Xytras - Passage (1997)

I probably listened to the 'real' Passage so many times, and just so obsessively that first year it came out, that any reinterpretation, no matter how genuine, even from one of its composers himself, was due to fail for me...so great credit goes to the Xytras 'symphonic' alternate recording of Passage that it does not. I can be one of those sticklers when it comes to remakes or covers, in all forms of media, from novel/comic adaptations to film to re-recorded metal records and so forth, but the beauty of this was that it might have proven the reality, the 'official' version of these songs all along. Hold up a sec, and let me clarify that this is not anywhere NEAR as good as the metal version, with Vorph's growling poetics and the amazing guitar riffs and atmosphere that they all create in contrast...but if you're going to produce an instrumental rendition of a masterpiece, whether by elevator muzak or flutes or a Broadway show, then it should at least strive for this level of quality and consistency.

There are a few dissimilarities in track choice here, with a pair of tunes being translated instead from Exodus than Passage ("Tribes of Cain" and "Winter Solstice" replacing "Liquid Soul Dimension" and "Chosen Race"), and the entire shebang being performed with keyboards/synthesizers alone. That is correct: no drums, no vocals, no guitars, no bass lines, just Xytras performing the material as if it had always been intended as a neo-classical soundscape, a lost Castlevania soundtrack, something that works pretty well when you think of a pine-studded mountainside after darkness, just as well as the cosmic and philosophical overtures provided by the lyrics on Passage itself. At times Xy layers in a lot more of an orchestrated feel, generally in sync where that was created on the metal renditions, and others it focuses more on just the haunted castle pianos. Generally it's impossible for this to feel as moving and dramatic as the harder versions, but surprisingly in a tune like "Moonskin" ("Mondhaut") which was so piano driven in the first place, it tends to come across even more sweeping due to the selected pads giving it that bolder, operatic atmosphere. Xytras' playing is busy enough to serve as proxy to the missing guitars, but he actually doesn't embellish the material very much with added lines, something I actually regret as a missed opportunity...

The music does lose some of its darker edge, naturally due to the absence of the rest of the band, the loss of impact from those electronic drums, but a few cuts like "My Saviour" ("Mein Retter") do capture much of that same magic. Is it a little pretentious that the titles are all in German? I suspect that was part of the intent, since this is probably more serviceable to that Euro Goth/Goth metal scene that several of their post-Passage recordings catered towards, but it might have also been that Xy wanted to differentiate this even more from the album that more people were going to know. On the other hand, it's rather telling that this was pretty much the end of this experiment, and that when the band would branch out into ambient/electronic pastures in the future (Era One/Lesson in Magick #1) it would focus on original material initially written specifically for that. But on hearing this, you can definitely hear how Xytras formed the basis of composition for the heavier tunes, and if you love the songs as much as I do then at least part of you would be curious to hear how they turn out in another genre. Hell, I love this Samael album so much that I wouldn't mind hearing it in fucking MIDI...so, to summarize: not as good as that 'real' Passage, but if you enjoy lashing out at things as Simon Belmont, or sipping wine with your Lindt chocolates, it's at least amusing.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

Draumar - Gebirge EP (2012)

The biggest gripe I could launch against Draumar's Gebirge is that it's just too damn short, because music this beautiful, majestic and moving needs a lot of space to breathe, and once the 20 minutes of content has run its course I felt myself lost...salivating for more. Now, it's not as if this is being marketed as anything more than an EP, but the point stands that Draumar himself (the sole musician here) has such a firm, refined approach to this sort of ambient, martial/orchestral grandeur that I could probably sit through a solid 24 hour, Wagnerian epic with him at the steering wheel. Fans of outfits like Summoning, Lord Wind, Hellveto or the soothing, symphonic swells of German forebears Empyrium will devour this, and I'd even go so far as to recommend it to those into the martial scene or the better-produced dungeon synth artists.

