Death Ambient – Death Ambient (1995)

Country: Japan / England

Tracklist

1. Prophecy 07:23
2. Imperial Thorn 07:49
3. Hedgetrimmer 02:31
4. Alchemy 02:41
5. Heart Set 00:49
6. Rain 01:57
7. Broken Blue 02:17
8. Loquat Tree 02:51
9. White Eye 02:37
10. Coyote Got Away 04:43
11. A Dead Staphylococcus Looks Like A Skull 01:46
12. Heart Set 00:31
13. Loading And Running 01:14
14. Flash 05:33
15. Ways Out 03:54

 

Experimental/ambient music trio consisting of Kato Hideki (bass guitar), Ikue Mori (drum machines), and Fred Frith (guitar).

Death Ambient was formed by Hideki and Mori in 1995 and released three albums,

"Death Ambient" (1995), "Synaesthesia" (1999) and "Drunken Forest" (2007).
Kato Hideki, a Japanese bass guitarist and founding member of Ground Zero, moved to New York City in 1992.

He started working with Christian Marclay, Marc Ribot, John Zorn and also collaborated with Dying Ground.

In 1995, he began collaborating with Ikue Mori, who had been the drummer for DNA.

After DNA disbanded, Mori experimented with modified drum machines to play samples of music, 

before shifting entirely to laptop computer-based music creation.
Guitarist Fred Frith (of Henry Cow), who had lived in New York City for fourteen years

and collaborated with many experimental music musicians, was invited by Mori and Hideki to the join the group.
According to Mori, the aim of Death Ambient was "to create sounds and texture extravaganza.".
Death Ambient recorded their first self titled album at Green Point Studio in Brooklyn in 1995, 

featuring a collection of improvised pieces that included Mori's drum machine generated sound samples.

The album was released the same year in the New Japan series on John Zorn's Tzadik record label.
In 1997 guitarist James Plotkin temporarily replaced Frith for a UK tour that included concerts in London and Stirling.

The London concert was broadcast on BBC Radio 3's show, Mixing It.
Frith rejoined Death Ambient in 1998 and the trio gave a concert in Halle, Germany.
It was the first time the original trio had performed together as a group outside the recording studio.
In June 1999 they returned to New York City to record their second album "Synaesthesia",

using material from the concert in Germany.
In May 2007, after six years in the making, "Drunken Forest" was released,

also in Tzadik's New Japan series, with Jim Pugliese as a guest percussionist.
The trio (without Pugliese) performed the album live

at John Zorn's not-for-profit experimental music performance space, The Stone, on May 4 and 5, 2007.

Memory

Ad Inferos – Sinn (Demo 1997)

Country: Norway

Tracklist

1. Perspektiv 06:38
2. Hevn 07:32
3. Juvet 05:45

Ad Inferos was a black metal band from Norway that formed around mid 90s.
Their first demo was only spread in small quantities around friends of the band.
Their second demo "Sinn" was released in 1997 with the band performing melodic black metal

with slow parts, clean vocals and extended use of keyboards.
In 2000 Ad Inferos recorded the demo "Bloodlust (Devils Dance)"

that was published through the Greek label Demonion Productions.
The cassette offered three new tracks, one of them being a remix version, and also the tracks from their demo "Sinn".
One of these new tracks, "Bloodlust (The Devil's Dance)", was featured one year later

on their split 7" vinyl with Macabre Omen that was also the last release from the band.

Memory

Δαίμων – Δίκην Βοός Προς Βωμόν (Demo 1999)

Country: Greece

Tracklist

1. Εις Εστίαν (Μέρος ΙΙ) 02:05
2. Ancient Roots Of Antichrist 04:02
3. Παλλάς 04:40
4. Εις Εστίαν (Μέρος Ι) 01:36

Δαίμων (aka Daimon) was a pagan black metal/dungeon synth project

created in mid-late 90s in Athens with a lyrical focus on Hellenic paganism and antiquity.

The band consisted of Paris Matagos (vocals, guitars, bass), Giannis (guitars) and Aris (drums).

Two demos were released in 1999, "Δίκην Βοός Πρός Βωμόν" and "Τριετηρίκου"

both of them focusing in pagan Greek black metal style while their third one, "Hylas And The Nymphs", 

that was released around early 2000 took a different approach incorporating ambient/dungeon synth elements.

Memory

Cordis Cincti Serpente – Cordis Cincti Serpente (1989)

Country: Italy

Tracklist

1. The Sword Of The Lord 07:32
2. 7 Charkras / 10 Sephirot 09:50
3. A. A. 05:27
4. Fourteen Enochian Key 08:03
5. Astral Wandering 05:14
6. P.V.N. 10:16

Cordis Cincti Serpente is a ritual/dark ambient/post-industrial musical project

born in 1989 from an idea of Bari based musician Giovanni Lisi.
Lisi started his musical journey in the early 80s in the local punk scene as a bassist forming the group Bedlam Cage.

