Songe D'Enfer / Miasthenia – Visions Of Nocturnal Tragedies (Split 1998)

Country: Brazil

Tracklist

1. Songe D'Enfer – Et Vidit Quod Esset Bonum... (Sublime Blasphemy) 05:32
2. Songe D'Enfer – My Lady Princess Of Hell (Conjuration To Gorgon) 05:36
3. Songe D'Enfer – My Visions In The Forest 08:00
4. Miasthenia – Introdução 01:43
5. Miasthenia – Hynno A Pã 11:49
6. Miasthenia – Faun - Trágica Música Noturna 12:01

Songe D'Enfer was formed in 1993 by Fog as a one-man project.
In 1994, Hashcloud, Lechis and Reston joined and with this line-up they recorded the demo "My Visions In The Forest",

that stood out amongst the few South American acts as having a very mid-90s European symphonic black metal sound.
Lechis left the band after the recording of the demo in 1995 and was replaced by Alexandre Kaffer in the beginning of 1996.
Hofgodhar joined in 1996 and was kicked out in 1998 over ideological differences.
The band hoped to release "My Visions In The Forest" on vinyl and record a new album in 2008, but have since parted ways.

The DVD "Live In Piracicaba" was released in 2008 by the band in an unknown limited amount of numbers.
Miasthenia was formed in early 1994, idealized by Hécate (vocal/guitar), Vlad ( bass/vocal) and Mictlantecutli (drums).
In 1995 they recorded the rehearsal-demo “Para O Encanto Do Sabbat...” that was distributed by Sound Riot.
In 1996 they recorded the demo "Faun - Trágica Música Noturna" in which they started including the keys to their music.

Hécate took place on the keyboards/vocals and the bass and Vlad the guitars and vocals.
At this very time began the proposals for concerts and because of that they decided to invite Mist to handle the bass.
In 1998 they had the demo "Faun - Trágica Música Noturna" re-released through Evil Horde Records

in a split CD together with the demo "My Visions In The Forest" of their countrymen Songe D'Enfer.
Since 1998 the compositions started basically from the keyboard lines and their lyrical themes gradually influenced

by pagan South American mythology and by the wars for the conquest of South America in the 16th century.
In 1999 Vlad left the band and Hécate took all the vocals along with the keyboards.

In order to have a full line-up they invited Thormianak to play the guitars.
His influence from the 80's metal school added a strong personality to the sound of the band.
From 1999 to 2000 the band worked on the production of its first album "XVI" released through Somber Music.
In 2004 they release the album "Batalha Ritual” and invited to take part in a mini tour as opening act 

for the Belgian band Enthroned and the Brazilian band Evilwar.
In 2005 Mictlantecutli (drums) left the band and was replaced by Hamon (Mythological Cold Towers, ex-Spell Forest).
In 2006 the band returns to the stages and performs some concerts in southeast of the country

and also in one of the biggest metal festivals in the country the “Brutal Devastation” in Belo Horizonte.
In April 2008 they release the conceptual album "Supremacia Ancestral"

that was inspired by a South American pagan resistance movement or sect against the indoctrination

in the colonial South America and based on Pre-Colombian profanations and apostasy.
From 2014 to 2017 Miasthenia released two more albums, "Legados Do Inframundo" and "Antípodas".

Memory

Dying Ground – Dying Ground (1998)

Country: Japan / United States

Tracklist

1. The Cruel One 05:04
2. Descension Of Vapors 06:03
3. Kripa 02:57
4. Ascension Into The Heavens 06:28
5. I Am Fire 02:15
6. One Eyed Wolf 05:46
7. The Chosen One 12:53

Dying Ground was a jazz-rock/avantgarde/experimental trio, composed of Eyvind Kang, Kato Hideki and G. Calvin Weston.
The band released in 1998 their only self titled album "Dying Ground"

that was essentially a live recording setting at New York's Knitting Factory venue in 1996.
Eyvindur Y. Kang (born 23 June 1971 in Corvallis, Oregon, United States) is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist. His primary instrument is viola, but has also performed on violin, tuba, keyboards and others.
In addition to his solo work, Kang has worked extensively with Bill Frisell, John Zorn

 while he has played viola and created string arrangements with different bands and artists like

Mr. Bungle, Secret Chiefs, Laurie Anderson, Blonde Redhead, Laura Veirs, The Stares, and many more.
Kato Hideki (born 1962 in Nagoya, Japan) is a Japanese musician and composer.