It's not as raw as Summoning, per se, but the steadied, gradual result of Gebirge is much the same, a sense of rapture that captures and transports the listener into a world of olde. Layers of pianos, strings, flutes and choirs are arranged into simple but addictive patterns that are then tempered off against peaceful acoustic patterns. Add to this the sequences of blackened, minimal guitar chords that drift out over the gorgeous backdrop, and a rasp not unlike those implemented by Protector and Silenius, and you've got this corporeal, multidimensional sound both damning and delightful, whether you're sitting at the foot of a mountain dreaming of swords, sorcery and maidens or you're just emboldened to the angels or Valkyries you might imagine that ride through beams of sunlight piercing the cloudscape. I don't mean to paint a picture of Gebirge as some frivolous fairy-tale, because it genuinely reproduces such scenes of escapism with zero sense of irony; only I wish to interpret just how transcendent and unreal I felt in listening through this.

Most of the Draumar songs I've happened upon before ("Mondhymne", etc) had a lighter attitude with a bit more of a bleak, piano aesthetic to them, so I was a little surprised by how concise and well-rounded these four were. Regardless, this has prompted me to track down the older full-lengths to find what I've been missing. On a production level, Gebirge is immaculate: you'll be able to tell that this is not necessarily a real orchestra performing the sounds, but that's not going to be a hindrance for its intended audience. The drums can admittedly be a little bare and empty during some of the transitions where the ambient symphonic eloquence takes hold, but they definitely construct a more harried, powerful foundation during the black metallic infusions. If this had been twice (or thrice) as long, and the other content as consistent and stirring as this quartet of tunes, I might have numbered it among my favorite albums of the year; but even as it stands, Gebirge provides a splendid tour of an imagination that stands up to myriad, repeated listens, and it should prove exciting to hear what Draumar will compose next.

Verdict: Win [8.75/10]

http://www.facebook.com/draumarambient

Septic Flesh - The Eldest Cosmonaut EP (1998)

The Eldest Cosmonaut EP was released as a companion to the strong and alluring 1998 full-length A Fallen Temple, perhaps to serve as a promotional tool, but more likely to contain all of the overflow from that album that might have worn out its welcome. Then again, the album itself was only 54 minutes long...and it would have been much more prudent to include the "Underworld" Act III and finale there with the earlier chapters, and never mind ever releasing this, but the band and Holy Records probably thought this was a sweet treat for the fans, especially since it was one of those 'multi-media' pieces that included a video. In this case, "The Eldest Cosmonaut" video is pretty crappy, the standard shots of band jamming while the female vocalist sits on her duff screaming from some industrial closet, her male counterpart standing dignified in the dark.

Really, the usual egocentric ablation that most videos are born from, and further evidence that the overwhelming majority of such media outlets are, in fact, retarded. The song itself is decent, it suffers from some of the same overbearing female vocal volume that plagued Ophidian Wheel, but the riffs and gutturals create an appropriate, depressing miasma flush with their evolution over the past three albums. That said, this is also on the album, in a non-edit form. The true centerpiece here is the extensive "Underworld Part III", an extensive neo-classical epic that features both male and female vocals, a Septic Flesh opera that not only foreshadows the members' darkwave, classic side project Chaostar, but was actually used as a demo reel for said entity (along with the rest of the "Underworld" sequence). Christos Antoniou was always interested in branching out into the field of composer, something he has accomplished through Chaostar (and the pure orchestral bonus disc of The Great Mass), but Ophidian Wheel and A Fallen Temple were the real turning point, where the dream was manifest into reality.

The rest of the EP is hit or miss, fist with the pure orchestral conclusion of "Underworld", and then the Gothic metal extravaganza "Woman of the Rings" which is redolent of what Therion were doing from about 1995-2000. Simple, doom derived riffs adorned in clean male vocals and a lucid, dreamy efflorescence, with occasional and not exactly abrupt excursions into the glorious and guttural death of the full-length. Ultimately, this is not a great song, and since you've already got "The Eldest Cosmonaut" elsewhere, much of the EP feels like a waste. The exceptions are the "Underworld" chapters, which belong with their brethren and not in underwhelming isolation, so all of the points I award this are strictly for those. Also, this EP looks fucking hideous.

