Label: Northern Silence Productions
Distribution: LSP Company / Clear Spot / Soulfood Music
Release date: February 25th 2011

Germany’s Northern Silence Productions have always been of undeniable importance within the underground-oriented Black Metal scene. The past saw the light of many extremely interesting releases by bands and projects like Mörker, Blodarv, Angmar, Augrimmer, Thorngoth and many more.
February 25th earlier this year (we didn’t receive these promos but very recently, unfortunately, yet they are too interesting to deny) was the take-off for a handful of new recordings by acts like Brocken Moon (they did release a compilation on this label before), Elffor (all former releases have been re-issued by NSP as well - except for one yet to come), Woods Of Desolation (one of the many superb one-man projects from Australia), or the pretty young German project Heretoir. All of them, as you will read (and hopefully hear as well very soon), dwell within the more obscure regions of the Black-scene – no poppy, over-produced huge audience-stuff in here, luckily!
Included as well is the review on the debut full length of French Goth-Rock-combo Soror Dolorosa, actually through Beneath Grey Skies, a young unhappy NSP-division that will focus on non-(Black) Metal-oriented stuff.
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Band: Brocken Moon
Title: Hoffnungslos

Brocken Moon were formed in 1999 and in mean time they do have a rather solid fan-base. In the past, Brocken Moon recorded several demos (released through their own label Black Metal Mafia and Dutch Heidens Hart, and re-issued through Northern Silence (in order to celebrate their tenth anniversary) in 2009 on DCD, one year after the release of the second full length Das Märchen Vom Schnee; the debut, Mondfinsternis, dates from 2005).
The band, now a quartet (only vocalist / lyricist Humanhater remains as original member), sort of returned to the earliest years, leaving the fairytale-alike path to rejoin the forces of grimness.
What does it mean? Well, Hoffnungslos, which means something like hopeless, gets closer to melancholic and depressive grimness à la early nineties, than it was the case five years ago. The hopelessness goes for both lyrics and musical approach, yet the latter not pejoratively defined. No, these compositions aren’t just a collection of hopelessly pathetic nonsense, yet it creates a feeling of despair, helplessness, melancholy and hate. But…, to make it all more confusing, seen from an explicit warlike view, I think.
Even though most parts might sound somewhat evidently performed, Brocken Moon introduces lots of unique elements, even though not that easily explainable. Just listen and find out (I’ll just mention the Industrial soundscape T12 Ritual). And another positive element is the limited yet worked-out use of atmospheric back ground keyboard and synth lines.
One might dislike the rhythmic repetition of the back instrumentation (especially the percussion) and I will not deny this. The hollow sound too is inferior to the rest and that’s a disappointing pity.
For fans of: Xasthur, Abyssic Hate, Leviathan, Drudkh etc.

88/100
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Band: Heretoir
Title: Heretoir

The German one-man project Heretoir was formed in 2006 by Eklatanz, and named after some fictional synonym for going your own way. Originally Heretoir played acoustic-oriented (Neo-Folk) music, yet soon it evolved into some symbiosis of bleak, depressive Black Metal and melancholic Post-Rock.
This self-titled album, which lasts for more than fifty minutes, is the official debut and deals with the concept of ‘loss’ in all its aspects. It was written completely by Eklatanz and recorded with session bass player Nathanael (Thränenkind, Bonjour Tristesse, live session for Agrypnie). The latter will act as live bassist as well.
The album opens with the intro The Escape, a piano-emotion of desperation and despair, shortly after followed by Fatigue, which seems to be the sonic definition of bleakness and melancholy, as well as obscurity and morbidity. Like the other tracks, this one is a varying hymn with many alternations in tempo and structure. Post-Rock (Ulver and Anathema might come to mind), Suicidal and Depressive Doom / Black Metal-grotesquery, repetitive and droning rhythms in combination with emotional melodies, it’s done before, sometimes better, but usually much more boring (‘cause this genre easily leads to cheap over-safety). Heretoir aren’t the strongest project ever within this genre, but this debut full length will be appreciated by any fan of, let’s say, Alcest, Austere, Lantlôs or even Beatrik.
I just got one stinking problem: the production, which is much too flat and soft – a shame!

82/100
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Band: Woods Of Desolation
Title: Torn Beyond Reason

One of the many excellent one-man projects Australia is known for is called Woods Of Desolation, which was started in 2005 by D. In fact, most of the time he worked together with a permanent or session vocalist. During the early years D. co-operated with P. Knight (both demos, both split-EPs and the debut Toward The Depths), while the Sorh-MCD (released through Eisenwald) was recorded with vocal assistance of Mitchell ‘Desolate’ Keepin aka Malaphas (of Nazxul / Austere / Pestilential Shadows / Funeral Mourning-fame). After a short break, D. joined forces with Tim Yatras aka Sorrow aka Typhon, known from acts like Pestilential Shadows, Ilium, Grey Waters, Austere, Battalion and many other sweet combos to record this sophomore album (with Tim taking care of the drum parts as well), having a total running time of thirty eight minutes, by the way.
The six songs stand for a most depressive and bleak form of melancholic and somewhat primitive / repetitive Underground Black Metal with an icy sound. As a matter of fact, it is not that unusual for an Australian act to combine the most (self-) mutilating elements from many other grimly wonderful Australian bands and projects, somewhat filling the gap between Scandinavian Nordic Black, USBM and the Prophecy-rooster (Lupus Lounge included).
Melody goes hand in hand with hammering structures, desperation with hatefulness, and melancholy with misanthropic visions. It’s the way I like it, it’s the way this kind of Black Music must sound like! And like several colleagues, Woods Of Desolation add their specific extras, like some more bombastic pieces, acoustics and keyboards, the intermezzos, a Post-Rock excerpt (November), total decelerations or Suicidal Black-elements.
The chilly, hypnotic primal production completes these wretched melodies with evidence, yet it identifies supremacy!

