“For just about twenty years now, FEAR FALLS BURNING has been a creative outlet for Dirk Serries; this prolific musician has appeared at Roadburn under many guises over the years. He will return to Roadburn with Fear Falls Burning for the first time since 2019, this time to premiere new music titled The Principle Flaw.
Dirk will be joined by impressive, introspective Swedish drummer Tim Bertilsson (of the Switchblade fame) and British saxophone player Colin Webster (famous for his active role in the free improv scene and his live and recorded contributions to Idles’ repertoire). Fear Falls Burning are returning more bleak and more devastating than ever before. Stripped down to the bare essence of his own signature style of guitar playing in combination with the mighty metronome pulses of Tim on drums and the desolate howls and tonal streams of Colin on the sax, this music goes beyond and within. Dirk promises that The Principle Flaw is “an echo which will burst the ear and compromises the mind.”
We urge you to give yourselves over to Dirk’s experimental ruminations and perhaps you’ll leave this edition of Roadburn a changed person. ” – Becky Laverty
ECHOES AND DUST REVIEW : “A mere fourteen years after their first full collaborative release, Dirk Serries and Justin K Broadrick have finally come together to form a “band”, under the guise Loud As Giants. By their own admission, they are not looking to reinvent the wheel with Empty Homes, more pay homage to the music they grew up loving. To call it a vanity project seems overly harsh, and this dose of friendly self-indulgence will be hugely welcomed by many.
It very quickly becomes clear that this is quite a departure from their previous offerings, starting most obviously with the presence of drums (of the machine variety, of course). From the Broadrick side, he slips into the celestial musings of Jesu. These drape over a backdrop of Serries’ lush looped drones as the aforementioned percussion drives each track forward with a slight nod towards the motorik pulsing of krautrock.
There is an ease with which these two amble through the 46 and a half minutes of Empty Homes. The whole record is somewhat unhurried, the sense of comfort infused within the music undeniable. From the 80s-tinged electronics of the opening track ‘Monument’, through to the ambient swirls of the final ‘Isolation’, every element they draw in fits so snuggly.
Already, Loud As Giants seems like it has been around for years. The familiarity of the music, albeit separate until now, is both a blessing and a curse: the opportunity feels missed for two of the leading exponents in the scene to create something truly unique and special, an album that could transcend what either has done individually. Yet Empty Homes is still a magical ride, deftly sliding into old favourite territory.”
DAMUSIC REVIEW : “Als je de namen Justin K. Broadrick en Dirk Serries ziet opduiken, weet je dat je je niet moet verwachten aan doorsnee drieminutenpopsongs. Dat is met Loud As Giants niet anders.
Dat de twee elkaar (terug)vonden is zo gek nog niet. Ze kennen elkaar al lang genoeg, van toen de ene nog als Fear Falls Burning door het muzikale leven ging en in het voorprogramma van de andere, toen als Jesu, speelde. Nu wilden ze de gedeelde liefde voor bepaalde genres uit de eighties op muziek zetten.
Vier tracks van elk rond de tien minuten. Geen enkele stem, geen solo’s, geen refreinen en strofes. Sfeer is waar het hier om draait. En de wazige, nachtelijke foto op de cover van het album geeft al een indicatie van wat voor sfeer u mag verwachten. De pandemie, die we net zijn doorgeworsteld, was de ideale voedingsbodem voor de donkere soundscapes, die u aangeboden krijgt.
Het principe is eenvoudig en toch zo efficiënt. Elke song krijgt een ritmiek opgelegd in een (elektronisch) drumpatroon, waarover de twee protagonisten de gitaren breed uitsmeren in een waas van uiteraard eveneens door gitaren gecreëerde ruis. Repetitie is de sleutel, waarmee de songs worden ontsloten. En trance is het resultaat. Je kan dit op eindeloze repeat zetten en het toch niet beu worden.
Soms herken je gitaren effectief als gitaren. Zoals aan het einde van opener Monument, wanneer het instrument even boven de modderige waters uit komt. Maar meestal wordt het snaarinstrument gedrenkt in een overdosis effecten en toch stoort dat niet. Net daar zit hem de kracht van deze plaat. Je wordt erdoor meegesleept zonder echt te kunnen verklaren waarom.
Estranged is donkerder, al is het maar omdat enkel de kickdrum wordt gebruikt, waarover ronkende gitaren de mist van distortie doorklieven. En dan is er nog het ontwrichtende Room 3, waarin de gitaren ongestoord verder ruisen over een lichte lading elektronica tot ze vervagen tot een lichte nevel, die uiteindelijk ook optrekt en enkel de dreunende bastoon overlaat.
“I love isolation, but only when chosen by me”, legt Broadrick uit en het laatste nummer moet dat nog onderstrepen. Er hangt een postpunkerige nevel over deze track, die door de elektronische, stuiterende drums wordt verstoord tot de gitaren het weer overnemen met in de rug nog meer hoppende elektronica. Het maakt van het nummer onze favoriet van vier stukken, die elk een heel eigen karakter hebben.
Het is duidelijk dat in Loud As Giants Serries en Broadrick elkaar aanvullen met een plaat, die op je adem pakt, als resultaat.”
LUMINOUS DASH REVIEW : “Zo’n dertien jaar geleden werkten Dirk Serries en Justin K. Broadrick al eens samen, toen als Fear Falls Burning en Final, het eerste een project van Serries, het andere van Broadrick. Die laatste kennen we uiteraard als de bezieler van Godflesh maar onder meer ook als Jesu.
Met Jesu en Final betreedt Broadrick het meer experimentele pad. Donkere ambient en drones met een sporadische beat. Een hernieuwde samenwerking met Serries (onder meer Vidna Obmana), die een al even grote duizendpoot is als Broadrick en ook met een immens oeuvre op zijn naam staat onder diverse aliassen, kon aldus niet uitblijven.
Beide muzikanten hebben uiteraard een drukke agenda, mede door tal van projecten waar ze zich mee inlaten. Het juiste ogenblik vinden, er eens goed voor gaan zitten en dan uit de losse pols een aantal intrigerende soundscapes in elkaar zetten, daar komt het een beetje op neer.
Deze keer wordt het album en de samenwerking niet als vanuit twee aparte entiteiten gepresenteerd, maar als een band: Loud As Giants. Luid zal het zeker zijn als deze twee deze nummers live zullen brengen. Broadrick is geen man voor de zachte hand en Serries, die tegenwoordig regelmatig aan verstilling doet, houdt er wel van om eens alles los te laten en volop voor het steviger werk te gaan.
In de vier lange stukken zijn beider invloeden goed hoorbaar. Serries dronet er lekker op los terwijl Broadrick met diepe basgeluiden en andere tierlantijnen de boel opfleurt. De insteek: isolatie, de leegheid van de stad in de nacht, lege huizen (iedereen slaapt of is weg) en het in vraag stellen van de kleine ruimte waar we elke dag onze tijd in passeren. Deze ideeën vormen de achterliggende gedachte bij het project Loud As Giants.
Beiden voelen elkaar heel goed aan. Ze kennen elkaar dan ook al sinds Fear Falls Burning eens de support deed van Jesu, decennia geleden. Maar ook daarvoor hadden beiden al veel respect voor elkaars werk toen ze beiden apart veel nummers bijdroegen aan allerlei cassettes in de tijd van tape-trading. Dat is duidelijk te merken aan de coherentie van deze plaat.
