Once Were Ghosts - Transient Silence // NMMREM XVIII

Once Were Ghosts is a post-rock project originating from Las Vegas. When Las Vegas always brings in the image of flashing lights extravaganza, constant motion and hectic surroundings, Once Were Ghosts might be placed in this abstract moment when the city sleeps. Suitably Transient Silence clocks only a pinch under 7 minutes, the short wander you can make in deserted alleyways seeing shut down light signs, before everything bursts to flame again.

Transient Silence is driven by beautifully crafted guitar melodies setting the atmosphere high immediately. Imagine those November nights when it is raining, windy and cold outside and you are warm inside under the linen covers sipping warm blackberry juice and reading a book. The guitar melodies are accompanied by a drum machine which is a bit over the top, drums being a lot faster and technical than the guitars. Drums still manage to sound good but no doubt they aren't the perfect par for the stunning guitar lines.

The shortness of Transient Silence is also a charm as it is easy to listen 2 or 3 times. Especially the first 2 tracks are top notch melancholic post rock, bringing in mind the strongest outputs of Escape The Day and This Empty Flow. In only 7 minutes it is hard to give yourself up to a complete flow as you know the fun is not going to last for long, but nearly every time Once Were Ghosts takes me over on the very first notes. Give this one a try, it is one of the best 7 minutes you'll spend.

9/10

Free download: http://archive.org/details/siro442OnceWereGhosts-TransientSilence

Lauren Bousfield - Locked Into Phantasy // NMMREM XVII

One of the releases I've been most anticipating this year is here, Lauren Bousfield's Locked Into Phantasy, actually released in 2012. I expected it to come with the name Nero's Day At Disneyland, thus the delay. Pecularily former Mr. Brock Bousfield of Nero's Day At Disneyland seems to have had a sex-change operation into Miss Lauren Bousfield.

Taking away that Lauren is a multisex name, Locked Into Phantasy still sounds very feminine. It also sounds more "artistic" than Bousfields' previous releases and features a lot of female vocals. Last.fm user CupOfSquirrels put it best in last.fm "it (Nero's Day At Disneyland) ultimately felt like a guy pissing about on a synth". I usually try to stay as far as possible from Urolagnia, but I personally loved the way Nero's Day At Disneyland "pisses about on a synth".

Bousfield has moved on to a logical direction and further lessened the breakcore elements on this album. "Locked Into Phantasy" is mainly just odd electronic indie pop. Melodies are similar to old releases of Nero, but where is the beat! I do not feel the kick I get from Nero's Day at Disneyland, lots of the fun is missing, even the slight melancholia is often lackluster. The release feels more plastic. I reckon it is still alright, if you happen to like indie pop. I usually don't.

Putting my listen count above 10 I finally grasped the wood from the trees. Most tracks have about half of material that I like and half that I do not, which takes the mat under the whole track. Good example being Pulling Down Never. The intro vocals take badly on my nerves, then all the sudden we get a mindblowing chorus. It develops to a bridge, that seems to lack a bit of beat but is still solid. Then back to nervewrenching wailing. Sum up: fucking annoying verse; all the rest great.

The record is definitely not without goodness. The title track is just wonderful; and it does sound exactly like Nero's Day at Disneyland. Also thumbs up also to Seraphim Sliding Backwards that really is a simple track with some melodic goodness. Still took over 5 times to open up for me. It contains only mildly annoying elements.

I would enjoy this release a lot more without the vocals. It is a similar situation than with Nero's Day At Disneyland's first album "Attention Shoppers". It contains mostly terrible vocals but its overall craziness makes the bad vocals up a lot better than the artistic tinge on "Locked Into Phantasy".

I hope 10 years from now this EP is thought as a misstep or an experiment which wasn't complete yet, but helped to fruition a new style for Bousfield. I appreciate that it was released under a different pseudonym, the pieces are very familiar, but they form a new sound.

