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Nouveau Gloaming
Spikefarm
Records 2005
This is an "all-star" project that contains members of Ulver, Ved Buens Ende/Dodheims
Gard, and VOID but I have placed that in the back of mind as much as possible so
I could freely focus on the music on its own merits. But then again maybe knowing who was involved in this project may have tainted my first
impression of what I was going to hear on this album. There are hints of Ulver and some Ved Buens Ende strewn across this disk. There is also a lot
of an Arcturus feeling here as well. Though this is similar to the
above named projects it is also heavier and darker than all those bands as well.
It has a lot of the more primitive old school black metal feeling to it than
most of the other avant-garde bands who are approaching these themes. So I
guess that gives these guys a bit of a unique twist. To illustrate this
point they kick off the album with the heaviest most traditional song in the
form of song The Cotton Optic. After that they just get more bizarre.
The song Brass Dogs has what sounds like a record of some old time clear singer
then thunderous riffs creep over the top and swirl around like some sort of
haunting dreamscape. The clear vocals really have an Ulver kind of style
to them which is very warm and enthralling. My favorite song is probably
the plodding and doomy A Cloud Formed Teardrop Asylum. I love how they
interchange the black metal vocals and the clean vocals so effortlessly, and the
clean vocals can certainly soar. I think one of the things that really reminds me of VBE is the bass lines used
by Vicotnik. They really stand out and he has his own style to be sure.
The cover art is done by the multi-talented Kim Solve and suits the beautiful
darkness of this art. Overall this is a very interesting and avant-garde piece of music but I like it
quite a bit. To me it is basically a cross between Artcurus and Ved Buens
Ende. It is not something that I immediately fell in love with but
it was well worth the listening effort I invested.