Slepende en gevarieerde drones die prima werken in het avondlicht of op momenten voor de vroege vogels het heft weer in handen nemen.”
IYEZINE REVIEW : “Loud As Giants sono una coppia di musicisti di cui basta il nome per capire che la materia trattata è di alta qualità : Justin K. Broadrick e Dirk Serries.
L’inglese Broadrick è rimasto coinvolto in progetti quali i i Godflesh, Napalm Death, Jesu, Techno Animal ( uno dei suoi dischi di avanguardia più ardita), per non citarli tutti. Il belga Dirk Serries è un’esploratore sonoro, dedito ad ambient e drone perlopiù, ma senza disdegnare altri ambiti, ha realizzato molti lavori a nome vidnaObmana, e ha collaborato con molti nomi fra i quali lo stesso Broadrick, Steven Wilson, Justin K. Broadrick, Cult Of Lunar e Steve Roach, e possiede una cultura musicale davvero ampia, come è ampia la sua visione sonora. Broadrick e Serries si erano conosciuti quando il belga come Fear Falls Burning aveva supportato gli Jesu.
I due avevano già in mente di tornare a collaborare insieme facendo un disco che potesse contenere la loro passione verso la musica anni ottanta, quella con cui sono cresciuti e con la quale hanno capito che il suono sarebbe stato il loro futuro. E i due con “Empty homes” in uscita per Consouling Sounds hanno fatto molto di più, dando vita ad un suono nuovo : siamo dalle parti del drone ambient ma con bellissimi intarsi anni ottanta, come se i synth degli ottanta si fossero persi nelle nebbie di una catastrofe nucleare, o ancora peggio, nel sole pallido di un mattino come tutti gli altri.
I Loud As Giants elevano un muro del suono notevole che ha al suo interno mille intarsi, partendo da una radiazione di fondo sulla quale si estendono sintetizzatori o giri drone di chitarra, ma è sempre un sottofondo di sintetizzatori che puntella il tutto, ora scomparendo, ora riapparendo in fondo alla strada come la macchina assassina senza conducente.
Il disco ha una musicalità non conforme, né comune, agisce per vie traverse, in alcuni passaggi è illuminante come i primi minuti di “Room three”, ogni canzone possiede gli stessi elementi che ricombinati danno sempre soluzioni diverse, soprattutto grazie alla bravura dei due musicisti che hanno un terzo orecchio che capta frequenze che gli altri umani non percepiscono.
Ascoltare “ Empty homes” è come attraversare mille stanze di mille case, passando in una nebbia che contiene le esistenze di tutti quelli che hanno vissuto in quelle stanze, perché le case sono a volte luoghi spaventosi, pregni delle paure e delle gioie di chi ci è passato prima di noi, e non è facile. Tutto ciò, e molto altro, è dentro questo disco che ha un tempo ed un ritmo tutto suo, con moltissime cose tipiche di Broadrick, di ciò che lo rende un musicista unico ed irripetibile, un minimo comune denominatore di musiche fantastiche che continuano a stupire ad ogni disco.
Serries compie un grandissimo lavoro con giri di chitarra che sembrano provenire direttamente dal cielo, e musicalmente è un’anima gemella di Broadrick, con il quale si capiscono al volo e ci regalano questo capolavoro. “Empty homes” è un sogno, un cadere all’indietro nel tempo, con solidissime radici nell’anima synth degli anni ottanta, dalle quali si parte per rielaborare il tutto e trovare una nuova via attraverso quattro sinfonie che hanno un ritmo ed un tempo tutto loro, qui è un’altra dimensione.
Il disco è da assaporare e meditare, con quei battiti quasi techno salmodiati qui è là, quelle aperture magnifiche ed un magmatismo costante.”
THE SLEEPING SHAMAN REVIEW : “Homes fascinate me; the rooms we dwell in and spend our existences in, I can’t quite compute it nor articulate it, but I feel it’s all full of loss and emptiness…’ – Justin K Broadrick.
Another month and another new release from the ever-restless mind of Godflesh and Jesu ringmaster Justin K Broadrick in the form of the Loud As Giants debut Empty Homes.
The project itself is the collaboration between the inimitable Broadrick and long-time friend, Belgium composer Dirk Serries who has released a huge swath of dark ambient music dating back to the early eighties and is possibly best known for his work under the Fear Falls Burning moniker.
For those unfamiliar with Fear Falls Burning, Serries sought to carve out minimalist meditations on purity and subdued power through a combination of percussive elements and an expansive array of studio tools and instruments to craft expansive drones. It is this symbiosis that drew the two artists to a mutual appreciation of each other’s work that led them to tour (Fear Falls Burning supporting Jesu) and release the avant-garde Final + Fear Fall Burning album in 2009
Some thirteen years after their last project together, Loud As Giants finally emerges from the back burner to try and convey a whimsical feeling of nostalgia for their fascination with the ‘80s culture they both grew up in. Backdropped by the pandemic and the modern-age notion of isolation, there is a strange detached sense of disquiet that drives the heart of this mesmerizing project that doesn’t seek to dramatically revolutionize music, or even break new ground, as it often feels like a quiet, aimless drive through places you once knew.
Comprising of just four instrumental tracks that make up the forty-six-minute running time, each offering is a movement in and of itself that works alongside the other pieces, not to generate any stand-out moments, but to weave and interplay as they conjure the overarching narrative the duo seeks to tell.
The first of these, Monument, begins tentatively as an almost underlying hum that grows into indie light guitar and pulsing drums that capture a feeling of space and light, like the sun breaking over the horizon in the morning, or an empty road lit by streetlights. Both of these images have been cited as scenes that conjure an emptiness and a sense of despair in the eyes of Broadrick. The swirling atmospherics advance the music at a granular level of progression as in his work with Jesu, focusing on how the music makes you feel, rather than looking to grab your attention with a scything hook. The seemingly meandering passages give your mind the chance to wander and surrender to memories.
Estranged taps into the feeling of alienation with a harder and darker industrial edge; as the harsher synths and ominous, urgent drum patter give way to more cavernous ringing that generates a feeling of being very small in a larger world. In comparison to the first track, Estranged feels distinctly urban and claustrophobic in the same way that the futuristic scenes of Blade Runner reek of a crumbling decay under the surface despite the technology before your eyes. It is all at once alien, alienating, and unsettling as it ends with the finality of a cassette-like switch-off.
Broadrick and Serries have become masters at enveloping their listeners in dense walls of sound…
Room Three seeks to redress the balance, calling back to the rich guitar tones of the opener whilst the electronic dub percussion shuffles and thumps underneath like the world is waking and speeding up around you. No less focused and personal, Broadrick and Serries weave textures, slowly introducing sonic variations through the music that can often invoke, depending on your mood, different emotions.
The final moments linger on as the fuller sounds of the piece are stripped away leaving you once again in drifting contemplation, the feeling of loneliness apparent after the swell of the fuller sounds.
As the sci-fi film score-like sounds rise and swell on the final offering Isolation with fleeting beats and recirculating drones, it is easy to view Empty Homes as a conceptual piece of art. At times it appears cold, like the absence of comfort after recalling a memory of previous times, but also the sense that life around you has moved on.
