Javier Navarrete: Le labyrinthe de Pan (4.5/5)

Year: 2006
Genre: Soundtrack
Label: Milan
TRT: 73:44


Yes, this is the OST for Pan’s Labyrinth. But unlike most soundtracks, this one doesn’t need the accompaniment of a movie to be awesome, it does that just fine on it’s own. I tracked this down after liking the music better than the movie (and since the movie is good that should tell you something), but honestly if I had heard this with no notion of it’s connection to the film, I would have loved it all the same. It has the atmosphere of a concept album, very fluid and dreamy, but threaded together with the strength of the recurring motif. It also doesn’t hurt that that main melody strongly recalls Mia Farrow’s haunting humming from Rosemary’s Baby.

Try listening to this late at night, with the lights off, under the covers, whilst reading Stephen King…

01 Long, Long, Time Ago (Hace mucho, mucho tiempo)
02 The Labyrinth (El laberinto)
03 Rose, Dragon (La rosa y el dragón)
04 The Fairy and the Labyrinth (El hada y el laberinto)
05 Three Trials (Las tres pruebas)
06 The Moribund Tree and the Toad (El árbol que muere y el sapo)
07 Guerilleros (Guerrilleros)
08 A Book of Blood (El libro de sangre)
09 Mercedes Lullaby (Nana de Mercedes)
10 The Refuge (El refugio)
11 Not Human (El que no es humano)
12 The River (El río)
13 A Tale (Un cuento)
14 Deep Forest (Bosque profundo)
15 Vals of the Mandrake (Vals de la mandrágora)
16 The Funeral (El funeral)
17 Mercedes (Mercedes)
18 Pan and the Full Moon (La luna llena y el fauno)
19 Ofelia (Ofelia)
20 A Princess (Una princesa)
21 Pan's Labyrinth Lullaby (Nana del laberinto del fauno)

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Zavoloka: Viter (4/5)

Year: 2007
Genre: Electronic Glitch Orchestration
Label: Kvitnu
TRT: 24:34

When this album came up in my listening queue, it had been some time since I'd acquired it, and I didn't remember anything about it or why I had picked it up in the first place. So when I imported it into my media player of choice, I was not pleased to see the pre-loaded tags associated with the album. The ubiquitous and criminally undescriptive: "New Age". I rolled me eyes and cleared the genre and re-tagged the album in the same manner I tag all my digital collection. The song titles did nothing to assuage my doubts, nothing but a variation on that well known pop culture phrase: “Breath In, Breath Out”.

In short, I was already pre-disposed to dismiss this album out of hand before hearing the first sound it contained. The tones of the brief first track seemed only to confirm my thoughts on the matter. But then I listened to the rest of the album, and completely changed my mind. Threw out every assumption I had so hastily made.

Kateryna Zavoloka is a Ukrainian musician, who is always looking for a way to push the boundaries of sound. On this release, she combines glitchy and experimental electronic beats with traditional Ukrainian folk instruments, such as the fiddle and violin, playing in a manner inspired by traditional folk songs from her home country.

The result is a very unique listen, reminiscent of Saltillo’s Ganglion, but darker and with more of the emphasis on the beats rather than the orchestrations, and with a less structured approach.

All in all, she’s created quite a satisfying little slice of digital pie...for a girl.

01 Inhale
02 Exhale
03 Inhale
04 Exhale
05 Inhale
06 Exhale
07 Inhale
08 Exhale
09 Inhale

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Virgin Black: Requiem - Mezzo Forte (5/5)

#1 out of 10
Metal Albums of 2007

Year: 2007
Label: The End/Massacre
Genre: Classical Orchestrated Doom
TRT: 52:09

Virgin Black has been my favorite band since the very first time I heard them in 2002. This is actually the second installment of a three part series entitled Requiem, however The End records chose to release this first, as it’s the closest to previous releases out of the three. Mezzo Forte was recorded, along with Pianissimo and Fortissimo, with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, making this at once the most ambitious, dense and multi-faceted Virgin Black release to date. With soaring operatic vocals (both male and female) and crushing growls, the album takes you for a tumultuous and emotional ride. The orchestration meshes seamlessly with Virgin Black’s brand of gothic doom metal, which comes as no surprise if you’re familiar with past releases. It’s no less than you would expect. Listening to this album, for me at least, is an experience I find difficult to put in to words. To put it simply, Virgin Black resonates within my soul.

01 Requiem, Kyrie
02 In Death
03 Midnight's Hymn
04 ...And I Am Suffering
05 Domine
06 Lacrimosa (I Am Blind With Weeping)
07 Rest Eternal

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