It took almost four years between "Legends act 2 - Vampires" and "Legends act 3 - Cults". "Legends act 4 - Orders" is released on the same day as act 3 and it gives you even more in depth and varied music. Both albums are creating a smorgasbord of a total (11 on each) 22 delicious songs and the ones on this album impress me even more than on act 3 and that says a lot as I loved that album.

This release is a revelation. Za Frûmi is of the highest artistry. Fully in control of this difficult material, Za Frûmi has the technical equipment to let the music speak without impediment.

It is obvious how passionately the duo are with their music and how much of perfectionist´s they are. With this amazing album, Za Frûmi fully takes the plunge into the heady mix of musical traditions. Calling it"haunting" and "atmospheric" barely scratches even the initial surface of the album's power.

Za Frûmi evokes emotional esoteric and mystical life from nothingness. Deeply rooted in several historical traditions raging from (as far as I guess) Western European middle age, Eastern European folk and even Middle eastern intonations and incantations, Simon Kölle's voice draws the music up from a somber state, giving birth to an almost emotional drama.

The song titles are names of secret Orders in the world of Za Frûmi, a world the band seem to build up more and more which in itself is kind of unique, references to Latin, choirs, and other touches that make the album sound like it was recorded in an immense ancient cathedral. Or maybe in great mystical halls of the orders themselves.

While the elements being drawn on are certainly of an older range, the results owe as much to the technologies of arrangement, mixing, sound effects and production and a consciously cinematic feeling as much as they do antique pasts. Similarly, the feeling is not simply European but worldwide, with Kölle´s glossolalia intentionally reaching beyond easy understanding.

The overall feeling is of an great dark ancient religious service come to life with all kinds of dark soundscapes, strange instruments and some electronic , has stunning results.

If you already know Za Frûmi you must buy this CD. If you don´t know its music, try to imagine the best among fantasy film soundtracks such as LOTR with a varied instrumentation and with even more depth than the soundtracks. With the help of this magnificent album you create the"film" with your imagination.

I go so far to say "Legends act 4 - Orders" is the album of the year 2008 (so far).

This recording gives new hope to the continuance of Za Frûmi´s rich legacy.

The first thing that strikes one when hearing this album is how at home Za Frûmi is with the music. There is a palpable affinity with the rhythmic complexities, an ease with the difficult shifts of mood and tempo. The Vocals are very intimidating and sometimes (such as on "The Cult of Helzichor") beautiful. The music is harsh but not all the tracks. Some are complex and filled with extraordinary sound effects and intriguing music techniques.

The mood is constant and the always present dark fantasy feel is as good as it gets at times. I really enjoy the tracks that break off from the obvious apocalyptic sound like for an example with "The Cult of Mortalis". That´s when you hear the depth of Za Frûmi!

"Legends act 2 - Vampires" was all about the vampire and all what those stand for. The music this time out is much more aggressive...and more engaging. In comparison to the former albums in the series the music on "Cults" features a darker, more intense, and more fully developed "personality"... as well a greater number of action/suspense pieces. Apocalyptic moods, murderous sects of blood are what this album is all about!

"Legends act 3 - Cults" descends sometimes from the duo's usual nether atmospheres into a realm of tribal percussion and chant, casting a comprehensive net over various world music traditions. The tribal drums and the various interesting world music instruments used (as it seems it´s most of all not electronic instruments) are great.

One of the best surprises of the albums is the previous mentioned song "The cult of Helzichor" as it completely changes the style but yet feels true and not at all wrong. Very good.

Low male choir, deep percussion erupting with rambunctious brass and horns are present in many tracks. The album is more than action and tension as some of the tracks are creating "worlds" with the help of sounds, moods, chanting and invocations which Za Frûmi is so incredibly good at doing.

This is a must for all of you into dark ambient and all you who like world music bands such as Dead Can Dance.

The one-man-project SUBHEIM hails out of Greece and presents with "Approach" a debut signed to the Chicago Heights-based label Tympanik Audio. This fact is quite remarkable, because Kostas K., who stands behind the audio and visual results of SUBHEIM, is also one of the leaders of the new Greek label collective Spectraliquid. So it would be an easy procedure to release this album under the own flag, but luckily also the responsible people behind Tympanik Audio have washed their ears and are able to recognize the great talent, which sleeps in Kostas. The music of SUBHEIM is a sort of moody Ambient-Electronica, which allows musically comparisons between the works of POLYGON and/or the unforgotten US-duo GRIDLOCK. Already the exceptional and beautiful done cover art with its nature-, rain- and water-related photos done by Kostas, offers a first impression of the coming autumn. "Approach" is a rather sedating and gloomy trip into a cinematic sound outfit, which concentrates to combine Down-Tempo ambience with some dark but remarkable melodic spots, often inserted and presented with a piano ("Ybe 76", "Away", "Voces Perdidas"). Not too much sci-fi in its attitude, also no vocals are present, with the exception of some female background inserts provided by Katja, who was already active with SUBHEIM on the Spectraliquid "Konkrete" compilation appearance "Howl", also here present in a different version. "Approach" features 9 original tracks by Kostas plus 2 additional remix interpretations provided by the German FLAQUE and the up and coming Greek talent MOBTHROW. It’s an eclectic but very coherent arranged Ambient-Electronica album, which is the ideal disc to let you sink deep into an armchair with a pair of good headphones. Make sure to consume this fantastic Ambient journey without any disturbance, it deserves your fully attention. One of the best for this genre currently, check it out!

Xcollective is a very hip group of talented musicians who merge chilled electronica with world music influences and urban attitude. With six members from different parts of the world and so many backgrounds converging into one, this album pretty much had to come out of NY or London and to be honest when I read it was the latter it all seemed to make perfect sense (especially because of the heavy Indian contributions). This is the perfect soundtrack to the pulse of the city of London, borrowing and remashing (Ableton and Pro Tools) breaks, tablas performances, hypnotic loops, dubby bass lines and delays and both male and female spoken word and sung vocals, ranging in style from the drum'n'bass-type MCing and urban cityscape hip hop to soulful black singing. This is a great example of global downtempo music with organic sounds over a bed of relaxing programmed music: positive-thinking, happy, relaxing and at times funky!
If I had to pick this apart I'd say that it sounds like this squad is still searching for the ultimate balance of elements and that "Electric Flowers" lacks a little bit of congruency, but whether this is a debut or not (I don't know), it's already a pretty mature record and I am sure the next one will be even more on point.

A new signing and addition to the SkullLine roster hailing out of the United States. And as usual for SkullLine also CHAOTICUM can’t be thrown simply into one specific style, because they play a sort of Experimental music, which integrates excerpts out of different music styles between Ambient, Psychedelic, Classic and mid-80ies Electronica. Not that usual form of a static Ambient droning sound outfit, here’s action through additional drum programmings placed over the improvisational sound sculptures. Some fragmented vocals are joining the scenario here and there, too ("Caress", or even more ominous on "From Now Unto Eternity"). The spooky "Occultique", which can be also be heard on the SkullLine compilation "Bewein Dein Mädel" is featured as well and seems to be one of the favorites on here. Quite diverse interpreted, although it is favorable that the above mentioned different styles are in your vein, so that someone can be impressed with this musically excursion. Strictly limited release to only 69 exemplars, you’ve got to hurry up to pick it up directly from SkullLine.