Entry 607 - Unyielding Love - The Flesh of the Furnace

Style: Black metal, death metal, ambient, dissonant

Primary Emotions/Themes: Chaos, loss of control, biblical themes

Thoughts: I've been thinking about why I like the music I like for a long time. What is it about dissonance and chaos within the metal genre that draws me to it? 

There is a sense of power that I don't find in other music, a sense of personal arrogance I glean from the music. It may sound incredibly boastful but there is a sense that I understand this music when a vast majority of people I know do not. A sense of exclusivity, and with that comes a sense of pride. Pride that I've managed to conquer something that most people pass off as noise or trash.

While arrogance and pride are often emotions that I consider hurtful to myself and others, sometimes I need to have them in order to keep myself afloat. So many things try to destroy my sense of self worth or my will to continue, sometimes I need a reminder that it is ok to have pride in oneself... to have a bit of arrogance that you've made it this far. Sometimes its not only ok, it's required.

When those who you love the most, the ones who you consider closest... your pillars. When they make you question your existence and want nothing more than to stop existing, something hast to pull me back. Something has to take me off that edge, and this is the music that does that for me. This is the main reason why I listen to dissonant metal. It provides stability in a crazy world, it's the one thing I can count on when everything else has turned it's back on me.

Now that I've got that little manifesto out of the way, lets focus in on a fine representation of said genre in Unyielding Love. What a curious name for a peculiar project. While this is absolutely in the field of dissonant metal, the band does numerous things to make them stand out from a crowded field.

Nine songs, nine hymns, nine offerings to those that would partake. The strange thing is that it does not feel like nine tracks at all. It feels like three to four songs that blend into each other. The first three songs in particular feel like one continuous piece. 

Starting with an incredibly subtle ambience harrowed by a distant violin the Wards Vanquished starts out the album. After some time the subtlety is stripped away and the band comes swirling in with chaos upon chaos with their riffs. They meet every expectation for dissonant metal: deep howling vocals, incomprehensible riffs, and an atmosphere to match.

It's not until Canoptic Ire that the band begins to differentiate themselves. The riffs become more pointed, piercing. They seem to go for the heart more, and the intensity becomes nearly unbearable for the listener. The two tracks are intimately linked, in fact I did not think that there were two separate songs at first. I had to sit down with the digital release to realize that the first song had ended.

When the band concludes the opening trilogy with Fettered is Slit they have fully embraced the ambience and deeply disturbing riffs that they have created at this point. It's here that they are blended together into a horrendous mass that is still hard for me to wrap my head around. By the time the song is fading out into feedback I'm on the edge of my seat in anticipation for what is coming next.

Vanishment is that song and it towers above all others in it's length. Taking up nearly a fourth of the album on its own, it combines everything that the first three tracks has but in it's own character. The song wails and rips through the fabric of space like so few bands can. By the end of it's run time the song has given a tour de force on what it means to play within this genre. 

The remainder of the album follows much of the same formula. Dark ambient intermixed with dissonance and a touch of insanity. This has been done before, but few bands have managed to reach this level of quality with their work.

I've been thinking lately that I'm reaching the saturation point of dissonant metal in my collection. This may very well be one of the final records I get in the genre for quite some time. If that is the case then this is one hell of a swansong. 

Written November 15th 2023

Entry 606 - Onra - Chinoiseries - Part 3

 

Style: Instrumental hip hop

Primary Emotions/Themes: Tributes to far east Asian music, revisiting old music that was once lost

Thoughts: So the trilogy concludes. Everything that the series has built to from the start is manifested in it's finest form in these sixty minutes. Onra has perfected his craft, and the Chinoiseries is complete.

As large of a leap part 2 was from part 1, part 3 is equally as distant from part 2. Everything that was better in part 2 is now refined and honed to a greater degree on part 3. The beats are more creative, the sampling is more refined and the formation of the songs is the best the series has seen.

Part 3 of Chinoiseries sees Onra truly coming into his own with these songs. This isn't just any type of instrumental hip hop anymore. This is highly refined and expertly crafted. The songs are now dynamic in a way that they could never have been in part 1 or 2. Their length varies from 30 seconds to several minutes, and each one is a near perfect exploration of it's singular idea before moving on.

The album feels even more so like an album than the second part does. Everything here flows so damn well together, it's hard to believe that it's an hour long album. It feels like half that run time. 

I won't have as much to say here as I did on the first two.  Everything that has been said before applies here too, except it's just better. Everything here is more refined, shows more maturity, more playfulness, and more experimentation. This is what instrumental hip hop is all about, one of the absolute best entries into the genre in many many years.

Written November 14th 2023

Entry 605 - Onra - Chinoiseries - Part 2

Style: Instrumental hip hop

Primary Emotions/Themes: East Asian history

Thoughts: Three years later Onra returns with the second entry in his exceptionally creative instrumental hip hop series focused on lost music from far East Asia. The last few years have brought both progression and some growth to the musical format started on part 1.

The basic formula remains the same: old recordings that have likely never been heard by a vast majority of the world's population. These records have been sampled and distilled down to small snippets of themselves. 

The samples are then transformed into the hip hop album known as Chinoiseries. Beats are added, the samples are looped, and the whole thing comes together beautifully. Where part 2 differs from part 1 is in the quality of the reconstructions. 

Part 1 was a collection of snap shots of different music that had been collected in Onra's journeys. It didn't feel like the tracks belonged together in an album, but were more of singular instances thrown together in a collection. Part 2 takes the idea of being an album seriously. 

These tracks belong together. They are transformed in such a way that the tracks blend into each other and create a cohesive flow than the jerky transitions from part 1. The tracks also have progression to them, it's not the same loop played over and over. Different layers are added, subtracted, and even manipulated to produce a sound pleasing to the ears.

Part 2 sees Onra refining his craft from the original collection. This is modern instrumental hip hop at its best, and is one of the main reasons why I love this genre so much. Things only get better in Part 3.

Written November 14th 2023.

Entry 604 - Oninaki

Style: Video game music

Primary Emotions/Themes: Life after death, exploration

Thoughts: Why do I write these summaries/reviews? I sometimes question my sanity, especially now that I've written several hundred of these things. Is this something I enjoy doing anymore? Or is this something I'm doing just to complete an insane goal I set for myself a few years ago? 

The answer to that is somewhere in-between most likely. Almost as if in a perpetual state of purgatory, some days I truly enjoy this, other days I force myself to write just to complete a goal. Not too unlike the role of the protagonist of Oninaki.