6+/10

The artist shared a mediafire link to freely download the release on his facebook page! http://www.facebook.com/laurenbousfieldanyever/posts/348796375218823

If you feel like paying it is also available in bandcamp for rather cheap 7$ price: http://laurenbousfieldanyev3r.bandcamp.com/album/locked-into-phantasy

I would recommend that you rather grab his earlier release, one of my all time electronic music favourites, 7 $ is a steal: http://laurenbousfieldanyev3r.bandcamp.com/album/from-rotting-fantasylands

Track-by-track:

1. The Ropes Our Nights Were Laid Across, Pulled Taut
Good intro, its already evident that the percussions are in a smaller role than with Nero. Still solid.
8-/10

2. Seraphim Sliding Backwards
I do not understand how it took me over 5 listens to realize it is a great track. The female/child vocals are a lot less annoying here than in other tracks. The 0.31 starting melody is one of the top points of the album.
8½/10

3. Pulling Down Never
Here the downfall begins, the intro vocals take on my nerves then all the sudden we get a mindblowing chorus bridge, that seems to lack a bit of beat but still solid. Then back to nervewrenching wailing. Sum up: fucking annoying verse; all the rest great.
6/10

4. That Was Everything That I Owned
Glad you do not own it anymore, now kill it before it rises. I am glad that the abomination that laments in the intro does not resurface and the vocals develop near the best that this album has. Still, they are sub-par, and the track balances on the edge of skippable. Piano melody is unarguably good.
4½/10

5. Locked Into Phantasy
Among the very best Bousfield tracks of all time. Only Lauren Bousfield track I plan to regularly play to my friends (among with big bunch of Nero's tracks). Probably Bousfield's most accessible and catchy track together with "Child Protective Service Theme Song".
10/10

6. A Tiny Streak Of Daylight (with Judy Balmin)
Only track I skip instantly. Makes me want to murder hipsters.
1/10

7. Two Swans Duct Taped To The Side Of The Coke Machine
First 40 seconds promises we may have a great one coming up, then on comes this backwards childvoice. I can't stand it.
6/10

8. Blown Blooms

Extremely memorable intro, alright bridge. Then another wailing chorus; unfortunately this disappointing turn of events is continued furthermore on a large portion of the track. The glitchy piano outro would surely be lovely if my mind wasn't still dampened by the chorus.
6/10

Synestesia - Nereus // NMMREM XVI

Synestesia is a Finnish melodic death metal band that was formed in 2001 and has been a long time coming but failed to break in to the surface. The predecessor of Nereus, Feenix was very well acclaimed critically, but it seems the band still stayed under. Alike Feenix, Nereus is a self-published free download album (that was also released in a small batch of cds). Immediately after tuning in, Nereus captivates with the amount of professionality. It is apparent that the band really know what they doing and have created an impressive and professional sounds for the record.

The first track Alku begins with a foghorn humming and the sounds of seagulls. Atmospheric ambient, then a piano melody. A great clicheic intro track with a notable melody. But just right. The next track Juurelle majakan did take multiple listens to open up. On first it passed me by nearly completely. Later it elevated as among my favourite tracks of the album. A very catchy chorus with a wonderfully epic background choir, melodic riff. I could imagine hearing this from the radio? Vocals are extremely raspy and the first glimpse of the rather wide growling range the vocalist has. I really dig that the lyrics can usually be imposed from the vocals without the need of reading them.

The next track Valo is a solid track with nice melodic riffing and raspy vocal goodness, but is a step down from Juurelle Majakan. It starts a quick downfall that continues with the title track Nereus and peaks in the 5th track "Murha?". Murha? is probably the most experimental track of the record with a chugging riff and spoken vocals posing as an official announcement. The structure is interesting, but not captivating; the lyrics also bother me as they are not too interesting and quite clumsy.

The next track 274 askelmaa covers the downfall well. The lyrics are obscure as hell, I do not know what are these 274 steps and how they relate to anything but the song has a big emotion and atmosphere going on. Death/doom composition with an emotional quality and progressive touches makes this a clear highlight along with Juurelle Majakan. Also I do not know how Synestesia manages to pull it off but the emotional death/doom track finishes up with a memorable 70s progressive rock keyboard jam!

