Energy is the key and this compilation, coming from Pure Power Darkside productions in association with Nightbreed, is full of it. The fifteen bands of the compilation sharpened their claws to present to the audience fifteen tracks really involving. From the opening "Enter The Dagon" by Killing Miranda to arrive to The Realm's "Pray" you'll meet Midnight Configuration (with their catchy "Adrenalin high"), Pro Jekt (with a remastered version of "Alien Reflection"), The Last Cry (their "Cry" remembered me a little Motorhead), Brother Orchid ("Crucified" is a electro goth track with metal guitars), Libitina ("Mea Culpa - Flagellent mix"), Jesus Fix (their "Cast a shadow" didn't convince me as it's based on two chords and the atmosphere doesn't never change), Zietgeist Zero ("Tombstone tourist" sounds like a electro goth metal version of Siouxsie & The Bansheees mixed with Silverfish), Uninvited Guest ("Cross My Heart - And Hope You Die" seems like a cool electro version of Dead Or Alive), Voices of Masada ("Flight" is a classic up tempo melancholic goth ballad), Cauda Pavonis (present the exclusive "Love Like Broken Glass" which recalled me a litte In Excelsis if you don't count the pompous refrain), Lupine ("Egyptian Paradise" sometimes recalled me the latest Play Dead), Nothing Sacred ("Girl Inside" it's too melacholic for my tastes and even if suddenly it turns into a goth glam tune it doens't catch my attention) and just before the closing band you'll meet Arkam Asylum with "Gundam High". To be honest I didn't like three or four tracks but most of the bands are worth your attention and some tracks are really cool. This is a good result if you think that most of the bands are relatively newcomers.

Rarefied sounds and creepy ambient textures make of RATAN an experience to live. On the latest Beyond Sensory Experience's album silence and dilated sounds are the main elements. The first two tracks "The Last Operation" and "Observing The Invisible" form a long hypnotic suite creating a disturbing effect stopped only by the relaxed sounds of the first half part of "Inside Erasmus Head". Atmosphere turns tough again with "Future Directions", "Anthem For A New Tomorrow" and "Numbers Rule The Universe" but also on the following "Time - Travelers Dilemma", "Ratan" and "The State Of The World" things don't get any better because tension takes a hold and sounds are even more dilated. Trumpets of hell seem to call your name while "The State Of The World"'s percussion state that everything is over. Each track has got a visual counterpart inside the booklet. The b/w shots give an idea of desolation and they stop the time, expanding the universe where Beyond Sensory Experience is the only sound left. Does the world is calling it quit?

Second release for the solo project run by Fernando Cerqueira, one half of long-running electro-dubbers Ras Al Ghul and mind behind the Thisco label/project. Possibly less "cosmic" than the debut "Space.Scape", but still pretty fitting in the ambient macro-category, "Asuna" is an album of soothing synth waves and slowly unbending rhythmic patterns - something between Steve Roach, late Labradford and a bit of Boards of Canada at their most abstract. Oddly enough, this serene, almost "new age" feel couples at times with samples of a political nature, and some titles of the cd seem to follow Thisco's more and more openly confrontational stance about modern culture and communication - from the "Fight corporhate music" tag on the back cover to tiles like "Coolture", "Simulacra" (with a sort of sermon sample) and "Vidiots". This is sort of puzzling, but it's also cool to see people putting back a bit of content and flesh in an often sterile and technocentric environment.

First of all, very good layout this time: cryptic use of black and dark grey on the digipack, and stark b/w pictures of ash-covered bodies from the ruins of Pompei in the booklet. Thumbs up for the visuals. Music-wise: 11 untitled tracks of bombastic martial music, opening with a very effective mix of dramatic drumming and orchestration with a looped lament - a good start. Then things settle down a bit, but the cd flows quite well without boredom, also thanks to its reasonable length. I have to smile reading the press-sheet which says these tracks "are hardly comparable to something already known", while this is total Blutharsch-sounding stuff (circa "The track of the hunted"), with moments akin' to A Challenge of Honour, The Day of the Trumpet Call, etc. Not to say this is bad, it is just not that original. Anyway, a well-balanced mix of triumphal marches and elegiac orchestrations.

After his widely acclaimed 2003 Tigerbeat CD "Snaps Crackles Pop" (so much for surprising the unaware listener!), Pimmon is back with a live recording, part of the VPRO series "Mort Aux Vaches", endorsed by Staalplaat and recorded at VPRO Studio in Amsterdam. This particular recording dates back to October 2002 and, even though it is a live recording, it portrays Pimmon's signature style of thought-out minimal glitch-ambient music. He is one of the few laptop artists out there that focus strongly on composition. He leaves little to improvisation and always sticks to his chart, with occasional drifts, of course. This method makes him stand out of the crowd but musically there probably isn't enough of a structure to actually think of these compositions as conventional "songs". The CD is limited and hand numbered to 700 copies.