Verdict: Indifference [5/10] (no tombs can seal me)

http://www.septicflesh.com/

Mekong Delta - Pictures at an Exhibition (1996)

Pictures at an Exhibition is the last Mekong Delta studio full-length of the 90s, after which the band would take a ten year sabbatical, the members exploring other opportunities. Its an homage to Modest Mussorgsky's famous piano suite of the same name, and thus an instrumental album. Doug Lee's tenure ended with Visions Fugitives; though he was still in the lineup at this time, he would not return in the following century. This also represents a culmination in the German band's love for this particular composer, having already covered some of the constituent movements ("The Gnome", "The Hug of Baba Yaga") and another well known Mussorgsky piece, "Night on the Bare Mountain", on prior recordings.

This is not the first such work: Emerson, Lake and Palmer covered the suite with a live album in 1971, and there's also a Japanese proto-electro rendition from the 70s which is quite cool, but I'll give Mekong Delta some credit, because this is perhaps my favorite. Their previous album, Visions Fugitives, featured an original symphonic arrangement of some length (alongside several shorter tracks), so I would have thought the next step to be an entire album of their own compositions, but ultimately I'm quite satisfied with this. The band have included two versions of each track, one with the band performing alone, the other with both band and orchestra, for a total of 32 and 70+ minutes of listening. I'm a bit divided on which I like more...the longer pieces do tend to sound more interesting with just Mekong performing them, but the interludes certainly benefit from the symphony. The orchestral versions certainly seem more enthusiastic, and yet, the core band elements are somewhat smothered in there.

At any rate, this was a fairly risky and ambitious project. Mussorgsky is a fantastic composer, a personal favorite, but I feel like Pictures at an Exhibition is yet another of those classical pieces that few mainstream folks can actually cite by name. Sure, they'll recognize the movements from a number of films, TV commercials or their educational years, but they're unlikely to much care for the nuance of the work being performed by a metal band. Yet, the Germans sound amazing as they graze through the mourning of "Il Vecchio Castello", Hubert's quirky bass-driven "Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks", the frolicking "Limoges: Le Marché (La Grande Nouvelle)" or the famed "Heroic Gate (In the Old Capital of Kiev)". The material is obviously far below the ability level of the Mekong Delta players, but they do it justice, and some of the more flighty pieces do capture the band's schizoid, progressive essence naturally.

Pictures at an Exhibition is pretty good for what it is, the band's seeming finale until the vicious reawakening in 2007's Lurking Fear. If you're interested in metallic reworks of classical music, then it possibly belongs on your shelf alongside other such projects like the sappy Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Sort of how I crave the Minibosses' covers of Metroid and other Nintendo classic themes, I find myself breaking this album out when I'm feeling studious. Granted, it's not quite so worthwhile as breaking out an earlier composer's rendition of the Maurice Ravel arrangement, but then you'd be lacking the thrashing breaks and Ralph Hubert would be lacking your money. I'd also point out that it's far stronger to listen through "The Gnome" or "Baba Yaga" in this context, than independently among the band's original songs. Also: this cover art is the best I've seen from the band.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

http://www.mekongdelta.eu/news.php

I Shalt Become - Poison (2010)

The relationship between classical orchestration and black or other extreme metal music has been a long one, beginning quite early on through the typical incorporation of a keyboard player in a great many big name acts (Emperor, Dimmu Borgir, and so forth). The levels to which bands are able to successfully merge the forms vary from artist to artist. To some, simply having someone strike a few synthesized string sections is quite enough. Others, like the great Austrian band Summoning, go a lot further, using whatever cheap keyboards or samplers they can muster to create epic backdrops that go FAR beyond where anyone could have imagined, the guitars and black rasps used to serve only this sense of grandiose.

