Here's a huge double disc of experimental electronics from Ellende, whose work I don't recall being all that impressed by from what I've heard thus far. Between these two discs you'll find everything from wacky effects that honestly strike me as somewhat cheesy, to smooth dark ambient with an edgy sort of distorted feel, to percussive rhythms in the distance, or perhaps vocals (Sampled?) under some effects that generally render them indecipherable. For the first disc, "No Holiday Without a Funeral...", I find that the tracks are too long for what they put forth, most running more than five or six minutes, some as many as 18. Few passages really strike me as moving on any level, there's always some sort of distracting effects in place that rub me the wrong way. The most minimal areas are the most interesting to me, but I tend to be bored by most of this work. "Why Women Are Not Like Men" and "The Signature" are the most consistent pieces, keepings things dark and straightforward, and therefore I find those to be the most promising angles tackled. Disc 2, "...Damaged Beyond Repair", is a bit stronger as far as keeping things more ominous and congruous as a whole, relying heavily on lots of low-end shuffling and droning, and keeping what I find to be the irritating effects to a minimum. Some of the songs still suffer from excessive lengths, but in general the sense of movement works out better. I don't have a particular opinion on the sound quality. I think the recording is fine for the style. It's pretty dense and clean, with a good amount of warmth to it... I guess there's room for improvement but since I don't feel too strongly about the music I'm not bothered by the recording techniques at all. Visually it looks okay, but I'm still not that into it. I think the text looks great, it's all consistent and clean, but the imagery isn't catching my eye at all. The background images aren't quite as crisp as I would expect, and the full color strip down the front side looks like a digital illustration of a doll or something. I don't know, nothing catches my eye at all. This is just one of those releases that doesn't really do anything for me. I wouldn't call it bad, but I would call it average at best, and it's definitely overkill... I'd be fine with about 30 minutes of this work, so almost two hours is more than too much. Perhaps Ellende will win me over at some point, but I'm getting the feeling that this just isn't for me.
[Somnambulant Corpse]
Running time - 1:53:40, Tracks: 16
[Notable tracks: Why Women Are Not Like Men, The Signature, Damage 1, Damage 6]
Somnambulant Corpse Recordings - http://www.somnambulantcorpse.com
