  Netherlands  Kave  and  the  album  is  Called  "Monuments"  and  was  released  in  2018  by  Cyclic  Law  and  we  will  start  off  the  review  with  Taphephobia  who  returns  with  his  mixture  of  dark  ambient  and  drone.

  His  side  of  the  split  starts  out  with  some  atmospheric  sounding  drones  and  soundscpaes  along  with  some  ambient  style  synths  and  the  track  is  over  20  minutes in  length  while  the  music  is  mostly  instrumental  and  at  times  the  guitars  also  bring  in  a  small  amount  of  drones  as  well  as  getting  more  diverse  as  the  track  progresses  along  with  some  voices  towards  the  end  and  the  production  sounds  very  dark.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  track  from  Taphephobia  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  dark  ambient  and  drone,  you  should  check  out  his  side  of  the  split.

  Next  up  is  Kave  another  solo  artist  that  plays  a  mixture  of  dark  ambient  and  drone.

  His  side  of  the  split  starts  out  with  some  dark  soundscapes  and  atmospheric  sounding  drones  along  with  a  small  amount  of  field  recordings  while  the  music  also  incorporates  a  great  amount  of  ambient  style  synths  as  well  as  the  track  being  19  minutes  in  length  and  as  the  track  progresses  the  music  gets  more  dark  and  haunting  sounding  and  the  production  sounds  very  dark.

  In  my  opinion  Kave  is  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  dark  ambient  and  drone  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  solo  artist.

  In  conclusion  I  feel  this  is  a  very  great  sounding  split  and  I  would  recommend  it  to  all  fans  of  dark  ambient  and  drone.  8  out  of  10.

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Taphephobia/Ghostwood/Cyclic Law/2018 CD Review

  Taphephobia  are  a  solo  project  from  Norway  that  has  had  music  reviewed  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  mixture  of  drone  and  dark  ambient  and  this  is  a  review  of  his  2018  album  "Ghostwood"  which  was  released  by  Cyclic  Law.

  Ambient  style  synths  and  soundscapes  start  off  the  album  while  flutes  are  also  added  into  some  parts  of  the  recording  along  with  some  field  recordings  as  well  as  most of  the  tracks  being  instrumentals  and  all  of  the  songs  also  sound  very  different  from each  other  and  the  music  also  gets  very  atmospheric  at  times.

  A  great  amount  of  atmospheric  drones  can  be  heard quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording  while  some  songs  also  bring  in  a  small  amount  of  clean  guitars  which  also  gives  the  music  more  of  a  haunting  atmosphere  and  some  of  the  tracks  are  long  and  epic  in  length  and  on  song  introduces  rain  and  thunder  sounds  onto  the  recording  as  well  as  some  electric  guitar  noises  and  as  the  album  progresses  a  brief  use  of  voices,  spoken  word  parts  and  whispers  can  also  be  heard.

  On  this  recording  Taphephobia  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  drone  and  dark  ambient  and  mixes  them  together  to  create  a  very  atmospheric  sounding  recording,  the  production  sounds  very  dark  while  the  song  themes  focus  on  the  paranormal  and  darkness.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Taphephobia  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  drone  and  dark  ambient,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Ghostwood"  "Ghost  Of  Him"  "Thunder  Over  The  Boardwalk"  and  "Fragility,  Secrets  And  Revelations".  8  out  of  10.

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Taphephobia Interview

1.Can you give us an update on what is going on with the project these days?

At the moment I am waiting for the 5th Taphephobia release to come out. I hope it will be out soon since the music has been finished for a long time ago and the coverart is also ready. And lately Kalpamantra releases a  4*split cd. The other projects on this split besides Taphephobia are Cogwheel, Rasalhague and Psychomanteum. The split is called ”The unreality of time”.

I am also working on 7 new songs. I don`t know how many of them will be on a future album, split or whatever. Time will tell.

2.   How would you describe the musical sound of the newer material and how it differs from previous recordings?

The songs on the S/T album are very much in the same vein as Black city skyline and Access to a world of pain. I will say that there is more variation than on these mentioned albums. It is an album with 6 songs which are very much different from each other.

3.   What are some of the themes that you bring out in your music?

On the S/T album I have two songs about serial-killers (Cult & Entering the woods, green river) Middle of the night is about insomnia, Butterflies with needles is like lovely butterflies in the stomach meet Freddy Krueger.  The garden of fire is about erasing something, like memories from the past or something concrete in the present. It`s up to the listener to decide. Now it`s dark enough is a tribute to the beautiful silence of night. the wonderful feelings you get when you are the only person walking on these dark streets. Sometimes when I have these trips,  I fantasize about being the last person alive. I`m so tired of noisy people and cars.