The album finds another low point with Hiljaisuus, which might actually work better for a listener not native Finnish as the lyrics are clicheic as fuck. The composition really has potential but repeating "niin kaunis on hiljaisuus" on and on again just takes the mat under this song.

Rest of the album isn't that memorable in a good way or bad but solid 7/10 death metal with its minor peaks and low-points. Peaks include for example the raspy vocal performance of the vocalist, groovy riff of Kone pysähtyy and the end of Kuolleiden Kulkue which has another doom/death riff topped by piano and finally epic female vocals. It serves as a great outro for the album. It also brings in the question, what if Synestesia really made just Doom influenced metal in this style that they so well incorporate in small sections?

I believe the record may actually work better if you don't get the lyrics as for me they aren't that special and that is the biggest problem of the album. When listening in your native language; lyrics usually have to impress, but in Nereus they are rather obscure. It is supposed to be a concept album but even with reading the lyrics once, checking their internet site with some great thematic art (http://nereusprojekti.net/), and trying to think of the concept, it remains obscure. Maybe Valo and Nereus are some sort of propaganda tracks of the Nereus nation? Meaning the emotions are clicheic on purpose?

As a whole Nereus fails to captivate this picky listener, who nowadays mostly finds melodic death metal rather bland. There is no questioning however that Nereus has lots of diverse elements and originality and it does keep the listener entertained, especially on first listens.

For a listener who is really into melodic death metal or for the "Finnish Sakara-generation" this album can be a very good experience, but I doubt Synestesia reaches the front-line of Finnish metal bands with this effort. It is melodic, raspy, heavy, diverse but in total hard to grasp and lacking much of the high points. But it is a good try, keeping this quality Synestesia would surely had continued to grow and slowly find bigger audiences. Unfortunately in the December 2012 the band announced its breakup. It is a shame as this sort of hard-hitting metal would surely strike home way better in a smoky club after a few beers.

7+/10

Download the album for free: http://nereusprojekti.net/

Pollux - My Beautiful Melancholia // NMMREM XV

It took a while to find another Pollux album I really like after the brilliant Offer Their Souls a few years ago. No, I haven't tried them all, there are if not hundreds then dozens in between). Even though Pollux is a very productive artist, he still keeps a fine quality in his works. But the ones I've tried, mainly Abandoned Area, Lune Rouge and Wasteland have left me just quite pleasant aftertastes.

My Beautiful Melancholia which somehow has an enticing name, however leaves a very good impression. The varying beats give a lot of new grounds to the ambient of Pollux and make for a new interestspan. First track Absence (Blasted Version) even makes repeated hipsteresque background woman vocals work; without reminding of wool sweaters, MacBooks and instragram-jokes too much.

It is followed by Rain In Your Face & Stress In Your Mind (Loosening Version), which is rather a positive chillout vibe with nothing much happening except variation and growth circling around the same set of melodies. UAV Style (Plasma Version) continues the same but for me has a more complex variation. Not a huge amount of goosebumps but stellar progress and mild surprises.

Well, now with real eyes as well.

The real catch is the title track. Similar than Pollux's track "Black Hope", it is has a very Braid'ish melody; I can see the town in flames in the main screen in my soul's eye. The effect is very pretty. Pollux really works best when associated with a certain mental image. My Beautiful Melancholia even has a sort of evil twist in it, but it entwined between the beautiful parts that it doesn't bother like some evil horror ambient might bother. It just adds more to it.

One advice for even more enjoyable experience is to take any track from the all stellar Lune Rouge (lately i've preferred Espoir de Verre) and the intro of Wasteland "Fallout New Vegas - Goodsprings Wasteland, Day (Remix)" as the first and second track. Then you have an album that does last a bit longer and provides even a wider variety of welcome ambience. The darkness of Lune Rouge is brilliantly overtaken by pleasant ambient, beats and then My Beautiful Melancholia. As an outro the tense Corruption Eternelle is often my choice. It brings a nice, star-light eclipse wandering along the shining dust clouds in circles -effect to finish up the album, if you know what I mean.

