Entry 963 - Flughand - iIi

Style: Instrumental hip hop

Primary Emotions/Themes: Calm loops to soothe the soul

Thoughts: It seems that there is a musical type for every mood on this planet. Some is created to incite, some as relatable anger, some reflects the depths of sorrow and loss. Others still reflect on the smaller side of life, the mundane, that which is more peaceful just by its very nature. This is the side of the spectrum that Flughand finds themselves creating their music in.

ili is a collection of twenty one instrumental hip hop tracks. These tracks don't try to do anything complex or grandiose, no this music is about as simple as it can possibly be. The songs will often introduce their main theme in the first fifteen seconds; be that an acoustic guitar loop, or a piano playing, or even just ambience from a city street or park. 

Flughand makes no illusions about their music, there is nothing buried deep in the mix for exploration for curious ears. This is simply peaceful ear candy for those who would partake. The hip hop beats that tie the whole thing together are well produced as is the combination of the musical samples, they bring peace to a weary heart. Not something that a lot of music in my collection can achieve. 

Written September 19th 2024

Entry 962 - Flowtec - vbn.hgh

Style: Instrumental hip hop, jazzy hip hop

Primary Emotions/Themes: Chilled out beats

Thoughts: I don't have much instrumental hip hop in my collection. What I do have though I tend to enjoy quite a bit. When I find a genre I enjoy I try to find music that is as affordable as it is enjoyable. Usually that leads into some pretty deep dives into the genre to find records that fit both criterion. 

I found this Flowtec record on one such excursion. I found a label that specialized in hip hop and went to their instrumental section. I found this record for less than ten bucks and after listening to the digital a few times I figured it was good enough to add to the collection.

vbn.hgh is a beat driven album. The accompanying music and samples range from jazz, to blues, to music that wouldn't be out of place in a 1970's television show. All of that is almost secondary though to the way the beats are composed. They are the glue that holds the album together, the common DNA of the album if you will.

The songs are short, and - for those familiar with vaporwave - have a bit of a signalwave feel to them. They tend to focus on one or two melodies or beats for a minute or two and then quickly move on to the next subject. One song will have a piano and upright bass playing over people talking, the next will quickly move to conversations had on a street corner with one of the aforementioned television show themes playing. 

Flowtec is an artist I know next to nothing about, and I prefer to keep it that way. This album is excellent in its own rite, and the less I know about the artist the more I can appreciate the music for what it is. This is the kind of oddball album I love to have in my collection for those days when I need something a little different.

Written September 19th 2024

Entry 961 - The First Tree

Style: Video game music, piano and violin

Primary Emotions/Themes: Sitting on a hill and staring over a forest unsullied by the hands of man, the purity of nature

Thoughts: Not every album that I own has to be a tour de force of deep listening. Not every album in my collection needs to be a grand experience that draws me in and requires my absolute attention for the entire runtime. Sometimes... actually often times it's the simpler things in life that give me a deeper appreciation for existence. Sometimes I need to take a giant step back and take the world in for what it is. That is exactly the feeling that The First Tree gives me. 

This is another record in the long line of video game music that I own for games that I have not played. I don't know if I will ever play this one, but what I can say is the music is absolutely stunning. Comprised primarily of piano pieces complimented by a violin, The Last Tree brings about a stunning beauty from its simplicity. 

The interaction between these two instruments is some of my favorite ways to express emotions through music. Both are capable of creating hugely emotive sounds ranging from absolute beauty to the deepest depths of tragedy. The First Tree tends to lean more towards beauty through simplicity. There are points where the album swells into a much greater composition, but for the most part it's only the piano and violin. 

The First Tree is the kind of album I put on after a long day at work. It's the kind of album I'll listen to when I want to escape from this life. It's the kind of album that I'll listen to when I need to strip away everything else and focus on just being me and the things that are the most important to me. It's the kind of album that helps me refocus and remember that sometimes life is good.

Written September 18th 2024

Entry 960 - Final Fantasy IX - Melodies of Life

Style: VGM

Primary Emotions/Themes: A continued showcase of the PS1 soundchip and the wonderful compositions of Nobou Uematsu

Thoughts: Melodies of Life is the third installment in the Final Fantasy IX collection of records. I do not have the second installment in my collection, but I have enough of the soundtrack to enjoy the wonderful music that it brings. 

This third record covers the last portion of the soundtrack, the part of the game that I never got to or played. I lost interest in the game around the second disc, and never went back to complete it. I may try it again at some point, but right now it's not something I'm interested in.

The music however is wonderful. It is at the very height of what I would consider the golden years of Mr. Uematsu's composition prowess. I think at this point I may just grab the CD set as the record is nearly impossible to get at this point. Regardless, this record stands as a wonderful conclusion to a phenomenal soundtrack.

Written September 18th 2024.

Entry 959 - Final Fantasy IX - A Place to Call Home

Style: Video game music

Primary Emotions/Themes: It's a PlayStation Final Fantasy soundtrack, of course it's good

Thoughts: I think as the PS1 era of Final Fantasy continued to evolve I lost more and more interest in the series. Final Fantasy 7 wasn't as good as 6, eight was very strange with characters I couldn't connect with, and nine seemed goofy to me at the time... in a lot of ways it still does.

