dark dose - dark music mp3 blog

Theogonia: Genesis of the Gods

Alejandro — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 16:23:58 +0000

Granted I’ve never been a huge Rotting Christ fan, but I’ve had a weak spot for some extreme greek music for some time now. Theogonia has still not sold me 100% either, but there are undeniably songs that really impressed me in this 2007 release.

Sakis delivered some hooks that forced me to keep replaying the first cople of tracks obsessively. ‘Keravnos Kivernitos’ really appeals to me for the extended tension building lasting 1 minute 40 seconds and a subsequent transition to relief of melodic ecstasy and its wise drum section.

Thunderous uprising, thunderous uprising,
Oh, you sweet love in despair…
Lighting rising, lighting uprising,
Unmask your face of sorrow and care
Sense the ancient disfear

So in summary, badass choice of guitar effects, tight riffing, and the soundtrack moments of spoken Greek and chants having me talking up the first couple of songs. Granted my attention span fades as the album marches on, but Rotting Christ managed to perk these ears and sparked interest in future albums.

LOGOS! AEMA! NOEMA!

Keravnos Kivernitos(Download)
Rotting Christ (Artist)
Purchase CD

Daysleepers Drown In a Sea of Sound

Alejandro — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 19:26:40 +0000

I’ve always been extremely skeptical about any band that tried to live up to the melodic dreampop/shoegaze title even if they weren’t gunning for the number 1 spot. Slowdive had that approach mastered and I’ve considered them to be in a league of their own ever since I started deeply submerging into this sound.

There has always been more to describing this style than “highly delayed and reverbed melody with hauntingly soaring vocals & ethereal guitars”. That would be too formulaic of an explanation for a style that evokes such an all-encompassing feeling, from emotional to the physical.

Jesse turned me onto The Daysleepers a couple weeks back and pointed out that Goswell, Guthrie, and Halstead had given it their seal of approval. That in of itself for reasons stated above sparked my interest. After spinning it once, I was convinced they had chosen a perfect album title.

The Daysleepers Debut EP won the band many fans around the world (selling out the first pressing), and praise from shoegaze legends such as Robin Guthrie (Cocteau Twins), Rachel Goswell and Neil Halstead of Slowdive. It also hit ..1 for several weeks on the Tonevendor (Renowned Shoegaze Distributor) top 20 record sales list.

‘Mixing the soundscapes of Slowdive and the overall mission championed by The Cure’ is a fair comparison as it isn’t the most original undertaking, but very modern & complex-as-hell torchbearers in the dreamy music shoegaze arena. Bel Canto’s vocal approach can be seen here and there in these ears.

After exploring Daysleepers, newcomers are once again urged to revisit some Slowdive exploration to tap into the “magical songs” Jesse referenced in July of 2005 — and to get some background on where all this originated from.

Tiger in the Sea (Download)
The Daysleepers (Artist)
Purchase CD

Still living, breathing.

Alejandro — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:45:26 +0000

As is painfully obvious, Dark Dose has gone on somewhat of a hiatus. This isn’t indicative of a lack of incredible new dark music, it’s actually been pleasantly plentiful the past several months, but rather a lack of time on behalf of the contributors. Lately I’ve been struggling to keep up with my work, band and life activities, much less talk about new dark music here. It’s my hope one of us can finagle some time out of our busy schedules to start contributing again, but who knows. Life goes on.

Speaking of my band - Daylight Dies - we have a new album coming out June 24th called Lost to the Living. That’s been partially responsible for consuming huge quantities of time for the past 6 months. Clearly a blatant conflict of interest, but those into dark, melancholic doom/death metal are highly recommended to check it out. You can pre-order it cheaply here and hear one track off it here.

Anyways, back into the rat race.

September’s here again

Jesse — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 16:56:07 +0000

The sun shines high above, the sounds of laughter.

The birds swoop down upon, the crosses of old grey churches.

We say that we’re in love, while secretly wishing for rain.

Sipping coke and playing games.

September’s here again… September’s here again.

We’re not dead, life just beckons. More to come shortly.

