FEAR FALLS BURNING / NADJA — same

Zwei Projekte aus dem "Metal / Guitar-Drone"-Bereich die zur Zeit sicher zu den beliebtesten gehören, in Zusammenarbeit.
Vier Stücke, fast 60 Minuten, obsessiver Metal-Drone-Doom Noise und industrialized Monumental-Drone mit zeitlupenhaften elektronischen Rhythmen. Sehr betäubend grandios v.a. die zweite Hälfte (movements 3 & 4) mit wahren Trance-Drone Exkursionen, eine Art sumpfiger Morast-Musik...
"On their first full-length collaboration CD Fear Falls Burning and Nadja display their wilful approach to drones with 4 epic songs, full of sustain, pulses and dynamics. Grand in theme, sound and atmosphere. This album draws inspiration from their critically-acclaimed lp for Conspiracy Records while pushing the boundaries on their sound as an entity. This album entirely consists of new material. Limited to 1000 copies, in digipak." [label info]
"As a music obsessive, it's inevitable that you spend some time
fantasizing about the perfect musical match ups. Most of them could
never happen, or maybe should never happen, others wouldn't sound as good as one might hope, but some have in fact taken place (SUNNO))) and Boris) and far surpassed our expectations. Which brings us to this, a collaboration between Canadian dream doom duo Nadja, and Dutch one man guitarmy Dirk Serries. These two powerhouses have met up once before, as part of that super limited Conspiracy Records anniversary series, and the sound here is quite similar, hovering somewhere between the colossal crush we know both are capable of, and a surprisingly dreamy drift.
Four lengthy tracks, each more sound than song, but that's
exactly as it should be. The opener takes the blown out vacuum
cleaner buzz of Total or Skullflower and smears it into soft edged
swells, an almost static, barely undulating wall of whirring warmth,
which quickly dissipates, leaving just a muted minimal shimmer. The
second track is more of the same, a massive pulsing rumble smeared
with wispy swaths of fuzzy distortion, but with a bit of percussion
added, an industrial clang and thump buried way down in the mix,
while above the roiling guitars are draped spidery streaks of
coruscating feedback, a sort of Skullflower / SUNNO))) style mashup.
Blissful and blown out, but at the same time dark and strangely ominous.
Track three is the anomaly here, the 'quiet' number, a sort of
spacious drift, with tons of room sound, simple drumming way down in
the mix all Dead C style, some ghostly melodies, and haunting
snippets of clean guitar surfacing here and there and what sounds
like seasick organs warbly and wavering. So haunting and pretty.
And finally, the closer, which begins with some slightly
atonal Nitsch style drones, a wash of what sounds like moaning horns
but must be guitars, tense and intense, drawn out for what seems like
forever, when suddenly a wall of crumbling distorted guitars drop
from the sky like it's raining anvils, a plodding drum beat
underpinning the now suddenly caustic riffage, a gorgeously blown out
slab of impossibly heavy, and simultaneously strangely lovely, ultra
dooooooooom." [Aquarius Records]