Broadrick, when commenting on the inspiration behind the project, talked of embracing isolation when it is chosen, not forced. In this day of scattered family, remote working, and an ever-divided world, these instances become thrust upon us, but conversely, with the ever-present technology that keeps us connected, the chance and choice to get away and meditate in the stillness can be equally good for the soul.
This is very much a project concerned with the aesthetic principles on which it was founded and one that has been considered through the choices made in composition. Both Broadrick and Serries have become masters at enveloping their listeners in dense walls of sound, whether they are as light as air or thunderous in delivery, and here they capture the very real sense of emptiness, isolation, and nostalgia without it ever becoming an oppressive chore.
For all the downtrodden descriptions and appearance of ideas Loud As Giants found as inspiration, there is a gossamer-light touch and undeniable beauty to what they have captured that doesn’t demand of their audience, it simply invites you into the stillness to take from it what you will.”
AT THE BARRIER REVIEW : “Loud As Giants is Justin K. Broadrick and Dirk Serries – “our collaboration not to invent new music but just to bring together the music we grew up with, were/are inspired by and we just like to do ourselves,” says Dirk. They’ve also referred to Empty Homes as a trip down memory lane as they head back into the mists of times to reboot their mutual fascination for 80s culture and the genres that influenced and shaped their formative years.
However, don’t worry about any stereotypical 80s fashion faux pas or an emphasis on synthetic sounds and heavily processed drums. Four ten-minute-plus pieces of experimental, post-rock drones and ambiance bring those 80s influences into a contemporary setting and create an immersive experience. Monuments is probably worth the admission price alone. An ominous pounding beat provides the platform on which to create swirls and swathes of hypnotic cadences. Easy to see how the arrangement can create an entrancing journey.
Estranged takes a more slow build approach. Almost four minutes of distant industrial atmosphere finally gives way to another pulse that’s barely detectable beneath some grinding chords. Again, distance and space is paramount, cinematic in the sense that the piece soundtracks something imminent, a sense of suspense. Room Three sees a cyclical pattern build as some shiny metallic ambience and busy skittering get treated to the regular punctuation of a synthesized pulse before it outstays its welcome. Visually, it evokes the waves of a tide that rolls in as far as it can go before ebbing and retreating back – or, should you wish, the ominous rumble of some portent of natural disaster. Consoling sounds – you can see where the record label helps!
Isolation – as claustrophobic as the title – brings things to a conclusion. Again, a jungle of dense and bass drones concludes with hints of the ring of She Sells Sanctuary making the ears prick up right at the finale. A project that has been in the pipeline for years, due to conflicting schedules and their prolific careers, a fully deserved release.”
GRIND ON THE ROAD REVIEW : “Loud As Giants è il nuovo progetto di Justin K. Broadrick dei Godflesh, figura imprescindibile per chi, come me, è nato musicalmente sotto l’ala protettiva della Earache Records, etichetta che a cavallo tra gli Ottanta e i Novanta ha rivoluzionato il concetto di estremismo in musica. In attesa del nuovo album dei Godflesh, previsto per l’inizio di giugno, ecco arrivare il debutto per questa sua ennesima creazione, in coppia con Dirk Serries. Liaison che sublima il loro rapporto, nato negli anni Ottanta quando, entrambi agli esordi in ambito sonoro, furono tra i primissimi a scambiarsi materiale in cassetta in ambito industrial noise e sperimentale. Dopo decenni di reciproca stima hanno deciso, grazie anche alla sosta imposta dalla pandemia, di dare vita a un qualcosa che potesse concretizzare il loro rapporto a distanza.
Loop armonici ridotti a pochissime note per un approccio che nonostante il cambio di sonorità, decisamente meno industrial rispetto al passato di Broadrick, mantiene comunque una certa assonanza con la paranoica ripetitività, quasi ossessiva dei Godflesh dei tempi migliori. Ad arricchire il tutto, il tocco dark ambient di Serries che smorza la tensione claustrofobica del compare britannico. Si tratta di due musicisti decisamente versatili, che qui hanno scelto di mettersi uno al servizio dell’altro, con fine di realizzare un qualcosa che potesse suonare “diverso” pur mantenendo chiare le origini e l’approccio di entrambi. Lo hanno infatti definito come una sorta di “viaggio della memoria”, con cui ritrovare quelle sonorità degli anni Ottanta con cui sono cresciuti, oltre che un tributo a quelle che sono stati le loro influenze giovanili.
Empty Homes è un qualcosa che era in fermentazione da tempo, ma che solo ora ha preso la sua forma definitiva, unendo le due idiosincratiche figure che non hanno mai nascosto la propria sociopatia, fatta di situazioni ai margini della frenetica e confusionaria vita di città sovraffollate. La colonna sonora ideale per tutti noi che abbiamo scelto di autoemarginarci.”
VITAL WEEKLY REVIEW : “One of the things about Loud As Giants is, oddly perhaps, that it isn’t that loud, or, to be more precise, not that loud all the time. Behind this name is the duo of Dirk Serries and Justin K. Broadrick. They both have a long and richly varied musical history. They worked together before, thirteen years ago, to be precise, using their monikers, Final (Broadrick) and Fears Falls Burning (Serries’ guitar project from back then). I don’t think I heard that one. There wasn’t a follow-up because of the usual busyness on both sides. The pandemic made it possible to work again, and maybe we should think of the title as something related to that. Broadrick likes isolation, but only if he can choose to be isolated. Well, don’t we all? I assume through the exchange of sound files, these two men worked on an album that sounds very coherent. They could have been in one room and still sounded as coherent. The loudness is an option here, or at least, that’s how I like to see these things. Sure, you can turn up the volume and be all-immersed in the music, but that’s not my style. I like immersion as much as the next person but I like my ears to last. Plus, sometimes, I like to think that the devil is in the details. By not going all the volume-way, I think (!) I can detect a few more details. Broadrick and Serries play the electric guitar, and there are some electronic drums. The interest lies within the minimalist approach to guitar drones. A rockist sound such as it is, and that is mainly due to the hammering of the slightly distorted drum machines, I should think. The guitars get strummed, chords (I think, as I have never understood the mechanics of guitar playing), I reckon, and not (e-) bowed, even when in ‘Estranged’, there is a nagging organ-like sound too. There is some intense music to be enjoyed here, loud or less loud, but it is music rich in details and depth, hammering away but always shifting around, never too long in a stasis. Just the way we like them. Now the pandemic has moved away, it would be interesting to see these things on a big stage, as by the time the music was over, I was kinda curious to hear this live (I admit I turnd the volume up); or should that be: as intended?”