Oninaki is a game about the land between life and death, a land where ghosts and spirits roam before becoming reincarnated. A place where spirits can become wraiths or oni if they have something tying them back to the physical world. Sometimes those spirits are innocent and simply don't remember what has happened in their previous life. Much like Linne, the girl on the cover.

As one may expect the music in Oninaki is sorrowful and lonely. The music on this record is built on the idea of simplicity. While the full OST has a wide variety of styles and emotions, most often the music here is pushed forward by a piano and an accompanying instrument. 

 

To start things off, the main theme is played by piano and cello, creating an incredibly moving duet between the two. The two instruments weave back and fourth creating a sound similar to that of water droplets falling in a pond. It sets the tone nicely for the record and lets the listener know what the next forty or so minutes will entail.

 

While the music contained in the opening of the record is highly emotional and moving, there is yet more to this record. Some of the songs sound similar to the opening, minimalist and full of emotion. Other tracks are more upbeat and have the spirit of exploration and wonder in them. Despite the differences between the tracks selected there is always a sense of peace or mourning as an underlying theme.

This is the kind of record I like to put on during a rainy evening. The kind of record to put on while snow is cascading down from the sky and slowly dotting the landscape. It's not perfect, but hardly anything is. For what it is, this is a wonderful record to spin when life needs to slow down.

Written November 14th 2023

Entry 603 - Onra - Chinoiseries - Part 1

 

Style: Instrumental hip hop, beats

Primary Emotions/Themes: East Asian cinema, tributes to the past

Thoughts: I've been on record saying a few things in the past:

1) I love instrumental hip hop
2) It's really hard for me to get into the lo-fi variation of the genre

These two statements seem to be in direct conflict with each other, yet they both hold true. There are of course overlap between the two that I enjoy greatly, but those albums are few and far between. 

Onra's trilogy of Chinoiseries albums are a rare gem. As I understand it Onra obtained a bunch of abandoned records from Vietnam for this record. He sampled them and put beats to them to create the final product that is Chinoiseries Part 1. 

From the source material the music is inherently low fidelity. The records that these songs are created from have pops, poor recordings, and tons of surface noise. So that begs the question, is this actually part of the lo-fi hip hop genre?

Even though this has a lot in common with lofi hip hop I don't think it's part of the genre. Lofi has a very particular sound that permeates the genre. Chinoiseries sounds fundamentally different to my ears. Where lofi has a predictable beat pattern, Onra has creative and varied beats. Where lofi has obvious loops that are repeated several times in various patterns, Onra takes a single theme and works with it for 30-120 seconds before moving on to the next sample. Each song is it's own focus, nothing interferes. 

While Onra clearly has a superior sound to most lofi, it's not without fault. The album is 48 minutes long but still feels like it drags sometimes. Some themes overstay their welcome by just a bit, even if the track is only 90 seconds long. There is little to no progression for any of the songs or the album as a whole. It feels like it's a snapshot into a style of forgotten music rather than an album as a whole. Not inherently a bad thing, but it's something I had to get used to when listening. 

I've been waiting for this album to have a repress for at least three years. I discovered the trilogy shortly after the initial pressing sold out and the price skyrocketed. I settled for getting the tapes instead. Now though, they have been repressed and I love that I can finally have them. These are the kinds of additions to my collections that make it one step closer to complete.

Written November 14th 2023

Entry 602 - Godspeed You Black Emperor! - F#A#∞

 

Style: Post rock, ambient

Primary Emotions/Themes: The end of the world, ebb and flow, accepting life for what it is

Thoughts: I don't have much to say on this one rather than it hits deep. The opening of the album is spoken by a decrepit old man. The words painted by this voice describe this album a thousandfold better than I ever could with my own:

"The car's on fire and there's no driver at the wheel,

And the sewers are all muddied with a thousand lonely suicides,

And a dark wind blows

The government is corrupt

And we're on so many drugs

With the radio on and the curtains drawn 

Were trapped in the belly of this horrible machine 

And the machine is bleeding to death...

I said: 'Kiss me you're beautiful - these are truly the last days'

You grabbed my hand and we fell into it

Like a daydream or a fever

We woke up one morning and fell a little further down

For sure it's the valley of death

I open my wallet

...and it's full of blood."

Written November 13 2023

Entry 601 - Tom Waits - Bone Machine

 

Style: Experimental, percussion, blues, jazz, rock, lounge, spoken word, 

Primary Emotions/Themes: Fatalism, humanism, meaning of human existence

Thoughts: I'm embarrassed to say that I had not listened to Bone Machine until a few years ago. I knew of it's existence but the cover always threw me off for whatever reason. After listening to it the first time I knew that I had made a huge mistake by letting it slide for so long. This album is among Waits best.

For years and years I've regarded Rain Dogs as Waits' best album. I still do, but Bone Machine has a similar quality to it, but with a darker tone. Starting off right away with "The Earth Died Screaming" the album lets the listener know that the album is committed to the side of life that is less explored. The side where you try to pick yourself up and get kicked down again. The side where you think you've got something figured out and get slapped in the face for being dumb. The side where you can do everything right and still lose.

The music itself isn't too far off from the lyrics. This is dirty music, music that is written by someone who is down on their luck and isn't shy about it. The music is mired in the sound of the old blues, the deep south blues. It's simple, it's desperate, and it's full of soul. 

Bone Machine makes the simple sound complex. Objectively, there isn't much going on here... but the album tricks you into thinking that it's simple. Below the surface a vast array of treasure is waiting to be found. Be it layer upon layer of drums and percussion, or be it the deep resonance of Tom's voice. There is something to dive into on each track.

The lyrics themselves offer a vast ocean of subjects to dive into. They often touch on sorrow, hopelessness, and the inability to change. I normally don't spend too much time focusing on lyrics, but Tom demands attention with lines like: 

"The quill from a buzzard

The blood writes the word

I want to know am i the sky or a bird?
'Cause hell is boiling over

And heaven is full

We're chained to the world"

That wasn't written by someone who is having a good day. That was written by someone who has seen hell and lived to tell the tale. The whole album is like that. Everything screams for help, but no one answers. We're on our own, and god has forsaken us....

Written November 13th 2023

Entry 600 - Anaal Nathrakh - Eschaton

Style: Grindcore, black metal, noise

Primary Emotions/Themes: Extermination of life, eradication from existence on a fundamental level, the meaninglessness of life

Thoughts: Run for your life. Something is coming for you... but not just you. It comes for your family. Turn left! Run! Turn Right! Run! Fuck! It's a dead end... it's over.

The beast comes up to you and breathes down my neck. It is savoring its next meal. Taking in the smells of fear and sweat emanating from my body. I shake as reality sets in... these are my last moments on earth. I hold my son close to me and tell him not to look. 