September (Download)
David Sylvian (Artist)
Purchase CD

Leaving Eden

Jesse — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 17:58:28 +0000

Before I write a few words about the song I’m prescribing for a healthy slab of darkness today, I want to acknowledge the fact that darkdose.com has survived for 2 years. That’s not to say we haven’t had to be resuscitated a few times, but that’s pretty damn good. Since June 2005, we’ve sporadically thrown out our best discoveries of dark music and hopefully turned a few of you onto a song, album or artist you love. We’ll try to keep it up. I wanted to also mention the launching of dark dose tv. While it’s in an embryonic state as of now, I have plans to expand it with many more videos and even original and live content. Unlike most other lifeless online video streams, any author of dark dose can actually broadcast live, share videos with you live, and so forth. The possibilities are exciting. I’ll write more on this later once we develop it a bit more. You can find a link to dark dose tv from the menu on our homepage. Leave it on in a window while you browse!

Back in August 2005, I wrote that I wasn’t a huge fan of Britain’s Antimatter, but that I found a number of songs I enjoyed off of their “Planetary Confinement” album. I was surprised to learn back then that all the songs I liked were written by Mick Moss, not Duncan Patterson (considering I revere Anathema’s early material). So I was excited when I heard Moss would be writing all the material on the latest Antimatter, “Leaving Eden.”

I was not disappointed. All of the songs are basically like my favorites off of “Planetary,” — which means exceptionally well structured melodic rock songs, brooding in their own misery. I’m glad to see the highly electronic elements of previous albums thrown out the window for a simple rock approach. Moss’ excellent Eddie Vedder-esque vocals melt right into David Gilmore influenced guitar leads screeching with beautiful melancholy.

While there’s nothing particularly new or innovative being presented here, the material is extremely strong. I’ll admit I sometimes find this album (and Antimatter in general) slightly contrived due to some of the subject matter. It can be a bit grandiose — ‘woe is me.’ Despite this, I usually find it emotionally convincing and react with goose bumps to moments such as the guitar lead which begins at 4:23 in “Leaving Eden” and works it’s magic until the end of the song.

Leaving Eden (Download)
Antimatter (Artist)
Purchase CD

Hello… Goodbye

Jake — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 21:02:07 +0000

One of the greatest features of this site is that when one contributor (read: me) goes MIA, the other guys are there to pick up the slack. I haven’t shared anything for several months now, but I’m here to make it up to you by introducing you to your new favorite artist. In the past 2 years, Ulrich Schnauss has fast moved up my list of all-time favorites and clearly into the top 5. He is probably the only artist who I can listen to and be utterly blown away, every single time, regardless of my mood or how many times I’ve heard his record that given month/day/hour. When you’re as big a music fanatic as most of us here are, that really says a lot.

Ulrich Schnauss is truly one of a kind. My friend Andy, who first put me in the know, described his music as “the electronic continuation of Slowdive,” which I think is a fairly accurate assessment. There aren’t many artists I put in the same sentence as Slowdive, but Ulrich Schnauss is absolutely one of them. His music ebbs and flows, building grandiose walls of sounds, with eerily beautiful textures and gorgeous, memorable melodies like only the best shoegaze bands manage. What makes Ulrich Schnauss so special though, is that he uses mainly synthetic sounds and inserts downtempo electronica beats as a pulse under the aforementioned wash of sound. By using electronics, he is literally able to layer over a hundred tracks for any given song, which results in an incredibly deep sound. The closest artist I can compare him to is probably Boards of Canada, but that link doesn’t fully do him justice; he’s in a league of his own.

I had written more attempting to describe what he does, but I really feel I should let the music speak for itself. I’ve actually tried to post him here before, but simply couldn’t write a piece that did him justice. If you’ve read my other posts here, you know what aspects of music really touch me, and Ulrich Schnauss possesses all of them tenfold.