As always, a free download: http://archive.org/details/siro416Pollux-MyBeautifulMelancholia

The nmmrem-extended album version as free downloads:
1. Espoir de Verre (archive.org)
2. Fallout New Vegas - Goodsprings Wasteland, Day (Remix) (bandcamp)
3. My Beautiful Melancholia (Whole EP)
4. Corruption Eternelle (archive.org)

Covolux - Paris // NMMREM XIV

As marketed for workplaces as a background music in an work environment

Covolux's Paris is an ambient release which is most suitable for light office work with little to mediocre background noise. The test subjects found this release most worthwhile while listening as a background music two to three times a day. Positive aspect of this release is also that the listener does not need a good sound system to enjoy it, the sound flows nicely enough from laptop speakers and provides a rich soundscape for concentration. Beautiful melodies flow on but only rarely fully consume the listeners attention (electric shock devices to prevent this from occurring can be bought at a discount from our store).


The legend of certain ambient noise boosting the effectiveness of work is definitely not untrue with this release. 80 out of 100 test subjects from the extremely picky group concluded that Paris is good concentration music and also sets up the mood for work with beautiful ambient tones keeping the mind light and intact. Just where you as a corporate businessman want your workers mind to be. We at Sirona-Records are permanently offering all our releases for free, so you and your massive corporation can boost your work-effectiveness for free! Forever!

Download for free: http://archive.org/details/siro170Covolux-Paris

Meklabor - Raw Reeds // NMMREM XIII

The cover is very black metal

Meklabor's is yet another interesting artist from Russia who is also involved in the martial & dark folk projekt Ostov. He states himself that Meklabor is bagpipe music with hardware-made ambient, distorted drums and drones. Certainly a very unusual combo for a Russian artist who says to be inspired by slavonic folk traditions! Judging by this release the inspiration doesn't stop in folk but goes deeper from folk straight into mystical terrains.

Meklabor's Raw Reeds serves as an intro that could well be based on a sludge record. Based on this, it would be too easy to just entitle this record Meklabore. The second song Fields already proves this wrong with odd rhythm and a fine melody with a... Bagpipe? A definite !?! upon the first listen. The sounds aren't top notch, for example the record would agree with a deeper and more organic bass sounds; somehow the sounds lack the final punch. The third, Bessarabaska continues the interesting experiment comprising an Alamaailman Vasarat-like klezmer-melody and applies a discobeat later. I still might not play this at a summer fest.

After three first tracks peak to a mildly annoying hippie-klezmerfest At The Gates, suddendly things go down the drain to dark ambient. Salamandra (Oil Edit) is mighty convincing dark ambient, but it is absolutely in the wrong place for the average Johns and Jacquelines. Bad trip, man. Multinational corporations in their oil-greed did this, man.

Salamandra does mark an imaginary B-side mark though, the following Thousand Years Beyond Kaspia continues the surprising industrial touch that Salamandra hints towards. Best of all Meklabor seems to be very natural with their industrial-side! The illusion breaks at 0.40 with, a very original, Meklaborish melody, but the industrial beat continues to throb on top of this mystic melody. After a month I somehow find myself thrilled by this melody though it didn't impress me initially and it does repeat too much. I would have definitely lived without the 1.43 trance-interlude too

Haze is a bagpipe song and impresses less than its predecessors. Largely that is because its driven by another very Meklaborish melody, which you have just listened for 20 minutes; and for me this melody is the worst of the record. It does try and I feel the hook at 2.40 and 4.00 would be a memorable one, if only the melody wasn't off my game. So unfortunately the album closes up in less memorable fashion than it started.

In the end Fields and Thousand Years Beyond Kaspia are the top cuts in the album, reclaiming the potential that other tracks only hint towards. The soundscapes in Raw Reeds are possibly more interesting than the melodies. There are lots of unique clever beat work and low-bass sections which throb in the back and may go unnoticed but still add in to the atmosphere. Also kudos to Meklabor for having the second edition of Salamandra as a clear bonus track.

