Fans of legendary goth/glam-meisters Sex With Lurch should rejoice at Lurch instigator Robbie Quine's latest foray into Rockabilly territory, and can safely ignore the above star rating. Everyone else take note: while musically something short of the caliber of sonic shock value that the Cramps are known for (and not to mention the high camp of the long-departed Celebrity Skin), at least Quine's lyrics are provocative enough to give you a lot to think about. His ironic and iconic musings remind one of Brian Eno, a personage he name-checks in track number three, "Fire of Love." Quine's vocal delivery itself is a gentle and sincere Bowie/Ray Davies/Ian Hunter blend, albeit minus the considerable talent of each, and as Beyond the Valley... progresses, the songs get downright sentimental and syrupy. Indeed it borders dangerously on the maudlin, as Quine takes on a strong hint of Neil Young in "Tarot Cards" and "I Killed Love".

On the other hand, the raunch factor is turned up to the max on opener "Hellhound" and track seven, "Baby Wants a Corndog," bringing with it all the sleazy desires that only males (of both sexual persuasions) can relate to. But only the sincerely bubblegum-ish "Candy Store" makes the best use of the Barbarellatones' bizarre and eclectic intent to synthesize a new hybrid of classic American rock 'n' roll. More polish and better playing throughout the CD would do wonders for tracks like the cross-dressing ode "Wicked Wahine", and generally would make the disc's simmering eroticism "pop". Only the ending of the bonus track "Cobra Dance" hints at the performance venom (pun intended) this release is capable of.

First of all I must say that I'm not into the kind of sound En Declin produce, so I can only review them comparing them to similar bands of the international scene. Anyway... The Italian band formed in 1996 as My End and after some line up change and two demo ("Amaranth" and a first edition of "Trama") they got the attentions of My Kingdom Music. Their music is deeply influenced by Tool, Into A Circle and Soundgarden and you can hear these influences clearly on their new version of TRAMA. The sad atmosphere of their dark ballads (where the acustic guitars, the drums and the bass guitar are the principal instruments) are well created and sometimes the guitar riffs break the tension by adding some energy. I'm not a lover of the '90s bands of the likes of Alice In Chain, so I can't fully appreciate the songs of En Declin but I assure you that their music is really good if you have in mind their influences.

Omit is the personal dark ambient project of Clinton Williams and TRACER is a double CD that gathers two CDrs he released back on 2002 through SySecular. Thanks to the Helen Scarsdale Agency now these recordings are available again in a limited edition of 750 copies. The first CD contains twelve tracks and the first one, "Sequester", is a 20' opus that, like a snake, crawls through synthesizer pads, vocal samples, delayed rhythms and digital noises. The other tracks explore, like the first one, the different humoral solutions of ambient proposing sounds that reminded me of Lustmord (the "Heresy" / "The monstrous soul" period) where the structure of the sounds are functional to the ambience created. So, hissing sounds, distant rhythms and long sounds create a disturbing paint of motions. The tracks are apparently calm and sometimes (like on "Din shader") thread the audience with distortions and dilated atmospheres. The second CD is slight different because Clinton used also clanging sounds (like on the opening "Clicker"), bleeps ("Din-cycle") or more aggressive sounds ("Bug capper"). If you love dark ambient I'm sure you'll love this one.

