Keep Of Kalessin – Through Times Of War (1997)

 

Country: Norway

Tracklist

1. Through Times Of War 04:31
2. Den Siste Krig 04:43
3. As A Shadow Cast 06:09
4. I Choose To Suffer 06:50
5. Skygger Av Forg 05:22
6. Obliterator 05:42
7. Nectarious Red / Itch 14:19

Keep Of Kalessin is a Norwegian extreme metal band from Trondheim, formed in 1993.
The group's early lineup consisted of Ghash on vocals, Obsidian C. (the group founder) on guitars and keyboards,

Warach on bass, and Vyl on drums.
Two albums were released under this lineup, "Through Times Of War" in 1997,

and "Agnen: A Journey Through The Dark" in 1999, before splitting up.
Obsidian C. then toured with Satyricon, but revived the the band in 2003 with the release of the EP "Reclaim"

and all new members featuring Frost (Satyricon, 1349) on drums and Attila Csihar (Mayhem, Tormentor etc.) on vocals.
This line-up did not last and fell apart because of the distances between the band members.
In 2006, Obsidian C. once again reconstituted the group with a new lineup

and released two albums "Armada" in 2006 and "Kolossus" in 2008.
These releases brought a good attention from mainstream media in Norway

and as a result Keep Of Kalessin was nominated for a Spellemannprisen in the metal category in 2008.
In 2010 they also entered a song in the the annual competition Melodi Grand Prix,

to select Norway's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest, but they failed finishing in the 3rd place overall.
The band released its fifth album, "Reptilian" in 2010 demonstrating a deviation

from the black metal influenced sound of their previous music in favor of a more extreme metal sound.
Two more albums followed, "Epistemology" in 2015 and "Katharsis" in 2023.

 
Memory

Black Tape For A Blue Girl – This Lush Garden Within (1993)

Country: United States

Tracklist

1. Left, Unsaid 04:37
2. The Broken Glass 03:38
3. We Exist, Entwined 05:17
4. Overwhelmed, Beneath Me 03:20
5. This Lush Garden Within 01:49
6. The Christ In The Desert 06:29
7. The Turbulence And The Torment 05:44
8. The Flow Of Our Spirit 03:28
9. Into The Garden 04:10
10. Decomposed By The Fire Of The Firmament 04:14
11. Gravity's Angel 01:50
12. On Broken Shells Of Crystal Dreams 06:40
13. Our Future Imagined 03:21

Black Tape For A Blue Girl is an American dark wave band formed in 1986

by keyboardist/songwriter Sam Rosenthal, the founder of Projekt Records.
Their music has elements of dark wave, ethereal, ambient, neoclassical, and dark cabaret.
The band released seven albums in their first 13 years, covering the mid-80s through late-90s.

Their debut album "The Rope" was released in 1986.

The band's line-up consisted of a core of Sam Rosenthal,

Allan Kraut (on multiple instruments, including drums and guitars) and vocalist and guitarist Oscar Herrera.
Their second album, "Mesmerized By The Sirens", was released a year later, followed by "Ashes In The Brittle Air" in 1989,

"A Chaos Of Desire" in 1991 and "This Lush Garden Within" in 1993.

The core members through this period were Rosenthal and Herrera, with a variety of guest musicians.
Recording of "Remnants Of A Deeper Purity" began in 1995 in Los Angeles and was concluded in 1996.

This was the second album to feature Lucian Casselman on vocals and Vicki Richards on violin.
In 1999, the band released "As One Aflame Laid Bare By Desire", with Oscar Herrera singing two songs on the album

as a parting favor to Rosenthal. The album owes some artistic inspiration to Marcel Duchamp.
Julianna Towns returned for female vocals and also provided guitar arrangements.

