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Sombre_Chemin-Ornaments_Of_Sin-Durch_Ruinen_Und_Dustere_Kriegsfelder-FR-SP
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ARTIST : Sombre Chemin / Ornaments Of Sin STOREDATE : 00-00-2005
ALBUM : Durch Ruinen Und Dⁿstere RIPDATE : 01-17-2015
YEAR : 2005 RUNTIME : 34:04 min
GENRE : Black Metal LANGUAGE : French
LABEL : ISO666 Releases GRABBER : EAC Secure
SOURCE : CDDA ENCODER : FLAC 1.2.1
QUALITY : 907 kbps Avg 44.1kHz 2 channels SIZE : 239.1MB
URL : http://tinyurl.com/kc75swu TRACKS : 9 Files
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01 Sombre Chemin - Ragnarok (Dans Les Ruines De Berlin) 5:28
02 Sombre Chemin - Soldats Du Soleil Noir 4:21
03 Sombre Chemin - Mourir Avec Honneur 5:04
04 Sombre Chemin - Possession Odinique 4:22
05 Ornaments Of Sin - Jesu Am Kreuz 0:45
06 Ornaments Of Sin - Citadels Of Darkness 4:07
07 Ornaments Of Sin - Funeral Procession (...My Ornaments Of 3:12
Sin)
08 Ornaments Of Sin - Dark Doctrines & Fullmoon Mysteries 3:36
09 Ornaments Of Sin - Raub Der Flammen 3:09
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34:04 min
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│ Beware, this is black metal in its crudest form. If you can't cope │
│ with dirty amateur productions that make your eardrums bleed, you'd │
│ better stay away from Durch Ruinen und dⁿstere Kriegsfelder │
│ ("Through Ruins and Dusty Battlefields" in German). Same if you're │
│ embarrassed about bands who praise the German Third Reich. │
│ │
│ Sombre Chemin and Ornaments of Sin were among the finest French raw │
│ black metal acts back in the 2000's. Both bands are not active │
│ anymore to my knowledge, but this split is still a very remarkable │
│ release in my opinion, gathering some of the bands' best material. │
│ │
│ Sombre Chemin play a mixture of Black Legions-inspired dissonant │
│ riffs, pagan rock-ish riffs (α la Vlad Tepes) and weird ambient │
│ interludes. I can sum up Sombre Chemin's music like this: strong │
│ personality, dreamlike atmosphere, but sloppy technique and │
│ production. The songs featured on Durch Ruinen... are based on the │
│ concept of the Third Reich's fall. It's easy to note that Sombre │
│ Chemin's side is more blatantly political than Ornaments of Sin's. │
│ But let's begin with Sombre Chemin, since they open hostilities. │
│ │
│ First of all, the drumming sucks. It's even sloppier than anything │
│ played by Capricornus. It doesn't completely ruin the listening │
│ experience, but it certainly adds to the band's identity a feeling │
│ of powerlessness that was probably never intended. │
│ │
│ On the other hand, the guitar riffs are really inspired and │
│ memorable. No annoying song structure to be found here. The guitar │
│ riffing progresses through the song to tell a story. That's what │
│ great about this band: listening to them is like listening to a sad │
│ story, with some enlightened parts. │
│ │
│ Sombre Chemin also play ambient-like parts, mixing synth layers, │
│ weird noises and sampled German military hymns. The addition results │
│ in a quite great fantomatic and nostalgic atmosphere. There is no │
│ real contrast between the black metal parts and the ambient parts, │
│ because they both participate in the same dark dreamlike ambiance. I │
│ particularly like the outroduction to "Possession Odinique" - ending │
│ the band's performance - with the obsessive repetition of the word │
│ "Europa". A successful try at practising electronic music. │
│ │
│ Both sides of the split provide good vocals, though different from │
│ each other. Sombre Chemin's singer basically screams his guts out in │
│ a hateful way, and occasionally adds spoken words (quite pointless │
│ to be frank). Ornaments of Sin's vocalist has a more controlled flow │
│ and volume. His tight rhythmic feeling makes his vocal work │
│ enjoyable, though he indulges in useless spoken words too. │
│ │
│ Both bands have an interesting introduction. Sombre Chemin samples │
│ Carl Orff's Carmina Burana O Fortuna. Ornaments of Sin uses the │
│ traditional thrashy feedback intro. The greatest song to be found on │
│ this split is Ornament's of Sin's "Citadels of Darkness". The │
│ drumming is fiercely fast, relentless and - unlike Sombre Chemin - │
│ professionally recorded and executed. The song's main riff is so │
│ great that I can hardly get it out of my head. │
│ │
│ But the first time that I listened to Ornaments of Sin's performance │
│ with earphones, a problem immediately rang the alarm bell to my │
│ ears: the bass guitar is out of tune - about a semitone too low. │
│ Fortunately, the bass is hardly audible on most of the songs, but │
│ this problem can be irritating if you listen carefully. │
│ │
│ The other songs are a bit lower in terms in quality. They feature │
│ other good riffs, but also common riffs already heard 100 times as │
│ well. Ornaments of Sin lacks in personality what Sombre Chemin lacks │
│ in tightness and professionalism. That's probably why each side of │
│ the split balances each other. The only problem that both bands │
│ share in terms of production is the high, eardrum-piercing, shrill, │
│ excessively distorted guitar tone. │
│ │
│ Before finishing this review, a few words about the cover art. I │
│ don't own the CD or vinyl version, but the front cover looks pretty │
│ amateur: Photoshop copy-paste, common Gothic font, black and │
│ white... We've already seen this 1000 times before. But I own the │
│ cassette version, and the cover art is even simpler, only showing │
│ the castle on a full black background and including the bandnames │
│ and tracklisting. So don't expect more than music if you plan to buy │
│ Durch Ruinen und dⁿstere Kriegsfelder. I may add that if you want to │
│ buy the cassette version, you may need to fill the gaps, since the │
│ whole release approximates more than 33 minutes. (As a personal │
│ note, my wicked stereo accidentally recorded a blank on "Dark │
│ Doctrines and Fullmoon Mysteries" instead of fast-forwarding the │
│ tape...) │
│ │
│ I'm not used to giving marks in my reviews, but I think that the │
│ 80-85% range is fully deserved, even if Durch Ruinen... bears many │
│ flaws. I'd rather listen to this split than to some more recent and │
│ professionally-produced French acts from the NS/pagan scene. │
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CATARACT: CLOUDING YOUR VISION