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posts for january 2011.

today i want to cover parts of the gathering‘s musical history, stretching from their breakthrough album mandylion to the release if_then_else. i used the title “a noise severe” since this is also the name of one of their live dvds, featuring their heavier side.
the first song of the gathering which caught my attention was leaves, which i already presented on spielwiese. it appeared on the mandylion album, which was the first the gathering release with their new singer anneke van giersbergen. leaves is my favourite song from that album (even from all their albums). the album contains many great songs, so it was not easy to decide for another one. in the end, i choose two. the first is sand & mercury, a more heavy tune:

[[for legal reasons, i do not want to include youtube videos here anymore. please click on this link to watch the video at youtube.]]

the second is mandylion, an instrumental tune:

[[for legal reasons, i do not want to include youtube videos here anymore. please click on this link to watch the video at youtube.]]

their next release was nighttime birds, of which the title track on most surfaces is my favourite piece. its style is similar to the heavier side of the mandylion album.

[[for legal reasons, i do not want to include youtube videos here anymore. please click on this link to watch the video at youtube.]]

the next album was very different to the albums released before. very experimental, very progressive, much less metal. it came on two cds, the title track how to measure a planet? filling up 28 minutes of the second cd. a more catchy tune from that album is liberty bell, which comes with a music video:

[[for legal reasons, i do not want to include youtube videos here anymore. please click on this link to watch the video at youtube.]]

the last two songs i want to present are from the if_then_else album, released 2000. the first is beautiful war, a nice instrumental track featuring trumpets instead of the usual keyboard.

[[for legal reasons, i do not want to include youtube videos here anymore. please click on this link to watch the video at youtube.]]

the last song is saturnine, about someone being left alone. this song made me buy the album; in fact, it was the second i knew after mandylion.

[[for legal reasons, i do not want to include youtube videos here anymore. please click on this link to watch the video at youtube.]]

a very influential project is nine inch nails, founded and mainly driven by trent reznor. i first stumbled about nin when listening to a video called last poet, using the song hurt from nin‘s the downward spiral album. that song made me buy that album, and i already dedicated two posts on spielwiese to the song hurt. another famous song from that album is closer, coming with a rather disturbing music video:

[[for legal reasons, i do not want to include youtube videos here anymore. please click on this link to watch the video at youtube.]]

another song i want to present is the hand that feeds from the album with teeth.

[[for legal reasons, i do not want to include youtube videos here anymore. please click on this link to watch the video at youtube.]]

another awesome song from that album is besides you in time, which i already presented on spielwiese. another example for the more rocky side of nin is discipline from their newest album the slip, released in 2008.

[[for legal reasons, i do not want to include youtube videos here anymore. please click on this link to watch the video at youtube.]]

besides rock songs, there are also very different nin songs. one example is the 7:33 minutes instrumental corona radiata (some speculations about the meaning of the title can be found here). it’s a track best listened to loud.

[[for legal reasons, i do not want to include youtube videos here anymore. please click on this link to watch the video at youtube.]]

(remember to turn the volume down again.) the album the slip can be downloaded from its official site.

a very astonishing release by nin is the ghosts i–iv album. 36 tracks, created in a process of improvisation and experimentation. combined with the beautiful booklet, this piece of art is my favourite nin album (next to the downward spiral). i want to present four tracks from the album. the first is 2 ghosts i, a slow piano oriented piece.

[[for legal reasons, i do not want to include youtube videos here anymore. please click on this link to watch the video at youtube.]]

the second is 12 ghosts ii. starting slow and calm, as the above track, it evolves into something more powerful after approximately half of the time.

[[for legal reasons, i do not want to include youtube videos here anymore. please click on this link to watch the video at youtube.]]

the third is 14 ghosts ii, an impulsive, funky tune. hard to describe.

[[for legal reasons, i do not want to include youtube videos here anymore. please click on this link to watch the video at youtube.]]

the fourth is 32 ghosts iv is centered around a single piano key, rythmically played. somewhat mesmerizing.

[[for legal reasons, i do not want to include youtube videos here anymore. please click on this link to watch the video at youtube.]]

ghosts i can be downloaded for free on the ghosts homepage; you need to go to the order page and select the free version.

blackfield is a project by the british prog mastermind steven wilson and the israeli rock star aviv geffen, playing alternative and art rock, sometimes even pop. the first song i want to present is from their first album, blackfield, and called blackfield. it comes with a beautiful music video, which for whatever reason didn’t show up in the music video series.

[[for legal reasons, i do not want to include youtube videos here anymore. please click on this link to watch the video at youtube.]]

(apparently the video does not work in all countries, for example in germany. if it doesn’t work for you, try this version of the song without the video.)

the second piece is the opener of their second album, blackfield ii, titled once. it was also the opener on their tour in 2007, when i first saw them. this is a live recording, but of very high quality, both the video and the sound. if you want to watch the band, click into the window to open it in youtube.

[[for legal reasons, i do not want to include youtube videos here anymore. please click on this link to watch the video at youtube.]]

a very beautiful and calm song from their first album is lullaby:

[[for legal reasons, i do not want to include youtube videos here anymore. please click on this link to watch the video at youtube.]]

another beautiful, more rocking song about love is epidemic from their second album:

[[for legal reasons, i do not want to include youtube videos here anymore. please click on this link to watch the video at youtube.]]

finally, here’s a song from their first album, called cloudy now. it’s in fact a song written by aviv geffen, which he used to play on his solo tours, which was then translated by steven wilson to english and recorded by the two. it’s a somewhat doomy, depressing song, and one of the most impressing i remember from the concert.