90/100
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Band: Elffor
Title: Unblessed Woods

Elffor were formed in 1995 as a medieval-oriented Dark Ambient solo-outfit of Suffering Down’s Eöl. At the end of 1998, the debut album Into The Dark Forest brought an obscure form of ambiental music with blackish vocals and a haunting medieval atmosphere. Because of the busy schedule with Suffering Down (recording of a new studio recording and touring), Eöl decided to hold on for a while, yet he never intended to stop with Elffor. Finally, in 2002, he started recording new material, with assistance of some Suffering Down- and Numen-colleagues (actually he’s involved with this Basque band as well). The addition of guitars made this album (which is called Son Of The Shades, by the way) sound like a Metal-version of the early years, and as from this moment on, Elffor would continue as a Metal-project. Three more full lengths followed in mean time, From The Throne Of Hate (2004), Unblessed Woods (2006) and Frostbitten Pain (2009).
Because of the sold-out status or the hard-to-find fact, Northern Silence Productions decided to re-issue all these full lengths, not at once yet spread over a certain period. Into The Dark Forrest was re-released in 2007, Son Of The Shades and From The Throne Of Hate in 2008, Unblessed Woods, well, see this review, and Frostbitten Pain will be available later this year, probably.

Unblessed Woods, indeed the fourth full recording (origin: 2006), was created with assistance of session-guitar player Unai Liant at the Liant Moron Studio (the third full length was recorded in this studio as well). The two bonus tracks included, this re-issue lasts for almost seventy five minutes, it comes with new artwork and it has been completely re-mastered as well.
The opening track, the title song, starts with a bombastic introduction that reminds me a lot to the first Mortiis-recordings, and after some minutes I hear Summoning-alike blackness – damn, so correctly done. And behold, because what about some Limbonic Art-alike blasts?
Summoning are the main influence for most parts. Not once Elffor just copy this supreme Austrian duo, yet most parts, which are mainly slow, breathe the same magisterial Black Magic Art. An important difference, however, is that Elffor’s intermezzos are unique (so are Summoning’s, of course, yet of another kind). Soundscapes with a medieval atmosphere in the vein of Za Frûmi, the hammering Limbonic Art-eruptions, heraldic tunes in the vein of Dagorlad or Finnugor, Nordic darkness (early Gehenna and Aeternus), some Burzum-esque grimness, Wongraven-inspired epic, Pagan-inspired underground-oppression à la Hellveto, Unblessed Woods is a fantastic journey through magic forests and ancient battle fields.

95/100
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Band: Soror Dolorosa
Title: Blind Scenes
Label: Beneath Grey Skies

French outfit Soror Dolorosa (Latin for sister pain) were formed about ten years ago by three former Funeraëll-members (Christophe, Franck and Hervé) and Andy (permanent or session member for Peste Noire, Celestia, Fornication, Barbatos, Mütiilation, Darvulia a.m.o.). The band name is based on the novel Bruges La Morte by Flemish writer Georges Rodenbach, known for his symbolic view on nostalgia and mourning. Soror Dolorosa recorded a couple of (unpublished) demos before splitting up in 2005. At the end of summer 2007, Soror Dolorosa reunited, with important line-up changes in consequence. After a third demo and an EP / MCD (Severance, released in 2009), the quartet recorded their debut full length at Drudenhaus Studio (think: Necroblaspheme, Anorexia Nervosa, Les Discrets, Alcest, Darkenhöld) with producer and former Anorexia Nervosa-member Benoît ‘Neb Xort’ Roux.

Musically, Soror Dolorosa have nothing to do with Black Metal. They perform Gothic Rock with elements from Death Rock and Cold Wave. My problem with Gothic Rock is that most bands sound alike, and throughout the years, this genre did evolve into an idle and meaningless pulp. However, some bands stand (stood) out by creating inventive compositions with calibre – think Dead Can Dance’s self-called debut, early Silke Bischoff, Umbra Et Imago, Gothic Sex, Love Like Blood, Morthem Vlade Art, Whispers In The Shadows etc. In Soror Dolorosa’s case it dwells somewhere between both extremes: the pulp-approach and the uniqueness.

Blind Scenes consists of eight songs, having a total running time of forty eight minutes (all of them lasting between four and seven and a half minute). It opens with Crystal Lane, which combines, like most tracks, the hypnotic melodies of vintage Goth Rock (think: The Cure, Human League) with the psychedelic rhythms of a calmer Sisters Of Mercy-alike sound. Autumn Wounds is somewhat more energetic and closer related to Gothic Sex, for example, than, let’s say The Cure. And the progression in heaviness goes on with Damaged Dreamer, adding elements from Cold Wave and Death Rock.
Etc…
Highlight: Broken Wings, rather doomish and the most oppressively obscuring track on Blind Scenes.

For fans of everything in between Sisters Of Mercy, Human League, Fields Of The Nephilim, Gothic Sex, Morthem Vlade Art, Love Like Blood etc. As said before, it lacks of originality, and one might be allergic to the somewhat predictable compositions, yet in general Blind Scenes is not that bad at all.

77/100
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Ivan Tibos.