Dødsmaskin — Ingenting
A thick, cold, windswept embrace ushers in ambulating, rusting, shrieking industrial horror on the opener, "Aske." Almost like having a spectator seat for a giant robot battle on a wintry, post-apocalyptic plain, the first half of "Aske" wonderfully mixes background atmosphere with rough electronics that are just a hair outside of reach. This impending doom continues to move forward until at the end, the grim, boiler room booming is all that remains. After a very quiet and distant introduction, the gates slam and "Bionegativ" burns forth with a buzzing, machine-like fury. Once past the mechanical guard, Dødsmaskin shows a little bit of their soft side, and the atmosphere lightens as the song's final third plays out. Much like "Bionegativ" before it, "Endelikt" starts off quiet and distant, although for quite a bit longer. And, similarly, this quiet is jarringly shattered by the rusty buzz of machinery. Again, like sneaking past a man-made guard, the boiler room floor opens up to industrial atmospheres and pulls forth the opening tones to tie everything together. Grim, distant, and haunting, the cold, windy sounds on "Ingenting" hearken back to the beginning of "Aske," and remind the listener of the desolate plain in which he or she is currently residing. This flows well into the closer, "Menneskeforakt," which takes this wind, turns up the crunch, and adds barbed wire to the windy embrace. Upping the noise ante on Ingenting, Dødsmaskin wraps the album up with a vibrant and violent finish.
Ingenting may be over three years old at this point, but Cyclic Law is bringing this underheard debut to the masses. Sometimes soft and atmospheric, and other times crushing and punishing, Dødsmaskin's debut shows how well noise, death industrial, and dark ambient work together. Hearing their debut and knowing that three other albums exist, one would do well checking out the rest of Dødsmaskin's catalog.