4.   What is the meaning and inspiration behind the projects name?

The name of the project is simple: the phobia about being buried alive. I think this is something everyone is afraid of. I remember listening to the song Buried alive by the metal band Venom. It gave me the chills, and I could picture how terrible it would be to be buried alive haha

5.   Have you done any live shows with project or is this strictly a studio project?

Some live shows here in Trondheim. I played here 3 times. Blåsvart aften I, II and IV, ambient events presented by Jan R of Svartsinn. And I was on a tour with Northaunt and Svartsinn in East-Europe 3 years ago. Great tour, Met a lot of great people on this tour, including the woman I am living with now J. We were  playing in Dresden, Prague, Bratislava and Budapest. I will likeably play on a festival called Støy på landet (this means approx. ”Noise on the countryside”) in July. I have to decide soon. It`s still not decided where it exactly will take place in Trøndelag. Somewhere on the countryside.

6.   On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to this project by fans of experimental and dark ambient music?

You don`t get rich by making ambient music, so nice words from the fans of the music is almost the only thing you get. And that is great, especially when someone tells me that this song or cd changed their life. Anyway, all feedback is good.  It`s hard for me to say how  many people listen to it though, I think that there are a lot of people who haven´t discovered it yet. For sure.

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

I al 

I al Also have a sideproject called Mulm with members of Northaunt and Avsky. The feedback so far has been mindblowing, some say they have not heard such a great dark ambient release for a very long time. I also have a black ambient project called Aural Whiteout. It`s not a very active project, I am not often in that mood.

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

I can only talk about the new songs I am actually working on. I will say that is a bit far out to be called dark ambient. The guitarsound is more clean. There are less sound-manipulation and more melody in the music (if melody is the right word?)

I think this is the direction I am aiming for, but things can change. It is very difficult to plan things like this, is better to let the mood and taste of music decide. The only thing I can say is that my style of playing will be the same, the characteristic sound of Taphephobia will not change.

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

I listen to everything from pop music like Radiohead to grindcore like Carcass, It`s a bit hard for me to say how many projects there are that inspire me a lot. But I think Ulver, Robert Rich and Hammock are my main inspirations at the moment.  When I make music I`ll never aim to sound like a certain project. If it happened, it is in most cases an accident. Sometimes I can read in reviews or comments that ”Taphephobia sounds a bit like this project..or that project”, and I never even heard about the mentioned project. Funny, but strange.

10. Does Occultism play any role in your music?

Occultism inspires me, that is all I can say. Just listen to songs like ”In the moonlight” and ”Black cloud” and you will hear what I mean.

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

Getting drunk with friends and watching a lot of movies. And I have healthier hobbies as well, like walking in the woods. It makes me feel free. 

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

Thanks for the interview. And to the people out there I would like to say: check out Taphephobia and Mulm, to see if you like it. If you have no experiences with ambient, take some time to discover this unique genre. This is not commercial or ”easy-to-digest” music.

Support the underground where real music lives. 

https://soundcloud.com/taphephobia

Taphephobia/Corph'Antae Tryr/Counting The Days/Kalpamantra/2011 Split Album Review

  This  is  a  review  of  a  split  album  between  Norway's  Taphephobia  and  Corph,  Antae  Tryr  called  "Counting  The  Days"  which  was  released  by  Kalpamantra  in  2011  and  we  will  start  of  the  review  with  Taphephobia  which  plays  an  atmospheric  form  of  dark  ambinet/drone.

  Synths  bring  a  very  atmospheric  dark  ambient/drone  sound  to  the  music,  while  the  sound  effects  bring  a  very  dark  avant  garde  experimental  soundscape  sound  to  the  music.

  Vocals  and  songwriting  are  all  absent  from  their  side  of  the  recording  with  the  music  being  all  instrumental,  while  the  song  themes  cover  darkness  and  nature,  as  for  the  production  it  has  a  very dark,  raw  and  primitive  sound  to  it.

  In  my  opinion  Taphephobia  are  a  very  great  sounding  dark  ambient/drone  band  and  if  you  are  a fan  of  this  style  of  music,  you  should  check  them  out.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "The  Sky  Is  Turning  Grey".  RECOMMENDED.

  Next  up  is  Corph'Antae  Tryr  another  band  that plays  a  very  atmospheric  form  of  dark  ambient/drone.

  Synths  bring  a  very  dark  ambient/drone  sound  with  somewhat  of  an  epic  feeling  to  them,  while  the  sound  effects  bring  in  experimental  music  sounding  soundscapes  to  the  music.

  Vocals  and  songwriting  are  all  absent  from  their  side  of  the  recording  with  the  music  being  all  instrumental,  while  the  song  themes  cover  dark  subjects,  as  for  the  production  it  has  a  very  dark,  raw  and  primitive  sound  to  it.

  In  my opinion  Corph'Antae  Tryr  are  a  very  great  sounding  dark  ambient/drone  band  with  the  best  music  on  this  split  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of this  musical  style,  you  should  check  them  out.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "Matea".  RECOMMENDED.

  In  conclusion  I  feel  this  is  a  very  great  sounding  split  and  I  would  recommend  this  to  all  fans  of  atmospheric  dark  ambient/drone.  RECOMMENDED.  

https://kalpamantra.bandcamp.com/album/counting-the-days