
Cloama & Blutleuchte - Self Titled [Anima Arctica - 2009]From Wasteland Mausoleums, the last collaboration between Finish noise maker Cloama & the more atmospheric fellow countrymen Blutleuchte was one of my favourite releasers of 07; with it’s mixture of gothic cinematics, dammed world music and general creative/atmospheric genre pick and mix. So I was very excited to see this appearing. So what it like?, well frankly it's rather disappointing and more than a little amateurish and muddled in it's execution; you see this isn’t a new collaboration- this was originally released in ltd Cdr pressing back in 03. Sure there are some interesting and creative ideas at work here- but it just feels unfinished, rough and too noisy and muddled for its own good. Most tracks pile on layers of grim synth washers, noise textures, samples ect- with seemingly the different elements pulling in different directions. All meaning that more often than not the atmosphere their try to create is lost or comes off half cocked. Also it often sounds very dated coming across maybe like post industrial soundscaping from around the mid 90’s- with a lot of the samples been very clichéd and dull. Really the only really positive thing to come out of the whole thing other than an handfull of half made ideas; is that sometimes it's best not to release everything you’ve ever made as an artist; as releasers like this start to cheapen the memory your greater and more effective work.      Roger Batty
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