SALT PEANUTS REVIEW : “Belgian experimental guitarist Dirk Serries and British singer-songwriter-guitarist-sound artist Justin K. Broadrick (founder of the experimental metal bands Godflesh and Jesu) are adventurous sound explorers who are in sync since the early eighties when they both were active in the underground cassette network, individually producing experimental, industrial, and noise music. They worked together in the last decade when Broadrick did the remixes for Serries’ ambient project Vidna Obmana, and reconstructions for Serries Continuum project and collaborated in Serries’ Microphonics and Fear Falls Burning projects. But their duo project under the moniker Loud As Giants is more like ‘a trip down memory lane’, symbolizing their mutual fascination for the 80’s culture in which they grew up and all the relevant and groundbreaking genres Serries and Broadrick were influenced by. Empty Homes is informed by the Covid-19 pandemic isolation and the global nostalgia of that time. It features four dark and mostly dramatic, ambient soundscapes that meet drones, layered and looped with noisy and distorted, industrial sounds and heavy, tribal pulses. These hypnotic and addictive, sometimes play with atmospheric, techno-like beats («Room Three»), other times with unsettling, dense and urban massive walls of sounds («Estranged») or with cinematic, suggestive and comforting images («Isolation») relating to the images of empty homes, as far as possible from the busy centers of big cities and overcrowded streets, and Broadrick claims that all these pieces are «full of loss and emptiness». And suppose we borrow an immortal saying of the Chinese Daoist sage Lau Tzu (already used in the album of Jesu and Serries, Resolution Heart, Toneafloat, 2016). In that case, Series and Broadrick are kindred spirits that “move in utter emptiness. let their minds meander in the great nothingness»”
GHOSTCULT MAG REVIEW : “While it is somewhat disingenuous and sneaky to include Loud As Giants Empty Homes (Consouling Sounds) in an EP’s round-up, it is only four songs, even if the shortest of these tickles the eleven-minute mark. It is also far too good and interesting a release to sit idly by without a home to recommend it on these hallowed pages.
A predominantly minimalist combination of post-rock, electronics, drone, and beats, this forty-five-minute collaboration of Justin Broadrick (Godflesh / Jesu et al) and Dirk Serries (Fear Falls Burning) manages to be both immersive soundtrack, comforting background, and challenging thought-provoker all at once. Never rushing, never forced, each of the four songs establishes and expands on a feeling and a slightly different theme to its companion pieces, like four episodes of a series that, although linked, doesn’t have an overriding story arc.
Opening and closing pieces (‘Monument’ and ‘Isolation’ respectively) are the less intrusive moments, ‘Estranged’ builds with ominous intent without ever giving way to full horror, and ‘Room Three’ perhaps gives off the greatest set of urgency and unsettlement. With a concept involving the feelings and emotions of different rooms in empty houses, and musically being a vehicle for Serries and Broadrick to collaborate on the type of music they grew up with, the reflective and patient nature of Loud As Giants’ music is both entrancing and inviting.”
Ox Fanzine Review
THE SHFI REVIEW : “Justin Broadrick and Dirk Serries’s mutual admiration society, established via previous collaborations such as their work together in the guises of Final and Fear Falls Burning, continued in 2023 with a fully new joint project as Loud as Giants. The suffused energy throughout Empty Homes has the pounding post-industrial drive one might expect on the one hand, but the shimmering feeling created by their guitar work, stately and enveloping, amps up the feeling of contemplative beauty on strong compositions like “Monument” and “Room Three.”
GONZO CIRCUS REVIEW : “JUSTIN K BROADRICK (Godflesh, Jesu, Final, …) en DIRK SERRIES (vidnaObmana, Fear Falls Burning, YODOK III, …) leerder elkaar persoonlijk kennen toen de laatste als Fear Falls Burning op sleeptouw werd genomen als voorprogramma van Jesu. In 2009 leidde dat tot een eerste samenwerking op plaat, namelijk ‘Final + Fear Falls Burning’ op Conspiracy. Maar daar begint het verhaal niet. Beiden kenden en waardeerden elkaar muziek al jaren, toen ze alle twee nog actief waren in het internationale underground cassettenetwerk van de jaren 1980. Het is precies dat decennium – dat muzikaal wordt gekenmerkt door new wave, electronische postpunk, industrial en vroege shoegaze – dat de achtergrond vormt voor een nieuwe samenwerking; ditmaal onder de vlag Loud As Giants. Geen afzonderlijke namen meer op de cover dus, maar een gezamenlijk project. Dat ater-ego wordt best met een korrel zout genomen want echt luid of heavy wordt het niet in de vier circa tien minuten vragende tracks. Intens, groots en hypnotiserend wel; Het fundament bestaat uit – niet geheel onverwacht – gitaardrones die harmonisch om en door elkaar heen kronkelen. Spaarzame en repetitieve (machinale) rimtes en subtiele geluidsdetails zorgen voor verdere verrijking en variatie. Het draait om het oproepen van een bepaalde atmosfeer; niet om songs. Het gaat om het effct : ‘Empty Homes’ voelt als rijden door dikke mist – spannend, mysterieus en licht beangstigend – maar je weet dat je altijd weer veilig thuiskomt”.
REGEN MAGAZINE REVIEW : “It’s incredible to think that prior to the formation of Loud as Giants, Dirk Serries and Justin K. Broadrick had formally collaborated on an album only once before, especially since they’re both well known for their individual exploratory spirits and often supported each other’s live performances. Oh well, better late than never as Empty Homes presents the two forging a creative partnership that, although hardly deviating from the musical pathways they’ve been known to travel, yields an entrancing experience all the same. Crafted in the midst of the pandemic, the album reflects the pair’s feelings of isolation and nostalgia, its four tracks demonstrating audio streams of consciousness that evoke the haunted cries of what was and can never be again. Driven by seemingly unending washes of ambient guitar and synth drenched in reverb and delay, Empty Homes unfolds gradually to reveal various miasmal elements – angular bass lines, steely and resonant guitar melodies, sparsely programmed drumbeats that eventually amplify into overdriven pulses and metallic clanks, all throbbing with a propulsive urgency that vacillates between the brooding reveries of “Monument” and “Room Three,” to the dark reminiscence of “Estranged,” and finally to a resigned embrace of “Isolation,” which concludes things with the eerie singing of a steady, droning synth tone. It’s a soundtrack to the streets of a once bustling city, the neighborhood avenues of one’s hometown once teeming with life and activity, now uncanny and undisturbed. And yet, it’s not a hopeless or despondent record, the songs taking their time to breathe and envelop the listener. As Serries and Braodrick have stated that there was no imperative to invent anything new, there is a comfort in Empty Homes, free from the need to awe or transcend, but to just… be.”
