V-1
Prolog
Attaque, Detruits
...saisis Faust
Strach
Des Lacs Du Sang
Epilog

Cold Fusion
Revolution
Legion Act 1
Excommunication
Libertine
Cathedral
Legion Act 2
Is Dead
Mirror Of Souls
Kriegsmarine

Different. I appreciate things that are different. What’s so cool about this split CDr, apart from the music that is of course, is the CDr itself. It looks like a miniature vinyl record complete with grooves marking out the different tracks. Yeah I know a record is constructed on one long groove…but fuck it…how cool is that. Very fucking cool in my book. But it gets better. Much, much better.

This split CDr has the combined talents of V-1 (???) and, after serious reappraisal of his earlier work I reviewed elsewhere, the pretty damn fine artist who records as Cold Fusion. The first six tracks on this CDr are given to over to V-1 and his take on black ambient music. To make a name for yourself playing this style of music you really need to stand above the hordes of like minded souls and deliver big time otherwise you’ll become just another name dropped forever from peoples memory. From track one ‘Prolog’ to track six ‘Epilog’ V-1 throws everything within his musical canon at the listener and most of it manages to hit the target and stick in the subconscious. Subtle piano chords accompanied by echoing voices of male & female are intermixed with cavernous waves of warped electronic sounds and pleasant string like arrangements. Basically it’s by your numbers black ambient but with little flecks of originality that bode well for the future for V-1 and the sick lifestyle he leads. His words not mine.

The Cold Fusion tracks are a slightly different proposition. Here Matstho dives headfirst into the murky depths of martial rhythmic ambience and comes up smiling. Having nine tracks over which to impress he wastes no time in setting out his agenda. Samples taken from many varied sources are thrown with great abandon into the mix along with studious beat patterns and inspired electronic patterns of sound and noise. There are slight touches of EBM bubbling away which really shouldn’t work but somehow it seems a natural progression to the music itself. Layers of different sounds are placed precisely in place skilfully crafted from the imagination of the man himself. One some tracks the music stops as though revaluating the circumstances of its evolution before firing up once more to complete the cycle previously started. These nine tracks by Cold Fusion demonstrate how an artist in full flow can create rousing and intoxicating music that is ultimately rewarding for those who dare try it for themselves.

This is one of the best split CDRs I’ve heard this year and the future looks very bright for both these partaking artists.

ANM