After a 15 city tour in July 1998 in preparation for the album's release, she was ejected from the band.
Elysabeth Grant joined the band as violist, but she soon became the lead vocalist

for the band's seventh studio album, "The Scavenger Bride".
Male vocal duties were given to Bret Helm (of Audra) and Athan Maroulis (of Spahn Ranch).
"The Scavenger Bride" was released in 2002, with only two live appearances, as Rosenthal's son was born.
Two years later, the album "Halo Star" was released, which shifted the vocal focus to Bret Helm.
This release also marked a change in the band's lush, ethereal sound,

with a dark cabaret musical style, very similar to the Dresden Dolls and Katzenjammer Kabarett.
In 2009 Athan Maroulis, who appeared on two songs on "The Scavenger Bride" album,

as well as on a cover of Dead Can Dance's "Fortune Presents Gifts Not According To The Book", took over as lead vocalist.
On September 22, 2009, the band released their 10th album, "10 Neurotics",

with the lineup of Rosenthal on acoustic guitar, programming and keyboards,

Brian Viglione (The Dresden Dolls) on drums, percussion, bass and guitar,

and vocalists Maroulis (Spahn Ranch), Laurie Reade (ex-Attrition) and Nicki Jaine on additional vocals.
From 2013 to 2021 four more albums were released while their 30th anniversary in 2016 with the release of "These Fleeting Moments", was marked with the return of original vocalist Oscar Herrera after 17 years absence from the music scene.

 
Memory

Agonije – Testament (1994)

Country: Italy

Tracklist

1. Testament 05:23
2. Adieu, Les Jours 04:33
3. Désir De L'Âme 03:33
4. Millenium 04:57
5. De Loin (Deuxième Movement) 04:05
6. À La Lune 02:32
7. Jeux De Massacre 06:10
8. La Fin 05:30
9. Testament II (The Prelude) 11:53

Agonije was another project by Italian artist Angel G. Villani (also in Black Raven).
The first work of Agonije was published in 1991 with the cassette "Orgasme Du Temp" on the Italian label Hax.
Later in 1992 some tracks from the cassette appeared on the Italian compilation "Tecnologie Del Movimento II".
"Testament" was released in 1994 on the Swiss label Allegoria 

and recorded at Acqualuce Studio and Radio Video Studio in Turin between 1993-94.

 
Memory

Incarnator – Nordic Holocaust (Demo 1992)

Country: Norway

Tracklist

1. In Nocturnal Glory (Bonus Track) 05:04
2. Part I 04:14
3. Part II 03:50

Underground one man black metal project created by Bård Titlestad (aka Zyphrianus)

in the end of 1991 and hailing from the southern part of Norway, Stavanger, Rogaland.

The line up at the beginning except Zyphrianus on vocals and guitars also featured Sanrabb (of the Gehenna fame)

on the guitars but shortly after he left searching for other musical tasks.
The first recording was the promo track "In Nocturnal Glory",

created in February 1992 with Zyphrianus handling all the instruments and vocals.

Later that year by mid-October Zyphrianus went to Sound Suite Studios to record the two track demo "Nordic Holocaust".

Both recordings were passed only to close friends and contacts around the world.

By that time Euronymous of Mayhem got very interested in Incarnator's material

to the point of offering Zyphrianus a contract for a debut album on his Deathlike Silence Productions label.

Of course nothing happened due to Euronymous' death in 1993.

After all these incidents Zyphrianus returned to the isolation he came from,

loosing interest in the then growing black metal scene, which, at his eyes, was getting too much attention from outsiders.
The Memory link features as bonus the promo track "In Nocturnal Glory".

Memory

Pauline Oliveros – Accordion & Voice (1982)

Country: United States

Tracklist

1. Horse Sings From Cloud 22:14
2. Rattlesnake Mountain 22:03

Pauline Oliveros (May 30, 1932 – November 24, 2016) was an American composer, accordionist

and a central figure in the development of post-war experimental and electronic music.
She was a founding member of the San Francisco Tape Music Center in the 1960s, and served as its director.

She taught music at Mills College, the University of California, San Diego (UCSD),

Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Oliveros authored books, formulated new music theories, and investigated new ways to focus attention on music

including her concepts of "deep listening" and "sonic awareness", drawing on metaphors from cybernetics.
"Accordion & Voice" was the first of her recordings as a soloist.

The tracks rather than initiating musical impulses of motion,

melody and harmony represent the subtlety of a tone taking space and time to develop.

The tones linger and resonate in the body, mind, instrument and performance space.

For my beloved father

 

Memory

Bearer Of The Inmost Sun – Destroyed Beauty (7'' EP 1999)

Country: Austria

Tracklist

1. Fate Of Resistance 08:31
2. Hail Jerusalem! 05:18
3. Empire 04:59

One-man project created by Eric Sinister-Dexter (Operation Julmond, Der Blutharsch)

that released only one 7" EP in addition to some compilation contributions.
Another 10" EP was planned to be released on the German label Membrum Debile Propaganda, but was never happened.
At the few live concerts (featuring Jörg Lanz from Amestigon, Graumahd and Der Blutharsch, among others),

further unreleased tracks were performed while some were included on various artists compilations,

the rest remain unreleased to this day.