The one thing that did not change though was the commitment to excellent music from Mr. Uematsu. Regardless of my feelings on the actual game, the music itself retains the high quality standard that was defined in Final Fantasy IV and carried forward through the rest of the series - and continues to this day.

Final Fantasy IX in particular has some of the best music in the series. I can say that rather objectively because I have not finished this game and still enjoy listening to these records quite a bit. 

The songs contained in this first volume do an excellent job of setting the tone of the game. Yes they are a bit sillier than I would have expected at some points, but they also are more grand and involved than I would have expected as well. 

With each entry into the series the music grows in both scope and character. More emotions are explored, more styles of music... yet it all still feels like it's Final Fantasy. Sometimes the games lost track of that, but I don't think the music ever truly did. 

Written September 18th 2024

Entry 958 - Final Fantasy VII

Style: Video game music

Primary Emotions/Themes: One of Uematsu's best soundtracks, a showcase of the PS1 soundchip

Thoughts: Final Fantasy VII. A game that multiple people in my immediate friend circle consider one of the greatest games of all time. While I don't consider this one of the finest games ever created, it was the reason that I bought a PlayStation and I do consider it to have one of the better soundtracks for a Final Fantasy game.

At the risk of sounding nostalgic, I remember walking into my local Funcoland and hearing the Final Fantasy Crystal music playing from somewhere. The screen in the corner of the store had some game that I had never seen before playing. It was the new Final Fantasy. The game that I thought was coming out for Ultra 64, but now had switched to Sony's new console. I was floored, and I had to have it.

That was an uncanny long time ago, and I still remember it vividly. This game series meant a lot to me back then, and to some extent it still does. The music in particular reminds me very much of my youth and playing these epic games that took me into another world for hours, days, weeks at a time.

Listening to this in modern times is a little bit different for me. I miss being able to think that the biggest worry I had was if my save kept over night or not until I was able to buy a memory card. I miss being able to spend endless hours on a game without worrying about anything else. These songs remind me of what life was like back then and I miss it.... to a certain degree.

Despite the rose tinted glasses, the music remains of high quality. The soundtrack contains music that draws out the same emotions now as it did years ago. Be that the tense bombing run to start the album, or the incredibly epic One Winged Angel. I still remember the first time I heard the choir in that song and how I never would have expected actual voices to be used in the soundtrack. I was floored.

Each of the character themes also bring back memories from the game. The cast of VII is much smaller than that of VI, but that also means that there can be more focus put on each of them... more character development. In the same way the music associated with each of the characters also develops in ways that the soundtrack for VI did not. Be that having a more intricate arrangement, or  simply a more varied instrument palate for the music to be constructed with... the music in FFVII is incredible.

While VII is not my favorite Final Fantasy, some of my memories of the game are. I remember so many wonderful things playing this game, and those will stay with me until the day I pass. So even though this record has a ton of surface noise, and a ton of imperfections it remains in my collection as a reminder of what this game meant to me nearly thirty years ago.

Written September 17th 2024

Entry 957 - Aura Merlin - Illuminations

Style: Dungeon synth

Primary Emotions/Themes: A child looks around nature and the night sky, the innocent wonder that courses through their brain is the essence of this music

Thoughts: I adore this album. It's quickly become one of my favorite dungeon synth albums to release in the past few years. Illuminations makes me happy. It taps into that deep seeded joy that I had exploring mountains and streams as a child. That innocence that everything is okay in the world and nothing can harm you.

The first few notes tell the entire story that needs to be heard of the album. The stars twinkle with excitement as the first notes of The Forgotten Dwelling extend into the room out of my speakers. I close my eyes and am transported to a world where I am one with the stars and the night sky. Where the world has forsaken violence, where the beauty of nature is the foremost and only concern.

It's this commitment to the elegance and beauty of the world that makes Illuminations special. The continual reminder that natures beauty is all consuming, we just need to open our selves to it and let it take over. 

It's ironic that a musical journey such as Illuminations is completely comprised of synths. That just goes to show though that even though things may be artificial they can still point back to the wonder of nature. The mother of all things, and the bringer of wonder and childlike glee.

Written September 17th 2024

Entry 956 - Stein's Gate

Style: VGM

Primary Emotions/Themes: The future is linked to inexplicable suffering, the more you try to change it the worse it becomes

Thoughts: Given the choice to change the past, to return the life of a loved one... not just any loved one, you're most cherished human. What would you do? How far would you go to restore that person? How many other lives would you destroy? What would be the ultimate cost?

This is the questions that Steins' Gate poses. It's an exploration of the human mind as well as the consequences of trying to change that which should be written in stone. A fate more horrific than that already bestowed upon you... but the more that you try to fix things, the worse they become... there is no redemption... only the abyss.

With subjects such as these, the music accompanying the choices you are asked to make in the shoes of Okabe Rintaro better have the same emotional impact of the story that is being told. The soundtrack of Steins' Gate does just that. 

While the songs themselves may not be the best presented on their own, when seen within the context of the game they have a much more profound impact. Listening to a track like Laboratory reminds me of the innocence that the game starts out with, or the peaceful tones of Quiet Air as the staff is able to fully reflect on life as it is... before time travel... before everything goes to hell.

These innocent tracks are balanced by the darkness seen in songs like Chaos Mind or Urd where the consequences of messing with that which humans were never meant to explore are fully realized. This is the perfect example of a soundtrack that may not be exactly what I want to listen to all the time, but rather something to listen to when I want to revisit the emotions I felt during the game.

