Dark Gig - Mushroomhead, Sanguine and Nervewrecker

Another night, another fine heavy metal gig at the Norwich Waterfront. While I am still a bit disappointed that American Headcharge had to pull out, I'm happy to say that this gig was one of the best that I've been to. Each band had something different to offer and I came away genuinely liking each band, which is rare as in my experience, there is usually at least one band at a gig that I end up feeling 'meh' about. Not last night.

First up was Nervewrecker, a band I knew nothing about before last night. Once their heavily distorted sound began to pulse through me, I decided there and then that I would check out their album, which is something I will get around to today.

After Nervewrecker came Sanguine, a female-fronted rock/metal band that I wasn't too sure about before the gig. I'd checked out their music videos on YouTube and felt that I'd like them but I wasn't predicting how good they would be live. They were great! They also did a cover of an American Headcharge song and did it really really well, which I am sure earned them a large amount of goodwill from people still smarting about AHC's absence.

Last up was Mushroomhead, an American metal band with a theatrical look that bring some monster songs to the party. They were also joined on stage by singer Jackie LaPonza for two or three songs, her own costumes doing well to compete with the strangeness of the band's. They were epic and I hope they come back to Norwich in the future.

Dark Gig - Crossfaith

Last night I went to a very enjoyable gig at the Waterfront in Norwich. On the bill were The One Hundred, Quemist and Crossfaith. I was most interested in Crossfaith, as since seeing them at the UEA with Skindred last autumn, I've found myself listening to their albums more and more.

The One Hundred were okay, they didn't really grab me but I didn't dislike them. Quemist sounded very cool and I think I will check out their album as they might be another band for me to enjoy. Crossfaith were absolutely belting. They seem to bring so much energy to their performances and the crowd interaction is great to see as well. Crossfaith are now the first band I have seen live twice too, so I hope they are aware of the enormity of that fact and now know that they can retire whenever they like and they won't achieve more. I'm joking of course. Great gig guys, hope you come back to Norwich soon.

Dark Music Review – Imposing Elitism

Review Written By Casey Douglass

 

A new dawn rises as the broken ground trembles under the resounding echoes of an army… “Imposing Elitism” marks a turning point – what was once cold hard stone has now turned into raw steel! The awe-inspiring figure that is ARDITI has never been stronger or more relentless, and continues to cast an ever-harsher tone to their Martial Neo-Classical Industrial on their sixth full-length release. By reaching further into Man’s collecting past to harvest memories of a golden age of heroes, ARDITI tap into the source of ancient blood that will fuel the impending march to the new Era.

Arditi are a Swedish band that falls into the martial industrial and neo-classical genres, so think military as inspiration, but with classical elements and dark ambient undertones. Imposing Elitism is their sixth album and my first taste of their sound so we will see if this particular genre is something that sinks its bayonet into me, or just leaves me whistling as I walk away from the battlefield.

As might be imagined with the label of martial industrial music, there is a lot of military-style drumming in these tracks; probably the music's defining feature for me. The next most noticeable aspect is that many of the tracks feature the audio of war-like speeches that talk over or at times, behind the other sounds. These two elements alone bring the images of marching armies of all kinds to mind, depending on the other flavours in the track in question.

I think my favourite track has to be Order of the Black Sun. It begins with the crash of a drum-like sound that is soon backed by a sinister undertone chant. It’s a rumbling brooding track with an air of something evil going on, like the gates of some dark castle swinging open and an army cloaked in shadow marching forth. Just my kind of thing.

Another track that I enjoyed was The Earth Shall Tremble Under The Tramp of Our Feet, almost purely for the repeating, grindy melody that manages to ear-worm its way into my head. The track also has a great rattling drumbeat, swells of singing and a dark tone which again, is something I enjoyed.

I enjoyed the time I spent listening to Imposing Elitism, but I’m not entirely sure it is a style of music that I will listen to regularly. It is however, a great backing soundtrack to playing a war or fighting based video-game, or for drifting away imagining you are in one of the 300 films. I give Imposing Elitism 4/5 and recommend it to anyone that enjoys the martial aspect of history or has interests that would gel nicely with its theme.