He was a seminal member of the Tokyo Noise music scene of the late 80s and early 90s,

collaborating with Japanese musicians such as Otomo Yoshihide, Tatsuya Yoshida, Makigami Koichi, and Yamatsuka Eye.

He also led his own bands, Player Piano and Bass Army.

He was a member of the original Ground Zero with Otomo and Uemura Masahiro.

In 1992 Kato moved to New York City where he still resides.
Since relocating to New York, Kato has recorded and performed with John Zorn, Marc Ribot, Christian Marclay,

Eyvind Kang, G. Calvin Weston, Billy Martin (percussionist), Nicolas Collins, Zeena Parkins, Charlie Burnham,

Karen Mantler, John King, Michael Schumacher, Chris Cochrane, Brian Chase and many others.
His collaborations include Dying Ground, Billy Martin's Socket, Phase III, Italian DOC Remix,and the Crescent Moon Trio.

He also has an electronic duo with James Fei. In 1995 he formed Death Ambient with Ikue Mori and Fred Frith

 and released three albums on the Tzadik label, including "Drunken Forest," in 2007.
In 2004 he formed the trio Green Zone, with Otomo Yoshihide and Uemura Masahiro,

the lineup of the original Ground Zero, but this time with Kato as leader.
His latest project is a rock'n'roll band, Plastic Spoon.
G. Calvin Weston was born June 6, 1959 in Philadelphia, PA.

He lived in North Philadelphia where he saw musicians like Stevie Wonder, The Jackson Five and James Brown.
Seeing his attention focused on the drums, his father bought him a small set.
In high school Calvin learned to read music and played second snare in the drum ensemble.

He co-founded the group Bad Influence which played in cabarets and clubs around Philadelphia.
At 17, Calvin joined Ornette Coleman's Prime Time band, with bass player Jamalaadean Tacuma,

his close friend from Philly, which toured extensively in North America and Europe.

After recording four albums with Prime Time, Calvin went on to play and record with guitarist James “Blood” Ulmer,

until he joined John Lurie's The Lounge Lizards in 1990.
During the late '90s Calvin recorded and toured with Billy Martin of Medeski Martin & Wood,

Tricky, Derek Baily, Mark Ribot, Jean-Paul Bourelly, Melvin Gibbs and James Carter.

He also played on several movie soundtracks including “Get Shorty”.
With Eyvind Kang and Kato Hideki he founded the trio Dying Grounds,

which also expanded into Socket with Shelley Hirsch and Billy Martin . The sextet Big Three followed in 2002.
He also has the group Free Form Funky Freqs with world guitarist, Vernon Reid and bass player, Jamalaadean Tacuma.

Memory

Neetzach – Pinseltronen (Demo 1995)

Country: Norway

Tracklist

1. Intro 01:20
2. Brennende 03:48
3. The Demon That Opened My Grave 04:04
4. The Haunting Spirit 02:43

Neetzach was formed in 1993 by Gidim Xul (guitar/vocal/bass/synths)

and a second member that committed suicide shortly after the foundation.
The band was arise from the ashes of the project Sworn (and Rhim Haigl?) that featured members

of Gehenna, Neetzach and Theater Of Tragedy but never recorded anything except a few rehearsals.
Soon Gidim Xul recruited Noctifier (bass) and Sanrabb (guitars) from Gehenna to help him

but by the end of 1994 both of them had left the band.

Even Dolgar (The Deviant, ex-Gehenna, ex-Forlorn etc.) and Sir Vereda (ex-Gehenna)

seems to had a short involvement with the project at some point.
In 1995 Gidim Xul released the demo "Pinseltronen" that featured four tracks of melodic black metal 

very similar in style with the early Gehenna albums.
After the demo Neetzach stayed dormant until 2005 when Vrangsinn (Carpathian Forest etc.)

and Dirge Rep (The Konsortium, ex-Gehenna etc.) joined Gidim Xul.
The same year ANP Records re-released "Pinseltronen" on MCD

and in 2006 their first full length "True Servants Of Satan" was finally published.
In 2020 White Wolf Productions reissued their demo on cassette as a special and standard limited editions.