The beast takes a step back and prepares for its final strike. I close my eyes and hold onto my son for dear life. This is is, there is nothing after this. I feel the air get disturbed as the creature moves its arm but I feel no pain. I feel nothing, just the gentle wisps of air as they swirl around me. I open my eyes... the creature has not struck me... but my son.

My son looks at me with eyes that once had light in them. That light is now fading. As reality slowly washes over me I wail with the realization of what has happened. Fear turns to anger. Anger turns to hate. Hate turns to murderous rage. I let out an inhuman wail as my son's life starts to fade.

I tell him everything will be ok. It's a cruel joke, we're both going to die here. But I'll be damned if we go down  as this things next meal without a fight. I have nothing left, there is nothing left for me to protect. Nothing left for me to love. The light of my life... is gone. This thing took it from me, and I'm going to do everything in my power to ruin it's next meal.

Justice for justice, a life for a life. I'm sorry son, I have failed you.

-----

Anaal Nathrakh play the role of the cold and calculating beast. They are unwavering in their commitment to violence and the torture of the listener. Their music is a vessel to enact their violence upon the listener. 

Eschaton in biblical theology is the end of the world. Nothing comes after, this is the definitive end of time and everything material. The music contained within the album sharing this title can be described in much the same way. The music has an apocalyptic feel to it, there is an unhinged violence that comes from within the core of this album that permeates every single note and bleeds through every instance that music is playing and it continues to resonate after the album has finished. 

The band stumbled with their previous album, lacking both in quality and the intensity of the debut record. Both of those missteps have been corrected on Eschaton. The clean vocals that were introduced with Domine Non Es Dignus have been refined and put to better use on the follow up. The lack of intensity in the vocals has also been corrected.

Vitriol has to be one of the more aptly named vocalists within the metal scene. Mr. Hunt manages to create noises, shrieks, and tortured screams that most vocalists can't even begin to match. Vitriol is an older term for sulfuric acid, and that is exactly the sound that comes out of his mouth. Burning, corrosive, deadly.

Anaal Nathrakh never published their lyrics at the early stage of their career. But looking at titles like "Between Shit and Piss We are Born" or "When the Lion Devours Both Dragon and Child" I think we have at least a glimpse of the outlook of the band. 

Eschaton combines grindcores speed, and intensity with the violence of war metal. It's not quite to the levels of the Codex Necro but it is a fucking fine return to form for a band that was starting to slip with their EP and second full length. The beast of rebellion has returned to usher in Armageddon and herald  the seven trumpets of Gabriel.

Written October 30th 2023

Entry 599 - Swans - Soundtracks for the Blind - Part 4

 

Style: You name it, it's probably on this record

Primary Emotions/Themes: Complete and utter destruction of sanity

Thoughts: I wake with a startle. I feel fingers crawling at me, yet I lay in my own bed. I feel a breath on my neck, yet I see no one laying beside me. I feel peace, yet I feel like I should be frightened for my life. I reach to pull the blankets back only to realize that I have no hands. I go to scream only to realize I have no mouth. I go to move out of fright, only to realize that I have no body.

As I stare at the spinning black disc in front of me I am greeted by a low rumble. How did I get here? What is this circle in front of me? Why must it spin so? Why does it make those horrible noises? Sirens blare as the tones get harsher. The world devolves into chaos. Somehow though, I know that I am near the end... the end of my suffering is near at hand. Be it by my life or my death, this will conclude with these final revolutions of this black circle.

When a mortal is subjected to a torture such as this, it begs the question: is there truly an all merciful god? With the events of the past two hours I don't believe I can say that there is one. No such god would allow a creation such as this to be made within the context of the world they had spoken into creation. Either such a god does not exist, or they are now powerless to do anything about the atrocities that the denizens of this world have created.

You see dear reader, Soundtracks for the Blind is not merely an album. It is something that touches on true beauty, it cascades upon the very shores of hell with some of the tones that it makes. It resides in the halls of antiquity while channeling the foulest of tongues, all at once. It is paradox incarnate. 

My evening has been spent listening and chronicling of my experience with Mr. Gira and Ms. Jarboe and this monstrosity of an album. I have felt nearly every emotion possible: joy, despair, disgust, fear, anguish, elation, release, tension, exhaustion, paranoia, and contentment to name a few. 

The album bends you to its will, you have no say in what it does... it is it's own entity. Soundtracks for the Blind is one of the most challenging albums I have ever listened to. It's not something that I can tackle on a regular basis, but I promise you this: there is not a single album in my collection that comes close to exacting its will on you like this one. This is a masterwork. Not one for the weak of heart, but it is a masterwork none the less. 

Now if you'll excuse me I need to rest. This album has drained me much like the most difficult of conversations. It has pulled at my sanity like the greatest horror movies. It has left me changed... no scarred for listening to it. I need to heal.

Written October 29th 2023

Entry 598 - Swans - Soundtracks for the Blind - Part 3

 

Style: Listen at your own risk, this gnaws at your sanity

Primary Emotions/Themes: There is only the void of nothingness

Thoughts: My eyes are sown shut. I have no sight, no touch, no smell, no taste. I can only hear the horrors that are around me, gnawing at my sanity with their alluring tones. What is this place? Where have I descended to? Surely this must be hell...

A lonely siren scratches at my ear drums with her waling notes. She sounds so comforting, yet I know there is nothing but malice in her voice. She yearns for my destruction. This being known only to me as Jarboe. 

The anthems continue to gnaw at me with insincere peace. These demons have no brought back instruments from my own realm, guitars, drums, and even a human voice. Michael, I think he called himself. Have the arch angels fallen as well now? 

His deep baritone voice calls to me as much as the heinous Jarboe, they are trying to lull me into a false sense of security with these calm songs. These songs make too much sense, the sound too familiar, too normal for me. I know what they are capable of, the fact that these songs have a structure to them is even more concerning considering everything I've been through to get here.

I can't let my guard down. The instant I do, they will eat my soul. Why am I here? What have I done to deserve this fate? 

The music continues to swirl around me, like Swans guarding their young. The music... yes actual music... grows and grows as the needle continues to track the groove. Guitars, drums, bass... the foundations of all rock music.. they are here to keep me company. They try to bring me back from the depths of insanity. Their growing chorus of sounds fights back against the hellish creatures that have come before me. Can I get out? Can I escape this hell? Will I ever see again?

What is this? Melody? I've forgotten what it means. I'm remembering myself now... I slowly begin to find my body. I am no longer formless. I have been given life by these wonderful sounds that have come from this third record.

