sobota, 6 marca 2010

Fredrik Klingwall - Epitome Of The False Dichotomy (2009)



Take a dive into the dark world of Fredrik Klingwall with the new release called EPITOME OF THE FALSE DICHOTOMY.

This time Fredrik delves deeper and darker into our mindset of the transition between life and death. Hypnotic dark ambiences blends with classical and industrial influences to create a cinematic experience which craves your attention!

Epitome of the False Dichotomy is available as a free digital download from www.myspace.com/klingwall or www.klingwall.se

Fredrik is also member of Loch Vostok, Machinery and Anima Morte.

Listen - Posłuchaj:
http://www.play.com/Music/MP3-Download-Album/4-/11547258/EpitomeOfTheFalseDichotomy/Product.html



Format: EP
Year: 2009
Label: Uninvited Asylum
Country: Sweden
Genre: Industrial / Gothic / Experimental
Official Website
01. 4:18 at the Morgue
02. Transition or Separation
03. Unreleased
04. The Cleansing Moment of Clarity


Fredrik Klingwall - Works Of Woe (2009)


The world of Edgar Allan Poe is one of darkness and of daftness. That be also the case of this new album from one of Sweden's most swift neoclassical composers, which also is an album based upon the tales and poems written by Mr. Poe.

I have a couple of Poe-tributes in my CD collection and I must say that this one stands out as the most voluptuous one, even though it contains no words. Klingwall lets the piano do the talking, and one hell of pianist he is.

The style is nothing but classical piano music, maybe on the more gothic side but no dark ambient or industrial elements here at all.




Poe's sense of intriguing drama, suspense and bleak humour is constantly and perfectly reflected in the tunes, and Fredrik's enthusiasm over the works of this legendary author never fails to shine through the solid and dark piano mist he creates.

However, how lovely and true this album may sound, I personally still have a problem with instrumental music performed on a sole piano. How grand it might be, I think it falls flat after half an hour. Lucky enough I am, that the album's playing time don't stretch much further than 30 minutes then! And tracks like the thundering, pompous "A Dream Within a Dream", the haunting "The Sleeper" and beautiful ones as "The Enigma" and "The Valley of Unrest" are tracks I will for sure bear with me for months to come.

This is an album for you, who enjoys gothic piano music, and appreciates the darker sides of life. No one has captured the spirit of Poe like this before, without using words and that's something worthy of respect.


 

Format: Full-length
Year: 2009
Label: Last Entertiment Productions
Country: Sweden
Genre: Industrial / Gothic / Experimental
Official Website
01. The Sleeper
02. Alone
03. Spirits of the Dead
04. An Enigma
05. The Conqueror Worm
06. The Valley of Unrest
07. The City in the Sea
08. For Annie
09. A Dream within a Dream

Fredrik Klingwall – The Resilience (2008)


Szwedzki kompozytor i klawiszowiec. Członek zespołów: Anima Morte, Loch Vostok (progresywny metal), Machinery (thrash/heavy-metal), Flagellation (deathmetal), In Grey (gothic/power metal). Założyciel i kompozytor grupy Rising Shadows (Neoclassical).


 

There are a number of places in which Fredrik Klingwall's music may have been heard, and nearly all of them seem to have a place on what appears to be the man's own label Last Entertainment Productions out of Sweden.  However, in addition to this soundtrack / neoclassical / dark ambient self-titled project, he also plays and has played a role in several moderately important extreme metal projects, namely Prog elite “Loch Vostok” on Escapi Music and the fairly impressive neo-thrashers Machinery whom saw their 2008 album “The Passing” released on Regain Records.  His Last Entertainment label is a largely diverse label, carrying everything from war-oriented Death Metal in Flagellation to Anima Morte, a progressive realm of Euro horror film music, namely of the Italian essence.  Needless to say, Fredrik's lave and taste for everything dark really has no boundaries so long as it remains in that dark realm, be it neoclassical or death metal, horror movies or the soundtracks that dwell within, and thus his solo project undoubtedly would stick to the classic horror theme.

With a purely instrumental album, one has to rely on the texture of the music teamed with the track titles to identify the type of journey we're meant to take, and the track titles really say it all in this one.  Everything on The Resilience is bound for the dream state and the paranormal.  We're not taken on a chronological story, but rather into images and profound visions of psychological themes, from our dreams brought into reality to a simple presence.  Unlike Fredrik's Anima Morte project which also focuses on the horror subject, this is much more classically bound rather than progressive rock structured.  Fredrik has used synth and computer software to create this album and it takes on a very neo-horror appeal.  Much of the imagery is epic, stretching from beautiful dark pools of water at dusk within winding gardens and ruined statues of angels and gargoyles to the inside of the ornate mansion within which the garden surrounds. 