ONDAROCK REVIEW : “Prima o poi si sarebbero dovuti incontrare. Non quando la metà oscura dell’universo rock li considerava due stelle da seguire nel buio dei più oscuri anni 80. Ma molti anni dopo, quando la loro parabola, a qualcuno, sembrava quasi essersi eclissata. Seconda metà degli anni zero. Dirk Serries, non più Vidna Obmana, gira le cantine con il nome di Fear Falls Burning, il progetto con cui dà fuoco alle chitarre elettriche inseguendo una psichedelia stellare risorta dalle ceneri del suono post-industriale. Dal canto suo Justin Broadrick, in libera uscita dai Godflesh, continua a produrre dischi solo apparentemente meno oscuri con il suo nuovo progetto Jesu – rimescolando quanto già prodotto nei vent’anni precedenti con il nome Final. Nel 2007 Fears Falls Burning apre i concerti di Jesu. Dirk Serries e Justin Broadrick si conoscono e diventano amici, continuando a frequentarsi fino ai nostri giorni. Fino a quando decidono di dar vita insieme al progetto Loud As Giants. “… è la nostra collaborazione non per inventare nuova musica ma solo per mettere insieme la musica con cui siamo cresciuti, da cui siamo stati (e continuiamo ad essere) ispirati e che ci piace fare da soli”. – spiega Dirk. Le quattro lunghe tracce dell’album sono una vetrina per le abilità di Serries e Broadrick: matasse di suono elettrico in cui le chitarre sono in grado di ricamare melodie romantiche e allo stesso tempo di esplodere in riff di un’oscurità accecante. “Amo l’isolamento, solo quando scelto da me, e amo la notte, le strade vuote, tranquille: mi sento come se potessi esistere allora. Odio le mattine. Odio la luce solare bassa. Mi deprime immediatamente. Questo album per me incarna un mondo in cui personalmente mi sento più felice”. – spiega Broadrick. Su “Room Three” viene messa in scena una versione dark dello shoegaze di Slowdive e Secret Shine: arpeggi di chitarre coperte di rugiada si fanno strada tra la nebbia per trovare un beat alieno che prende a segnare il tempo come un satellite senza orbita.”
SAITENKULT REVIEW : “Dirk Serries und Justin K. Broadrick verwirklichen nach vielen Jahren endlich ein neues Projekt. Der Belgier Dirk Serries, der auch unter dem Pseudonym FEAR FALLS BURNING firmiert, teilt mit dem britischen Sänger/Gitarristen Justin K. Broadrick, der NAPALM DEATH, GODFLESH und JESU in seinem Lebenslauf stehen hat, die Vorliebe für die Musik und Kultur der Achtzigerjahre. Mit dem Projekt LOUD AS GIANTS leben sie daher die Musik aus, mit der sie aufgewachsen sind. Somit ist ´Empty Homes´ für sie eine besondere Reise in die Vergangenheit. Zur beklemmenden Musik der Achtzigerjahre passen natürlich auch die brandaktuellen Themen wie Isolation, obwohl sie natürlich nur die freiwillige lieben. Dafür hassen sie den frühen Morgen mit seinem heranbrechenden Sonnenlicht und bewundern viel mehr die strukturierten Räume in Häusern. Vierzehn Jahre nach ihrem gemeinsamen Projekt FINAL + FEAR FALLS BURNING präsentieren Dirk Serries und Justin K. Broadrick vier Instrumentalstücke über 46 Minuten. Die Trommeln trommeln wie Maschinen, die Loops loopen wie Drones, doch die Welt scheint in der Behaglichkeit als auch Kälte der Achtzigerjahre stehen geblieben zu sein. Jeder Ton greift in den nächsten hinüber und verwebt sich zu einem großen Ganzen. ´Monument´ summt und trommelt sich im Morgenlicht in seiner atmosphärischen Progression voran, ´Estranged´ klingelt und klappert in der Einsamkeit durch die pure Klaustrophobie, ´Room Three´ kriecht und wummert in der Begegnung mit Gitarren- und Percussion-Hall und ´Isolation´ durchlebt das Böse in wallenden Drones samt huschenden Herzschlägen. Dirk Serries und Justin K. Broadrick sind bereits jeder für sich Meister der Schichtung und Schöpfung von Klängen, doch als Einheit LOUD AS GIANTS stellen sie das pure Gefühl des Nihilismus in seiner unberechenbaren Schönheit dar. (8 gigantisch dröhnende Punkte)”
MUSICZINE REVIEW : “Het project Loud As Giants is een samenwerking tussen de onnavolgbare Broadrick en zijn oude vriend, de Belgische componist Dirk Serries, die al sinds het begin van de jaren tachtig een grote hoeveelheid donkere ambientmuziek heeft uitgebracht en misschien wel het meest bekend is om zijn werk onder de naam Fear Falls Burning. Met ‘Empty Homes’ wordt opnieuw de grenzen van het genre verkend, ergens tussen waanzin (oorverdovende sound) en gemoedsrust (zachtmoedige sounds) , de brug tussen donkere gedachten en lichtjes in de tunnel. “Monument” is er meteen eentje die twaalf minuten duurt. We stappen binnen in die mystieke wereld. Een onheilspellend “Estranged” gaat de donkere weg in; continu worden we heen en weer geslingerd in die wisselende sounds. Op “RoomThree” lijkt de balans terug te keren, maar het dreigende en waanzinnige op het eind tekent net niet voor een rustpunt. Even op adem komen is er wel op “Isolation”. Algemeen horen we donkere tunes, die een beklemmend gevoel veroorzaken. We hebben hier een grauwe, rauwe en duivelse van griezelige, angstaanjagende geluidjes, met af en toe een rustpuntje, die gemoedsrust biedt. We ervaren het al soort onaardse magie, magische duisternis met een beklemmend gevoel en van welbehagen.”
MUSIQUE MACHINE REVIEW : “The mere mention of the name Justin K. Broadrick evokes memories of some of the most amazing industrial music ever produced. As a founding member of grindcore heroes Napalm Death, industrial metal legends, Godflesh, and later experimental metallers Jesu, he has helped to shape the sound of extreme metal and industrial music over the last 40 years or so. During that time, he has also worked with a diverse range of bands as a producer, including Pantera, Isis, Mogwai and Pelican. In 2007 during Jesu’s Conqueror tour, he befriended the like-minded, Dirk Serries, whose band, Fear Falls Burning were the support act. The two had developed from similar musical backgrounds, both had been heavily involved in the experimental, industrial and noise music scenes since the 1980s, which eventually led to them working together from time to time, helping out one another on each other’s projects and on odd occasions in a live setting. This kinship eventually led to the pair working together on this, their first album as Loud as Giants. Empty Homes features four long instrumental tracks that run at a collective 46 minutes. Opener “Monument” is a 12.30 meandering slab of cyclical guitar drones that borrows as much from Germany’s Can as it does from their own previous work. Atmospheric and hypnotic, it can help take the listener into other realms of consciousness. “Estranged” is up next and after an almost ambient beginning with lots of found sounds and drones grows into something darker and harsher, with the addition of guitars and synths. This particular track hints at something approaching the noise scene, not quite as harsh as bands like Wolf Eyes but certainly influenced by those sorts of artists. After a slow droning start “Room Three” kicks into gear around the 2.45 mark. Reminiscent of both previous tracks, it has some harsher moments like we hear in Estranged but takes the floaty hypnotic vibes of Monument to the next level before gently fading out to nothingness. The album closer “Isolation” has a very cinematic feel, recalling some of the more Avant Garde movie scores to have graced our screens in the last twenty years. At moments, I am reminded particularly of Christopher Young’s score to the horror movie Sinister, or Hans Zimmer’s score to 2021s sci-fi masterpiece Dune. Overall, Empty Homes is a triumph for Broadrick and Serries. A wonderful record featuring four pieces of music that function as individual tracks or as part of a larger overarching sonic theme that flows throughout the album. It’s a fairly chilled record that takes the listener on a journey and works brilliantly as an aid to relaxation. Whilst it’s certainly not an ambient record (there’s far too much going on for that) it manages to do what good instrumental albums do, by drawing the listener in through the subtleties of the instrumentation. Monumental and personal at the same time, it’s a special record that I for one, hope is just the first in a long line of collaborations for the pair.”