I have climbed up to the tallest mountain with "The Sound." This massive opus has cleansed me of all the insanity and impurities of hell. I have found myself swell into existence exactly as this song came from nothing and built itself into a massive being by the power of its own will. I have seen light in this darkness and I intend to follow it. Let us prey that this is not false hope... please let this be real.

As quickly as it came the hope has been destroyed. The insanity claws at me again with "Her Mouth Is Filled With Honey." My eyes begin to be sewn again... help me! Help me! Help me! Get me out of here! The noise has come back and it crawls at my flesh, it is taking me back into that dank wasteland where I started I am losing myself... I'm losing myself again.

I am being played with, on my descent down the music sounds so joyous. "Blood Section" is celebrating my forfeiture of my sanity once again. The bells ring in jubilation as I pass it by. When will my suffering end? When will this torture subside? 

As I hit the bottom, a gnarled figure inspects me. This warped figure speaks to me in tongues that assail my senses. My hearing, the only thing left, is left bleeding. This "Hynogirl" wishes to take my body and mind. She can have it for all I care, I have no body and my mind is destroyed beyond recognition. She may begin her feast....

Where am I? Am I dead...? Who is this... speaking? Why am I hearing them? I can no longer comprehend what is happening to me. What is me? Who is me? Why am me....? I am "Minus Something" very important... me is missing something... I am me? am I me?

Am I dead...?

Written October 29th 2023

Entry 597 - Swans - Soundtracks for the Blind - Part 2

 

Style: Experimental mess, EDM, acoustic, folk, ambient, noise, chaos, spoken word, undefinable

Primary Emotions/Themes: I don't know... I truly  don't know

Thoughts: Welcome to the club. I hope you brought your strongest drugs, because you are going to need them to handle what lies beyond these doors. You hear that beat? That's the floor collapsing underneath everyone every second. How are they still alive? You're new here aren't you?

I truly was not ready for this album when I first sat down with it about 20 years ago. It was too much for me, too many things going on. Too many genres, too much experimentation. I had to move on, I couldn't handle it. It was only after I had managed to wrap my head around The Seer that I was able to come back and try to tackle this insane opus. 

Our second disc opens up with what can only be defined as Swans entry into the electronic dance music genre. The beat is heavy and it hits hard - four on the floor style. The music swirls around, yet something seems off. The loops don't quite fit together as you would expect. There are odd breaks to the beat before it comes back full force. Jarboe sings and wails like she normally does... but it's a bit more haunting... a bit less human... a bit more... of something.

As we continue our journey to the depths of insanity the EDM is quickly cast aside and we see Swans move into a dark ambient section that rivals Nurse With Wound in terms of oddities. Micheal sings with a flanger placed on his voice. Actually just about everything here has gone through some kind of odd processing. The tringle striking metal in the background, the odd wavy audio that makes the whole song sound like it's coming through a broken radio... what the hell is going on here?

In the middle of the ambience the band explodes into one of the heaviest riffs they have ever created, something rivaling Greed or Filth levels of noise and grit. As quickly as it came the riff is gone and we are back to the broken radio only to repeat this cycle several more times. The song fades into a repeating cello pulling across a string and a piano playing random chords before the side is done...

We're not even half way done with the album yet and I'm already feeling like I'm being dragged through someones waking nightmare. Pray for me, to whatever god you want. I'm going to flip the record.

Help me I'm in hell, help me I'm in hell, help me I'm in hell, help me I'm in hell, help me I'm in hell, help me I'm in hell, help me I'm in hell, help me I'm in hell, help me I'm in hell, help me I'm in hell, help me I'm in hell, help me I'm in hell, help me I'm in hell, help me I'm in hell, help me I'm in hell, help me I'm in hell, help me I'm in hell, help me I'm in hell, help me I'm in hell, help me I'm in hell, help me I'm in hell, help me I'm in hell, help me I'm in hell, help me I'm in hell, help me I'm in hell, help me I'm in hell, help me I'm in hell, help me I'm in hell, help me I'm in hell, help me I'm in hell, help me I'm in hell, help me I'm in hell, help me I'm in hell, help me I'm in hell, help me I'm in hell, help me I'm in hell, help me I'm in hell, help me I'm in hell, help me I'm in hell, help me I'm in hell, help me I'm in hell, help me I'm in hell, help me I'm in hell....

Written October 29th 2023

Entry 596 - Swans - Soundtracks for the Blind - Part 1

Style: Experimental music, ambient, folk, spoken word, post rock?, country?, noise, insanity

Primary Emotions/Themes: Mental instability, chaos, peace

Thoughts: I've been dreading this for over six months. I've had this record sitting in my "need to listen to" pile since March... I haven't been able to bring myself to listen to it. Today was an especially draining day and my mind is completely blown to smithereens, so why not make things infinitely worse by trying to tackle Swans largest and most complex album. 

Let that sink in... this is Swans most musically diverse, musically challenging, deep, and very likely strangest album. This is Swans were talking about... what the fuck kind of album is this that I can make those kind of statements about it? 

To start off I don't know if album is the correct term for these four LP's. Soundtracks for the Blind is indeed a collection of songs (a shit ton of them), and it does indeed have all the characteristics of an album... but somehow it feels like more. The scope is too large to be called an album, its too broad. Is soundtrack a more appropriate term? Maybe, but whatever it is, it goes way beyond anything that would be considered "normal."

To start things out the album is actually quite pleasant. The first side of the first LP is largely instrumental and non-offensive in terms of its musical delivery. Michael's gentle voice comes in from time to time and the music ebbs and flows through much of the gentler sound that the band had been exploring at the time.It's quite the pleasant listen and is a bit misleading in terms of where the band end up.

Flip the record over and we start to get into.... things. The first few minutes we are berated by someone.. or something telling us how fucked up we are. This entity surely knows us better than we know ourselves and is not shy about telling us all the things that we've done wrong or how much we hide from other people. A bit unsettling to say the least.

Jarboe screams onto the record a few songs later with an almost shouted track that mixes country with noise rock. Its so grating on the ears I usually have to turn it down. It's physically uncomfortable to listen to. Being Jarboe, she still gets plenty of applause at the end of the song. To this day I don't know if this was a live recording or something that was stitched together in the studio.

What comes next is even stranger. A swirling mix of feedback noise and what sounds like capacitors overloading. There are no guitars, or anything that would resemble musical instruments. Somehow though this ends up sounding musical, in a deranged sort of way. To drive the track home a child starts rambling on different topics as the ambience fades into... something else. I don't know what it is and my brain can't fully wrap itself around it. It's just... there.

