The fourth and last volume of the Electronic Manifesto is an heterogeneous compilation released into a limited run of 500 copies and it gathers fourteen bands that have been invited to write their own epitaph. The album opens with three melancholic tracks made by TAT feat. Cypher & Pagan ("La fin de temps" mix Spanish melodies, electronic bass lines, orchestral arrangements and female spoken word), Stendeck ("It ended as it started" is a mix of ambient synth pads and electronic industrial rhythms) and Laag ("Tower of humans" is a convincing electronic mid tempo that gathers melodic deep vocals and electronic mid tempo rhythmic synth sounds with a nice texture of tiny melodies). With "When I was old (feat HIV+)" by Normotone we change a bit the registry thanks to cinematic atmospheres (recitative Spanish vocals with orchestral backgrounds and fragmented digital industrial rhythms). Ab Ovo with "Keystone" follow a similar path thanks to synth pads, piano reverbs, sampled vocals and guitar feedbacks. Flint Glass' "Death ritual" starts like a dark ambient track with ritual percussions just to turn after a couple of minutes into an ambient electronic tune with i.d.m. rhythm patterns. Philippe Petit & Lydia lunch, with "Requiescat in the dark", did a sort of movie for you ears where the passionate recitative voice of Lydia is joined by digital drones and processed strings. With Club Amour's "Science fiction" the compilation enters into the electronic realm with a good instrumental track where layers of synth pad orchestrations are sustained by vibrant bass lines. Melody and rhythm are the core of the track. With Umilenie's "Tempus fugit" we welcome retro e.b.m. music with an instrumental tune where upbeat rhythms (synth and drums) duet with catchy melodic lines. We have the same with Communter's "Analog death", a catchy electronic instrumental that will you beg for more. Veronika Nikolic's "My world (Ruben Montesco remix)" is the first tune to have a dancey rhythm and it's nice how it mixes electro beats with syncopated synth lines and a sensual female voice. Alexey Volkov's "Levitan" incarnate energy and strength thanks to retro e.b.m. 4/4 distortions. Ex_Tension with "The call of elara (remix from the orginal version of 9 Elma)" mix e.b.m. energy and ambient atmospheres creating a good balance. Geomatic with "The skin (feat Ed Randazzo)" sound like Depeche Mode playing e.b.m. R3MUTE's with "Less than zero (feat HIV+, Normontone version)" are here with industrial e.b.m. sounds a la Hocico influenced a bit by electro music. PEDRO PENAS ROBLES & LAURENT MALTINTI with "Vaya con dios (Normotone edit version)" close the album with an industrial i.d.m. version of what sounds like being a classic Spanish guitar folk song. Nice compilation, indeed...

This is not dead which can eternal lie and with strange aeons even death may die." This epigraph fits just perfectly here.

You guessed it right. Flint Glass draws its inspiration from the books by a master of horror literature, who lived a very secluded life and few are the people who knew him in person, H.P, Lovecraft. Unlike Bal-Sagoth, who among many others also found the writer inspiring, Flint Glass composes no metal music but dark ambient. Gwenn Trémorin, the only man responsible for this project is no newcomer. His first album "Hierakonpolis" was released in 2003 and re-released in the following year.
What we have here is a re-release of the sold out 2006 "Nyarlathotep" album which comes with a bonus EP to it. Hence two CDs altogether. The new seven tracks mesmerize no less than the original 15 plus four remixes to them (by Ah Cama Sotz, Disharmony, Xabec and TMO&Empusae), which are also featured on the first CD. Cold Meat Industry is a label that has released quite a number of similar projects in the past if you need some comparison. Mlada Fronta is another name that comes to your mind while enjoying Flint Glass. The new tracks are also free of vocals just in the vein of the project and I believe any vocals would be redundant here, even spoken samples. The music involves various elements changing from warmer to colder pieces. Rather rhythmical and sometimes industrial-like elements give place to ethnical themes like in "Hypnos". But also very slow and utterly disturbing pieces are no rarity on the bonus CD.
This album is not a good choice if you are planning a romantic night with your partner. But it is a great accompaniment for reading any horror book in solitude with only dim light lit. Creepiness and spookiness are guaranteed. Fans of such atmospheres and experiences should not let this album slip between their fingers or putting it Lovecraft-like; between their tentacles.