“The 1992 collaboration between Black Tape For a Blue Girl and vidnaObmana was remastered last year. Originally released in 1992, Terrace of Memories was a collaboration between Sam Rosenthal (Black Tape For a Blue Girl) and Dirk Serries (vidnaObmana). Those names alone should give you a pretty good indication of the album’s sound, which is characterized by wistful synth drifts and haunting atmospherics — the result of months spent mailing tapes back and forth around the world. (Rosenthal was living in Los Angeles at the time while Serries lives in Belgium.) The album’s title track is one of my favorite Projekt tracks, period. Its nearly seven minutes are filled with delicately unfurling textures and otherworldly vocals that practically drip with equal parts nostalgia and foreboding, as you’d expect from Messrs. Rosenthal and Serries. Last year, Rosenthal launched a successful Kickstarter campaign to remaster Terrace of Memories and reissue it on CD, deluxe vinyl editions, and — in a delightful throwback — MiniDisc. In addition to the original album tracks, Terrace of Memories’ 2024 remaster also contains several unused source tracks from Rosenthal and Serries’ original tapes, which are now available as digital downloads.” OPUS
SAM ROSENTHAL & VIDNA OBMANA TERRACE OF MEMORIES (CD / LP /MD, Projekt Records)
YES, thanks to the overwhelming crowdfunding PROJEKT RECORDS has set up, here’s the long overdue reissue of a 1992 classic between SAM ROSENTHAL (Black Tape For A Blue Girl) and VIDNA OBMANA. Fully remastered, new design and available on various formats.
The reissue of VIDNA OBMANA’s DANTE TRILOGY (Tremor, Spore, Legacy), 3 CD remastered edition on Zoharum – new experimental art reached the number 2 spot on the best of 2023 at MUSIQUE MACHINE !
1: Viera Janárčeková – Dotyk [Kairos Music] 2: Vidna Obmana – Dante Trilogy [Zoharum] 3: Yotzeret Sheydim – Sefer Yetzirah (The Book of Creation) [Deathbed Tapes] 4: Pauline Oliveros – Sound Pieces [Another Timbre] 5: Worship – Focus [Self release] 6: See Through Buildings – I Take Your Entrance Back [HNW Netlabel] 7: Khanate – To Be Cruel [Sacred Bones Records] 8: Various Artists – Sputnik!: The Launch Of The Space Race [Bear Family Records] 9: Big Hole – The Hole: A Reading Soundtrack [Ominous Recordings] 10: Stackridge – Friendliness [Esoteric Records/ Cherry Red] 11: Subhumans – The Day the Country Died [Pirates Press Records] 12: Eden Lonsdale – Clear and Hazy Moons [Another Timbre] 13: Swans – The Beggar [Young God] 14: Rien – The Transparent Blue Tape [Ominous Recordings] 15: Sebastian Tomb – Summer Of Our Discontent[Gates Of Hypnos] 16: The Necks – Travel [Northern Spy] 17 : Quentin Rollet & Romain Perrot – Le vieux fusible / The Singles [reQords]18: Inanition – Trampling Iris [HNW Netlabel] 19: RENALDO M. They Blessed The Body Breadcrumbed[Klanggalerie] 20: Elis Hallik – Born In Waves [Kairos Music] 21: Orchestra Of The Upper Atmosphere – θ6[Discus Music] 22: Elsa Bergman – Playon Crayon [Bergman Inspelningar] 23: Gang Green – We’ll Give It To You(CD Boxset) [Dissonance Productions/ Cherry Red 24: Rosie Kelvin – Theres Nothing Out There [Its Wall Noise] 25: Fred Frith & Núria Andorrà – Dancing Like Dust [Klanggalerie] 26: Sutcliffe No More – Normal [Klanggalerie] 27: Coffin Vomit – Glovejob [Mima Kass] 28: Officer! – Some Songs/Bandagen [Klanggalerie] 29 :Arktau Eos – Dormiveglia [Aural Hypnox] 30: Lee “Scratch” Perry – Battle of Armagideon (Millionaire Liquidator) [Doctor Bird/ Cherry Red]
DIRK SERRIES’ newest ambient release FLUCTUATION OF BEING (cd, Midira Records) just got reviewed.
” have been a fan of Dirk Serries’ early work as Vidna Obmana for nearly a quarter century. It largely relies on synth-driven ambiance in a similar vein as that of Steve Roach, Alio Die, Robert Rich, and so on. Landscape in Obscurity was a masterpiece. Here, he returns to that general style but with guitar and effects rather than synths. These five long tracks feature Serries generating slow-moving drone soundscapes. The textures are slightly rough with just enough distortion to be unsettling. With these building blocks, he moves deliberately from chord to chord, each sweeping into phase as a variation of a previous theme or an exploration of a new motif. The result is surprisingly melodic despite the album’s lack of traditional notions of melody, harmony, or rhythm. When listened to as a whole, Fluctuation of Being has the ability to slip in and out of any incidental background noises in the listening environment. But I also find that it grabs my attention more frequently than most ambient music. But this dual nature of the recording is not surprising, given Serries’ history of mixing passages that evoke relaxation but with dark overtones. Regardless, this effort is another strong one in Serries’ very long discography. ” AMN
“Dirk Serries prosegue imperterrito nella sua ricerca musicale che lo ha portato, nel corso di una carriera leggendaria, a sperimentare le sonorità più disparate. A mio avviso è comunque con il suo progetto Vidna Obmana che ha lasciato il segno riuscendo a ridefinire i confini della musica ambient. Tuttavia Dirk Serries è sempre stato un artista che ha giustamente guardato avanti e che ha sempre cercato di reinventare il suo linguaggio. In realtà la sua sensibilità alla materia sonora è sempre rimasta sempre la stessa così come la sua capacità di riuscire a creare delle emozioni profonde nell’ascoltatore. È solo cambiata la forma ma non la sostanza: mentre prima usava i synth ora usa le chitarre ma il musicista belga è rimasto integro e se anche, data anche la notevole produzione, ogni tanto gli capita di ripercorrere strade già battute, lo fa sempre con grande classe e con un fine artigianato. È il caso anche di questo nuovo The Fluctuation of Being, un album caratterizzato da atmosfere malinconiche che mi ha ricordato il Vidna Obmana più oscuro, quello per intenderci di The Contemporary Nocturne e Surreal Sanctuary ma anche della collaborazione con Asmus Tietchens. Fin dalla prima traccia “Nothingness” siamo proiettati in un paesaggio nebbioso dai contorni indefiniti, un paesaggio che sembra avvolgere delle città in un crepuscolo eterno. La sensazione è quella di fluttuare in una dimensione onirica ma, allo stesso tempo, estremamente reale. Serries riesce a non perdere mai il contatto con la realtà: semmai ce ne offre una visione leggermente distorta ma non per questo meno vera. Anzi la sua musica riesce a portarne alla luce, nella sua apparente immobilità, la sua essenza nascosta.” Ver Sacrum
“Fluctuation Of Being is Dirk Serries’ first foray into full-on ambience since 2018’s Epitaph. It’s a guitar & effects-based album highlighting both his skill and atmospheric scope within the ambient form. Over the five featured tracks, he moves from slowly growing drone matter, through to drifting ambience, onto felt & forlorn moodscapes.