I’ve decided to share two songs from his upcoming album, “Goodbye.” The first song, the title track, is to give a decent representation of his sound. The song is a bit more up-tempo than many of his other works, but the mood and ambience is most definitely there. The second track, entitled “Shine,” is something of a departure for Ulrich Schnauss. While his music is primarily instrumental, with effects-laden female vocals used more for effect than anything, “Shine” features prominent male vocals and is really the first true “song” in the traditional sense that he’s ever done. It’s a new direction, but certainly a good one.

I’m really putting myself out there with such a glowing endorsement, but I don’t see how someone could listen to Ulrich Schnauss and not enjoy it. …And the best part is that there are many more songs where these came from, all equally as stunning.

Goodbye (Download)
Shine (Download)
Ulrich Schnauss (Artist)
Purchase CD

Shining - the path to enlightenment

Alejandro — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 02:24:00 +0000

There are so many levels of dynamism on this record that provoked a variety of feelings. I was overwhelmed. Upon more listens, I personally feel that the intelligent musical arrangements allow for this massive amount of sections and sound to flow naturally without being “too much” to cram on a single album.

I think my level of impression is attributed to it being such a guitar-based record comprised of vicious riffing, classical guitar that spans across the entire album, clean leads, interludes, jazzy sections, flamenco guitar work, & solo’s that actually fit the songs’ extremely dark context.

Black metal band is it? Some think so, but that’s hardly a way to categorize music with this wide of a spectrum.

Also very notable are the vocals and dark monologues, which added such an expressive layer of desperation to the dark message. Somber sounding moments followed by brutality and an audible self-hatred come in the an array of a Taneli Jarva approach and a more death metal version of Mr. Doctor (notably on track #4).

It’s exciting to be blindsided by music you didn’t expect or see coming. The only other time this happened to me in 2007 was when I was told to check out the new Watain record, coincidentally, another fine swedish metal record outta nowhere. It’s a must have masochistic rollercoaster for all fans of intelligent dark music.

Have I caught your attention yet?

Längtar Bort Från Mitt Hjärta (Download)
Shining (Artist)
Purchase as CD

Testify for Carnal Forge

Jesse — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 23:28:10 +0000

Back in January I wrote about how Sweden’s Carnal Forge perfectly compliments any bad attitude. Their aggressive music, violent lyrics and vocal style have earned them a cult following, including myself. I also noted how vocalist Jonas Kjellgren had left to join the quickly rising melodic death metal band Scar Symmetry, forcing the band to find a new vocalist for their soon to be released new album.

That new album has finally arrived under the title “Testify for my Victims“. As mentioned previously, Carnal Forge had more or less stuck to an extremely similar musical formula for every album: aggressive and razor tight death/thrash metal. “Testify..” is without a doubt the biggest progression the band has ever taken and I welcome the changes with open arms. The songs are much more melodic and I dare say more accessible. That’s not to say you’ll ever hear them on your local radio — but the abrasive qualities which defined their earlier material has mostly given way to a more polished sound. Most of my friends have expressed their distaste for the bands new direction, explaining: “it doesn’t sound like Carnal Forge,” and hinting that the band made a step towards a musical field already crowded beyond capacity.

I can agree the album doesn’t bring anything new to the table, but I don’t necessarily think the old material did either. It might be fair to say the old material was somewhat in the ballpark of The Crown, whereas the new material is more likely to be compared with The Haunted (but still faster and more aggressive.. as well as better, in my opinion). I was never into Carnal Forge for their brilliant pioneering work, but more for their ability to write razor tight and well arranged aggressive music. In fact I think their heavier use of melodies allows for a more interesting and dynamic album, one in which each song stands with it’s own identity. Tonight’s contribution is a brilliant technical thrash/death piece that is equal parts aggressive, melodic and catchy. The band also filmed a pretty decent video for the song “Burning Eden” (the most catchy song off the album) which you can view on YouTube.

Biological Waste Matter (Download)
Carnal Forge (Artist)
Purchase at iTunes
Purchase as CD

Deleyaman, live from Armenia

jeff — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 13:59:42 +0000

On April 24, 2007, Deleyaman played live in Yerevan, Armenia. For most of us, that’s not exactly the closest show to catch. However, as someone who travels to Yerevan about twice a year for work, this was an amazing coincidence and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. So, I filmed it to share with the Dark Dose audience.