Wall of noise aside this concludes our first excursion with the Soundtracks for the Blind. Swans never really cared about any kind of rule, and they gave up the ghost with this one. Nothing sounded like this before, and no one can replicate this. Not even Swans. Buckle up, part 2 gets stranger.

Written October 29th 2023

Entry 595 - Altar of Plagues - Trilogy Part 2 - Mammal

Style: Atmospheric black metal, black metal, post rock

Primary Emotions/Themes: The folly of man, nature overtaking the earth again

Thoughts: It's been way too long since I opened this box set. I listened to White Tomb months ago then this thing sat on my shelf collecting dust. That ends today. Today Mammal is unleashed upon my turntable and speakers.

Neptune is Dead is a massive opening track. Nearly 20 minutes in length, the song aims to be the highlight of the album and requires much from the listener for the first exposure to the album. The song goes through nearly every aspect of Altar of Plagues sound. 

It opens with a blast beat driven section driven by swirling riffs. This is a smart move on the bands part, it opens the album on a strong point. The band is at their best when they have post rock styled riffs played over aggressive blast beats. This is what made Earth as a Tomb such a good opener on White Tomb, and it's what makes Neptune is Dead a great opener here.

The band transitions out of this section rather quickly and goes to a slower pace where the a more typical post rock build up is seen. The band starts off quiet and adds layer after layer until the song becomes a massive behemoth that is impossible to ignore. The build itself is quite well done, but lacks that extra little push at the end that would make it truly epic. 

Flipping the record over we get to my favorite track off the entire album: Feather and Bone. This track embraces the black metal side of their sound and never lets off the speed. When the band is moving at break neck speeds they have one of the best atmospheres in the entire genre, I just wish that they would do it more often. This is the one moment in all of Mammal where they fulfill their entire potential.

The rest of the album is a bit lack luster compared to the first two tracks, the songs are slower and don't build to nearly as strong of a conclusion as the first two do. I think as I revisit the album in the future I'm going to be listening to the first LP way more than the second. It's a good album, but again the band doesn't focus on what their strengths are - at least for me. I wish just once they would make a full on, balls to the wall album where the listener is completely decimated. Sadly, that will never happen.

Written November 13th 2023

Entry 594 - Tervahäät - Kalmonsäie

Style: Dark folk, vocal chants, ambient with moments of great harshness, acoustic

Primary Emotions/Themes: Ominous foreboding, darkness where there should be light, peace after great turmoil

Thoughts: Dark folk is a genre that I enjoy greatly but I have very little of in my collection. I don't get in the mood to listen to it often, but when I do there is nothing else that will fill that need. Tervahäät is the latest addition to the collection to try and satiate that need.

Kalmonsäie is a curious album. It's basis is slowly chanted vocals and riffs that compliment those vocals. The music is exceedingly repetitive, almost ritualistic. Most commonly the instruments accompanying the music are guitars. 

These guitars strum full chords over and over with minimal progression. While this sounds like a recipe for disaster the band makes it work better than I would have first thought. Instead of tedium the band evokes a tribal atmosphere as if chanting around a fire. These riffs and chants build and build until they are hardly contained by the end of the songs. 

The band changes things up towards the middle few songs of the album though. The guitars get a bit of distortion on them and the vocals become quite harsh. The atmosphere is similar to the chanted/acoustic portion of the music but chills me to the bone. The vocals cut like a knife and the guitars feel like they are barely contained and may explode into full on black metal at any moment... but they never do.

Eventually the chanted/acoustic music comes back to finish up the album and with it comes a great sense of relief. The tension that was created by the harshness in the middle portion of the album is highly effective at evoking a sense of unease from the listener. 

When I first got this album I wasn't sure I liked it or not, but now after spending some time with it and digesting it over the course of a few listens I think it's growing on me. I like the idea of the whole album being used as a tension/release phase. This normally is contained to a single song or two, but here it is the scope of the entire album. That is what has made this album stand out for me, and it's why it will be on my short list of albums to visit when I need dark folk.

Written November 13th 2023

Entry 593 - Pokemon Arceus

 

 

Style: Video Game Music

Primary Emotions/Themes: Exploration, discovery, creativity, overcoming adversity, mystery

Thoughts: When the Pokemon company announced that there was an open world Pokemon game in the works I was skeptical at best. When the trailer was released I was even more skeptical. The game looked nearly unplayable with the amount of slowdown and frame rate problems that the trailer had. Trailers are usually the best that the team can do at the time... so if this is the best The Pokemon Company has right now, well this game is not going to be good. Or so I thought.

Fast forward a year and Pokemon Arceus releases. I passed on it at first, but several of my friends picked it up... and many of them said the game was fun. I continued my skepticism, but I eventually got to play it for myself... and if I'll be damned, they were right.

The direct comparison for the game was always Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The introduction with the main character looking over a hill was an immediate call back to Link looking over Hyrule. This begs the question, is the music anywhere near as good as Breath of the Wild's?

The short answer is no, but that is hardly a complete answer. The music is hardly bad, in fact it is quite good... I may even venture to say that some tracks are excellent. This record in particular is a selections piece of about 40 minutes of the five hours present in the full soundtrack. 

Normally I like to have the full soundtrack whenever possible, but sometimes that's excessive. Five hours of a soundtrack is usually more than I can handle. It's nearly impossible to take in during a single listening session.  I've learned that if I do try to power through something that long I burn myself out... hard. If I'm burned out on a particular album I will not listen to it for quite some time. So in this case, a selections record isn't too bad.

This is all incredibly long winded so far and I haven't even talked about the music yet. Arceus has a fantastic range in it. Some of the tracks are full orchestral, while others have the beautiful simplicity of the aforementioned Breath of the Wild. 

What I truly love about the music is how it takes familiar themes from the other Pokemon games and work them into a completely new framework. The introduction is a simple flute playing the Pokemon theme from red/blue. Other tracks have a few notes that remind me of similar themes from gen 2 and gen 3 as well.  It's subtle, but it works so god damn well. 

The tracks selected for this record work quite well together. The music flows well and hits many of the high notes of the soundtrack. The town music in particular is a favorite of mine. I'm a sucker for violin solos and this track is chocked full of them.

Pokemon Arceus has the player explore a few vast zones to find Pokemon, craft things along the way, discover secrets, and overcome adversity in creative ways. It's one of the better Pokemon games I've played in a long time and is a needed change to the old formula. The music helps in this by encouraging the player to explore and uncover the mystery of the ancient land. 

I'm surprised by how much I've played this record. It's the prefect length for me to consume in a morning before work, or wind down before making dinner, or having a night cap before bed. It's simple and it works as a wonderful record for any occasion that requires me to take a step back and forget about my worries for a few minutes.

