ENRAPTURED SERENE MESMERISM is the second Arkane album which has been released six years after "Arcane Elitism" published back then by Fossil Dungeon. This new work contains eight tracks which sound like movements of an opera. Based on the female vocal ability of ArcanumX and on Drg's strings orchestration (with the participation of Stephen Svanholm/Sibelian and Arcanstra M. for some recitative parts), the album create a convincing dark opus. Sounding like mermaids' hypnotic chants, the tracks are composed by few elements (few orchestral parts plus the female vocal performances) but the bravura of the musicians is here evident (because isn't simple at all of being able to catch people's attention which such few minimal elements) and make them succeed into the creation of a magical atmosphere. There's also a recurrent theme which we find since the opening main track that is a sort of link that lead us through the different movements. From Greece, Arkane are here to let you lose your senses by enrapturing your soul with witch like abilities...

After releasing the demo "In Vulva Infernum", the mysterious duo behind Menace Ruine started to play gigs around Canada. The Montreal band soon caught the attention of the Canadian label Alien 8 which already released other bands which had metal influences on their sound. The first album by Menace Ruine contains seven tracks and despite some black metal influences (see the vocals on the opening "Process of bestialization") and some obsessive percussive parts, the band is capable of creating a convincing mix of dissonant melodies, despair and tension which find its top on "Kill the egregore". On this one we have a razor like sound which seems to come from the sewer where a guitar which sounds like an Farfisa organ duet with a rumbling percussive tambourine and a female chant. "They who enter caves" has a similar scheme but the male vocals are less original because follow the black metal rule of having bleeding sore throats on vocals. If you don't consider that, CULT OF RUINS will sound different to your ears and you'll appreciate the mud which will drip from your speakers...

After publishing the Dead Beat Project, Aesthetic Death is releasing another solo album by a member of Esoteric. This time we have Gordon Bicknell, Esoteric's guitarist, who under the Lysergene moniker is bringing us a good album titled CRITICAL MASS. The album has nine tracks which are in balance from ambient industrial, industrial e.b.m. and 70's cosmic ambience. The album opens with the main track and just after one minute of tense ambient sounds it literally explodes proposing a multitude of sounds: on the background we have light industrial percussions, upfront we have a drum machine which duets with distorted horns and synth layers which gone mad. An intricate web of sounds which only apparently is chaotic. "Twisted and evil" is less chaotic and it's a sort of continuum to the opening one. It starts like an ambient track just to turn into a rhythmic tribal electronic dance. "Monolith" is pure industrial e.b.m. while "L.s.d." starts like an ambient track just to turn into a cinematic electronic tune. "Neon flow" and "Network tv" are ideally linked to "Monolith" bringing more instrumental industrial e.b.m. to the menu. With "The groke" the album changes and we have a sort of industrial version of Sunn o))) just to turn again on a more ambient industrial e.b.m. ambience on "The becoming". "Shock treatment" closes the album with a blast, proposing a mix of all the above. If you love cinematic tense atmospheres, ambient industrial CRITICAL MASS and 70's electronic as well as kraut rock, try this one...

Ariel's new album brings the pop back into shoegaze, while lots of bands of the new generation are more focused on the atmospheres. The comparisons could be sunnier side of Secret Shine and the most accessible Spiritualized (how I miss them...). The opening track is called "Introduction" and is using many layers; it's hard to pigeonhole but it is somehow clichéed and reminds me of a guitar version of Herrmann & Kleine earlier stuff. "The Battle Of Sealand" contains at least two outstanding tracks, the first is "Sugar Crystals" which features Ulrich Schnauss and it's a mind blowing example of nu-gaze - I'm sure this will be a classic in their repertoire; the other one is "Mermaid In A Manhole" (quite strange to find a reference to a very graphic movie of the infamous Guinea Pig series on a record like this). The record is amazingly recorded and there are lots and lots of fuzzes and layers of distorted guitars - but personally I liked Airiel better when they were experimenting with ambiences and drones.

Released by the Croatian D.I.Y. label Listen Loudest, FADING AWAY is the first album by Pndc (a.k.a. Pendrag Nedic). Member of the Serbian electronic ambient band Erogenius, Pendrag started working at some songs of his own in mid 2007, then he published some instrumental tracks on his myspace page. After receiving a good feedback he decided it was worth developing them. He was lucky enough to find a guy called Thanos (a.k.a. Housework) who was interested into collaborating by singing and writing lyrics. The fact is that Thanos not only is from Greece but he also lives there and the duo did everything through the net. The final result is really good and the particular electro wave songs produced, sound fresh and introspective. Listening to the album a couple of times I thought I was listening to an hybrid version of Bowie/Nick Cave dealing with dissonant electro-wave songs. Pendrag song construction seems to be always in search of a particular solution (sometimes experimenting also, like on "Oh my God it's true") which could make sound the song more interesting. At this purpose you can find reversed guitars, flangered bass guitar, catchy sinth lines, etc. The really deep and convincing vocals provided by Thanos are doing the rest and all these things make of FADE AWAY a perfect CD for whose who are needing something new into the new wave scene. Check some songs at the myspace link provided and you'll fall in love with "Disco disco" or "Pick up your tears". Mind that on the CD there aren't fill ins!