Raw reeds encompasses a mystical atmosphere which adds to the value, it could be a swan song for a culture that never existed with its own glyphs, prophecies and gods. Music impresses and at the same time fails to capture its utmost potential. Still a very worthy release that surely people with an ear towards mystical ambiance and modern beats can appreciate!

7½/10

Free download: http://archive.org/details/siro318Meklabor-RawReeds

Avs_Silvester - Mansipal's Heaven // NMMREM XII

Avs_silvester is a Russian artist with lots of interesting concepts for albums, for example the "Periodic Table of Sounds". His new album or actually a compilation of old tracks is stated as Fusion, Progressive, ethno-rock with a very interesting concept.

"Mansipal - the historical name of the east Ural Mountains in the language of the native Finno-Ugric people of Mansi (Voguls).  Mansi World is divided into three parts - lower, middle and upper world. The heaven is also divided into three tiers, one of which goes after the death one of the five souls of man.

The album - a compilation of tracks from different years - sending you on a journey through the three parts of this world."



Sounds just like my cup of tea, but surely a very tough concept to pull out as well. Not every Average Joe is the next Omar Rodriguez or John Lennon, but it certainly doesn't stop some people from trying. And it certainly shouldn't stop people from trying. In essence that is a good thing, but when they try to form up creations like professional composers; sometimes physically challenged babies like Mansipal's Heaven come up. It is supposed to be Progressive ethno-rock. But it is not really progressive, it is random. It is pretty ethnic, but it is mostly not rock at all. It should be classified as experimental or improvisational guitar jam.

How many people really want to hear improvisational guitar jams of the greatest guitarists in the world? Hand to the heart, how many of you would like to hear an improvisational guitar jam of a mediocre layman guitarist with rather bad sounds? This is ultimately what Mansipal's Heaven is. The guitar lines have a lot of glitches and mistakes. This could still be acceptable if the songs were good. You can hear there are compositions behind but mostly it seems the tracks are a mashup of certain guitar elements which are repeated in random places in - semi-similar to not similar at all - forms. In theory this could be a pretty ingenious way for making songs if those guitar elements just happened to not be mostly awkward and the placings had more style and pattern.

Many songs do have pleasant background ambience, for example Wind in the gorge, Music of silver and suitably named This strange autumn. Hell the chorus of This strange autumn is even catchy. Guitars are incoherent, but not as much as in most of the album. This marks the main problem and specialty of Avs Silvester. For example the title track seems to consist almost solely on guitar layers seemingly in not much contact with each other, drumming or keyboards. All forming different entities and playing on top of each other. When I release songs like this, I call them experimental or shitcore, not progressive. After an incoherent jamfest like Mansipal's Heaven, This strange autumn sounds clear as a winter day when in earnest, it is a mess with a melody that when worked on could be very good.

The closest thing to a stable track is Mansipal's heaven 2008 as it builds up nicely, in real standards mediocrely, the build up gets boring and the melodies never top the beginnings touch, but hey at least this time the track never went berserk! 2009 and 2010 versions of the same track encompass a less minimal approach with more guitar layers which ultimately means worse. Again the main riff really is not too bad (like in Fatal Chainsaw Massacre), if it just didn't lead to a rather worthless improvisation after each repeat. Often less is more.

Most of the album feels like watching Journey Into Bliss on and on again, the shared sense of shame is always there. Maybe with some doses of mescaline this'd be a good trip with lots of laughing but with a clear mind it just boggling. The luck is, I'm a person having a liking in shitty and random music, so listening was in the end quite enjoyable, after getting through the disappointment of this not being a good album. But for any real music critic I can well believe this release effecting the tearing out of hair.

And hey, calling improvisational guitar jam progressive ethno-rock is just underrating the listener. If I'd known Mansipal's Heaven to be a guitar jam I most likely wouldn't have listened it at all - completely missing out the worst progressive rock album that I've ever heard! An eye opening release in a different way than expected.

Musicality: 2/10
Randomness: 9/10
Entertainment: 8/10

Free download: http://archive.org/details/siro484Avs_silvester-MansipalsHeaven