Written November 13th 2023

Entry 592 - Cryptopsy - None so Vile

 

 

Style: Brutal Death Metal, technical death metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: Violence, murder, anti-christianity, mutilation, destruction of morals

Thoughts: The first time I sat down and read the lyrics to Cryptopsy's None So Vile I instantly regretted it. I lived in a household that would not approve, not in the slightest. Reading the verses of Slit Your Guts was... gruesome if we are lenient and torture porn if we call this what it really is. I hid the CD and only ever listened to it when my family was out of the house... I was scared of what would happen should they ever find it.

These are the kinds of stories that metal heads look back on fondly. I have such strong memories of feeling like I was doing something so deviant, so despicable, that I had to hide it's very existence. Those were good times. Here now I am, some nearly 30 years later listening to the same album, but not in fear of being found out. Quite the opposite, I want people to know that I enjoy this album - because it kicks ass!

Crytopsy play a definitive form of death metal on None So Vile. They are brutal beyond all comprehension, led by the impressive vocals of none other than Lord Worm. Let's settle in with our dear Canadians here for a few moments and see what these thirty something minutes have in store for us.

Starting with the vocals, the esteemed Lord Worm does not have a single comprehensible line in the entire album. This is grunting, gurgling, spewing, shouting, and just about any other adjective you can think of except comprehensible. The vocals sound like a man possessed. 

Let's take a step back here and take in the full extent of what is going on with the Worm's vocals. This is unlike any performance that had come before it - or arguably after. Before None So Vile this type of vocal styling simply did not exist. This helped define what the term "brutal" would eventually become. This not only set a new standard for death metal vocals, this is now THE bar for death metal vocals. One of the, if not the greatest vocal performance in the genre. Q.E.D.

The rest of the band are hardly slouches either. Flo's drumming reinvented what fast is with the gravity blast. Jon's guitar work is among some of the most intricate and ferocious that the genre has ever seen. Eric's inclusion of slap bass on several songs is not only novel in death metal, it sounds damn good to boot!

Cryptopsy play what I like to call sloppy precision. The music is so technical and so blazingly fast it sounds incredibly sloppy when it is played together. The thing is... it sounds the same very time... i.e. it's intentional. This style gives the music a sense that it is barely contained. There is an underlying chaos or beast that is trying to break out and it is held back by the smallest of margins. If it were to be let loose the entirety of reality would be consumed.

None So Vile will go down in my history books as one of the top five best releases in the genre. No one has created anything like this before or after. It contains no faults. It is completely untouchable for standards that it sets for the genre. Now, writing this 27 years after it's release... the album still stands as one of the pillars of death metal. This is not opinion, just straight facts.

"You do that rather well... don't you think?"

Written November 6th 2023

Entry 591 - Bloodbath - The Fathomless Mastery

 

Style: Death Metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: Desecration of anything holy, death, anti-christianity, violence

Thoughts: There are very few chances I get to blast music at unhealthy levels. Today is one of those days. I have this shit cranked up to the point where I can't hear myself think. My ambient sound pressure application is telling me I'm playing this at 88 dB, and I don't fucking care. I need to fucking headbang every now and then - I'm fucking pissed off and this music matches that energy perfectly.

The Fathomless Mastery sees Bloodbath with their most modern take on death metal. The band fully embraces blast beats, dissonant scales and influences from all over the death metal spectrum. The riffs are all over the place, and sometimes border on technical death metal with the level of intricacy on display.

What the band does exceptionally well is song construction and knowing what riffs go together and what riffs do not. They have an uncanny knack for knowing exactly how slow to make a slower section (not really even a breakdown), and then how to completely pummel the listener again. 

The opener sets the stage for the entire album. It comes blasting in with a riff that gets more intense every time it repeats. Mike's vocals eviscerate anything that comes in their way. They have that perfect balance of being able to understand what he is saying while still being brutal as fuck. When the band gets to the chorus we have the first instance of the band slowing down for a measure or two. 

They don't just chug with this riff, they completely decimate with it. The drums slow down just a tad, and we hear the death metal choir chant the title of the song. Just as quickly as it comes in, the band moves on back into the intense opening riff. This is how much of the album goes.

The band displays a lot of different styles on the Fathomless Mastery. Mock the Cross is a direct tribute to mid period Morbid Angel with it's slower main riff. Iesous has a nasty ass chugging riff in the middle of the song that gives me goosebumps every time I hear it. Hades Rising has a melodic section towards the end of it that almost puts the band into Gothenburg territory. Every song is good, some songs are legendary.

Bloodbath is a band that has managed to reinvent themselves multiple times. With The Fathomless Mastery the band took a modern look at their sound and absolutely killed it. This is my favorite release from the band, and it stands up there with some of the best death metal releases in the last 20 years.

Written October 31st 2023

Entry 590 - Howl's Moving Castle

Style: Anime soundtrack, orchestral score

Primary Emotions/Themes: Curiosity, self reflection, overcoming adversity

Thoughts: Come with me as we fly through the clouds on a mechanical bird. Come with me as we wander the wastes in a moving castle powered by a living flame. Come with me as we follow the story of a young woman who is cursed by a witch. Come with me as we explore the fantastical world of Howl's Moving Castle.

There are many movies that Studio Ghibli have put their stamp on. They range from good to excellent to a masterwork of story telling. Howl's Moving Castle borders on masterwork for me. The movie embraces the fantastical world and mixes it with a bit of steampunk and creates a wonderful fusion of technology and magic.

The world is whimsical with a few darker notes to it, and Joe Hisaishi's score reflects that perfectly. The main theme of the movie is a wonderful waltz, it's flowing, whimsical, and beautiful all at the same time. It carries the soul of the movie with it.

The waltz acts as the main pillar for a majority of the music in the soundtrack. Dark moments, lighter moments, contemplative, and even the hopeless moments towards the end of the film. The waltz morphs itself to fit whatever mood is required for the scene. Hisaishi's ability to create a melody and then morph it to whatever context is needed is rare and damn near perfect.

Of course there is more to this score than just the Waltz. There are moments where the music is tense, where it is light hearted, and sad. All this without the use of the main theme. That said, these moments act more as a side piece for the score and fill in the needed gaps before we are returned to that familiar melody once again.

Howl's Moving Castle is a slow movie. It doesn't concern itself with putting a new plot point forward every few seconds. It takes it's time. It spends five minutes on a cooking scene that adds little to nothing to the plot... but it builds the world and the characters. It establishes relationships between the motley crew that inhabit the castle. In the same way the music builds the world with its interwoven themes. The two compliment each other perfectly, as one would expect from the duo of Joe Hasashi and Hayao Miyazaki.