Steins' Gate remains one of my favorite visual novels, and the music compliments the game perfectly. Every part of the soundtrack matches the narration part nearly perfectly. It's a project I never thought I would see come to light, but here it is on my record player. Small miracles do happen from time to time.

Written September 16th 2024

Entry 955 - Fatal Frame

Style: Video game music, dark ambient

Primary Emotions/Themes: Watching an apparition get closer and closer and closer through a lens only to try and ward them off at the exact last moment... do I fail or succeed?

Thoughts: The Camera Obscura, a lens into another world. A camera that lets you see into the spirit world, a world where the denizens do not take kindly to those who still have life. A place where only those who have the means to survive can extend their life. This is the world of Fatal Frame.

The concept of the game is simple: survive. You only have a few meager items, the first and foremost being the camera. The spirits are warded away as it takes pictures, but it takes a while to reload the film, and there is limited amounts. Do you run or do you try and ward off the spirits for good? These are the choices that the player must face at any moment.

As the spirits get closer the music begins to build. The murmurs grow and the noise mounts to a near incomprehensible cacophony of sounds and voices. Voices asking for forgivness, seeking refuge, anger, danger... anything that comes to mind can be the subject of these wandering spirits. 

While there is not much to the individual "songs" in the world of Fatal Frame, the atmosphere that they create is outright hellish. This is not the kind of album you put on to relax to, this is something you put on to create an instant aura of fear. Not light listening in the slightest.

Written September 16th 2024

Entry 954 - Fallujah - Dreamless

 

Style: Atmospheric death metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: The glory of space as seen through the merciless void of death metal

Thoughts: I think I forget how much music I have some days. I forget how much good music I have. I completely forgot that I owned this album, and I would have continued to forget unless I was going through my entire collection systematically. The fact that I forgot I have this album is a travesty, it should never have happened.

Dreamless is Fallujah's magnum opus. It's the peak of their science fiction injected version of technical death metal. The debut album showed some promise, The Flesh Prevails fulfilled that promise and Dreamless perfected it. 

Fallujah's music revolves around the use of highly technical riffs, lead guitars played with a slide, and an atmosphere so thick that the deepest nebulas of space are not thick enough to compare. The way that these songs are structured see the rhythm guitar doing most of the work, the magic that these guys do on the fret board is incredible. 

These riffs are then complimented by distant guitar leads that drone on notes for longer than you would expect. The chaos and precision of the rhythm contrasted by the simplicity of the lead is a combination that I have yet to hear replicated in metal or any other genre. It's a lot to take in at first, but after some acclimation the style becomes quite enjoyable... and after some further time spent with it, it becomes obvious that no other band can match the sound that Fallujah have created.

After this album vocalist Alex Hofmann would leave the band and they would undergo a major stylistic shift. The music would feel more disjointed and almost lost. For these brief moments though Fallujah created elite music that has yet to be replicated, even by the band themselves.

Written September 9th 2024

Entry 953 - Fallujah - The Flesh Prevails

Style: Atmospheric death metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: The realization of all the potential the band has shown, spacy death metal at it's finest

Thoughts: When hearing The Harvest Wombs for the first time I was mildly impressed. The album showed a ton of energy and some genuinely creative riffing, especially in the title track. It was really lacking in a few areas though - mainly consistency. The band was seemingly addicted to start/stop riffing and it held the album back.

The Flesh Prevails came out a few years later and it's like the band was listening to my concerns. The start/stop riffing is still present but it's worked in so much better to the songs. The band also leaned into the slide guitar leads more creating both a unique sound as well as an incredible atmosphere. Seriously, this is some intense stuff with an equally intense atmosphere.

The way that this album presents itself is so effortless. Everything seems to come naturally to the band, no transition feels out of place, no riff is incredibly jarring. Even when they go back and fourth between the clean guitars and the intense death metal nothing feels out of place... it simply works. 

I missed the initial release of the album on vinyl, and I was not going to pay 200 bucks for a second hand copy of it. When they announced the repress I ordered it immediately. The fact that it's remastered is secondary. 

The remaster does bear mentioning though, there are some small differences between the two releases. The first being that the atmosphere is not quite as immediately present in the remaster as it is in the original. The guitars though are clearer and produce a fuller sound overall than they did in the original release. Between the two though I think I prefer the origonal, if nothing else but for the atmosphere. 

Fallujah is a band unique in death metal. They started out with some potential, and by their second album all of that potential came to be. With their third album they would perfect it before the vocalist left and they seemingly lost their guiding light.

Written September 9th 2024

Entry 952 - Cradle of Filth - Hammer of the Witches

Style: Extreme gothic/black metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: A true return to the roots, this is how it's done folks

Thoughts: I never thought they had it in them. So many bands try to recapture the magic of their youth with limited to no success. Cradle have done the near impossible with Hammer of the Witches... they have managed to create an album that is as good as their early works.

Starting with the intro, it has the same ominous melodies that Cruelty or Dusk have... always a good sign. Transitioning directly into Yours Immortally... we get one of the only parts of the album that is a slight misstep. The opening riff is a bit lacking for me... but everything after is vintage Cradle. Especially around 3 minutes into the song where the band draws back to only drums and bass and adds one instrument back one at a time. The keyboards build then the guitars, then Dani's whispered vocals come in. God damn this is good. 