New York-based Electronica-wizard Frank Mokros is back with a new double CD album. Disc 1 offers the new studio work of Frank, which continues with his futuristic IDM/Electronica music we could discover with his last year’s brilliant album "Elekatota: The Other Side Of The Tracks". The presented variety and diversity in his music arrangements somewhere based into genres like Ambient, IDM, Noise and Industrial can be heard very seldom – Frank has the abilities to write perfect film scores for Sci-Fi- and Cyberpunk-related movies yet not produced. Multiple layered, high complexities in the production of synth and drums/percussion – yes, Frank’s music is demanding – but the listener gets so much rewarded for his full attention, which is required to consume his masterpieces of music. TOTAKEKE is one of the very few founded flowers, which someone can be identifying with. Normally tend to I prefer the rather straight arranged tunes, which allow some Industrial dancefloor movements. Tracks like "Disconnected Inside", the harsh and nearly Powernoise-like "Anterograde Amnesia", and the extremely catchy title track services this greed well. But here are 2 additional pearls needed to be mention, "Permanent Note", reminding with its mighty basslines and the rather slow tempo on "Bio-Mechanic"-like FLA featuring more complexity, and the eerie "Patient HM" with its simple, but so damned effective piano sound inserts. But all of these good things don’t end here, because Tympanik Audio has decided to assign all free slots of your CD players with Disc 2. This second disc offers some new interpretations of "Pull The Plug" and "Ignorance" provided by Frank himself, some new amazing tracks ("Gone", "Can’t Feel Time" and "Buried Is... " – A-MUST-LISTEN-TO!) and several remix contributions by Frank’s highly-acclaimed label comrades. ZENTRIERT INS ANTLITZ ("Permanent Note"), the raw PNEUMATIC DETACH ("Anterograde Amnesia" – how could someone think, that Justin Brink would put his fingers on any additional tune? Nice cover art too, Mr. Brink!), AUTOCLAV 1.1 ("Lost And Falling" – can a remix score against an original? It can! Well done, Mr. Young!), LUCIDSTATIC ("The Things That Disappear When I Close My Eyes"), ACCESS TO ARASAKA ("Contusions" – that nervous hacking hi-q programming offers creativity – a new talent to follow!), FLINT GLASS ("Patient HM" – nice try, Gwenn, but that’s one of the most difficult remixes. Nothing can rival with the brilliant original) and the Slovakian heroes of DISHARMONY ("Memoria" - quality as usual, Ryby, we’ll come on your new tunes soon... ) are featured here. I could slander again through this whole album and will be surely find several additional gimmicks and attractive things to report of. It’s a matter of fact, that albums of TOTAKEKE won’t never get boring and the music offers so much new facets to discover, which I could easily use as an additional apology, why I’ve delayed the review that long. However, get this masterpiece!

French act FLINT GLASS releases a remix collection, which quite follows the idea of the past DISHARMONY album, both now out at Tympanik Audio. Also Gwenn Tremorin’s solo project has done through the years several remix works for foreign bands, from which a few remixes got released, while a few others have been collected dust buried in some archives. Therefore this is a highly recommended initiative to collect all of those remix works for a new FLINT GLASS album. And similar with DISHARMONY – there can’t be doubts on the music quality, since all music and re-programmings got done by FLINT GLASS. As expected, Gwenn offers his full-scale high quality Electronica music, which often integrates elements out of Dark Electro, Ambient, Industrial and Powernoise genres. Always complimented with the needed doze of intelligence behind the tasteful arrangements, FLINT GLASS offers a 72 minutes + assault filled with mystic soundscapes in a very unique outfit. You’ll get new interpretations of tracks of among others POLYGON, PROSPERO, H.I.V.+, OTX, the already mentioned DISHARMONY, EMPUSAE or SUICIDE INSIDE. It is hard to pick out a special favorite, since this would follow some personal preferences, but the remix on THERMIDOR’s "Plenum Aquae" with its layered synth ambience is sort of an outstanding work. "Circumsounds" is nothing else than a pure audio enjoyment, which allows the listener to sink into the deepest sound layers. A high recommendation to purchase it, while European-based listeners will be able to pick up this album via Gwenn’s own label Brume Records, which takes care on the availability. A must-have item!

Yes, Slovakia’s export act Numero Uno, the highly talented duo of DISHARMONY does it again and spits out another marvelous release following a conceptual idea, which has been seldom released. Slowly it becomes a trademark, that once again the highly skilled Tympanik Audio label catches once again the complete curious audience for another 70 minutes + playing time of a demanding Dark Electronica sound-trip in front of the home entertainment. Right on, Lord Sauron and Ryby have decided to bring out this album through a different label, although the friend- and partnership between both labels is obviously. "Cloned – Other Side Of Evolution" is a sort of collection of remix works, but not in the usual sense. Very often bands give out remix kits to see and hear what different artists would like to create out of the original recordings. Those remixes get very compiled to release an alternative album or simply to fill some playing time on the next studio album. Seldom, unfortunately very seldom the remix contributions are able to fill in anything innovative, something what would add a different and valuable view on the already discovered original. The virus to collect as much as possible remix works no matter who’s providing that stuff, has become in parts ridiculous – it is mostly a sort of money-taking game especially with so-called "scene-leading" acts, which often like to bridge some "free" time between two studio albums. Well, nothing all of this boring procedure can be discovered on this new DISHARMONY album, since the basic concept represents the opposite of the normal above described kind. This album isn’t the collection of DISHARMONY’s original tracks remixed by multiple foreign acts – this album collects remix works done by DISHARMONY on other acts. Some of them may got released on the representative albums of these acts, while others surely collect dust in some undiscovered archives. Original tracks by among others POLYGON, Australia’s EMPTY, the French Electronica sensation FLINT GLASS, Brazil’s Harsh EBM act DEAD JUMP, or Germany’s MNEMONIC got revamped and manipulated by these Slovakian wizards and the result is nothing else than a once again quality Dark Electronica release by them. 12 different remix works, two new and unreleased tracks following the style of the last years’ album "Malignant Shields", plus a special mutual track with the German female act SARA NOXX, which I tend to rate as being the most exceptional work of this high-quality album are featured on "Cloned". Let’s move forward, I hope that the fine golden day will come for this duo, on which they’ll get rewarded for their quality efforts delivered since years.