Residing in the music of England, Film Noir World is a project by a one man band and producer who makes music that have a movie soundtrack feel. From love, adventure, to suspense, thriller, mysterious, action, and horror. Interesting cd I must say. A combining elements of electronic, trip-hop, and hip-hop. "It's Here" is a study diversity and benefits greatly from it. A persistent range of orchestral & relating strings and choir cliched phrases that Film Noir World has somehow twisted and warped just enough of a common thread holding it all together to make it work in a brilliant way. Multifaceted and brimming with an eclectic sound. A perfect hybrid of this album project. The BBC and Hollywood in the USA may give this one man music producer his big break. He deserves it! The framework of the music is an exploring of complexities. A patchwork from start to finish. Film Noir World proves that it is possible to create music that is both powerful and melodic while, at the same time, conveying some human emotion, and penetrates to the emotional heart. All fourteen tracks do have the attention to gain respect from, and to me, that's important. An admirable and brave collection of tracks to say at least, which is quite impressive and an achievement.

Tracklistings:


1. Fallen Into Black
2. Something Dark
3. How Can I
4. The Sea
5. Fear
6. It's A Horror
7. Ghost Train
8. Top Of The Tower
9. Came From The Deep
10. Face At The Window
11. City Of Gold
12. She's On Fire
13. Go For The Kill
14. Closing Credits

I had not heard of this band before receiving this in the mail. My first thoughts were, "Life in Sodom? Chain DLK didn’t send me black metal to review, did they?" I was relieved when I put it in the CD player and heard some standard gothic rock / darkwave. According to their website, this disc is "a driving 6 song CD EP geared for the dance floor." I’m not sure if I agree with that statement. This has a beat, but overall the songs seem too atmospheric to be very club friendly. For example, "Starving Hunger" seems to clock in at just over 80bpm. It has a nice slow groove, and soulful lyrics, but not quite what I think of when I think dance music. One disappointment is that "And Then We Fall" (track 5) is just "The Stains" (track 1) with most of the vocals removed. "Your Silence is Indifference" doesn’t quite seem to fit on this album, but it’s an interesting acoustic piece – sort of has a Christian Death feel to it. Overall, the feel is somewhere between Rosetta Stone and Black Tape for a Blue Girl without sounding too much like either of them. If this sounds good, give it a try. The disc runs just over 25 minutes.

Formed at the end of the '80s and active for almost the whole '90s Chemlab toured with NIN and recorded for Metalblade, Invisible and Underground Inc. The original band disbanded in 1997 and in 2004 the band re-born with the release of "Oxidizer" with Jared Louche helped by different guests. This tribute compilation sees sixteen bands of the alternative electronic industrial scene giving their version of Chemlab songs. FleshField, Cyanotic, UCNX, 16 Volt, Hindu Pez, Infocollapse, Fetish Project, K-Nitrate, Insight 23, Typozorg, Cross Contamination, Upon Eventual Collapse, Amorphite, Idiot State and D.Grey give their best creating a mixture of electro industrialism always in balance between pure electronic (see 16 Volt with their dreamy version of "Neurozone", Fetish Project with "Derailer", K-Nitrate with their "White line fever mix" of "Codeine, glue & you", The Vinegar Works with their acid industrial version of "Pink" and D.Gray with a minimal experimental "Suture"), industrial electro guitarism (Fetish Field with "Chemical Halo - Brusied Regeneration Suture", Cyanotic with "Suicidal jag", Ucnx with 21st Century - Head Like A Whore Mix or Hindu Pez with "Exile on mainline" to name a few) and goth electronics with Amorphite (their version of "Pyromance" isn't perfect and sometimes it seems out of sync but it is a particular one). The various tracks work and also Jared Louche wrote to Momt to express his satisfaction...

EVEN VAST is a Italian band which formed in 1998 after the split of the CHAOS AND TECHNOCRACY, and this is their third album after "Hear Me Out" (1999) and "Outsleeping" (2001). Their music is sometimes described as Gothic Metal, even though I think they don’t deserve a so repressive definition: maybe they’re more rock-oriented and open minded than the other bands stitched to slow-and-sad riff with ethereal voice cliché. You can understand their ability to mix different approaches looking how they can combine an aggressive rock with some American influences (Breakaway) together with guitar riffs sometimes wisely influenced by the best New Wave-Dark (Limelight above all), and a voice that know how to be melodic, sweet and involving at the same time. JOY DIVISION’s cover Love Will Tear Us Apart completely enforces this opinion of a fusion between rock and new wave, and it’s a well made version with a more aggressive feeling, where the band emphasised the pop potential the original song already had.
Good is the rhythm section, without moments of real outstanding but doing very well their work, while the electronic samplers contribute to give the album that modern and fresh sound today seems to be a need, at times adding a bit to the groove and forcing you to shake the head while listening (see the intro of Misbecoming). This record I think will be more appreciated by melodic metal or THE GATHERING fans than by Dark-Gothic ones now obsessed with batcave imagery, but EVEN VAST made a good album, that’s for sure, and they deserve to be listened. Sweet melodies, a powerful and melodic music perfect for being the soundtrack of your most intense moments (I’m thinking of a movie scene with a long drive in the night obsessed by thoughts or going to face the future). The more you listen to it the more you will do it again.

Miriam is an Italian band formed back in 1998. They took their name from the Italian title of the 1983 movie "The hunger" (it was "Miriam si sveglia a mezzanotte"). After a demo CD and a member line up change (Massimo Bandiera joined them) the band released their first official album for Decadance Records in 2002. After five years of work they are releasing this month their second album titled WHEN BEAUTY IS INVISIBLE. Since the first songs of the album you can realize how much care they put into production. Their style, which I'll call "shoegaze electronics" due to their electronic instrumentation and to their lushious atmospheres which recalled me Breathless and Cranes, is able to create an good ambience made of fluctuating eletronic layers and reverbered guitars. For sure you have to be in the right mood to listen to this CD because most of the the tracks are mellow melancholic mid tempo songs with whispered female vocals. After five tracks I must admit that even if the band is able to create a good encharmed atmosphere I had to take a break. Sometimes some upbeat rhythms surfaces like on "Endless", a track which remembered me the old Clan Of Xymox atmosphere with updated sounds. A cover of "Nightporter" closes the album: the band did a difficult choice because Daniela vocals can't recreate the emotions I felt with David Sylvian but I must admit that the instrumental part is good. If electronic wave is your style check this out...