Deflouring the Maidenhead is another song that is near perfect. The song has huge thrash influences with the main riffing and solos, Dani spits his vitriol over top with a venom that I haven't heard from him since... Midian? When the chorus comes in though, this is where the song really shines. The keyboards pick up the atmosphere to epic levels and dueling female vocals come in with an intensity that is rare. This whole part of the song is goosebumps every. single. time.

Rarely can bands recapture the energy and ferocity of their youth. This is one of the very very few occasions that I would put this album against any of the early works and consider them equal. This is a top three Cradle album... a true return to form.

Written September 9th 2024

Entry 951 - ETOAS - End Times of a Sunshine

Style: Hip hop

Primary Emotions/Themes: A deep sense of connection with humanity and the stark realization that comes with that responsibility

Thoughts: There are very few albums that give me genuine pause. A feeling where I need to stop what I'm doing and pay full attention to the album and reflect on the message it provides both musically and lyrically. ETOAS' debut album is one of those albums. 

The music here is some of the best that I have ever heard in the hip hop genre. It uses a combination of standard hip hop beats, jazz, acoustic instruments, and strong atmospheric keyboards to get the sound that is present on this album. It is never complex, it's never self indulgent, it knows exactly what it needs to do to help amplify the emotions that are generated from the lyrics.

In On the Nature of Things we have lyrics regarding the state of man and how we all share a common bond of love and humility. The music compliments this perfectly with calm keyboards building up a deep atmosphere. Along side this there is a gentle guitar and trumpet guiding the melody. Towards the end a gentle choir comes in to add the final touch. In the end I can only take a deep breath while it washes over me.

Sunset features a powerful female vocalist and some of the most profound music I've heard in a long while. It has a distinct sense of finality to it, everything indicates that the album and the message is coming to a close. Leave this record behind a changed person... 

End Times of a Sunshine is one of the single best purchases I've ever made for  my collection. The music that is in here is unlike anything else I've ever heard in the hip hop genre or otherwise. I normally don't like preachy music, but it works here. This is the kind of album that I would consider taking with me on a desert island and I can only choose ten records to listen to for the rest of my life.

Written September 9th 2024

Entry 950 - Essenger - After Dark

Style: Synthwave

Primary Emotions/Themes: The cover says it all, staring out over a futuristic city after dark

Thoughts: Cinematic. It's a word that is used to describe music quite frequently. I've likely used it countless times throughout these summaries. Overused? Likely. But I am forced to use it one more time to describe Essenger's excellent After Dark album.

After Dark is an incredibly visual album. Starting with the massive introduction Shinigami, the album quickly wraps its thick atmosphere around me. I'm taken to a city that would feel right at home in Ridley Scott's Blade Runner. Neon lights, flying cars, rain falling on the endless pavement, and humans walking around more machine than organic.

The title track comes on immediately after the intro, the melody is carried by Essenger's voice while synth pads make up the rest of the song. No percussion, nothing else to distract from the voice and the atmosphere. It's only after the title of the song is said that the percussion comes in with the typical synthwave thump. 

Essenger ticks all the boxes for typical synthwave: thick bass, retrofuturism, electric guitars, and catchy melodies played by synths... so many synths. Where Essenger differentiates himself is how all of these things are put together on After Dark. 

Instead of bursting straight into the synth bass at high speeds, Essenger takes his time building the song up. They are heavily reliant on atmosphere, and they use it as one of the primary "instruments" of the album. It's thicker than the smog in Mega City One. The other major difference is After Dark is considerably slower than most other synthwave I've heard. The pacing here is truly to their advantage as it only adds to the atmosphere and fullness of the album. 

After Dark is an incredibly nuanced and well realized album. Every song has been put into the track order with great intent. The album also has a run time of just over 30 minutes... thirty minutes of pure excellence. This is the very definition of leaving me for wanting more.

Written September 9th 2024

Entry 949 - Escarnium - Interitus

Style: Intense death metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: Stare into the face of death and realize that you are mortal

Thoughts: I have no idea where or how I found this band. I think this was a random pick up from a local shop, or a freebie thrown in with a metal order from a distro... or something. Whatever the origins this is one of the best blind pick ups I think I've ever had. 

Escarnium play a style of death metal that is out for one thing and one thing only: the absolute obliteration of the listener. There is no moment in the entire album where the band lets up. This is riff after riff after riff after riff of face melting violence.

The production on here is a huge part as to why this is so intense. It resembles a modern take on the old buzzsaw sound that Sunlight Studios was so well known for. It has the clarity to distinguish all of the individual instruments but the notes on those instruments blur together just slightly, meaning that in moments where the music really ratchets up the intensity it adds to the chaos. 

The other thing that Interitus has perfected is an incredibly oppressive atmosphere. These guys have managed to take death metal and give it the level of atmosphere I find in most black metal. While the atmosphere resembles that of black metal, it is fundamentally different. Instead of sorrow and nature, the band projects an atmosphere of malevolence and pure savagery. 

Interitus is a one off in my collection. I don't have any other albums that sound like this. Something in me keeps telling me that I should explore the band further, but I also don't want to ruin the mystique I have around this album. I know nothing of the band, and I know nothing of their other works. There is something to be said for mystery - and that is exactly why I think that this will remain the only album that I own of this band.

