Dawn (Belgium) - Trollkarlens Vordaggen
Here we have more excursions into the minds of Steinbock and Rat. Minimalistic music (drum machine, bass, flute) and subdued vocals (except in the strangely obvious “I Lick Your Cunt”) are the norm, but this pair is certainly not afraid of trying some other things, such as varying the vocals from tortured spoken passages and whispers to Black Metal like shrieks, and even a more rough, low-pitched, style. This recording is not as eerie is their earlier material, nor really as overtly sexual (although I can’t translate Rat’s lyrics, so I might be wrong about this part), but it is every bit as eccentric.
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Dawn (Belgium) - Live in Herenthout op 2 Juni 1995
In a live setting, Dawn stretch out their compositions to make them more Ambient. I was going to say that doing this makes them somewhat less ominous, but that’s not really the case. This is some evil-sounding stuff, especially the long instrumental passages, or when Rat softly invokes some evil spirits in the background. For this recording, the band forgot their drum-machine, so there is absolutely no percussion, and its lack serves to add to an already suffocating feeling of hopelessness. It’s strange that Cold Meat Industry hasn’t discovered the weirdly sexual, suicidal soundscapes of Dawn.
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Dawn (Belgium) - Amanita Muscaria
About the first 40 minutes of this are comprised of a slowly mutating drumbeat, and nothing else. At first I was interested, and kept waiting to hear what was going to happen, but after ten minutes or so, this sort of faded off into the background. Then it abruptly ended, and the tape had to be flipped over. The 3 cuts on side two were a bit closer to what I was expecting of Dawn, but now that I think about it, having expectations of a band that’s known for constantly altering their style is probably not wise. Anyway, the remaining tracks return to the eerie instrumentation and creepy vocals of both Steinbock and Rat. A very dark and odd release, and certainly not for everyone.
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Dawn (Belgium) - De Eerste Sneeuw
I don’t know what effect was used on the vocals in the first composition, “The Dead Lady of the Breakwater,” but they’re the most disturbing, frightening vocals I’ve ever heard. The next track, “Lusty Mountain Traveler,” is sung by both Steinbock and Rat at the same time, and sounds like a sing-along. Each of these songs is different. The next is a poem, read kind of behind an absolutely ominous flute. After that, a spoken-word intro to Rat fisting herself while the soundtrack to a nightmare plays in the background. There is more. This is the darkest, most intense, and horniest thing I’ve ever heard.
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Darkthrone - Panzerfaust
Let’s run through the list: Tape hiss - check. Terrible mix - check. “Atmosphere” - check. Vocals which totally drown out the music - check. Was this recorded using two microphones in Darkthrone’s practice space? Or maybe it was the classic direct-to-stereo-jam-box, with Intellivision sound blocker controls… Whatever the recording method was, these desecrators are adamant that their music be buried behind multiple layers of tape hiss (I swear that it sounds like they added extra hiss, or maybe used a 10th generation analog tape for their master copy), and terrible production. And that’s really a shame, since when there are no vocals to hide them, the riffs almost obliterate the hiss, and the drums can sometimes be heard. Why they think that “true” Black Metal must have terrible production is anyone’s guess, but if they would have recorded in a studio more suited to music than Necrohell (which is clearly the studio to use if you ever want to get a great hiss sound), and didn’t use all their recording money for hookers and Ripple, this might have really been the unholy monster they wanted it to be, rather than the noisy mess it is.
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Darkside - Melancholia of a Dying World
From the name of this album, I had expected a more depressing band. Darkside surprised me; they are actually a fairly technical Death Metal outfit, and sporadically kind of speedy at that. However, sometimes they do slow it down and that’s when their vast skill really comes to the front. Towards the end of the first track, “Deadly,” there is a slow atmospheric passage with a guitar solo woven through it that would do Steve Harris and Adrian Smith proud. If every second of this album were that good, it would be flawless. As it stands, there are some things that could use a touch of work, but considering that this was recorded in 1994 (and just now seeing the light of day here in the US), I would think that Darkside have probably perfected their sound by now, and I’m very anxious to hear their next release.
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Darkness Enshroud - Ancient Kingdoms
A Black Metal band from my home state of Indiana? Yes… But we’re not too proud of the fact, let me assure you. These guys create only noisy, poorly recorded, “soundscapes.” When done right, that can be a very honest and interesting form of expression, but these guys do it because they want to say that they are “too evil” to write actual songs, and that if you were as “evil” as they are then you would like this bullshit. The only evil thing about these guys is the spell they cast on Odin [the owner of Moribund] to get them signed!
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D.R.I. - Full Speed Ahead
I’ve always been a D.R.I. fan, so I knew what to expect, but this just went ahead and kicked my ass anyway. In all their years these guys only get more and more intense. This is just beyond belief in some places, while the rest is merely amazing.
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D.O.P.E. - Resination
Not unlike a heavier, groovier Soundgarden, right down to the vocals. Funkier bass-lines, though. Some of the tracks were recorded by a Mr. Steve Albini, which may or may not be good news for you. They have exactly the same sound as the other tracks, though, so it doesn’t really matter, I guess. I am really tired of this pro-pot hysteria, but other than that, this is not bad at all. I just skip track 4.
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