Monday 27 November 2017

Stromlinie – Tunnel (10'' EP 1996)


Country: Germany

Tracklist
1. Tunnel 08:38
2. Kanal 04:56
3. Ursprung 03:27
4. U-Bahn-Fahrt 04:35
5. Windkanal 04:25

Nicky Lahne is the main person behind this German project from the city of Magdeburg.
"Tunnel" ep was Lahne's first release that was written and performed through 1995-'96 
and was released as a collaboration between Ant-Zen and Emty Music labels on a limited edition of 495 copies.
The project is still active today but the musical direction has changed leaning to a more electronic break-beat style.

Sunday 19 November 2017

Umbra – Ater (1999)


Country: Poland

Tracklist
 1. Evil Rules 02:18
2. Ashes 05:52
3. Bitters 04:26
4. No Sun 04:43
5. Fobia 05:59
6. Utter Darkness 05:13
7. Terror 02:56
8. The Realm 02:40
9. Din 06:08

 Umbra is a Polish dark ambient band that created in 1998 in in Zielona Gora.
The group was formed by vocalist Eliza (aka eLL

and keyboardist Maciej Niedzielski (mostly known as a member of the band Artrosis).
The band's first album "Ater" was released in 1999 by the Fluttering Dragon Records label.
In 2002 a split album entitled "Possum Play Falcon" with the Norwegian band Ildfrost was released.
Soon after, the band changed the name from Umbra to Sui Generis Umbra.
That same year, the group signed a deal with Metal Mind Productions, and released their album "Coma".
A year later, eLL starred in the independent film titled "Intellect Kollapse

that was directed by Geryon, the leader of the group Profanum, and released in 2005 on DVD.
In 2004 , the group's third album, "Amok", was released and was followed by shows at Castle Party Festival (Poland) 

and Menuo Juodaragis Festival (Lithuania).
Since then eLL has moved to Scotland and the band has made a few live appearances in festivals 

while some tracks have been created but the plans for the new release are still unknown.

Sunday 12 November 2017

XIII – Salt (1994)


Country: Iceland

Tracklist
1. Zoot 06:20
2. Ghost 05:53
3. Cat 03:40
4. Thirteen 03:59
5. Hammer Down 05:23
6. Home 03:10
7. Pupate 04:43
8. Slavedriver 04:45
9. Crime 05:14
10. Serpents Child 01:12
11. Moon 05:24
12. Family Affairs 05:35
13. Necropolis 06:52

XIII (aka 13, Thirteen) was founded in 1993 by Hallur Ingólfsson.
The band released its first album in 1994 entitled “Salt”.
The music was dark and heavy and had an immediate place in the international alternative/rock scene.
In 1996 “Serpentyne” was released and introduced a slightly more refined sound but still quite dark and demanding.
In 1997 XIII went on a very successful tour around Germany to support the album.
After the tour the band went on hiatus and was not active until 2002 when it released it’s third album “Magnifico Nova”.
Again the album received favorable reviews and the album was very successful in the European market.
In 2009 they resumed work and has since been very active on the rock scene in Iceland.
On the 13th of September 2010 XIII’s latest release, "Black Box", was launched.
"Black Box" is a double album including a collection of XIII’s best songs of the first three albums 
together with 6 brand new songs as well as a remake of the "Wishbone" song from "Magnifico Nova".
At the same time XIII’s complete back catalog was remastered and re-released in digital format.
In addition to this the band is hard at work playing live and working on writing material for its next album.