Written September 9th 2024

Entry 948 - Esmerine - Lost Voices

Style: Post Rock

Primary Emotions/Themes: Man vs. nature

Thoughts: Esmarine's music prior to hearing this album was largely based around acoustic instruments to create distinctive sounds that resembled nature. At least that was my experience in my limited exposure to the band. Lost Voices takes a starkly different approach however.

Where as Le Lechuza focused on the music emulating the sounds of nature, Lost Voices sees the band incorporating electric instruments in order to further their sound. Both The Neighborhoods Rise and A River Runs Through This City are strongly based in traditional rock instruments: guitar, bass, and drums. The drums in particular are a huge contrast to the other music I've hard from the band.

The addition of percussion to the sound makes it immediately more forceful and almost jarring. The guitars also emphasize the forwardness of the music compared to the bands back catalogue. It's much more of a traditional take on post rock than I was expecting... especially considering the classical leaning compositions of the past.

It's not until we get to Pas Trop Pas Tropes that the band returns to the more subtle and gentler styling of Le Lechuza. It's a welcome bit of respite. The rest does not last for long though, as 19/14 continues seeing the band explore the more guitar driven sound on the album. 

It was at this point that I had to accept that the band was moving past the sound that I adored so much. They were embracing the rock aspect of the genre and Lost Voices is a very different take from the band than La Lechuza is. 

Between the two Le Lechuza is by far my favorite, but Lost Voices is not without merit. In it's exploration of the guitar sound we do still get moments where the acoustic instruments of the past are worked into the sound. These moments are handled with elegance and tact, and are some of my favorites on the record. But when it comes down to it, if I only have time to spin one record from the band I know which one it will be.

Written September 9th 2024

Entry 947 - Esmerine - La Lechuza

Style: Instrumental post rock

Primary Emotions/Themes: A wonderful look into the beauty of nature as told through acoustic instrumentation

Thoughts: A few years back I was looking for some good post rock bands to fill out my collection. I needed something that was going to be different than what I already had, and not cost me an arm and a leg. Enter Esmerine.

La Lechuza is one of two albums I picked up from the band, and as soon as I put it on I knew I would love it. The Dog River starts out with a xylophone and violins. The way these two instruments interact reminds me so much of a flowing river. The xylophone mimicking small bubbles as the water passes over rocks in the stream, the violins representing the greater currents of the river as a whole. It's simply beautiful.

This writing philosophy is kept throughout the entire album. Walking Through Mist sounds like a misty forest on a lonely morning. Sprouts sounds like a bunch of freshly sprung trees waking up to their new life. Fish on Land sounds like someone struggling for breath. 

I love post rock, not as much as some of my friends, but I really enjoy the genre. I enjoy the life it brings to music, the creative interpretations that instruments can bring. The modern take on classical music. It's all great, and Esmerine embrace all of that to the fullest.

Written September 9th 2024

Entry 946 - Enter the Gungeon

Style: Video game music

Primary Emotions/Themes: Trying to survive a crazy bullet hell shooter with some fine tunes playing

Thoughts: Enter the Gungeon is a hard game. Hard games are not a bad thing by default, but they do have to be fair. Being hard for the sake of hard is not fun - at least not for me. If it's hard because you have to develop the skills to overcome the games challenges, I'm usually down for that kind of challenge.

Enter the Gungeon falls into the second category. It's hard, but it is fair. The game is a rougelike meaning that once you die, you die and have to start over. The further you get into the game the harder it gets, and the more complex the movement options are. It's an additive game and has the "one more run" formula down to a science. 

Something that can make or break games like this is the soundtrack. You'll be hearing the music over and over again as you repeatedly die and if it sucks then it's a quick trip to the options menu to turn it off. I never had to do that for Gungeon. 

The music here is varied and distinct, and by the fact that there are three records in this set - there's a lot of it too. The music fits the constant tension that the game holds to a T. It's tense when it needs to be tense, it relaxes when the player can relax. It's catchy, it's memorable, and it's infectious.

I would often find myself humming the intro music when I was playing this game on my lunch break years ago. The game is perfect for short bursts and the music remains in my head long afterwards. It's a fantastic soundtrack and one that I'm glad to finally have in my collection.

Written September 9th 2024

Entry 945 - Ensorcelor - Crucifuge

Style: Nasty ass blackened sludge

Primary Emotions/Themes: An animal is stuck in a bog and slowly dying, these are the sounds it makes before it expires

Thoughts: The summer has been long and hot. The river flooded and filled the forest as a mire. The ground has become soft and difficult to tread through. Now that fall approaches that ground has become harder still to walk through, and the air reeks of death. This place is unfit for human life.

Black metal is typically seen as a fast musical genre. It's speed is only matched by it's intensity. Black metal is a varied genre however, and speed is not a requirement. Ensorcelor have taken black metal's typical speed to the extreme opposite end and showered it with a crown of sewage and muck.

Crucifuge is a slow, nasty, dirty, filthy, godforsaken beast of an album. Never does the band even approach anything higher than sixty beats per minute, and never do they let the listener rest. The guitars are heavy and produced in the same way that you would expect from a sludge band... heavy, thick, and f i l t h y. 

The vocals are just as nasty as the rest of the band. They sound like they are coming from the back of the vocalists throat and he's struggling to get every word out because of all of the phlegm in his throat.  It's the perfect accompaniment to music this nasty.