Written October 30 2023

Entry 589 - Xenogears

Style: Video Game Music

Primary Emotions/Themes: Definition of self, god vs. man, love, soulmates

Thoughts: This one is going to be exceptionally difficult for me to keep objective... actually no I don't need to make it objective at all. Xenogears is one of the most important games in my upbringing. It alongside several other JRPG's of the time solidified my love of the genre. Xenogears in particular made me realize how powerful of a story delivery mechanism an RPG can be. It left me stunned and slack jawed by the end.

The game starts out with a space ship that is getting destroyed by an unknown being. The captain destroys the ship while looking at a picture of his family. The intro is confusing and compelling all at the same time, it made me want to play the game to find out what was going on.

When I listen to these two records I'm taken back to my first playthrough of the game. There are so many mysteries as the game unfolds, and they are revealed one after another. This game is a masterwork of pacing (at least the first disc). Information is fed to you just a bit at a time, just enough to keep you going to find out what comes next.

The first record is a limited selection of the games music. It contains so many of the memorable songs on the soundtrack. The main theme that plays as you walk around Yggdrasil stays in my head for days. The fight and boss music is incredible as well. The village theme and the innocence that comes with it... before everything goes to hell. It's all here. And ending the record with the music box... perfection.

The second record is an arrangement of many of the same songs that were on the first record. Would I have liked more of the soundtrack to be included? Of course I would! That said the vocal tracks on the second disc are immaculate and warrant repeated listens.

My one complaint about this record is the inner groove distortion. On every single side right towards the end, the music distorts heavily. This is a real shame, because it's towards the end of the discs where some of the best music resides. I can live with it but god damn is it annoying sometimes. Oh well, it's an imperfect format, and this is one of those imperfections.

Xenogears is one of the best games I've ever played. Even though the second disc is a huge change of pace and offers some... interesting story choices, it's still a 10/10 game for me. The story alone is worth it, and the music... it makes everything that much better.

Written October 30 2023 

Entry 588 - Devil May Cry - Disc 2

 

Style: VGM, electronic, gothic, rock, ambient, dark ambient

Primary Emotions/Themes: Betrayal, measuring up to ones father, edgy brooding

Thoughts: Imagine being born of a demon father. But not just any demon, the demon that stood against his own kind and forced back the legions of hell with his immense power. That's quite the legacy to live up to.

Devil May Cry's main character is just that. Dante is the son of Sparta, one of the most powerful demons to ever exist. He is constantly in the shadow of his father and tries to separate himself from that legacy. He's been trying to do this the last 2000 years... yet he is still haunted by this specter. 

That would probably put a chip on anyone's shoulder, and that comes through in the second disc of Devil May Cry's soundtrack. The music has become more active and ups the anti on the combat portion of the music. 

This second disc integrates more guitars and the beats are more forceful. Instruments that previously were only in the ambient portions of the music have now been integrated into the rock oriented tracks - particularly the pipe organ. 

I love the way that the soundtrack progresses over time. It starts off brooding and as the game evolves so does the music. It transitions slowly from an almost purely ambient selection to a more dynamic and varied soundtrack as time goes on. Disc 2 is perhaps the best example of that, containing a majority of the combat music in the game.

The soundtrack continues to excel in its transitions from ambience to the more active sections. Again, this is what makes or breaks a good soundtrack for me. Does it work together in the context of the game? But more importantly, does it work on its own outside of the game? Can the album stand on its own two feet when the game context is removed. Some games can do that, some games can't. Devil May Cry absolutely can.

Written October 30 2023

Entry 587 - Shroud of the Heretic - Unorthodox Equilibrium

 

Style: Atmospheric death metal, funeral doom

Primary Emotions/Themes: The crushing weight of the universe on you, extremes combined into one, tributes to the great bands of the past

Thoughts: This is one of those albums that I struggle to write about. I know what I like about it, and I know what I don't like about it. Writing that all down though has proven to be quite the challenge. 

There is a reason for this of course. That reason is because this album bears a strong resemblance to a classic that is in my collection. This other album that is used as a template ended up becoming the focus of the summary rather than Unorthodox Equilibrium. That is not what I want to happen.

I'm going to mention this once, and one time only. Unorthodox Equilibrium has an uncanny resemblance to Transcendence into the Peripheral at points. I have never heard another band try to tap into the sound that Disembowelment had on that album until now. It is not a clone album by any means, but it taps into that same energy and atmosphere that the classical album has. That right there is hard enough to do, and to do it as well as Shroud of the Heretic does... well it certainly got my attention.

Unorthodox Equilibrium is an absolutely crushing atmospheric death metal album. It combines elements of doom and funeral doom at key moments to drive the heaviness further home. The band has a way of distilling their sound down to the absolute minimum that is needed and having it do the absolute most with what they have. 

What do I mean by that? The band will play a single note and let it decay to the point where it starts to feed back just a little bit. This is then played over a blast beat... giving the song an eerie and rare sound. The band is playing at two extremes at once. The slow, almost funeral doom riff with the blast beat underneath is an exceptionally uncommon combination. It is done so well here that the music takes on a completely different character than most other death metal bands.

While this polarization of extremes is present in Unorthodox Equilibrium it is hardly the focus of the album. Most of it is played in a more cohesive style, and even then the band aims to absolutely decimate the listener. Be it old school death metal, death/doom, cavernous passages... they are all singularly focused to decimate the listener.

I didn't know much about Shroud of the Heretic before I picked this album up out of a bargain bin. This has been one of the best records I've found under ten bucks in quite some time. It hits a ton of death metal points that I enjoy, and it pays tribute to one of the greats. This one is staying in the collection for a long time.

Written October 30th 2023

Entry 586 - Dysfunctional Systems

Style: VGM

Primary Emotions/Themes: Loneliness, redemption, hope, 

Thoughts: A single note on the piano. The note is unobtrusive and simply comes into existence. It fades away only to be brought back to life by the very same finger that played it the first time. The note repeats over and over with different intensity, but it never is allowed to die. 

After some time the note is joined by a second, giving both depth and variety to the lonely note. The two intertwine and create a slow dance together. Soon a third, different note is played. This time on a keyboard that sounds like it's meant to mimic strings. The notes begin to walk hand in hand towards an unknown destination. Then it happens.

The song blooms from its simple beginnings to incorporate drums and guitars. The notes are no longer stagnant or simple, they are dynamic and varied. The interplay between all of them is like that of a dance of petals blowing in the wind. Sometimes the guitar takes lead, other times the piano comes back, other times its the keyboard. They are all in the same direction though. They are in harmony.

