Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled

Albin Julius' latest offering stands as another sepulchre among the veritable antiquity store that is Der Blutharsch and while it may not be the rarest of pieces it is one of the best. For those not aware, Der Blutharsch rose from the ashes of The Moon Lay Hidden Beneath a Cloud and opinions of early and recent work of the new incumbent diverge to extremes. Politics aside, Der Blutharsch's music defines itself rather than being pigeon-holed to dark ambient, neo-classical, or post-industrial or whatever two or three letter acronyms defining dark music you can think of and, as if to further the distance from nomenclature, no titles are given to tracks.

Timpani set the martial tone for the album launching into an anthem over which Julius' growls the album's moniker. Unlike the early works of Der Blutharsch the tracks here are developed and structurally performed, veins of folk bleed among the samples calling to mind frayed memory of The Moon Lay Hidden Beneath a Cloud. Drifts of low-fi ambience and clustered deep-bellied drums continue Der Blutharsch's sound yet the disc takes advantage of a full stereo setup, confusing said moments with lush foliage of guitar melody, organs, violins and metallic bells. Solemn are the marches that stamp their way across the resonant landscape, riddled as it is with the bodies of the fallen, never pausing but determinedly driving.

Clocking in at 35 minutes the album does well to give the illusion of otherwise through the notable use of melody/lyrical performance per song.

Varying slightly from the vinyl release the CD contains a video track not previously available. It's a dark little foray recognized from its mantra "In the hands of the master" from the track on the CD. It is not some throw away live-performance-shot-with-handy-cam but a full-fledged video. The CD version of the vinyl album released one year before is presented as a leather-quality like digipak.

NYR