Soon he lost interest and moved on.
At the late 80s he met Ivan Iusco (Nightmare Lodge) of Minus Habens label and they quickly became friends.
Cordis Cincti Serpenteit was born spontaneously.
At that period Lisi practiced his esoteric studies strongly inspired by Aleister Crowley,

Kenneth Grant and Austin Osman Spare.
The debut cassette of the same name was released on December 23, 1989

containing six obscure ritual tracks with Ivan Iusco helping Lisi on electronics and producing the release.
The tape was printed in 31 copies and was given to friends and people interested in that kind of subject.
The next appearance of Giovanni Lisi was in 1993 with the collaboration project Nanaleth 23 

and the cassette "Submit To Desire" featuring Ivan Iusco, Paolo Bandera (Sigillum S, Sshe Retina Stimulants)

and David Padbury (aka Krist Wolf of The Grey Wolves).
The tape was produced as ritual music to be used as a soundtrack for the making of Magic Seals,

a practice borrowed from Austin Osman Spare who was the basis of the practices of the Temple Of Psychic Youth 

(founded by Genesis P. Orridge) that Lisi was a member at the time.
Lisi also collaborated with Russolo of Nightmare Lodge under the name Thee Naodema 

creating several songs that were released on various tape compilations.
By 1995 Lisi had announced that the next work from Cordis Cincti Serpente would be entirely centered on Cthulhu Mythos.
Instead of being released in 1996 as "Yuggoth" the album published by Industrial Ölocaust Recordings two decades later,

in May 2016 as "Noo Yuggoth", in a limited edition box set of two cassettes.
In September 2017, a new limited cassette was released again on IÖR entitled "Cenobitorium"

followed by the album "Mala O" in 2020.

"Cordis Cincti Serpente" was remastered and reissued in 2019 on limited cassette and CDr editions by IÖR.

Memory

Rites Of Darkness – Procreation Of The Dark Holocaust (Demo 1999)

Country: Greece

Tracklist

1. Intro - Procreation Of The Dark Holocaust 01:12
2. Pagan Dreams 05:55
3. Blasphemies Upon A Lost Dominion 03:45
4. Expressions Of My Macabre Desires 03:02
5. Toward's The Whispering Forest 02:14
6. The Fall The Othomanian Empire 02:14
7. Call From The Abyss 03:42
8. The Sign Of Evil Existence (Rotting Christ Cover) 01:18

Rites Of Darkness was a short lived black metal project created in the late 90s in Athens, Greece.
The band consisted of Enlil (vocals), Trollgrim (guitars) and Blackstorm (bass).
In 1999 a promo-demo was recorded entitled "Procreation Of The Dark Holocaust"

and a live performance was made around that time.
Warlord Sabathan Possessor (ex-Carpathian Lords, Caedes Cruenta, Cult Of Eibon etc.)

is also participating as a guest handling the drums.

Memory

Blood Original Soundtrack (1997)

Composers: Daniel Bernstein, Guy Whitmore, Mike Cody

Tracklist

1. Pestis Cruento 05:11
2. Unholy Voices 07:08
3. Dark Carnival 02:55
4. Infuscomus 04:37
5. Father Time 04:51
6. Waiting For The End 03:11
7. Fate Of The Damned 02:55
8. Double, Double, Toil And Trouble 02:08
9. Cryptic Passage 0:47

Blood is a 3D first-person shooter video game developed by Monolith Productions and published by GT Interactive.

The shareware version was released for MS-DOS on March 6, 1997,

while the full version was later released on May 21 in North America and June 20 in Europe.
The game follows the story of Caleb, an undead early 20th century gunslinger

seeking revenge against the dark god Tchernobog and features occult and horror themes.

Blood includes large amounts of graphic violence, a large arsenal of weapons

ranging from the standard to the bizarre, and numerous enemies and bosses.
Blood received largely positive reviews from critics upon its release, with many praising its creative level designs,

the humor (particularly its use of pop-culture references), atmosphere and its gameplay,

though some criticism was aimed at the game’s challenging difficulty.

It later gained a cult following from reviewers and it is considered to be one of the best games on the Build engine.
The Blood franchise was continued with two official expansion packs

titled Plasma Pak (developed by Monolith) and Cryptic Passage (developed by Sunstorm Interactive).

A sequel titled Blood II: The Chosen was later released on November 25, 1998.
The soundtrack to the game was composed by Daniel Bernstein, Guy Whitmore and Mike Cody.
Daniel Bernstein is a composer for video games and movies.

Born in Leningrad in the Soviet Union, he received a Bachelor in computer science

and an Master Of Arts in music composition from the University of Virginia.

Bernstein started in games in 1996 working in development and sound design.
He has also worked as a composer for Monolith Productions

where he collaborated with Guy Whitmore on titles such as Blood and Claw.

Outside of video games, he also wrote the soundtrack for the short movies "Kansas" in 1998 and "Maid Of Honor" in 1999.