The CD album appears on Germany’s Midira Records. It comes presented in a four-panel mini gatefold- which on its outside features what looks like a close-up colour photo of vegetation & roots locked within either frost or ice.
We open with just over twelve and a half minutes of“Nothingness” here Serries slowly but surely builds a vast & baying wall of drone matter, which sits somewhere between the sweepingly grand & glowingly felt. By track three “Confinement” and its near eight-minute unfold- we find ourselves in a floating in gliding and ebbing guitar tone- which both circles, sweeps, and lightly harmonically jangles its way along.
The longest track here is the fourth “Despairing Object” which comes in at dead on the sixteen-minute mark. It moves from felt, at points forlorn sweeps. Onto to ebbing & expanding drone fields, through to billowing & drifting pitch glides- which are half lost & half hopeful.
Serries has been active since the 1980s in the wider European experimental genre, with his sonic interest moving harsh industrial music, ambience, and on to improv/ abstract jazz in recent years. So, it’s nice to see him once again returning to the ambient form with Fluctuation Of Being, and it most certainly shows he hasn’t lost his knack for the form- as it’s both a skilled & engaging album, that rewards replays. ” Musique Machine
EARTHWORKS follows ‘GARGOYLES’ and ‘LIGHT INDUSTRY’, Colin Webster and Dirk Serries recorded their third studio album at the Sunny Side Inc. Studio in May 2022. With Colin on the baritone, the pressure is high. Carefully selected from a way longer session, this shorter album is just that : full-on free interaction with no boundaries hold, spiced by the friendship of both musicians and the respect for each other’ skills and approaches. Out on RAW TONK RECORDS. Order here.
SALT PEANUTS reviews : “Earthworks is the third duo album of Webster and Serries, who collaborated on numerous other projects, and it was recorded at Sunny Side Studio in Anderlecht, Belgium, in May 2022 and released on Webster’s label, Raw Tonk. Webster plays here on the baritone sax and Serries on archtop guitar and the eight short pieces suggest energetic and restless sonic collisions that exhaust the extended breathing and strumming and bowing techniques of these gifted improvisers. Webster and Serries know each other’s sonic palette inside out and keep challenging each other with great respect and deep listening as well as adventurous spirit and uncompromising determination to keep pushing forward their sonic envelopes.”
What a disastrous year it was again but let us try to focus on the beautiful things in life. The music we love to create, share with our kindred spirits, listeners and supporters. It has been overwhelming to say the least : thank you all and hope to see you out there on the road as many live concerts will come in 2024 ! Wishing you a fine transition into the new year.
In no particular order : DIRK SERRIES – FLUCTUATION OF BEING (CD, Midira Records) DIRK SERRIES (in conjunction with Stefano Gentile) – THE DISINTEGRATION OF SILENCE (CD + booklet, 13/Silentes) DIRK SERRIES – NOCTURNAL DISCORD (cassette, Cloudchamber Recordings) DIRK SERRIES – REGENERATION : Live At Hundred Years Gallery (cdr, Hundred Years Gallery) VIDNA OBMANA – DANTE TRILOGY (Tremor, Spore, Legacy) (3xCD, Zoharum) VIDNA OBMANA – CROSSING THE TRAIL (CD, Zoharum) SCATTERWOUND – TL (3xCD, Midira Records) LOUD AS GIANTS – Empty Homes (LP/CD, Consouling Sounds) COLIN WEBSTER & DIRK SERRIES – EARTHWORKS (CD, Raw Tonk Records) COLIN WEBSTER LARGE ENSEMBLE – FIRST MEETING (CD, Raw Tonk Records) JOHN EDWARDS/ANDREW LISLE/DIRK SERRIES/COLIN WEBSTER – OUT OF NOWHERE (CD, Raw Tonk Records) DIRK SERRIES/BENEDICT TAYLOR/FRISO VAN WIJCK – LE SUD (CD, Creative Sources) ERNESTO RODRIGUES/DIRK SERRIES/JOSÉ OLIVEIRA/JOÃO MADEIRA – DRIPPING (CD, Creative Sources) IMPETUS GROUP – DENSITY DOTS (CD, Klanggalerie) KODIAN PLUS – DISENGAGE – (CD, A New Wave Of Jazz) VARIOUS ARTISTS – LIVE AT PLUS-ETAGE (3xCD, A New Wave Of Jazz)
VIDNA OBMANA’s 1998 ‘CROSSING THE TRAIL’ get the royal remaster treatment on Polish label ZOHARUM. Completely remastered and with new (but related) photography by Martina Verhoeven, this album was the surprising follow-up to the highly succesful THE RIVER OF APPEARANCE (1996). Instead of following the same path of this semi-classic ambient album on Projekt Records, VIDNA OBMANA returned with an album that pushed the boundaries for him. Influenced by the tribal grooves and structures Steve Roach has been creating, VIDNA took his own turn on it. Special guests include Steve Roach himself, guitarist Jeff Pearce and Martina Verhoeven. Get your copy here.
MUSIQUE MACHINE reviewed VIDNA OBMANA’s DANTE TRILOGY 3xCD reissue on ZOHARUM and gave it a 5 out 5 rating ! Available here.
“Dante Trilogy is the next in the series of reissues of the albums from the important/ influential European ambient project Vidna Obmana by Poland’s Zoharum. As its title suggests it’s a three-album/ CD set- bringing together the following early 2000 albums- Tremor, Spore, and Legacy– all originally released by Release Entertainment, the Sub-label of Relapse Records for ambient, noise, and experimental works. The vibe over all three albums is decidedly darkly eastern & mysterious- with use of ethnic to eerily dissonating percussive elements.
The three discs come presented in an eight-panel fold digipak. This takes in on its back & front cover a moodily monochrome picture of what looks like a frost-touched strap over aged wood. With dull gold boxes featuring the various texts related to the three albums- as well as quotes from Dante’s inferno. It’s a simple, but very effective-looking package- which nicely enhances the feeling of dark timeliness running through all three of the albums featured here.
So first up we have Tremor– this was originally released in September of 2001. It features eleven tracks- which have runtimes between three and just over eight minutes. We move from “Mindtunnel” with its mix of stripped-back-but-eerily detailed ethnic percussion and broodingly waving flute-like tones. Onto steady-yet-ghostly drum battering rhythms meets the darkly swelling string-like ambience of the title track. Through to the soothing disorientation of “Descent” with its hazy layer-like shift- which hints at warble, shimmer, and scrape. The whole album really brought to my mind walking the shadowy corridors of an ancient pyramid- as leathery unseen snakes slither, nocturnal insect life scuttles, and maybe even the dead & wrapped human inhabitancy of the place decide to come back to life.
Disc number two takes in Spore– this was originally released in January 2003. It takes in nine tracks- with runtimes of three to seventeen minutes. We go dripping ‘n’ snapping percussion meets buzzing bass line of “Skin Strip” which is underfed by lightly gliding & shadowy ambient simmer. Onto the tight ‘n’ clipped electro pitter-patter meets drifting & warbling unease of “Creep- Isolation Trip”. Through to the gloomy bass ebbs and creepy guitar picking of the title track. This album feels less about forming a connected sonic picture, and more about creating separate snapshots of ambient unease, and subtle beat-bound atmospherics.