I Shalt Become is one of our least celebrated, but best USBM artists to also combine these genres into something magnificent, along with the late Windham Hell, and what's more fascinating is that it's the work of but a single man, S. Holliman (give him a little credit here, because Summoning takes two). But for the longest time, it seemed this project would begin and end with a single album, the debut Wanderings from 1998. Fortunately, that turned out not to be the case, and beginning in 2008, Holliman began to churn out new material at a fairly fast rate, producing decent if not staggering efforts like The Pendle Witch Trials last year. All of this has culminated in his fifth effort, Poison, which it turns out is a mesmerizing, wondrous affair that will be very hard to top, and one of the more bewitching, immersive experiences I've had in several months.

The process is neither novel nor mind boggling. It's what Holliman can DO with it that makes this record so effectively haunting and morbid. Slowly crawling walls of orchestration are created through synthesizers, and over this he layers plucky, often strange, distorted guitars that hover below the bombastic string sections, ethereal female tones that hover at the edge of perception, and a mix of diabolic rasps and male choirs. Together these elements crash like the waves of warring shores throughout history and space, across various epochs and realms of possibility. It's an alien, complex emotional onslaught that is anchored only by the mighty weight of the symphonic ballast. 55 minutes of riveting obscurity that should silence skeptics of such extreme and unorthodox brilliance.

Despite the difficulties in absorbing such a vacuous richness of idea, there are several tracks on Poison which are astutely accessible. "Ghosts" is a calming, escalating piece that simmers in a slightly droning guitar and a mix of 'spoken' voices and snarls, it's uplifting arches enough to woo just about anyone who can appreciate a solemn theatrical score. "Leaving Watership Down" is a bleak piece very much reminiscent of Summoning, with swelling strings and an ever escalating momentum streaked through by the grisly undercurrent of its lyrics and vocals. "Absolve Me", while a little more downcast and disturbing, channels a little Wagner or Mussorgsky, and the intro "Like a Lamb to the Slaughter..." is fairly straightforward.

But the more heightened the tension being explored by Holliman, the more incredible the work becomes. "No Quarter at the Somme" uses stark, lumbering doom metal fixtures against a bustling orchestral backdrop, with some psychedelic wah wah deep in the underbelly that creates a unique and paralytic venom from which you cannot be cured. "Black Swan Events" is like the unraveling of a kingdom, or a planet, or perhaps the very universe itself, with gracious overtures that make the listener feel as if he/she is floating through a vacuum, toward some black hole, the unknown, while the signals of all of man's accomplishments flash past in the void, represented here by sloppy little guitars. "The Finest Cut of the Scalpel" counterbalances a fairly happy melodic key section with some droning guitars and evil, depressive throat noise, and "Harlow's Vertical Chamber Apparatus" slowly gathers warmth as if through enlightenment.

What makes Poison even more interesting are the excellent lyrics of a highly poetic nature, which make for wonderful reading, even if you won't often be able to pick them out of the albums terse, audio fabric. Here's an example in "Ghosts":

Still you, ghost, are bothered by instinct
And whispers and falling icons
The failed attempts at a distant second
Oft ignored
Murder

A beating that took its toll...

A pound of flesh consumed.

Minimal and meaningful, but for fuck's sake, if only 50% of bands could put this much effort into their actual lyrical matter metal music as a whole (in all its encompassed genres) would be considered a far more potent distraction by all the heaps of ignorami who curse its existence. The expressive nature of the lyrics creates food for thought that survives well beyond the confines of the actual audio experience, and I Shalt Become is thus a master of abstraction in all walks.

Holliman might not offer a structured alternative to Summoning, after all, he explores more ground than a single fantasy setting, but I really feel like fans of that Austrian band's sound itself would do well to explore what this Illinois artist brings to the market. Also recommended if you enjoy the latest works of the Polish act Hellveto, who has recently pursued a similar mesh of martial, orchestral bombast and savage, uncut black metal aesthetics.

Verdict: Epic Win [9/10] (there are days and there are days...)

http://www.myspace.com/ishaltbecome