Crucifuge only has two songs on it, both around fifteen to twenty minutes. It's more like two extended compositions than it is anything resembling a typical song. The music is linear in it's progression, rarely revisiting themes once they have passed. Of the two of them I prefer By Mycomancy Insumed, but they are both excellent.

This is the only album I have from these guys, and from what I can gather this was their only full length. They have a few other recordings, but nothing like this. I found them on a backwater blog years ago, and I feel like that is wholly appropriate for a band who's sound is as nasty as these guys are.

Written September 9th 2024

Entry 944 - Enslaved - Mardraum - Beyond the Within

Style: Black metal, progressive metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: Introspection followed by definitive violence

Thoughts: Enslaved is a band that has never been content with a sound for more than one album. That has never been more true than Mardraum. This album, perhaps more than any of their others shows the band constantly evolving, never stagnant, always searching for perfection.

The first song is a prime example of this, Større enn tid - Tyngre enn natt starts out with highly delayed guitars strumming notes that would not be out of place on a psychedelic rock record. As the song continues to progress it weaves in and out of the psychedelia mixed with unusually heavy riffs for the band. Seriously these border on death metal. 

It's not until nearly the 5 minute mark before the vocals come in. By this point the band has explored a variety of musical ideas and sounds. When the vocals finally do grace my ears they are not the harsh screech that I'm used to from Grutle, but rather his proud and majestic clean vocals. This plays over top a full chord riff that has a lonely guitar lead played in the background. It's exceptionally atmospheric and one of my favorite parts of the album.

The first song is only a small snippet of the album as a whole, but it gives the listener a strong indication of what's to come. Ormgard is nearly death metal in it's intensity, matched by a low growl from Grutle. Entrance - Escape sees the band singing in English for one of the first times, and has more of that psychedelia that the opener showed. Stjerneheimen sounds almost like a black metal take on classic rock. The band is all over the place with the record.

It's not that the band is unfocused though, quite the opposite in fact. They know that they want to experiment with all these different sounds, it's like they wanted to throw everything against the wall and see what stuck. Only thing is that everything stuck, it's all good.

Written September 9th 2024

Entry 943 - Enslaved - Frost

Style: Black/Viking metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: The title says it all, some of the coldest music ever to cross my ears

Thoughts: From the very first notes that come out of my speakers when the title track starts, I know that this album is going to be a trek through the frozen landscapes of Norway in the depths of winter. The all keyboard, dungeon synth-esque intro is filled with reverb, synths that feel like they are channeling the spirits of ice as it forms on every surface, and a deep reverence for the cold.

By the time Loke comes my speakers are already encapsulated in ice. It's a minor miracle that they are able to produce sound at all. The metal contained in the album is no less cold than the amazing introduction. The band pays close attention to not only the song structure, but the pacing. While much of the album is fast and blast beat driven, but not all of it. 

A good portion of the album is slower than one would expect for black metal from 1994. The band really knows how to create music that pauses for dramatic effect, and this album is quite dramatic. Even the blast beats themselves have variance to them. Within even the aforementioned Loke, the band starts off slow before going into a moderate paced blasting section. After a few bars the band shifts gears again and really amps up the speed, all before slowing down to a near breakdown at the end of the song.

All of this is contained just in one song, but it is truly a microcosm of the whole album. Frost is Enslaved coming into their own. Their first demo and debut album had over-long songs that droned on forever with the same riffs. Loke has the same amount of riffs in it that the ten minute Veternott had from the debut, in half the time. 

Enslaved would go on to further the sound found on Frost with their follow up Eld. Frost is where everything started though, and whereas Eld is warm and almost inviting, Frost is as cold as the depths of the northern fjord's in the middle of February.

Written September 9th 2024

Entry 942 - Brian Eno - Ambient I - Music for Airports

Style: Ambient

Primary Emotions/Themes: The original, the first, this is where it all started

Thoughts: A piano playing a lonely melody... looped ad nauseum. A loop of five to seven notes with one of the first uses of tape delay. "Music that is as interesting to listen to as it is to ignore" is the words from Mr. Eno himself, and I couldn't agree more.

Ambient 1 came out in 1978 and while not the first entry into the ambient realm, it is often credited as the first intentionally ambient album. The recording was conducted by creating loops of music that were played at the same time and then the remainder left up to chance. The loops played at random intervals and interacted with each other whenever the recordings went over the tape head.

It's a novel idea for the time, and one that remains innovative to this day. The intent of the music was to distill down the hustle and bustle of an airport and calm the minds of the listener. 1/1 in particular is good at doing this. It is detached, and ultimately uninterested in what the listener wants from it. It is content to be... and in that approach it is able to truly bring peace. It exists in it's own realm, a place where we are either welcome to dwell with it or pass by. 

Ambient 1 had no need for my wants or cares, but if I want to spend some time with it I am welcome. There is no judgment here, there is nothing but the peace that comes from truly relinquishing the care of the world and the frustrations that it brings. 

Written September 5th 2024

Entry 941 - Encodya

Style: Video game music, ambient

Primary Emotions/Themes: Lost in a future where the uncanny valley is closer than we ever could have imagined

Thoughts: Science fiction is one of the most diverse genres imaginable. It contains some of the very best stories told both visually, through the written word, and even musically. 

Encodya is a soundtrack to a game that I have never played. I feel that is an important distinction to make, because I rarely get soundtracks to games that I have not played. Despite this, Encodya has been in a mainstay in my collection since it was released, it feels more like an album than it does a soundtrack.

