Post Scriptvm * Grey Emminence (cd 2010)
I very much looked forward to this new album of our American masterminds of industrial dark ambient. The last album is 4 years old. When putting “Grey Emminence” in my player, my first thought was: “Post Scriptvm plans to do something different.” The first tracks of the new album sound like (analogue?) experimental soundscapes, the first not the least bit dark of tone and thus nothing like I expected (hoped for). The second track is also a strange compilation of sounds, but already a bit darker. Slowly the sounds evolves towards the dark industrial ambient that we love Post Scriptvm for. There is even a noise track. I have listened to “Grey Emminence” a couple of times now and it starts to grow on me. Post Scriptvm sounds different than before and “Grey Emminence” is surely something different altogether. Not (yet) as good as previous releases, but definately interesting.
Links: Post Scriptvm, Tesco
I always thought that Land:Fire was a dark ambient project. I have some music on compilations and maybe I (unconsciously) heard that Herbst9 is another project of this duo, but when I recently heard a great noise track of Land:Fire it became time to really listen to this project. “Shortwave Transmission” opens brilliantly with very dark ambient noise with industrial rhythms. There indeed are a few dark ambient tracks, but the larger part is really my kind of noise. Great material!
Fabian of 
Dawn & Dusk Entwined has never been my favourite project, but this latest album is still quite disappointing. I do not have everything that David released, this is the fourth album including the split with Golgatha. “Cathedrals of mist” is a soundtrack to a book and very minimalistic and repetative orchestral ambient. Only in the darker orchestral parts and the scarce martial tracks things get better, for the larger part of the 27 (!) tracks are not really my cup of tea.
Most Of The Taciturn is a Chinese dark ambient project and they release this mcd (5 tracks, 20 minutes) on the Chinese label that also released the newest Dead Man’s Hill and l’Effet c’est Moi albums. It comes in a very nice digipack, but the soundscapes are a bit too monotous for me. So there is a market for this kind of music in China too? And they manage to get their limited releases here too, since these albums are not very hard to get here.
“Martial dark ambient” is the best way of describing this CMI release I think. Soundscapes and ambient with drumming, marchdrums and deep beats, sometimes some orchestrations or a sample. Each track of this 70 minute album is recorded with another guest musician/group. “Sapere Aude” is not a bad album, but not particularly good or original either. I guess this might appeal to people who like 
At this year’s WGT I bought the shirt of this album (since it wasn’t black) and I figured I might buy the album with the shirt! As you all know, Inade makes dark but meditative dark ambient soundscapes and their latest album is no exception. “Incarnation…” is not a masterpiece, but has some very good tracks and some nice experimentation with sounds and voice. For some reason also this album has arguments with my cd-player, just like that other Inade cd that I have and contrary to all my other cds. Anyway, much better dark ambient than the recent CMI releases and also for lovers of the more ‘ritualistic’ side of the genre.
I first thought that this was a new album, so I was a bit disappointed that “The Luminous Experience” sounds too much like Raison d’Être, but this is actually a live recording! More even, this was recorded in the Netherlands. I do not think I was there in Enschede, not sure how I missed it. The music reminds of a show that I did see in Antwerpen with a great film of ‘rotting boats’ on the background. Anyway, slow dark ambient soundscapes with industrial sounds and gregorian singing. Raison d’Être, do I need to say more?
CMI labeled this release as “dark ambient”, but Atrium Carcari is pushing the boundaries of that genre in that case. There are ambient parts, but Atrium Carcari has added ‘uncommon sounds’, rhythms and samples that makes this release sound different from your usual dark ambient release. In fact, this release is so ’strange’ for a dark ambient release, that I do not even yet know if I really like it or not. It is refreshing for sure and it is always good when something new happens.
Apparently “Kreuzung” is a “Reutoff and friends” series. Now I am not a big fan of Reutoff, but I do like Der Blutharsch, so I decided to get one of the 700 special cardboard cover cds. The album is only half an hour one one of the two Der Blutharsch tracks is also on the recently released “
I have neglected to properly follow this Dutch project. I do not have the previous album on CMI. Foundation Hope does not really sound like the average CMI act. There is dark ambient, but much more experiment, sometimes with slow orchestration like other CMI acts, but also with distorted/noisy sounds and strange soundscapes. I have heard this album a few times by now and I cannot say that I completely adore it, but it sounds interesting nonetheless. It is something different in the dark ambient and soundscapes field for sure.