Finally, we of course have Legacy– this was first released in October of 2004. It’s made up of eight tracks- which have runtimes of between two and eight minutes. We move from the steady almost electro-rock-like drumbeats, shimmer & hazing ambient tones, and broodingly gliding bass lines of “Torment And Resolution”. Through to distant warbling horn unease, stripped back shuffling ‘n’ sliding percussion, and backwards tone disquiet of “The Virtual Insomnia”. Through to the gloomy unease and circling eerier disquieting of the title track- which blends together recycled bass guitar hover, and atmospheric guitar scaping. Of the three albums I’d say Legacy is the most sonically varied from track to track, we also get a few guests too like vocals from Steve Von Till on one track, and guitar from Steven Wilson on another track. As a whole, I’d say that Dante Trilogy features some of Vidna Obmana’s most approachable, at times darkly majestic work. So this would be a most excellent inroad/ introduction to the project’s discography. I can’t imagine this set has got a huge pressing- so I’d most certainly act sooner rather than later to get your hands on this set. Simply put another great addition to this reissue series, and three great early 2000s ambient-electronic albums. “
DARK ENTRIES REVIEW : “We hebben al verschillende heruitgaven van het werk van Vidna Obmana door het Poolse Zoharum besproken, en zolang ze blijven uitkomen, gaan wij verder op ons elan. Vidna Obmana is een buitengewoon productieve Belgische artiest die al sinds het midden van de jaren tachtig ambient maakt, en samengewerkt heeft met namen als Hybryds, Steve Roach, Serge Devadder, David Lee Myersen en PBK.
Tussen 1984 en 2007 bracht Vidna Obmana niet minder dan 87 uitgaves uit, om daarna onder zijn werkelijke naam Dirk Serries verder te gaan. Zoharum heeft ondertussen tien heruitgaves van Vidna Obmana op de teller staan, en daar moet u weten dat één heruitgave vaak twee of drie platen van Vidna Obmana bevat. Deze ‘Dante Trilogy’ bevat bijvoorbeeld drie platen die tussen 2001 en 2004 verschenen.
Bij zoveel overvloed aan ambient zou u kunnen denken dat het allemaal een beetje als hetzelfde klinkt, maar dat is hier uitdrukkelijk niet het geval. Waar de verschillende werken die we besproken hebben uit het einde van de jaren tachtig vooral elektronica en loops bevatten, wordt hier met een panoplie aan echte instrumenten gewerkt, en klinkt de muziek aanzienlijk minder repetitief.
U merkt aan de naam ‘Dante Trilogy’ dat de trilogie die hier voorgesteld wordt een thema heeft, en u kunt misschien wel raden dat het hier om het beroemde ‘Inferno’ van de Italiaanse middeleeuwse schrijver Dante Alighieri gaat. De beslissing om rond dit thema te werken nam Vidna Obmana blijkbaar omdat hij bij een nieuw label getekend had – Relapse Records / Release Entertainment – dat gespecialiseerd was in metal.
Nu weten we natuurlijk dat metalfans vaak interesse hebben in dark ambient, maar dan liefst als het echt donker en luguber is. De keuze voor de ‘Inferno’ van Dante als thema komt daar zeker aan tegemoet. Bovendien had Vidna Obmana het gevoel in een doodlopend straatje te zitten. Hij had hard gewerkt om zich een naam te maken in de ambientwereld, en wou nieuwe horizonten verkennen. Het bleek een heel goede zet te zijn, want zijn ‘Dante Trilogy’ werd effectief als baanbrekend beschouwd.
Eigenlijk maakt ‘Inferno’ ook deel uit van een trilogie van Dante Alighieri, die begon met de hel (Inferno), vervolgde met de louteringsberg (Purgatorio) en eindigde met de hemel (Paradiso). Vast staat dat Dante in ballingschap leefde toen hij zijn ‘Comedia’ schreef. Door een politiek conflict waarbij Dante behoorde tot een fractie die het onderspit delfde, moest hij van Florence naar Rome verkassen. U begrijpt dat Dante bijgevolg zijn politieke tegenstanders, waaronder de machtsbeluste paus Bonifatius VIII, in de hel plaatste.
Het beeld van de hel dat Dante creëert is zeer donker, met uitvoerige beschrijving van de aangepaste straffen voor verschillende soorten misdadigers. Volgens sommige critici was Dante zelf depressief en misschien zelfs suïcidaal toen hij zijn ‘Comedia’ schreef. ‘La Divinia Comedia’ – de meer uitvoerige titel die pas twee eeuwen na de dood van Dante werd gegeven aan zijn magnum opus – wordt hoe dan ook als een literair meesterwerk uit de middeleeuwen beschouwd.
Laten we teruggaan naar de muziek en de trilogie die nu in onze cd-speler draait. Het eerste deel van de trilogie heet ‘Tremor’ en kwam in september 2001 uit. Het was een stijlbreuk voor Vidna Obmana, die hier gebruik maakt van heel wat instrumenten: boventoonfluiten, fujara’s, elektrische gitaren en ebow harmonieën, allemaal bijgestaan door heel wat galm en atmosferische geluiden en door variërende tribale ritmes. Toegegeven, Serries had reeds eerder met deze elementen gewerkt, maar hier vormen ze echt de basis van de atmosferische klankvelden.
Op het tweede deel van de trilogie – ‘Spore’, dat in januari 2003 verscheen – grijpt Vidna Obmana deels terug naar typisch elektronisch gevormde ritmes, al blijft de nadruk wel liggen op galmende fluiten en andere geluiden. Belangrijk is dat Dirk Serries hier ook andere muzikanten uitnodigt om mee te spelen. Joris De Backer brengt contrabas en strijkers aan op twee nummers, en niemand minder dan Marc Verhaegen – in wiens versie van The Klinik Dirk Serries ooit gespeeld heeft – brengt wat trompet op het slotnummer.
Het derde deel ‘Legacy’ uit 2004 verrast door te starten met een stuk gesproken woord uit ‘Inferno’ door Steve Von Till van Neurosis. Uiteraard komen de meer zweverige elementen die we uit de vorige delen kennen snel aan bod. De samenwerkingen worden nog uitgebreider, en bevatten zelfs elektrische gitaar door Steven Wilson van Porcupine Tree, waar Serries verschillende keren mee samenwerkte. Vrouwlief Martina Verhoeven – die zoals steeds instaat voor de lay-out van de heruitgaven – deed ook een bijdrage met ‘gerecycleerde stemmen’.
Zonder enige twijfel is ‘Dante Trilogy’ een van de meest gevarieerde werken van Vidna Obmana. De vraag stelt zich zelfs of dit nog ambient is, iets wat Dirk Serries zelf ook in vraag gesteld heeft. Voor mij is het dat vast en zeker wel, ook al wijkt Vidna Obmana hier behoorlijk af van de platgetreden paden in het genre. Het vormt één geheel dat rustig en galmend voorbij kabbelt. Het resultaat is een zeer opmerkelijk werk dat bijzonder rijk is aan geluiden en atmosferen, wat mij net aanzet om deze uitgave – dat terecht de drie cd’s in één pakket bevat – sterk aan te bevelen.”
dirkserries.com 