Memory

Masaharu Iwata – Baroque Original Soundtrack (1998)

Composer: Masaharu Iwata

Tracklist

01. Great Heat 20320514 02:31
02. Into Our Trespasses 01:06
03. Sanctuary 03:04
04. Iraiza 02:47
05. Confusion 03:04
06. A Style Of Baroque 01:13
07. Namu Ami 03:08
08. Little 02:31
09. One Foot In The Grave 03:32
10. Alice in 03:29
11. One 02:40
12. Neverending Cycle 00:57
13. Multiplex 03:59
14. Hold Baroque Inside 04:10
15. Deep Interludium (John Pee) 01:47
16. Baroque 204 Forest (Toshiaki Dakoda) 01:02
17. Baroque 205 Blue (Toshiaki Dakoda) 01:21
18. Baroque 206 Black (Toshiaki Dakoda) 00:37
19. Proto One 03:01
20. Proto Two 02:09
21. Miraculous Loop (Haruko Aoki) 06:36
22. Timelessness 06:32

Baroque is a roguelike role-playing video game developed by Sting Entertainment.

It was originally released for the Sega Saturn in 1998 by Entertainment Software Publishing,

then ported to the PlayStation the following year.

A remake for PlayStation 2 and Wii was released in Japan by Sting Entertainment in 2007 and later overseas in 2008.
Baroque is set in a post-apocalyptic world,

where an experiment to understand the Absolute God caused devastating climate change,

with surviving humans becoming physically twisted by manifestations of guilt.

This experiment was led by a being called Archangel.

The protagonist is guided by Archangel through the Neuro Tower to find the Absolute God and fix the world.

All versions of the game feature dungeon-crawling through randomly-generated floors of the Neuro Tower,

with deaths in the dungeon advancing the narrative.

The original uses a first-person perspective,

while he remake includes a third-person camera and adjustable difficulty levels.
The game was conceived by Kazunari Yonemitsu,

who was involved in multiple aspects of its design and created the narrative.

Originally in production for the PC-9800 series, Yonemitsu's wish for 3D graphics resulted in it shifting to the Saturn.

Its dark tone, a reaction to Yonemitsu's previous work, was influenced by European cinema and film noir.

The gameplay drew inspiration from Torneko no Daibōken: Fushigi no Dungeon.

The music was composed by Masaharu Iwata, who blended ambient noise and sound samples into the tracks.

Baroque was supported with several supplementary products, including a visual novel based on a promotional novella.

The remake featured new staff and several changes,including redone character designs from Kenjiro Suzuki and replacement music by in-house composer Shigeki Hayashi.
The music of Baroque was composed and arranged by Masaharu Iwata,

who had previously worked with Sting Entertainment on Treasure Hunter G.

When asking for music, Yonemitsu requested tracks that did not sound like music,

using the natural sound backgrounds of documentaries as reference

for creating natural emotion in an audience without using a separate musical track.

Sometimes as descriptions, Yonemitsu would send Iwata a short poem,

but even then it was difficult for Iwata to create satisfactory tracks.

When Iwata complained about a lack of reference material, Yonemitsu found some suitable musical tracks,

notably music from the anime Night Head and Adiemus albums by Karl Jenkins.

The tracks were designed to be listened to alongside the in-game sound effects.
The first song created for the soundtrack was "Sanctuary".

Originally planned as a story location theme, it was reused as a dungeon track.

While an opening theme was created by in-house composer Toshiaki Sakoda,

Iwata was asked to create a new opening theme.

Something he was able to do on the project that was new to him

was adding in sound effects to increase the ambience impact of his tracks.

The track was half a minute too long, so in-game it was cut short while the album release featured the full track.

The track "Confusion" was made entirely with sound effect samples.

He considered his strangest theme to be the track "Namu Ami", which he described as a meaningless Buddhist-like chant.

His last song was the staff roll "Hold Baroque Inside", which was a subdued piece based on the game's story themes.

Iwata described both the game's content and the music he had to create for it as entirely new to him at the time,

and was impressed by Yonemitsu's vision despite not understanding it at times.

Yonemitsu named all the tracks.

Memory