Lilacs are back and this new four track E.P. is, in my opinion, their best release to date. Each track has got beautiful melodies and atmospheres and the band is capable to sum all the 80's wave and goth music in nineteen minutes. Influences goes to Red Lorry Yellow Lorry (on "Dead Wood"), Cure and Sound (on "Pendulum") but as for the last E.P. everything is done with taste and personal ideas. If you love 80's sound and new wave by listening to Lilac Ambush you won't be disappointed. A better production of the tracks would help getting a record deal but is that possible that there aren't labels interested in these sounds no more?

Nimh is the other solo project of Giuseppe Verticchio, who released the excellent "Distant Skylines" last year. This work has its backbone in synthsizers, mostly digital ones I guess, though the sound is pretty "analogue" in a lot of passages. Two long tracks (27' and 25') with a lot of inner variations and possible sub-divisions. Sometimes there are several layers with aggressive patterns, sometimes they are reduced to a dark rumbling drone - environmental noises and voices (is it Russian?) only help in creating a tense, breath-taking atmosphere of panic and siege. Judging by the cover the work is inspired by war sceneries, effectively evoked by these cold, corrosive sounds.

New release and new project for Misty Circles, Clau D.E.D.I.'s own label. DBPIT (Der Bekannte Post Industrielle Trompeter) is a Flavio Rivabella's project which is fucusing into the creation of a different sound, very experimental and ambient. As the name of the band explains the main instrument is the trumpet and each track sees this intruments treated and exploited in every possible way. The sound is really destabilizing and is called by Flavio himself: "the sound of mental marasmus". Every track isn't based on melodies or on a precise structure but is based on high doses of craziness and improvisation where the trumpet duets with bass guitar, vocals and various treated sounds played by different guest musicians, as: Claudio Giammarini, Raffaele Cerroni, Novy Svet, Marco Deplano, Richard Benson and Kruma. Approach to this CD carefully because there's a low rate of entertainment in it but if you need something different, here's DBPIT.
P.S. There's also a contest about this CD: write your own definition of "sound of mental marasmus" to DBPIT's e-mail address and the three best ones get a free copy of the CD!
Hurry up and good luck!

Due for release on Nettwerk America in more than two months from now (Sept 17th), Chain D.L.K. in collaboration with MSO promotions is proud and pleased to offer you a sneak-(p)review of "Conjure One", the first solo creature of well-known and rightfully respected Front Line Assembly / Delerium co-mastermind Rhys Fulber. We all knew that Bill Leeb is capable of miracles and now, if you even needed a proof of that, you also have Fulber's producer take on what a solo album should sound like. Perfect symbiosis of electronic music and pop music, a 'synesthetic electronica' if you would, but also a bridge from west to east vibing with world-music influences (Middle-Eastern and Mediterranean mainly) and flirting with radio-friendly vocal interpretations. Oh by the way, speaking of Synaesthesia (one of Bill & Rhys' many cool side-projects), a number of songs have percussive elements in common with that great record of theirs called "Embody" (listen to Conjure One's song "Redemption" if you need a perfect example of what I am talking about)...
A gorgeous, thrilling and majestic cinematic intro opens this beautiful album, but its rapturing and harmonious balance is carried on by an outstanding line-up of female vocalists including Sinead O'Connor, Poe, Chemda (Israel), Marie-Clair D'Ubaldo (Argentina) and by a team of skilled composers including Billy Steinberg (Madonna, Bangles), Tom Holkenborg (Junkie XL), Rick Nowels (Madonna, Dido). They all bring something special and truly unique to the table. The singers' very personal voices and styles breaths new character into the songs and their geographical background unmistakably emerges and helps lift the compositions to a whole new level where ethnicity becomes a signature and purity becomes a strength. Their contribution, teamed up with epic atmospheres, distant soundscapes, ethereal melodies, electronic textures and orchestral greatness are the forces at work here. Forces that breath like wind, burn like fire and flow like water. All elements, starting with the synthesized grooves, textures and bass lines, the relaxing and lush pads, the vocal performances and down to the terrific job with the string arrangements (by Chris Elliot; performed by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra) acting like a coesive glue in a great masterplan, interact pursuing the key to success and playing a specific role in the final orchestration of Rhys Fulber's craft. If you absolutely need comparisons think of Delerium's "Karma" with spotlights on haunting dreamy textures and old-continent traces. It took him three years and lots of travelling (the album was recorded in Vancouver, Amsterdam, LA and London) but it's all there and you can and will hear it. It delivers, it really does.
PS: Read the interview with Rhys Fulber in the interview section.

Der Feuerkreiner are a relatively young duo formed by Federico Flamini (music and voice) and Valentina Castellani (voice). The former has already been active with the symphonic death metal band Lumen Moritur and the solo-projects Kunst Mork (industrial-techno, see review in the archive!) and Commotus Ingenio (dark-ambient), while the latter comes from classical studies in polyphonic singing. This official debut, co-released by Runes and Men and Misty Circles, follows a 4-track promo which, if I'm not wrong, featured some of the songs of this cd. Der Feuerkreiner mostly play dramatic martial symphonies in the vein of Der Blutharsch, The Moon Lay Hidden Beneath a Cloud and The Day of the Trumpet Call. Tracks 1, 4 and 5 perfectly represent this style, with grand, tragic atmospheres and a feeling of impending doom in the air. Proud and desperate at the same time. Track 3 and 6 are more tranquil, with Valentina's singing hypnotic litanies in a melancholic and austere way that reminded me of some Camerata Mediolanense's works. Track 7 starts with a folkish string sample soon massacred by a storm of looped noises, percussions and siren-like wailings which do create a sense of panic; again, Blutharsch or A Challenge of Honour come to mind. Tracks 2 and 8, on the contrary, are full-on, :Wumpscut:-sounding electro-industrial with amphetaminic beats, harsh loops and fierce filtered vocals; while this style isn't my cup of tea at all, the two tracks are well-done and, most of all, fit well in the work, without breaking the overall atmosphere. Lyrics are possibly one of DF's most original characteristics - they're inspired by Christian Morgenstern's poems, but their German is de-composed into a hypothetical, purely phonetical language. The cd comes in a luxurious horizontal cardboard booklet - looks like a photo album from a hundred years ago... All in all, an excellent release worth several listenings, and it's a pleasure to see a new Italian project with such a strong debut. Interview soon, hopefully.