April 24th is Genocide Remembrance Day, a national holiday where the country shuts for a day to remember family lost during the Armenian Genocide. It’s quite overwhelming; the city is filled with long, somber faces and events commemorating the tragedy. Even the weather matched the mood, snowing after weeks of 70+ (21C) degree weather.

One such event was hosted by the Naregatsi Art Institute at the American University of Armenia. The institute invited a rather eclectic set of musicians from around the world to perform including several choirs, a husband & wife pair who write theater and soundtrack music, world music singer/songwriter Arto Tuncboyaciyan and, of course, Deleyaman. An odd mix, I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect.

Although built in the 1990’s, the university event hall had that distinctive Soviet feel resulting from its massive proportions, crumbling concrete and spaceship-inspired architecture. While waiting for the musicians, a projector showed ruins of the Armenian villages purged 90 years earlier. Mount Ararat, the nearby mountain which towers 13000ft over Yerevan, also made the slideshow.

Eventually, the screen lifted and the Speghani Choir commenced singing and set the mood. Somber, haunting music filled the hall and several singers even had tears in their eyes. Unfortunately, the musicians who followed were such a jarring contrast that it almost felt like a grade school music recital.

One such act was a uniformed children’s choir with girls as young as 4 or 5 years old. Adorable, but not quite what I expected. After the girls had given each other flowers and run off stage, the appropriate following act was none other than Deleyaman.

I suppose I always imagined seeing Deleyaman live would involve varied stage lighting and lots of instruments and thus was a little let down by the setting. The lights were white and bland, but the sound was great. Even after following such a mix of styles, the Deleyaman feel came straight through and that’s what I was there for. It was dark, atmospheric and even Armenian…ok, maybe Gothic-Armenian. That Armenian quality is mainly owed to the duduk, an eerie woodwind instrument native to the country, and the chanting vocals.

After the show, I managed to catch up with Aret who, as you can imagine, was rather surprised to see someone from Dark Dose in the audience and the institute’s program director. The director had invited Deleyaman, not so much to fit a given style, but rather more because he was a fan himself and wanted to bring Armenian-related musicians from around the world for the event.

So, without further ado, here’s the video. I recorded it with a small point and shoot camera and a mini-tripod, so the quality isn’t exactly amazing, but I think you’ll like it anyway. The track is “Deleyaman” from the album 00/1.

Shannon Wright, or falling in love with a voice

Thomas — Thu, 31 May 2007 02:17:35 +0000

It has always been hard for me to appreciate female vocals. I like broken voices, fragile ones, voices which can express a large palette of emotions. It seems I often found this in the voice of male singers. Female vocals are too often polished, sterilized on the altar of technical mastery. What I consider being essential often disappears because of this. However, there are a few exceptions in my record collection and Shannon Wright is probably my favorite one.

Her voice is perpetually on the edge, turning from something disillusioned to an impressive screaming rage. Another thing I praise in her voice is this ability to find the right notes in her screams, when any other would probably sing out of tune. Shannon Wright never “pretends to be” sad, revolted, loving, thrilling. She just “is” all of that. Her voice can’t lie.

She’s moreover a remarkable songwriter and composer of chilling melodies. She has a unique way of playing her instruments. Either the guitar, slapping and plucking the strings with a strange violence, or the piano, that she can caress for a while just to take pleasure in striking the keys a second later. Her live performances are just breathtaking, one of those shows that when you leave the place, you just wonder where you have been the past hour.

Choosing a single track to share my love for Shannon Wright is just a torture to me. I love her darkest songs on the piano, but also the rage she puts in other more rock-oriented titles. As this blog is dedicated to dark music, my choice will turn to a tragic song called “Avalanche“. You’ll hear the grace in it, but you’ll miss the screaming vocals I referred to. I really hope you’ll dig more into her music, to discover her whole universe, which definitely can’t be captured in a single song.

Avalanche (Download)
Shannon Wright (Artist)
Purchase at iTunes
Purchase as CD