Memory

John Carpenter And Jim Lang – In The Mouth Of Madness (1995)

Composers: John Carpenter And Jim Lang

Tracklist

1. In The Mouth Of Madness 05:28
2. Robby's Office 02:30
3. Axe Man 02:04
4. Bookstore Creep 00:52
5. The Alley Nightmare 00:59
6. Trent Makes The Map 02:14
7. A Boy And His Bike 03:06
8. Don't Look Down 01:16
9. Hobb's End 02:18
10. Pickman Hotel 01:11
11. The Picture Changes 02:20
12. The Black Church 04:50
13. You're Wrong, Trent 01:42
14. Mommy's Day 03:04
15. Do You Like My Ending? 02:05
16. I'm Losing Me 03:09
17. Main Street 04:37
18. Hobb's End Escape 02:23
19. The Portal Opens 03:06
20. The Old Ones Return 02:30
21. The Book Comes Back 04:03
22. Madness Outside 00:34
23. Just A Bedtime Story 03:44

"In The Mouth Of Madness" is a 1994 horror film directed and scored by John Carpenter and written by Michael De Luca.
It stars Sam Neill, Julie Carmen, Jürgen Prochnow, David Warner and Charlton Heston.
Neill stars as John Trent, an insurance investigator who visits a small town

while looking into the disappearance of a successful author of horror novels,

and begins to question his sanity as the lines between reality and fiction seem to blur.
The film is the third installment in what Carpenter refers to as his "Apocalypse Trilogy",

preceded by "The Thing" (1982) and "Prince of Darkness" (1987).
"In The Mouth Of Madness" pays tribute to the works of author H. P. Lovecraft in its exploration of insanity and its title,

the latter being derived from the Lovecraft novella "At The Mountains Of Madness".
The opening scene depicts Trent's confinement to an asylum,

with the bulk of the story told in flashback, a common technique of Lovecraft.

Reference is made to Lovecraftian settings and details (like a character that shares the name of Lovecraft's Pickman family).

Sutter Cane's novels have similar titles to H.P. Lovecraft stories:

"The Whisperer Of The Dark" (The Whisperer In Darkness), "The Thing In The Basement" (The Thing On The Doorstep), "Haunter Out Of Time" (The Haunter Of The Dark/The Shadow Out Of Time),

and "The Hobbs End Horror" (The Dunwich Horror), the latter also referencing Hobbs End underground station

from Nigel Kneale's "Quatermass And The Pit".
The film also referencing Stephen King, who, like Lovecraft, writes horror fiction set in New England hamlets.

In fact, the characters even directly compare King (unfavorably) to Sutter Kane within the film itself.
The soundtrack of the movie was co-written by John Carpenter and Jim Lang.
John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American filmmaker, actor and composer. 

Although Carpenter has worked with various film genres, he is associated most commonly with horror, action,

and science fiction films of the 70s and 80s while he is recognized as one of the greatest masters of the horror genre.
Most films of Carpenter's career were initially commercial and critical failures,

with the notable exceptions of "Halloween" (1978), "The Fog" (1980), "Escape From New York" (1981), and "Starman" (1984).

However, many of Carpenter's films have come to be considered as cult classics,

and he has been acknowledged as an influential filmmaker, movies like "Dark Star" (1974),

"Assault On Precinct 13" (1976), "The Thing" (1982), "Christine" (1983), "Big Trouble In Little China" (1986),

"Prince Of Darkness" (1987), "They Live" (1988), and "In The Mouth Of Madness" (1994).
Carpenter composed or co-composed most of his films and has released four studio albums, titled "Lost Themes" (2015),

"Lost Themes II" (2016), "Anthology: Movie Themes 1974–1998" (2017) and "Lost Themes III: Alive After Death" (2021).
In an interview he stated that it was his father's work as a music teacher, that first sparked an interest in him to make music.

