Ulf Söderberg : Vindarnas Hus [2002]

Ulf Söderberg is best known for his project Sephiroth, with the excellent album “Cathedron” which came out on Cold Meat a few years ago. Ulf also released two cd’s under his own name before that, both very nice albums. Now a new, third Ulf Söderberg album has become available, released by Ulfs own label Slow Moon. The songs on it were recorded and produced between 2000 and 2002. For this album Ulf was aided by a musician called Anders Hagberg. I can’t give much more information, because the booklet is completely in Swedish.

Objective reviewers would probably complain that there is not much innovation and surprise on this new album. The compositions and sound on “Vindarnas Hus” resemble Ulfs previous albums closely. But I happen to like his style a lot, so I don’t mind one more typical Söderbergh album, and this is certainly a strong continuation. The key to many songs is the dynamic alternation of atmospheric, tranquil parts and sudden energetic outbursts. The ambient passages convey a rather solemn, sacred mood, enhanced by the nature sounds which are used throughout the electronic framework. The tension is often slowly built up, followed by irrestible climaxes, just as in Sephiroths ‘hit’ ‘Wolftribes’. The faster parts have a strong sense of urgence, they are very primary and tribal, with overwhelming percussion. They give you the feeling of a herd of wild animals which has suddenly broken loose. Untill now the third track, Neapolis’, is my favourite of the album.

As I said, this album is not full of surprises, but from the first tones onward there is a pleasant feel of familiarity. The softer, ambient parts are moving, while the sudden, tribal parts make you move. I still love this blend of serene ambient, filled with lovely nature sounds, creating a somewhat religious feel, and the ‘ethnic’ percussion driven by instincts.

01 Vargskymning 5:11
02 Vindarnas Hus 3:53
03 Neapolis 4:37
04 Blåeld 2:41
05 Den Viskande Solen 4:22
06 Sådan Var Vintern Om Sommaren 3:32
07 Porten Mot Kadath 5:41
08 Novembergudarna 3:57
09 Nattfrost 1:59
10 Morgonmåne 16:28


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Sephiroth : Cathedron [1999]

1         Wolftribes (4:55)
2         Cathedron (12:52)
2.1         Spell Of The Eastern Desert
2.2         The City Of No Name
2.3         Bone Drums
2.4         Dream And The River
3         The Moongate (7:31)
4         Abyssanctum (6:44)
4.1         Awakening Of Lilith
4.2         Night Demon Of Late December
4.3         Churches And Asylums Rests Under Eternal Ice
5         Heliopolis (4:41)
6         Dark Father (8:02)

Ground breaking when it was first released on Cold Meat Industry back in 1999, this album stands for the best qualities of the infamous Swedish label, the creativity of which is matched by its quality which is a rarety by itself. I myself admire this release because it has musical elements that I truly love: dark synth melodies, thunderous drums, industrial noises, clanging metals, ethereal voices. All of these are rolled into one album. Consequently, this is not an average dark ambient/industrial album. This IS a unique masterpiece....

[sk@ds]

EXTREMELY RECOMMENDED!

>>DOWNLOAD : Cathedron

Sephiroth : Draconian Poetry [2005]

1         The Call Of The Serpent (6:21)
2         Dark Garden (4:57)
3         Uthul Khulture (4:18)
4         Therasia (8:38)
5         A Map Of Eden Before The Storms (8:56)
6         The Clock Of Distant Dreams (6:25)
7         Now Night Her Course Began (9:03)

"After a six long years of nothingness Ulf Söderberg breathes live into the behemoth that is Sephiroth with the unveiling of the hugely impressive ‘Draconian Poetry’ album. Comprising of immensely dark and malevolent ambient soundscapes, that slowly crawl through the shadowed recess of your soul. Their form, almost organic in nature unfurls itself around the listener and creates a sound that is both delicately haunting yet almost overwhelming in its stature. The depth and consistency of these pitch-black ambient compositions has a very ritualistic edge to their delivery and the aural that slowly ebbs forth from them is so imposing and powerfully hypnotic that you find it all to easy to become lost amongst the multiple layers that they consist of. However what makes this enchantingly un-illuminated album even more compelling is the use of pounding drums that rammed into the haunting soundcapes to create an immensely forceful sound that thunders forth form the speakers. These huge drum patterns produce a very tribal, almost ritualistic presence that pushes the depth and intensity of this already superb dark ambience album even further, whilst all the time being enveloped by these seemingly organic slices of sounds. The drums drive themselves forth with a thunderous rapture before being pulled backing to the dark recesses of Sephiroth’s shadowy world. It’s hard to try and imagine how a composer like Sephiroth can create such stunningly dark yet compellingly creative compositions that are quite simply breathtaking to experience, yet he does with a seemingly effortless approach and delivery through out the entirety of ‘Draconian Poetry’. If you have any calling at all to the dark-ambient genre, then this album is really must be experienced as it is without a doubt one of the most impressive pitch-black and hauntingly spectacular releases to grace the genre."         >heathenharvest.com

Industrial-strength tribal drumming meets dark ambience... Some reviewers tended to compare this album with Sephiroth's first album Cathedron, therefore they had high expectations of it and were sorely disappointed when they were not met.   I, on the other hand, had not listened to any of his albums  therefore I had no such expectations or prejudice. And this was the first Sephiroth album that I listened to and I was impressed by its creativity, uniqueness and quality. While Cathedron is impressive in its own way, this album is also of high quality, albeit stylistically a bit different.

[sk@ds]

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

>>DOWNLOAD : Draconian Poetry