[[for legal reasons, i do not want to include youtube videos here anymore. please click on this link to watch the video at youtube.]]

(and yes, aviv also iteratively removed his tops during the switzerland concert, until ending up as in the video. i think the girls liked it :-) )

tiamat is a rather versatile swedish band. starting as a death/black metal band, they evolved to a gothic/doom rock/metal band with heavy progressive and/or psychedelic influences, producing a wide range of music which is sometimes not even near to metal anymore.

let me start with two wonderful instrumental, experimental tracks. the first is planets from their famous album wildhoney, from which i already presented gaia on spielwiese:

[[for legal reasons, i do not want to include youtube videos here anymore. please click on this link to watch the video at youtube.]]

the second is sumer by night from their album judas christ:

[[for legal reasons, i do not want to include youtube videos here anymore. please click on this link to watch the video at youtube.]]

while often playing with such instrumental, almost psychedelic parts, they also play various types of metal. a very easy going song is brighter than the sun from their album skeleton skeletron, which is almost a bit like popular music, wouldn’t it be so dark, so black:

any color you like as long as it’s black
you could have anything if you just give it back

[[for legal reasons, i do not want to include youtube videos here anymore. please click on this link to watch the video at youtube.]]

two other songs i like a lot are cain and ten thousand tentacles, next to each other on the album prey. they are best listened to one after another, as ten thousand tentacles is an instrumental continuation of the ending of cain. a very fascinating piece of music.

[[for legal reasons, i do not want to include youtube videos here anymore. please click on this link to watch the video at youtube.]]

another song from the same album, the pentagram, with lyrics taken from a poem by aleister crowly, is a very calm song. it’s pretty long, and contains many beautiful instrumental soundscapes.

[[for legal reasons, i do not want to include youtube videos here anymore. please click on this link to watch the video at youtube.]]

finally, here’s a track from tiamat‘s newest album, anathemes, called katarraktis apo aima (greek for a waterfall of blood).

[[for legal reasons, i do not want to include youtube videos here anymore. please click on this link to watch the video at youtube.]]

this is part ii of my sentenced post, presenting the more gothic side of later sentenced. i want to start with a song from their 1996 album down, the first one with their new singer ville laihiala. it’s the song sun won’t shine, about love and sorrow.

the sun won’t shine on me without your love …don’t you know
the cold wind kills the flame in my heart …by its blow

[[for legal reasons, i do not want to include youtube videos here anymore. please click on this link to watch the video at youtube.]]

the second song is from their fifth album, frozen. my most favourite of their albums. and this song is also my most favourite sentenced song. a song about the end of fall, the beginning of winter. its name is dead leaves.

the wintry frost comes crawling,
freezing all life that’s on its way.
the first dead leaves come falling,
hovering in the air with the rain.

[[for legal reasons, i do not want to include youtube videos here anymore. please click on this link to watch the video at youtube.]]

the third song is from their sixth album, crimson. more in the him style. yet another song about death, and about (the end of) love. yet another very sad song.

[[for legal reasons, i do not want to include youtube videos here anymore. please click on this link to watch the video at youtube.]]

the fourth song is from their seventh album, the cold white light. again, a song on love and death, one of the constant themes of sentenced albums since the love & death ep. “may death again us unite…”

my heart went down with you
at your funeral I was buried, too
my life … it ended with yours
and i… exist no more

[[for legal reasons, i do not want to include youtube videos here anymore. please click on this link to watch the video at youtube.]]

another very beautiful and very sad song from that album is no one there, which i already presented on spielwiese.

the final song is from sentenced‘s last album, the funeral album. in 2005, sentenced announced that they want to disband and never again reunite. this album was their good-bye present, their headstone. resulting in a last final tour, which i unfortunately missed (so i have never seen them live), with a dvd recording of their final concert in oulu, finland. the dvd was released under the fitting name buried alive.

i do not just want to present a song, but a music video. i make this distinction because i (and many others) think that another song from the album fits much better to this video. in fact, you can play the video muted, and play along that song, and it fits perfectly. the video is called ever-frost, named after the song from funeral album. it is an aggressive song filled with hatred (read the lyrics here), similar to the style of most of their final album. the song is probably aimed at their enemies, at their critics, maybe as retribution for the hideous accusations following their release of the song routasydän (see here for more information).

the song fitting better to this video is end of the road, the last song from the funeral album.

here we are, now lay the burden down
we’re coming to the end of our road
sorrowful yet glorious somehow
to be humming this one last ode
so calm and still… it wasn’t all that bad, or was it now?
fulfilled… it doesn’t only hurt to end it now

the video itself is rather self-ironic, depicting one of the reasons why sentenced said they won’t rejoin, combining with a ritual funeral of the band, held by themselves. a fantastic video.

[[for legal reasons, i do not want to include youtube videos here anymore. please click on this link to watch the video at youtube.]]

i want to end this double post with mentioning that miika tenkula, sentenced‘s lead guitarist and main songwriter, passed away in 2009. this makes the disbanding definite, forever. miika, rest in peace.