This is how the first song off of Dysfunctional Systems sounds to me. Terminus is an excellent opening song that leads the listener into gently into the wonderful soundtrack that is contained on this record. The initial piano notes sound like an EKG monitoring someone's heart, someone who is on the verge of death. As the other notes come in the person has to make a choice, to live or to move on to the next world. Through the course of the song the choice is obvious what has happened.

The music in Dysfunctional Systems goes through quite a few genres, all instrumental. The primary instrument on display here is the piano, or rather the keyboard. There are so many tracks that display the beautiful simplicity of the opening track, but they do so in different ways. 

Tracks like Fragment use the piano as the guiding instrument but do so in a more reflective tone than Terminal's upbeat style. Yet other tracks like Seize the Day use the piano as one of many instruments on an EDM styled track. This track in particular uses chip tunes as the primary instrument and deliverer of the melody. 

No matter where the soundtrack decides to go it pulls me with it. I love the intricate nature of some of the tracks, and the simpler and more fragile nature of others. There are some tracks that sound playful and goofy, while others are deathly serious. It has a wide variety of sounds and moods. While I enjoy some tracks more than others they are all quality.

Dysfunctional Systems is a great soundtrack and a great visual novel. It's a shame that part 2 will likely never come out at this point. Regardless I'm glad that the soundtrack for what we have got pressed to vinyl, the music certainly deserves it.

Written October 27th 2023

Entry 585 - Rotting Christ - Khronos

 

  Style: Gothic metal, melodic black metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: Satan, truth through self reflection, power through self

Thoughts: With a name like Rotting Christ you would expect some of the most vile and extreme music on the planet. Well maybe with the band's early stuff that may have been true but as time went on they incorporated more gothic elements. This resulted in a gradual mellowing of their sound to the point where The Sleep of Angels was unrecognizable from the early material.

I've previously documented that I've had a hard time getting into the band's early works. This includes A Dead Poem and the aforementioned Sleep of Angels. Khronos is where the band's discography truly begins for me.

This was where the band took the gothic influences that were dominating the sound at the time and took a look into the past. They incorporated some of the early extreme metal back into the sound and started into a direction that would become uniquely Rotting Christ from this moment forward.

Khronos starts off with a bang... Thou Art Blind has one of the most aggressive riffs that the band had  written in years. This combined with a blast beat immediately separates Khronos from the previous few albums. It's aggressive, it's atmospheric, and most importantly it sounds damn good.

The album continues with two of the best songs that Rotting Christ have ever penned. If It Ends Tomorrow and My Sacred Path manage to combine melody, extreme metal, gothic metal, and clever song writing in a rare and wonderful way.

If it Ends Tomorrow's opening riff introduces the main idea of the song with an instantly recognizable riff that will be the driving force thorough he five minute run time. What really separates this song out though is the atmosphere. It has a sense of mystery, urgency, exploration and discovery that blend together to create a song that I want on repeat for hours on end. The inclusion of brief clean vocals during the chorus just drive the song over the top. Easily one of the best songs the band has ever created.

My Sacred Path continues in nearly the exact same vein. The song is a bit faster and aggressive, but the same atmosphere is there from the previous song. This combined with infectious melodies that get stuck in my head for days at a time is a recipe for a 10/10 song.

After these two songs the album takes an understandable dip in quality. You can't have an album that is completely flawless from start to finish in most cases. While the following songs are still very much in touch with the same atmosphere of discovery and mystery, they can't tap into that same infectious groove that the first few songs can.

The inclusion of a Current 93 cover is a great nod to another fantastic project. The song takes the experimental nature of Current 93 and morphs it into Rotting Christs blooming sound. It's not perfect but I love it when band's make a cover their own, and Rotting Christ certainly do that here.

Khronos is the true start of Rotting Christ's sound. This is where they melded the experimentation of the gothic elements with their roots. They would perfect this sound over the next few albums and create some of the best metal that the decade saw in that process.

Written October 25th 2023

Entry 584 - F0x3r - Define Love

Style: Ambient, drone, dreampunk

Primary Emotions/Themes: warmth, love

Thoughts: Sometimes I wonder what the appeal for dreampunk was for me. At the core of the genre it's another take on ambient. One typically focused on urban life over nature.  Beauty can be found in nearly any setting, and dreampunk tries to put the beauty of the city into musical form. 

Standing on a street corner on a rain filled night with neon light cascading down on you is quite the vivid picture. It's taken almost directly from the visual ethos put forward by the first Blade Runner movie, and in many ways the music can be seen as an extension of the music that Vangelis created for that groundbreaking movie.

That said, all things evolve. Musical genres change over time, and dreampunk is no different. One of those artists was never afraid to move their sound forward is F0x3r. Moving from the future garage scene into dreampunk was a huge change in style that came with the Neon Rain album. This album distilled the entirety of the genre into nine tracks that swept me a way into a city of dreams.

Define Love is the current album from Fox and it picks up right where Neon Rain left off. The music contained within these nine tracks embrace the slower, drone filled side of the genre. They encourage meditation and reflection. The music encourages inner peace, acceptance, warmth, and most of all - love. 

The music itself may be better classified as drone rather than anything to do with the dreampunk genre. However it is classified though, the album moves me greatly. I am able to close my eyes and be transported to places beyond this earth. 

The songs have the slowest and most subtle of melodies going on, and as they progress so do the visuals in my head. Glimpses of distant galaxies and far off cities that are beyond human comprehension. Places where hate and malice no longer exist, places where the citizens are excellent to one another. Places that don't exist on this rock we call Earth. 

The music is so pure, so unadulterated from the emotions that are written into it's very DNA, that it's hard for me to find any fault in it. I've listened to it when I'm anxious, happy, sad, severely  depressed, and angry. No matter what my emotional state is Define Love helps balance me, it helps me find my center once again. Not many albums can do that with me - bring me to a specific state of mind every time I listen. For this alone Define Love is incredible.

The more I think about these things the more I wonder if dreampunk is a microgenre that has carved out a specific sound within the larger ambient soundscape. If I didn't know that Define Love was classified as dreampunk I would have thought that it was a droning ambient album instead. 

I'm not even sure what dreampunk is anymore, but I do know that the time I spent in that microcosmos was mostly a good one. Most importantly the music that I was exposed to helped me get back into the ambient genre that I love so much. Sometimes the smallest things can have a life altering effect on you, and this seems to be one of them. Define Love helps bring back wonderful memories of times past, and for that it is invaluable. 

Written October 25th 2023