You can visit the Imposing Elitism page on Bandcamp at this link. You can also check out the video trailer for the album by watching the YouTube video embedded below.

I was given a free copy of this album to review.

Album Title: Imposing Elitism

Artist: Arditi

Label : Equilibrium Music

Released: September 14, 2015

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Dark Poetry - Visitation

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Dark Film Review – Campground: The Requel (2015)

Review Written By Casey Douglass 

A couple of years ago, I reviewed Studio 605’s The Campground, a horror-slasher in the vein (pun totally intended) of 80s horror films. I gave it 3.5/5 back then, but Campground: The Requel is a re-imagining of the first film, aided by a successful Indiegogo campaign that saw it pull in 271% of the funding it was aiming for. The wording on the Indiegogo page says “Not only do we want to use this rare moment to redeem ourselves on certain plot points but also deliver a much more in depth story and more likeable characters other than showcase the killer, Charlie Varsin.” Did it manage it? Read on to find out.

The film follows the enduring myth of Charlie Varsin, a son killed by his mother Haley (pictured above) with a screwdriver on his 10th birthday. Not really the present anyone would hope for is it? Maybe that’s why he still keeps appearing and attacking naïve groups of young-people as they attempt to party at Little Farm on the River. It’s been awhile since I watched the original Campground, so I’m relying on memory for some of these comparisons, and I don’t still have the original to refresh my impressions. I’m pretty confident of the points I’m about to make though, and I’ve decided that I`ll get my gripes out of the way first.

One of the original issues I had with the first film was with the dialogue audio levels. While the audio in the requel seems of a better quality, there were still a number of scenes that had me reaching for the volume control because the actors’ voices were far too low, only to have my ears complain when another louder scene began. I don’t feel that I missed any dialogue, but having to fuss with the sound was something that did get a little irritating.

Another of the original issues I had was the tone of some of the scenes, particularly when it came to the emotion shown by the actors, or lack thereof. There were disconnects at times between what was transpiring, and the characters’ reactions, changing from shouting or screaming one moment to mono-tonally talking about what was happening a few moments later in the tone of voice you’d use to read a shopping list. It didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the film but it was another area that I did hope the requel might address.

Now on to the good stuff. The extra story locations and characters seen in the requel certainly added a good amount of interest to the story. If anything, I found the daytime scenes that came between the two night settings to be a refreshing change, after all, horror that lingers in the light of day, even if it is just in memory is a lot harder to do than creeping menace cloaked in shadows. The extra locations came with a nice collection of extra characters too, from the Echo Grove mental institute in which Haley Varsin is currently locked away, to a bookshop with its very own paranormal group. These extra characters give the film a wider canvas to draw from to inject more interest, and often humour, into things. It just feels like it has more space to breath than the original, and that's a good thing.

While I might have had issue with the speech audio levels, the backing soundtrack was another matter and I found it to be uniformly good at setting the mood in typical horror movie fashion, ominous drones and agitated strings lurching into creepy motion. Good stuff on this front.

When the film allows Charlie Varsin to get his hands on people, the action scenes are often very enjoyable, with some pretty visceral throat stabbing and neck-breaking going on, although some of the neck-breaking did fall into the “blink and you might miss it” category, which is a bit of a shame. Some of the longer fights were interesting to watch and in a particular one the viewer will probably find that they are intently counting something as one of the characters fights. I won’t say more than that, but the fact that I found myself counting along was certainly a sign that the scene had pulled me in.

Overall then, Campground: The Requel does, in my opinion, improve on the original film in a number of ways, but some of the original flaws seem to persist which is a shame. With this in mind, I give Campground: The Requel 4/5, and recommend it to anyone that likes their horror a little rough around the edges but with a dark heartbeat to it.

