Top Bar
Musique Machine Logo Home ButtonReviews ButtonArticles ButtonBand Specials ButtonAbout Us Button
SearchGo Down
Search for  
With search mode in section(s)
And sort the results by
show articles written by  
 Review archive:  # a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Cory Strand - Oblivion Adorned [Altar Of Waste - 2014]

Oblivion Adorned finds this highly prolific, Minneapolis based noise/drone artists offering up two lengthy slices of  guitar based drone matter.  The two here tracks move from taut & airless industrial tinged ambience, onto more harmonic & rising drone simmers, through to more surprising drum based turns.

The two tracks here are themed around US Pop star, Actress & Model Lindsay Lohan, and the Altar Of Waste house style clear dvd case packaging takes in pictures of  Ms Lohan on the beach- both staring out to sea, and smiling & posing.

The first track comes in the form of the title track, and this 36.27 minute piece is built around stark, bleak, and fixed drone patterns.  It’s constructed around two or three layers of blurred, muffled & grey ambient textures- these have quite a stark industrial churning quality about them, and Strand feeds these out in a very quiet yet total hopeless & unbreakable sonic stream. The tracks mangers to create a very grim & oppressive feel, and I’d say it’s close in  feeling to the  stripped & stark drone/ambient matter Strand did under his Lethe project name.

Track two comes in the form of "Oblivioness of The Heart", and this comes in at the 33.30 mark. This track starts off being built around a fairly focused hovering drone, as it moves towards it’s fourth minute Strand starts adds in subtle harmonic sub-tone washers- these pull you in deeper & deeper to the tracks dark yet kind of pleasing hovering vibe. At the 10th minute the hovering element fades back, and is replaced by a shrimmering yet hazed mass of golden/hopefull guitar drone matter- as this progresses Strand nicely loops the textures out & out into a appealing drone scape, which does rather bring to mind the cover picture of Ms Lohan looking out to sea.  The next shift happens around the twenty first minute mark where Strand add’s in a locked down live drum rhythm to shimmering drone wash, and this creates a nice bit of dramatic-ness. The rest of the tracks running time sees these two elements play-out together in quite a effective way, and at times there is an almost washed & spread out Pink Floyd like vibe to the guitar ambience.

So all in all this release offers up two fairly different slices of lengthy guitar based drone matter- both tracks are rewarding in their own rights, but they also work well together with the first track creating an effective feeling of a taut grey-ness, and the second moving from dark waters onto more expansive & golden ambience.

Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5

Roger Batty
Latest Reviews

Cory Strand - Oblivion Adorned
Oblivion Adorned finds this highly prolific, Minneapolis based noise/drone artists offering up two lengthy slices of  guitar based drone matter.&nb...
190324   Pierre Jodlowski - Séries fo...
180324   José María Sánchez-Verdú - K...
180324   Celer - Cursory Asperses
180324   Burial Ground/ Nights of Terr...
150324   Uncodified - Erased People
150324   The Residents - Secret Show (...
130324   Dagr - Dagr (ltd-theatrical/ ...
130324   Ignaz Schick & Oliver Steidle...
120324   Math - Utterblight
120324   OdNu + Ümlaut - Abandoned Spaces
Latest Articles

Sutcliffe No More - Normal Everyd...
Sutcliffe No More are a British two-piece bringing together Kevin Tomkins & Paul Taylor. Formed in 2021, it’s the spin-off project/ next sonic step...
290224   Sutcliffe No More - Normal Ev...
100124   Occlusion - The Operation Is...
181223   Best Of 2023 - Music, Sound &...
051223   Powerhouse Films - Of Magic, ...
181023   IO - Of Sound, Of Art, Of Exp...
210923   Lucky Cerruti - Of Not so Fri...
290823   The Residents - The Trouble W...
110723   Yotzeret Sheydim Interview - ...
250523   TenHornedBeast - Into The Dee...
050523   Bill Morroni - The Trials & ...
Go Up
(c) Musique Machine 2001 -2023. Twenty two years of true independence!! Mail Us at questions=at=musiquemachine=dot=comBottom