Carpenter was an early adopter of synthesizers, since his film debut "Dark Star", when he used an EMS VCS3 synth.

His soundtracks went on to influence electronic artists who followed, but Carpenter himself admitted 

he had no particular interest in synthesizers other than that they provided a means to "sound big with just a keyboard".

For many years he worked in partnership with musician Alan Howarth, who would realize his vision

by working on the more technical aspects of recording, allowing Carpenter to focus on writing the music.
Carpenter is also narrator on the 2019 documentary film "The Rise Of The Synths" which explores the origins and growth

of the synthwave genre, and features numerous interviews with synthwave artists who cite Carpenter 

(alongside other early pioneers such as Vangelis, Giorgio Moroder and Tangerine Dream) as a significant influence.
James Volker Langknecht (born November 22, 1950), better known as Jim Lang, is an American composer

that worked with John Carpenter on the soundtracks of the films "Body Bags" (1993) and "In The Mouth Of Madness" (1994).

He is mostly known for scoring the Nickelodeon series "Hey Arnold!" (1996–2004),

its feature film, "Hey Arnold!: The Movie" (2002), and the television film, "Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie" (2017).

Memory

Mercantan – IX (1993)

Country: Germany

Tracklist

1. Alte Fahrt 03:39
2. Moor Leidtzten 11:04
3. Upstream 05:33
4. Five Degrees Centigrade 04:34
5. Meridian 05:04
6. Ramstein 03:31
7. Triterium 05:17
8. Gnomon 04:24
9. Block IV 06:22

German dark ambient / industrial project created (possibly) by Oliver Krause.
Mercantan self released in 1993 their debut album "IX" on cassette format, as a limited edition of 100 copies.
Two years later "IX" was re-released on CD by the German label Drag & Drop Industrial.
The track listing of the CD version was different from the cassette, with some songs been removed

and some others re-worked or having a longer duration.
The last appearance of the project was on the cassette release "At MST Concert 1"

that was a live recording of their performance on 16.12.1995 at the AZ Aachen

together with Salt, Pineal Gland Zirbeldruese and Q-Rare.
The Memory Link features both the CD and Cassette versions

and also three bonus tracks that were taken from Mercanta's participation on the compilations

"Auf Abwegen Kompilation" (1994) and "In Stahlgewittern - I Kapitel" (1995).

Memory

Abyssmal Nocturne – The Gates Beyond The Stars (Demo 1999)

Country: United States

Tracklist

1. Summoning The Infernal Storm 03:03
2. When Coldness Reigns The Earth 03:35
3. Through The Mist Of Battle 03:02
4. The Gates Beyond The Stars 04:49

Abyssmal Nocturne was formed in California in 1999

and was mostly known at the time for the participation of Nocturnal Overlord (ex-Crimson Moon).

The same year they released their demo "The Gates Beyond The Stars"

that featured four compositions of atmospheric occult black metal.

After a long hiatus the band released their debut album "From The Astral Abyss" in 2005

through the American label Spectral Arts Productions that was founded by their vocalist Blackstorm (aka Joe Walker).

Their last work was the EP "Death Gate Funeral" in 2010.

Since then the status of the band remains unknown.

Memory

Khephra – Khephra (MCD 1998)

Country: Italy

 Tracklist

1. Baptized In Blood 04:14
2. Khephra 04:41
3. Silent Clouds Beyond The Tenebrous Gates 03:58
4. Andras Shutt Madras 03:37

Khephra is an Italian black metal project created back in 1993.
Initially, their line up consisted of: Shadow (guitars), Andras (vocals) and Draughar (drums).
In 1996 before the recordings of their first demo, Shadow left the band for personal reasons and was replaced by Arioch.

Two years later their self titled demo was re-released as a MCD by Lucretia Records International.

After the release of their demo Arioch left the band and he was succeeded by Alastor.
With the new line Khephra recorded eight new songs but these were never published.
A very long period of silence was followed until 2010 when Khephra,

under a new line up and with only Draughar remaining from their original members,

managed to find a label and released their first full length album entitled "Resurrection".
During the period 2013-2019 two more albums and three split releases were published.

Memory