Film Title: Campground: The Requel

Studio: Studio 605

Director: Roman Jossart 

Campground: The Requel Images Copyright © Studio 605

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Dark Music - My First Created Dark Ambient Track Troubled Meditation

After a good few years listening to and reviewing dark ambient albums, I thought I would finally have a go at creating a track of my own. This I have now done and it's called Troubled Meditation. It is quite rough and ready but was more a learning experience for me than anything else. I'm glad it's something I've done though and hope to do another at some point. It was also nice to do something like this just for the fun of it. Click here for the track on Soundcloud.

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Dark Music Review – Lost Here

Review Written By Casey Douglass

 

After her split debut Earth Songs with Dronny Darko in 2015, protoU now returns with her solo debut album Lost Here. An album that takes place in realms beyond reality, deep dreams of fragmented visions tied together with a sonic backdrop full of low key drone work and accentuated with field recordings.

When I saw that protoU was releasing another album, I was instantly interested as I very much enjoyed her split album Earth Songs (I still listen to it regularly too). Listening to Lost Here, the elements of protoU in Earth Songs became that little bit clearer: the relaxed, gentle quality of many of the sounds used and the use of field recordings with the harsh edges given the audio equivalent of a “good sand papering”, so that there are less sharp edges for the listener to prick themselves on. Having found Earth Songs to be one of the most relaxing dark ambient albums I’ve listened to so far, I am quite happy to report that Lost Here is another soothing listening experience.

Lost Here is a dark ambient album that revels in putting the listener into soundscapes that both lull and instill an element of risk. The very first track: Lost Here, is one such example. It opens with the sound of the wind alongside a low-key drone, but soon sees a swelling resonance emerge that dances around at the higher end of the sound scale. The sound of running water and bird calls can then be heard, and a little later, the sound of what seem to be clattering pebbles, but muted, not harsh at all. The track sees the wind sound grow progressively stronger and move from ear to ear, the relatively peaceful beginning becoming lost in the stormy conditions as it progresses. Listening to this track gave me the impression of someone enjoying a nice long twilight hike, enjoying nature in almost every way, but upon discovering that they are lost, finding those same sights and sounds more threatening and chilling without that mental safety net of knowing where they are. A very good track indeed.

The Map is the next track that I wanted to mention, in part because I felt it offered a change of soundscape that departed from the natural, as far as I could tell at least. It begins with a resonant, strong high note that swirls in a dark space. Sounds of movement/rustling echo, along with a juddery drone, giving the impression of the listener being in an abandoned building, maybe an old factory or meeting hall. There is also an excellent sound of what could quite possibly be teeth or bones being slowly stirred around in a ceramic bowl. That might just be my horror brain working overtime though. The titular map also might be in the track, what sounds like rustling paper crops up here and there, so keep an ear out for that. While the first track showcased the movement in nature, The Map seemed to bring a more man-made soundscape to the table, to deposit the listener in an empty dark space.

The final track that I wanted to mention specifically is Believe. It gets going with a deep throbbing opening, soon joined by bubble-like lighter notes and a shimmering distortion, maybe like sun-rays dancing through water. This distortion rattles the ears as it turns to warbley electronic spikes and echoes. There are other deeper sounds too, dripping water and a strange detuned radio effect, snatches of voices and the squeal of transmission a very interesting thing to rest the mind on. After this, a proper clear voice does speak too. A very cool track with some great sounding and interesting effects. Maybe the subject of the album has collapsed and keeps passing in and out of consciousness, a nearby radio fuelling the feverish visions as nature claims them? Just one of the few scenarios that occurred to me.

Lost Here is a fantastic listen, and one that mixes the lulling properties of sounds that should be relaxing with a certain cold chilliness that keeps things interesting. I could prattle on for longer but I don’t think there is any real need. I give it 4.5/5 and can certainly imagine it entering my repeat listening playlist.

Check out Lost Here on bandcamp at this link.

You can listen to “The Map” below:

I was given a free copy of this album to review.

Album Title: Lost Here

Artist: protoU

Label : Cryo Chamber

Released: March 8, 2016

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