Changing career, he joined WildTangent as the Director of Product Strategy, and later left in 2002 to create Sandlot Games.
While still acting as Sandlot's CEO, he returned to composition with the soundtrack to the film "The Penitent Man" in 2010.
Guy Whitmore is a composer specializing in video game music, notable for creating the soundtracks to Captain Claw,

Die Hard: Nakatomi Plaza, Russian Squares, Peggle 2, Shivers, Shivers II: Harvest of Souls,

Blood, Blood II: The Chosen, Shogo: Mobile Armor Division and No One Lives Forever.

He is the co-founder of a music production company called Music Design Network 

and a founding member of the Seattle Composers Alliance.
Guy Whitmore has specialized in creating "adaptive music" for video games, using techniques such as cross-fading,

location-based music, and techniques to render music "on-the-fly" rather than using "pre-rendered" linear tracks.

Memory

Krozier & The Generator – Tranceformer (1982)

Country: Australia

Tracklist

1. House Of The Sun 02:40
2. Khan-Khallili Razaar 03:27
3. The Devil May Care 08:23
4. Slave Traders 02:38
5. Land Of Unclean Spirits 04:03
6. Perhaps Reincarnation 02:02
7. House Of The Joker 08:27
8. Take A Look 04:56
9. Temple Of Exotic Delights 15:37
10. Feed You To The Sharks 01:47
11. Lapis-Lazuli 06:45
12. I´ll Be A Sphinx For You 01:37
13. Doubting Thomas 01:34
14. Paid Your Money 07:37

Geoff Krozier (Born Geofrey Thomas Crozier) was a music performance artist and avante garde magician.
His first connection with magik came when he amazed one of his teachers

by accurately predicting the placegetters in a school cross-country run.
A number of amateur appearances as an illusionist provided a slight insight into where he was going.
His first real break came whilst working as a set designer and props man for a Melbourne television station.

The booked act failed to turn up for a talent program, so he stood in and won.
Television appearances mushroomed nation wide, and by the late 1960’s the tendrils of rock and roll 

reached out and grabbed him and he often filled spots between main acts.
Geoff’s first real complete stage show came with the formation of Crozier’s Indian Medicine Show,

a wondrous show of pyrotechnics, smoke and lighting effects with multi-decibel rock and roll.
It would be a mistake however to assume that the shows were well planned or well rehearsed,

it was more like ‘hold on’ for the audience, and, ‘hang on tight’ for his band.

As Duncan Fry, one of Geoff’s earliest guitarists wrote:

“What he wanted was free-form continuous music for the 30 minutes or so that he performed,

while clouds of oily smoke, flashpots, and strobe lights alternately choked and dazzled the audience.

Most of the musicians who turned up for the audition couldn't handle such a laissez-faire attitude to the music side of things.

"But what songs are we going to play?" they would whine.

"No songs, just play, play" Geoff would reply, setting off another flashpot.”
Throughout the 1970’s Geoff and various incarnations of the Indian Medicine band toured Australia widely,

putting on performances, which ranged between brilliant and totally chaotic.

He was variously faced with stunned silence or rapturous scenes of mayhem as the audience went wild.
Despite the showings of appreciation, his act languished for the want of wider acceptance.

He lapsed into a deep depression and eventually left for America.

He worked with a variety of musicians and then disappeared again, this time to appear in Paris,

where he was the highlight act at the Olympia.
Another stint back in the USA followed, he formed Kongress, with noted keyboardist Otto Von Ruggins,

but he was tiring of the rock & roll element of his shows, and indeed felt a need to return to his native Australia,

and so it was he reappeared in Melbourne, Australia in the late 1970's.
It was then that he connected with the experimental group The Generator (aka Rainbow Generator),

a two-man outfit consisting of Rob Greaves on all manner of synths and rhythm machines

and David Labuschagne on guitar and synths.
Rainbow Generator had tried to produce something new and unheard in their studios.

Releasing dozens of tapes which were thrashed and no one ever seen them.

They come up with a full length in 1978 entitled "Dance Of The Spheres" 

that was released in 399 copies from which only 200 survived the floods.
Blending experimental electronics with tribal elements and using instruments like Didgeridoo

with some drony psychedelic rock fusions.
As Krozier & The Generator they played an intense series of shows in and around Melbourne in the later part of 1980.

In January 1981 he and the entire show, menagerie and all, relocated to the Fission Chips Studio

(a three story building in the squats of Woolloomooloo NSW), operated by Generator guitarist, David Labuschagne.
There was to be a lay-off while David shaped hours of recorded material together,

and Geoff devised a new set of illusions, all in preparation for a national tour.
Unfortunately Geoff Krozier died on May 17th 1981 at the age of 33,

from an accident at his home, before that tour manifested.
The double vinyl album "Trancerformer" was released in mid 1981 as a tribute to him

featuring tracks that were selected from recordings of the last live shows by the group,

between January 7th and 26th 1981, prior to Geoffrey´s death.
That album was subsequently re-released in in 2015 on the Finders Keepers label.

Memory