When doing reviews, I find it useful to have a point of comparison so I listened to Expansion Pack 2.0 and then listened to Blast Furnace. Blast Furnace was good, but this is much more varied in style and a lot less predictable. It also reminded me that Blast Furnace wasn’t just straight up rhythmic noise. That’s the nice thing about Scott Sturgis – it’s difficult to pigeonhole him into one category. If you get this disc, think of it in terms of not only expanding your collection of Sturgis’s output, but also in terms of expanding what you think of Converter. I have to admit that when I got these discs I thought that I was in for rhythmic noise – until I read the press sheet that came with it. I’ll quote from that here: "this expansion contains unreleased material, live tracks and remixes by industrial icons like Sonar and ambient masters like Architect and Displacer." Ambient? Converter? Yes, and it's really good.On with the music; let’s start with disc 1. First off, this opens with what can best be described as harsh ambient - voices talking about subliminal messages and bits of noise thrown in. About 6 minutes in you are reminded that you did not put the wrong disc in the CD player as it kicks into the rhythmic noise that you had expected. A nice opening to the disc. Track 2 is Domination which, from the press release is a something that people like in clubs. Because I’m out of the club scene, I don’t know, but it does sound like it would work well. The rest of the disc alternates between these extremes – sedate, more mellow pieces and harsh rhythmic noise. About the only real low point on the disc was "Witch Hunter (Burned Remix by DJ Burn)" which was a bit too repetitive with a steady 4/4 beat running through it. Even though Witch Hunter (Hanged) is not up to the rest of the disc either, it at least changes it up a bit and is a minute and a half shorter. Disc 2 begins with "Atlantis (1990 re-edit)" a shorter, more minimal track of some spoken word that is difficult to understand and eases into track 2, "Time Through Windows" which is a more sedate, tribal sounding track. Although repetitive, there is enough happening beneath the surface to keep it interesting. This was actually one of my favorite tracks. It’s not until track 5, "Electric Wizard" that the rhythmic noise kicks back in and I have to admit that I was enjoying the soundscapes more. The press sheet tells DJs to play Monster Death for the "party people" and I have to agree – this would sound right at home on the dance floor and at 9.31 it gives the DJ plenty of time to flirt with the clubbers (isn’t that what the DJs are actually after anyway?). This disc is also a good mix of less aggressive tracks (although keep in mind that this is still Converter that we’re talking about, so it’s all relative) and the rhythmic noise we expect from Converter. Overall this is a good set - and weighing in at about 2.5 hours of music, the discs are packed about as full as possible. The only real issue I have is that I would have preferred a set that had the low key stuff on one disc and the noisy stuff on the other to more easily suit the mood I’m in. Other than that, this is really good and both discs (especially disc 2) will be spending some quality time in my CD player.

OK, I have been living in a cave for the last few years and have not heard Squaremeter before, nor had I heard any Panacea. First off, this was not what I expected from an Ant-Zen release. If you are looking for rhythmic noise, this is not one to pick up. But you should give it a shot anyway if you are in to engaging music that blends ambient textures with noise and the occasional burst of rhythms. The promo material states that "B. Lustmord was mentioned as a possible inspiration to Squaremeter and now it seems, Mootz’s intention for this album was to create a 21st century "Paradise Disowned" that is coupled with an imaginary soundtrack to a "The Seventh Sign" sequel." I would not really call this standard dark ambient. Although there are some Lustmord-like elements here (I’m thinking specifically of Monstrous Soul) this is a bit more complex and engaging but sometimes that complexity gets in the way. On to the music.I really liked the first half of this disc. For me, the standout tracks were "White Breach" and "Acr Flow" and "Gazed Radiation". All of these manage to use elements of dark ambient while adding just enough elements of noise, synth pad, and beat to remain engaging to the listener. Not quite the kind of thing that you could just put on and read with, but pleasant listening. "Second Angle" was also nice and would sound right at home in a science fiction film. On the down side, I was not too into the other tracks. "Diffraction" has a staccato synth line that gets a bit too repetitive. "Reanimation Limit" has good elements as well, but also has some synth elements that just didn’t seem to work. "Deviation" is OK and starts to get a bit more chaotic and noisy toward the end, which was a welcome change of pace after "Reanimation Limit," but it never seemed to let go and unload with both barrels. Overall, when the music is good, it’s really good. When it’s not so good, it’s still not too bad, because half of the tracks are structured in such a way that it is like having two or three tracks in one so the parts that are not terribly good are not that long. Squaremeter does do a good job of using silence in his tracks to add tension, which is becoming a lost art. So while this disc is sort of a mixed bag, it’s still a disc worth checking out. I have a feeling that this is the kind of disc that gets better with repeated listenings.