Like the very best music based in science fiction, the music contains a mix of electronic elements as well as acoustic instrumentation. The opening track for instance balances the gentle tones of a saxophone with the heavily reverbed and distorted sounds of a piano. These two instruments paint a picture of a city far in the future that has millions of mysteries strewn about in it - we only need explore to find some of them.

The slow pace of the album continues as the contents of the record are laid out to my ears. The combination of acoustic and electronic elements remain at a minimal level throughout, encouraging the listener to dig deep into the depths of the music to find the smaller details. It makes for a highly rewarding listen.

When I looked at the game I didn't think that the art style fit with what I wanted out of a game so I passed. Regardless of how the game looks the soundtrack is an indispensable part of my collection. 

Entry 940 - Emperor - In the Nightside Eclipse

Style: Black metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: Beauty through darkness

Thoughts: "Mightiest am I, but I'm not alone in this cosmos of mine." I'm not sure I can think of a better opening line for an iconic black metal song as this. Emperor's I Am the Black Wizards is simply put one of the greatest black metal songs ever written. 

In the Nightside Eclipse is the debut album from a band that requires no introduction. The levels to which Emperor has risen in the past decades is almost unmatched. They are without a doubt one of the most influential and most celebrated bands within the genre... and with good reason.

Their debut album is fairly typical black metal for the time with a few notable exceptions. The music is heavily reliant on keyboards, much more so than a typical black metal act at the time. They keys also play a vital part to the music, rather than just providing atmosphere. 

Both Beyond the Great Vast Forest and Cosmic Keys to My Creations & Time use the keyboards to drive the melody for a great portion of the song. The guitars instead take the role that you would expect the keys to play: they provide the atmosphere. It flips black metal on its head. 

The other notable exception is just how. damn. good. the songs are. As with all things not everything is perfect here, but the amount of songs on here that are above average to elite is noteworthy. Starting with the Into the Infinity of Thoughts the band sets the bar high. The riffs, the melodies, Ihsahn's vocals... they all draw my attention immediately and don't let go for the entirety of the eight minute opus. 

After a series of excellent songs, the band closes with two of the most incredible songs in all of the genre. I Am the Black Wizards has one of the best riffs in all of black metal. This is non negotiable. The intensity that the song is played with as well makes my heart pound and gives me goosebumps to this very day... thirty years of listening to this album and I still get goosebumps.

Inno A Satana closes the album and it has been my standard for closing tracks for nearly as long as the album has been out. The song builds and builds until it explodes with blast beats and the only clean vocals found on the album. Goosebumps once again.

Emperor would go on to create the finest black metal album ever recorded after this... which is saying a lot because the bar was set exceptionally high with this album. Early on in their career Emperor certainly were worthy of their band name, no one could touch them.

Written September 4th 2024

Entry 939 - Ekin Fil - Feelings

Style: Ambient

Primary Emotions/Themes:

Thoughts: A mist filled landscape overwhelms my senses. The distant mountains have trapped a perpetual fog within this valley. My visage so obscured from this vapor that I am hardly able to make out objects right in front of me. I feel lost in this sea of fog.

A solitary tone beckons me from the distance. An obscured, indistinguishable instrument drones the note at just a slightly different frequency than the world around me. I begin to make my way towards the direction the singular note is coming from. Will it offer salvation or damnation? I do not know, but even the slightest chance of something different than this purgatorial existence offers me hope. 

As I draw closer the tone shifts, from a singular note to small melodies. The melodies seem to be played by a piano... or something akin to it. The constant whirl and obfuscation of the fog and the landscape obscure both the land before me as well as what my perception is of this strange music that compels me to the distance. 

The closer I get the more the tone shifts. It is now darker... more sinister in tone. It still beckons me forward, but I no longer go with hope. I have a great trepidation... what awaits me at the origins of this music? What is calling me forward. 

The closer I get the more defined the music becomes, notes become melodies, melodies become arrangements, arrangements are then once again obscured by the fog. Finally I see it, the great building from which the music is emanating from. With fear I embrace the burning darkness. 

Written September 4th 2024

Entry 938 - Mushihimesama

Style: Video game music

Primary Emotions/Themes: The soundtrack to one of the best shmups to ever exist

Thoughts: I love Cave. I love their games, I love their quirky arcades, I love their characters, and I absolutely adore their soundtracks.Cave is a legendary shoot em up developer, and Mushihimesama may be the best game they have produced (though Deathsmiles is awfully close). 

The music in Mushi is everything I want form a shoot em up soundtrack. The music is full of melodic hooks and driving melodies. There is nothing subtle here, this music is here to compliment the gameplay of shooting and dodging - dodging and shooting. 

With so much movement on screen the music should match, and it most certainly does. The tracks here are full of energy and never let the listener rest. They also sound like video game music. I know I have made a lot of this point lately, but I can't stress enough how much joy it brings me that game music actually sounds like game music. 

Mushihimesama is a difficult game, but the soundtrack alone is enough to get me to play it over an over again. A local arcade to me has this and the sequel available, I think I'll take a trip down there this weekend and play it again... and maybe again after that. 

Written September 3rd 2024

Entry 937 - Carpe Diem: Senko No Ronde Vol 2 Selections

Style: Video game music

Primary Emotions/Themes:

Thoughts: I have not played this game. I intend to though after listening to this soundtrack. 

