Darkspace

Swiss guitar trio (no drums) Darkspace, fronted by Tobias Moeckl, were master purveyors of "ambient black metal". The hyper-dense and lo-fi production of I (Avantgarde, 2003) juxtaposed manic guitar distortion and squalid blastbeats with atmospheric elements to evoke tense and creepy hellscapes. The vocals are generally buried in the mix, virtually irrelevant. Dark 1.1 (7:51) opens with beat-less electronic and vocal effects that conjure up intergalactic space, but then explodes into cascading riffs that gets increasingly out of control, accompanied by visceral screaming, until in the very last minute it all comes together as a sort of power-ballad. The highlight Dark 1.2 (11:47) unleashes a crescendo of frenzy that generates the effect of a rocket's blast-off, but then a slow anthemic keyboard melody rises from the mayhem while the blastbeats even accelerate and vocals emerge from a very deep tomb. Dark 1.4 (10:07) is a rhythmic massacre, with the drumming changing several times to lead an occult narrative of extreme pathos. Another superhuman acceleration underlies the first four minutes of the longest piece, Dark 1.5 (13:31), which then intones chugging riffs and ear-splitting screams until only a shapeless noise is left at about half way, despite some kind of lament trying to escape the vortex. The last four minutes are variations on the state of agony. Soaring keyboards accompany the brutal wall of razor-sharp guitar clatter in Dark 1.7 (10:55), another highlight, and their notes cause an accumulation of psychological tension that exhaust itself only after eight devastating minutes. There are moments when the trio is incapable of uttering a meaningful statement: the epileptic strumming drowns the cannibal howls in Dark 1.3 (11:40) until the two-minute horror coda, and Dark 1.6 (10:23) probably achieves the fastest rate of destruction. It's all designed to obliterate any sense of being grounded on the Earth.

The three juggernauts of II (Haunter Of The Dark, 2005) alternated between extremes. The trio has learned how to balance extreme sounds that cannot be balanced. Suspense is the new name of the game: Dark 2.8 (23:39) opens with a thick droning fog and then bell-like guitar riffs and then infernal screams and then suddenly stops... and then it restarts at maximum speed, relentless until the last two minutes of sideral echoes. A storm of distortions and alien radio interferences sets Dark 2.9 (10:21) in motion, and the rest is a festival of sound effects in cosmic space. It is the shortest of the three pieces, but also the most effective. A massive explosion erupts the carnage of Dark 2.10 (20:09), the loudest and most evil of the trio, although redeemed by the last six minutes of ghostly sounds.

Their "cosmic" black metal reached new depths of brutish angst on III (Avantgarde, 2008). Next to the unrelenting demonic chaos of pieces like Dark 3.11 (11:04) and Dark 3.13 (11:48) there are moments of romantic pathos, like in the synth-heavy Dark 3.14 (11:01), and moments of grandiose horror, like in the emphatic monster-like Dark 3.17 (16:58). The sci-fi theme is mirrored by an existential theme when, in Dark 3.12 (10:40), terrified vocals are drowning in the swirling miasma and are taken away by a gothic cavalcade while a majestic synth line crosses the horizon like a cosmic rainbow. The longer pieces construct more complex narratives, like Dark 3.16 (14:09), but always end up shaping visions of evil hordes in inhospitable lands. Extraterrestrial space has never looked so ugly and hostile.

One of the two guitarists, Tobias Moeckl, had pursued his one-man project Paysage D'Hiver since the demo Steineiche (1998 - Kunsthall, 2010), targeting dark ambient music. Die Festung (1999), devoted to keyboard-based instrumental gothic music, was even reminiscent of Popol Vuh's spiritual ambience. The massive super-heavy glacial hypnotic drone of the 21-minute Die Zeit des Torremond, off Schattengang (1999), constituted a schizophrenic journey amid field recordings and industrial rhythms, ending in the core of a hurricane. The three lengthy pieces of Paysage D'Hiver (2000), devastated by blastbeats and hysterical guitars, basically rediscovered black metal. One of them added violin to the keyboards (Welt Aus Eis, possibly his artistic zenith). Kerker (2000) and Kristall & Isa (2001) were very lo-fi and did not sound as carefully designed as their predecessors. Paysage D'Hiver released a total of nine demos, including Winterkate (2001), Nacht (2004) and Einsamkeit (2007), containing three sprawling and cinematic suites. He resurrected the project for Das Tor (2013), whose Offenbarung is as glacial and haunting as anything that came before.

Sun Of The Blind, the solo project of Zhaaral, devoted to much more regular pop songs on Skullreader (Avantgarde, 2010).