Bone Structure is a label from the French part of Belgium and very active in releasing tiny edition cdrs, apparently most in DVD cases. This compilation comes in only 50 copies and shows the more noisy side of the label. When you have a look at the ‘website’ of the label, you might get the idea that this is some kind of metal label. The band logos look like death metal logos, there is a fascination with gory horror, satanic artwork and titles. The description of the music is as varried as “rhythmic assault of unfriendly ambient soundscapes”, “industrial doom”, “death ambient and old school industrial sounds” to “cyberblasting and grim blackish noise mayhem” and “badass noise” (and indeed, also some metal). All very interesting, so I decided to try two compilations to get a taste of the label. “2008 Maniacs” opens very noisy, but lateron there are more soundscapish tracks, not devoid of noise. There is also complete noise overkill though (Toby Dammit). When track 8 sets in, things finally start to become really interesting and indeed, this is the Dutch project Dead.Circuit. This track sounds nothing like the Propergol-like 
This compilation is not as noisy as “2008 Maniacs”, it contains dark soundscapes, drone and here and there a bit of noise. Most tracks are a bit too monotous for my taste, but there are also some darker and more industrial things, which I like better, but the very dark soundscape of Dirk Geiger is pretty good too. For only 7 euros plus posting, you will get 80 minutes of music, so that is not a bad deal, is it?
This compilation is not as good as the “Erotic Morgue” compilation of the same label that I reviewed recently. “Moon Patrol” is not as dark and not as noisy, more dark ambient soundscapes and drones. Not that this cd is boring, but you will have to be more into soundscapes than into noise with this one.
Not quite the first release of this Dutch project, but I didn’t know it. Shame on me! However I expected something more noisy and soundscapes are usually not my thing, this pretty damn dark soundscape album is very good! Low frequencies, deep beats, dark drones, a threathening atmosphere, it is all there. Three tracks making a 67 minutes album released on an “ambient/ noise/ drone/ audio-collage/ fieldrecording label based in Groningen, the Netherlands” that I also didn’t know. “Black Block” is impressive, well recorded, comes in a nice package and I think this is a must-buy for people who like 
In the past I have tried some smaller (industrial) labels without much succes. In the end the good projects usually end up on a larger label and consequentally on the regular mailorders. For quite a few years I haven’t taken much effort to find interesting smaller labels, so I had to run into a few to show me that this can actually be quite interesting. For a mere 8 euros I bought this Alampo compilation of a little over an hour and it is actually very nice! The music can be described as dark ambient and soundscapes with an industrial and noisy edge. Most tracks are pretty dark and nice to listen to. There is (of course) also a not too good track (of Akronia) and a superb track comes from Machinamentum Victum Tortusve (too bad about the whip sample). Indeed, this is a nice sampler if you like the darker side of electronics and when you do not fear a healthy bit of noise. I guess I have to look into the label and the projects a bit more, since these small labels release small labels seem to have a high release-speed.
I don’t spend much time looking for projects that I do not know, but I am glad that I ran into this Dutch project. Dead.Circuit does not mind much about keeping one style, but on “Repressed Memory Therapy” the style is dark noisy soundscapes with total noise moments. The sound reminds quite a bit of Propergol at times (a bit too much sometimes), which is a good thing since Propergol has not released much recently and his sound seems to become less extreme. The people who like the older works of Propergol should definately try to get one of the 97 copies of this Dead.Circuit album. “Repressed Memory Therapy” might not always be as good as Propergol or Sistrenatus, but our Dutchman surely knows how to create a dark and filthy atmosphere with echoing film samples, distorted/noisy edges and here and there going completely loose with an almost power electronics track. Of course it is also a debut and small release, so who knows what the future will bring. A cheap 70 minutes album for lovers of “noisescapes”.
About a year and a half ago I got the 
Two bands that I find allright, but not great. I do not think I would have bought this cd if it was just a split album, but because this is actually the result of a joint recording, I was interested enough to give this album a try. “Sang Graal” turned out to be a nice album, going from moody ambient soundscapes to more bombastic and martial pieces, folky and orchestral tones and of course ‘ritual’ sounds, because that is an element in both the projects’ sounds. The sounds of the bands go well together and they made a good balance resulting in an album sounding between both of them.