Senko No Ronde is a versus shoot em up game. The characters square up against each other and try to dodge each others bullets until one persons life bar is depleted. While the game-play itself may or may not be to my liking, the soundtrack has no business being this good.

These tracks range from anything to an electronic take on bosa nova, to swing music, to more traditional high energy schmup music. As varied as the music is, the album is actually quite cohesive. This is accomplished by having similar instrumentation throughout the songs regardless of the style. 

The synths used to create the soundtrack are very much in the same style as one would expect for video game music... albeit higher quality than most chip tunes. And that is what I love about it: it sounds like video game music. It's music that I can listen to that does not try to emulate anything else... it's just VGM. 

This has become increasingly important to me in recent months. If I'm going to listen to video game music, I want it to sound like video game music. I can get orchestral scores, metal albums, and acoustic medley's anywhere... and usually they are done better than the video game equivalent. Senko No Ronde sounds like none of that... it's just VGM, and I love the hell out of it.

I did not expect to like this album, but I have had this thing spinning on my turntable for longer than I care to admit. All of the songs contained on here fit together so well, I don't even miss the songs that were cut. What a pleasant surprise. 

Written September 3rd 2024

Entry 936 - Salamander II

Style: Video game music

Primary Emotions/Themes: Flying around space, shooting everything in sight

Thoughts: There are quite a few games in the shoot 'em up genre of video games. Not many are made these days, but in the world when arcades were the primary focus of the gaming realm they were among some of the best that the genre had to offer. 

Salamander 2 is a bit of a hidden gem. In my immediate circle of friends have not many have heard about it let alone played it. That's a damn shame because the game is excellent, as is the soundtrack. The fact that it's pressed to vinyl is something that blows my mind. 

The music contained in this soundtrack is a testament to what makes great video game music. It sounds unapologetically like video game music. This is from the golden age of video games when the VGM sounded like nothing else, because they had no other choice. They were limited by the sound chip of the console (or in this case arcade). But in those limitations came creativity that has not been seen since.

Tension builds with each stage as the player progresses deeper and deeper into the. The music starts out almost light hearted with the stage 1 music. By the time stage four comes in the music has taken a on a more serious tone. It showcases slower and more deliberate melodies that seem to drive home the seriousness of the situation the player finds themselves in. They are deep into the game and any mistake is fatal.

Salamander 2 is a really fun and incredibly difficult game. It would eat so many quarters in my youth, it probably took me five dollars to beat the game because my ships kept meeting untimely deaths. Listening to the record brings back a ton of fun memories from those ages past.

Written September 3rd 2024

Entry 935 - Eevee - Beat Tapes vol. 6-10

Style: Lofi hip hop

Primary Emotions/Themes: Second verse same as the first

Thoughts: This is volume six through ten of Eevee's lofi hip hop. Everything that can be said about the first five tapes can be said about these. They are fantastic on their own, but back to back they start to wear a little thin. I only ever really listen to one side of any of these four records at a given time, anything more I feel is overkill. 

Written September 3rd 2024

Entry 934 - Eevee - Beat Tapes Vol. 1-5

Style: Lofi Hip Hop

Primary Emotions/Themes: Hours of chill beats

Thoughts: There isn't much to say about this release that isn't already covered in the title. This is a volume of five of Eevee's beat tapes. Normally these mini albums are about 15-20 minutes long each. That's a wonderful thing in and of itself, but when you put them back to back to back to back to back... it starts to get a bit old. 

The best way to listen to this is to listen to one side at a time. Listening to all four sides in succession is either meant for background music or someone who enjoys lofi hip hop way more than I ever have or will.

Entry 933 - Echochamber - I'm Real, I'm Here

Style: Ambient, ambient techno

Primary Emotions/Themes: Lost in a dream, trying to wake up from a nightmare, striving for self realization

Thoughts: This was one of the very first records that I purchased in the dreampunk field of music. I remember looking for everything and anything that sounded like the style. I don't even think I was aware of the genre that this was part of before picking it up, I just knew that I liked this type of vaporwave. 

Echochamber play a drawn out yet highly emotive style of ambient music that is littered with techno beats from time to time. The songs range anywhere from thirty seconds to nearly eighteen minutes in length (though sadly the epic title track is excluded from the record). 

The record does an outstanding job of creating a thick and murky atmosphere that resonates deeply with my  emotions when I get stuck in a darker place. I'm Real, I'm Here is the perfect album title for this as the music has a consistent feeling of trying to self actualize... to justify it's existence.

The music goes through many twists and turns trying to settle in  on a definitive style. Starting out with seven short tracks the album comes into self actualization. From here it weaves and turns from ambient music to techno to a combination of the two. 

The real tragedy here is that the extended version of the title track is excluded. This track acts as the final realization for the album, all of the individual styles represented here are recapped in the eighteen minutes of the song. It's a wonderful ending to a journey of exploration and discovery and I feel the album is a bit less as a whole without it's inclusion.

All that said, Echochamber produced quite an interesting album with I'm Real, I'm Here. As diverse as it is, it does not feel disjointed or too far out of bounds. There are some songs that feel like they are a bit off from what the album is trying to do as a whole, but that can be forgiven as the album's full experience far outweighs these minor blips.

Written September 3rd 2024