The word 'resilience' is defined as 'an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change.'  This would imply the horror world that Fredrik creates is akin to the generally understood fact that most supernatural events occur in places that have faced strong emotional moments in time and have been changed.  A wall put up in a house or a window removed, a river being dammed or a house built on Native American grounds, its really a usual story in the paranormal world.  This could also mean the uncompromising nature of dark themes, how these occurrences continue over and over with little care for the modern world.  Regardless of what the man has planned for this release, its not your typical minimal dark ambient structures combined with your generic cheesey Casio keyboard sounds.  This orchestrations are moderately complex and would fit well for any modern horror independent film.  The sound is thick and full of life, strong string synth stretches overtop of bombastic (yet not martial) and sparce choir backdrops.  Low-end brass and minimal bell sounds are often used for added texture, but the primary tool in this music is the string quartet leads that flawlessly create dark harmonious, yet melancholic song structures.  Tracks like Spirits Reside utilize deafening effects with noise and dark ambient swell-pulsing to give a strong foreboding effect through minimal music, sweltering the listener in a cloud of sound rather than elaborate compositions.

In addition to computer software, Fredrik uses my personal keyboard of choice, the Korg X-50 which also runs off of the Korg Triton system, so you know the synth effects on the album are going to be of the highest quality.  This combined with his confessed experience of 14 years in music starting solely with a computer should encourage fans of cinematic neoclassical to attain a copy of this release.  Unfortunately this album isn't without its downside.  Even the mighty Triton system has still not quite perfected the solo violin / cello sound and they still come out as obvious synth, but its a large step up from anything else really on the market today with the exception of the high-end Yamaha series'. 

While there is a beautiful Digipak version available, it is also available for free download via Fredrik Klingwall's official website.  Remember that its easy to take a free download, but if you truly enjoy an album, spend the few bucks to buy it.  Even offering music for free, these artists still need support to better their sound, and with a top of the line keyboard, Fredrik has every skill necessary, as seen evidently in this work, to be a world-class home-composer for independent horror soundtracks.  This is an excellent and promising sophomore effort.



Format: Full-length
Year: 2008
Label: Last Entertiment Productions
Country: Sweden
Genre: Industrial / Gothic / Experimental
Official Website
01. Opening
02. The Uninvited
03. A Presence
04. Dark Water Stirs
05. The Resilience
06. Unbound Shapes
07. From Eternity’s Angle
08. Spirits Reside
09. Distorted Dream Disorder
10. Still Dark
11. The Ethereal
12. Shine
13. True Salvation



środa, 3 marca 2010

Ioannes Aurelius Serpentor - Yog-Sothoth (2009) EP



W mroku spoczywa zło, które będzie ukazane… Najnowszy album, którego autorem jest Ioannes Aurelius Serpentor to 25 minutowa EP-ka zatytułowana “Yog-Sothoth”. Ten album został tradycyjnie nagrany w Vatican Cellars Studio (Śląsk) i jest hołdem dla jednego z najbardziej przerażających z Wielkich Przedwieczny - niezwyciężonego Yog-Sothoth! I to nie wszystko. EP-ka zawiera 2 wcześniej nieopublikowane utwory z sesji nagraniowej “Withering Hopes” (z roku 2006), które nie ujrzały do tej pory światła dziennego. Są one dostępne wraz z tym wydawnictwem jako BONUS!!!




01 In Articulo Mortis
02 From Beyond
03 Yog-Sothoth
04 Immolation
05 Abnormal Ones Come
06 Humanity’s Funeral
07 Ex Oblivione
08 Obscure Nebula (Bonus)
09 Inexorable End (Bonus)
 
 

niedziela, 28 lutego 2010

I.A. Serpentor - Onoskelis (2008)



Ioannes Aurelius Serpentor „Onoskelis” jest 37 minutowym dark ambient / neoclassical albumem konceptualnym nagranym w Vatican Cellars Studio (Silesia), opowiadający historię żeńskiego satyra kuszącego mężczyzn wprost w objęcia śmierci z lekką pomocą najsłynniejszego z napojów – absyntu.
Warto również zajrzeć na oficjalny profil MySpace I.A. SERPENTOR, www.myspace.com/serpentoria by zanużyć się w bezdennych czeluściach strachu!






TRACKLISTA
01 In Nomine Noctis
02 Hallucinations
03 Beyond Good & Evil
04 Onoskelis
05 Labyrinths Of Zin
06 The Green Fairy
07 Intoxicated Heart
08 Asphodel Meadows
09 De Profundis