Snørte - Mort Lente

This rarity finally came in from Russia. Discovered this a while ago but hadn't had a chance to purchase until it briefly appeared on Discogs. Such a good cover! High quality tape rip as always.

Snørte is the eponymous side project of the Snørte Skoggath of the French and Swiss black metal bands Helslakt and Profond Barathre (a few of these tracks are actually redone by Snørte for PB's first demo), this self-titled tape from 2007 being his only solo release. The project falls more into the 'dungeon-esque' category. It's not full dungeon synth but it has many of the elements. Snørte is more of a Lamentation-Aakon Keetreh-Lebenessenz hybrid. There's definite influence here from the LLN dark ambient side projects. Slow melancholic piano reverberates with soft synths with some tracks featuring glacial DSBM drumming. All of the tracks are rather depressive, some have a bit more of a horror tinge to them evocative of Lamentation or the eerier passages of Xasthur. I can't exactly tell if the music is programmed in a sequencer or recorded live, but there's a coldness to it. The human element is very feint, a hopeless soun.

Visitors who come here for dungeon synth may be disappointed with the lack of fantasy synth here, but give it a listen. The chorus-voice synth, slow grand piano, and drum machine may sit well with DSBM fans and dungeon fans alike (but not too well, of course, this is certainly a dark tape). There is one track from this posted on Youtube that happens to be the best from this release, if you want a preview.

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Mordraaneth - The Taverns in the Land of Ashes

New week, new post. This week we have the The Taverns in the Land of Ashes by Mordraaneth. Mordraaneth was a project of James Baker (aka Belegur from Trollmann Av Ildtoppberg). Taverns came out as a double CD in 2007 on Skulls of Heaven, which seems late to me. This album seems more like something he would have put out before starting his other main projects.

Unlike the doom-bass-laden Trollmann, Mordraaneth is pure synth and lots of it (with a background of noise on one track). This is a hefty eight track double album, with three tracks over twenty minutes, one of which approaches forty. Really varied sounds on this album, crushingly heavy and depressive at times while wistful and light at others. Cheesy dungeon keys, strings, flutes, thundering booms, it's all here and incredibly well composed. Recommended for anyone who is a fan of Trollmann or Ungl'Unl'Rrlh'Chchch. Hopefully two hours of Mordraaneth will keep you satiated until next week.

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