1-9. Shape Parts

Beast of Prey. Great label. A bit of a cult label in many respects. From Poland and with close ties / affiliated to that other rather tasty Polish label War Office Propaganda. Like that label most of their releases are very, very limited in number. Also all of their releases come in the CDR format and are very cheap to buy. Bargain. Check out the website and you’ll find most of the back catalogue has sold out. They specialise in Dark / Black / Charcoal / Atmospheric / Industrial / ambient music.

This is the second release from Insphera on the BOP label but apart from that I know nothing else about him / her / them / it. What I can tell you is that "Shape" is a very tasty nine tracks of Dark Industrial music. Yeah…I know what you’re thinking. You’ll think I’ll start writing the usual stuff about cold desolation and dank spacious places the music takes you to. About how the music has a slow threatening edge to it. How the subtle use of electronics captures the imagination. That the music moves from bleak soundscapes into pieces that are more beat driven adding to the unbearable tension of the work as a whole. That there’s an element of experimentation that occasionally raises its head to enliven the work. Plus all the usual claustrophobic / paranoia / frightening aspects I usually throw in. Not forgetting of course the icy grip / sweat inducing / heart stopping phrases casually thrown out. Oh…and the fact that the musicianship is top dog throughout. And you would be right on all counts. Look…it’s a black ambient recording. Like all excellent recordings of this type everything is as it should be. Everything in the right place. The quality is spot on. The audio is crisp. The music captivates as you would expect it to. But the words ‘excellent recordings’ are the ones you should be concerned about.

There are bad / good / excellent examples of this type of music being released on an almost daily basis. Ignore the bad / good. They are after all two a penny to find. Be selective and only go for music which reaches the highest echelons in all departments. Worth you parting with your money in other words. "Shape" is amongst those elite releases that ticks all the right boxes and deserves recognition as a classic black ambient recording.

ANM