Monday 31 May 2021

Blackwinds – The Black Wraiths Ascend (7'' EP 1999)


Country: Sweden

Tracklist
1. The Black Wraiths Ascend 06:38
2. The Watchers 02:47
3. Share My Doom 05:40

Blackwinds was Lord Mysteriis (Setherial, ex-In Battle etc.) project
which he formed around 1998 during Setherial's downtime.
In 1999 he released the debut EP "The Black Wraiths Ascend"
with the help of Zathanel (Blot Mine, ex-Sorhin, ex-Setherial etc.) on bass
and Lord Kraath (Setherial, ex-Egregori) who handled the vocal work and guitars.
The EP was released through Bloodstone Entertainment in a limited edition of 300 hand numbered copies
and was recorded and produced by the band at Greencastle Studio.
After a long hiatus
Blackwinds gave a sign of existence in 2008 with the release of "Origin"
that presented the three tracks from the sold out debut EP plus four unreleased tracks
featuring Infaustus (Sorghegard, ex-Setherial) on vocals.
The same year Blackwinds released their first, and only, full length album "Flesh Inferno" on Regain Records.

Saturday 29 May 2021

Gil Mellé – The Andromeda Strain (1971)


Composer: Gil Mellé

Tracklist
1. Wildfire 02:46
2. Hex 04:00
3. Andromeda 02:24
4. Desert Trip 04:14
5. The Piedmont Elegy 02:23
6. OP 02:45
7. Xenogenesis 02:40
8. Strobe Crystal Green 04:55

The Andromeda Strain is a 1971 American science fiction thriller film produced and directed by Robert Wise.
It is based on Michael Crichton's 1969 novel of the same name and adapted by Nelson Gidding.
The film stars Arthur Hill, James Olson, Kate Reid, and David Wayne
as a team of scientists who investigate a deadly organism of extraterrestrial origin.
With a few exceptions, the film follows the book closely and it is notable for its use of split screen in certain scenes.
The Andromeda Strain was one of the first films to use advanced computerized photographic visual effects,
with work by Douglas Trumbull, who had pioneered effects for 2001: A Space Odyssey,
along with James Shourt and Albert Whitlock who worked on The Birds.
Reportedly $250,000 of the film's budget of $6.5 million was used to create the special effects, 
including Trumbull's simulation of an electron microscope.
The film contained a faux computer rendering, created with conventional film-making processes,
of a mapped 3-D view of the rotating structure of the five-story cylindrical underground laboratory
in the Nevada desert named Project Wildfire.
A 2003 publication by the Infectious Diseases Society of America noted that The Andromeda Strain is:
"the most significant, scientifically accurate, and prototypic of all films of this (killer virus) genre,
as it accurately details the appearance of a deadly agent, its impact, and the efforts at containing it,
and, finally, the work-up on its identification and clarification on why certain persons are immune to it."
The soundtrack of the fim was composed by Gilbert John Mellé (31 December 1931 – 28 October 2004),
an American artist, jazz musician and film composer.
Melle was born in New York City, where he was raised by a family friend after his parents abandoned him at the age of two.
As a child, he began painting and playing saxophone as a teen.
Before he was 16 years old, he was playing several jazz clubs in Greenwich Village.
At the age of 19, he signed to Blue Note, becoming the first white musician on the label’s roster.
At Blue Note, he released five 10'' EP records before recording his first full-length "Patterns In Jazz", in 1956.
In addition to recording and performing jazz, Melle continued with his artwork
and his paintings and sculptures were displayed at several New York galleries,
while his art was featured on his own albums, as well as records by Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, and Thelonius Monk.
He left Blue Note shortly after the "Patterns In Jazz" sessions, signing with Prestige.
Between 1956 and 1957, he recorded three albums for Prestige ("Primitive Modern", "Gil’s Guests", and "Quadrama"),
before deciding to halt his career as a traditional jazz bandleader.
Melle moved to Los Angeles in the ’60s, where he began to compose scores for film and television.
Over the next 30 years, he wrote scores for over 125 films.
He also began working with electronic music, building his own synthesizers, including (arguably) the first drum machine
and performing with the first all-electronic jazz band, the Electronauts, at the tenth Monterey Jazz Festival.
In 1967, he returned to recording with "Tome VI", an all-electronic jazz album released on Verve.
He continued to pioneer electronic music, writing scores for the tv series Night Gallery
and The Andromeda Strain entirely with synthesizers, which was unheard of at the time.
In addition to writing music for films, he composed several symphonies,
which he performed with symphony orchestras in Toronto, London, and New Zealand.
During the mid-’90s, Melle decided to concentrate on the visual arts,
in particular his computer-based digital painting, which drew great acclaim from art critics across America.
The Andromeda Strain was originally released by Kapp Records as a hexagon-shaped vinyl,
housed in an elaborate folded pod-shaped sleeve featuring an insert with folding instructions.

Friday 28 May 2021

Hel – Orloeg (1999)

 
Country: Germany
 
Tracklist
 1. Erlkönig 07:24
2. Mutter Erde 05:56
3. Wunden 03:38
4. Zeitenwende 04:51
5. Fimbulwinter 07:45
6. Der Weg Ist Das Ziel 06:28
7. Der Alte Mann 08:47
8. Der See 04:44
9. Ragnarök 07:51
10. Spuren 02:54
 11. Windows (At The Gates Bonus Cover) 04:46
12. Through Blood By Thunder (Bathory Bonus Cover) 06:21
13. Cold Ways (Katatonia Bonus Cover) 05:37


Hel was a German pagan black metal band that was created in 1994 by Valdr.
In 1995 he released in limited numbers the first demo entitled "Miölnir".
A keyboardist helped him out, but the result didn't really meet his expectations.
In 1997 Skaldir joined him and together they released their second demo "Gedanken Und Erinnerung".
The demo caught the attention of Ars Metalli 
and a contract was signed for the release of their first full length album "Orloeg" in 1999.
After a long pause Hel recorded in 2004 the 10" EP "Pagan Midgard Art"
that was published by Det Germanske Folket in 473 copies.
From 2005 to 2012 three more albums were released before the band decided to split up.