The Axis Of Perdition - "Deleted Scenes..." REVIEWS

[Emi]

same review in english:

Ehm, can someone please put those sick minds from The Axis Of Perdition back in their cages? Thank you. They drove me completely out of my mind. Soundtrack-like sounds, continuous frantic bleeps and sick badly produced grunts. Look, there must be some people out there that enjoy listening to an elevator going up and down for three minutes, I just do not belong with them. I like a nice piece of experimental black metal just as the next guy, but what this Axis Of Perdition does, goes just a little beyond good taste. Moreover the music, I thought the most important thing of a band in general, seems to matter less than the atmosphere. The bass drum sounds like a cardboard box, the guitars just shriek along with the bleeps, and the vocals seem to be recorded inside a tin of sardines.The idea of making a concept album about an insane asylum is in its self of course kind of interesting, although a bit cliché maybe, and The Axis Of Perdition does succeed very well in making you feel you are in such a place. In fact, if I listened a little longer I think I really ended up in one! This however did not make me want to listen to the record much longer and I think not much people will actually. Maybe fans of Diabolical Masquerade and horror freaks that do not care for a good production can appreciate this. For me this is just too little good music, and too much atmospherical nonsense.

Rating: 59/100 (details)

 

[Myklon_B]

Cool.

 

[Emi]

here's the famous TERRORIZER Review:

"The language of terror is dedicated to an endless expense, even though it only seeks to achieve a single effect. It drives itself out of any possible resting place." - Micheal Foucalt, 'Language To Infinity'

The disintegration into madness knows no end. It's cyclic, tantalising, implicitly venomous in its purpose. The comparison may seem slightly far-fetched, but if the panopticon-style prison scenes in 'Midnight Express', following the mental degradation of the dope-smuggling protagonist, were to be an 'arabesque' tale of terror, this would be it, bulging with 'Groundhog Day' style 'What if's and supplications to be released from this crawling, clasping, sliming horror-tedium.

What Edgar Allan Poe would make of 'Deleted Scenes From The Transition Hospital' is an mind-opening juncture. Drawing inspiration from the master of supernatural horror himself, fed through Clive Barker's over-abundance of imaginative frenzy that led to the 'Hellraiser' macabria, The Axis Of Perdition convey imagined terror by making it as immediately physical as inhumanly possible. The tar-stained human condition detritus of their 'Ichneumon Method' debut repelled and enlightened, its barren, synthetic bpm stormblast propelling BM to realms unnavigated, while the claustrophobic, straitjacketed trauma of last year's illucinatory EP spelt a fraction of what was to follow. This is how 'real' their new offering gets. There is no escaping the death-knell atmospherics of opener 'In The Hallway Of Crawling Filth', its creeping stench passing sentence with an ensuing black ice avalance of epic, labyrinthine, desolate riffs. The intolerable auto-de-fe howls on 'Pendulum Prey' trangress the bounds of reality and possibility, challenging reason with the imaginatiove flight of a jazzy-cum-background-porn-music outro that subverts rational codes of understanding.

Numerous reference points to the ambient masters of the genre litter the album. The clunky, processed trawl of 'The Elevator Beneath The Valve' and the hermetic, rusty, dripping hiss of 'Isolation Cubicle' sink to the putrid, murky depths cinematic-horror-ambient luminaries Megaptera have made their own cesspool of disturbing, altered psycho-sexual states. Further in the chasm, 'Entangled In Mannequin Limbs' sounds like a lost 'Dr Who' episode but, rest assured, there's no camp eccentricity about this. The prime instrumental abuse comes in the mind-bending guitar expanses, denser and more adventurous than on 'The Ichneumon Method', that fuel the fantasy, hallucination and madness towards an uncanniness that renders all boundaries uncertain. This, then, is aural hell, an un-gothic version of a Boschian nightmare, seething with corrisive industria.

TAOP will numb your senses yet again, making 'De;eted Scenes...' one of this year's compulsive yet ultimately most mentally taxing listenss. What 'difficult second album' syndrome? Fuck that.


[9.5] Richie Ruchpaul

 

[Myklon_B]

Damned in Black:

Here I am with the latest offering from this devastating, Rage of Achilles-signed British duo. No, I'm not talking of Anaal Nathrakh, but of their as-cruel mirror image: the violent industrial black metal hybrids Axis of Perdition (or rather, The Axis of Perdition, as they seem to insist). While it seems like these guys hate comparisons to other projects (and, for some reason, especially good old Nathrakh), anyone who has heard this group's previous full-length (the furious "The Icheumon Method") will know that dissociating the two projects is close to impossible. Not only do the two separate bands share a lot of biographical similarities – same label, same number of members (…or not anymore?), same nationality, same instrumentation, same number of releases – but their music, lyrical approach and general mission statement all opt for a very similar direction: total fucking chaos.

I enjoyed the early Axis of Periditon stuff I heard back when they had just recorded the split EP with Pulse Fear and appreciated the material on "The Icheumon Method" (which successfully fulfilled my hunger for more Nathrakh-like music), but I quickly lost track of the project. I remember reading an interview (or just an article – I don't remember the details) on the band sometime last summer on how they would focus on deeper lyrics for their next releases and how (wait for this one!) they would take a lot of inspiration from the Silent Hill videogame series. To be entirely candid, the whole Silent Hill thing was a turn-off and it didn't take long for me to go back to forgetting the band. The other day, without notice, I saw the return of the band on the shelves of my city's few interesting CD stores, with what is their second full length – this "Deleted Scenes from the Transition Hospital". Apparently, they released an EP between this effort and their previous one, but I just found out ten minutes ago so I'll focus solely on the band's latest.

Axis of Perdition's music has evolved, and you can tell right form the beginning. The first two tracks, which share over fourteen minutes of this album's hour-long runtime, are ambient/darkwave instrumentals drenched in the band's typical noise-covered overtones, the occasional vocal sample and struggling guitars, as always subdued to the dirtiest and deepest position in the production. The scare factor that excited most listeners (me included) with the previous record is back and in an immense manner: Axis seem to have focused more on their industrial side while keeping things still vaguely "metal" (the insane drum programming and the pseudo-melodic – though barely audible – guitars) and "extreme" (everything else…?). Their aim here was to create something that would resemble a horror soundtrack, but going through the pathways of an extreme metalhead's wildest dreams and by avoiding anything that would be structurally or elementally mainstream. This new approach, while accessed by means of the same processes within the previous disc, constructs something completely new and innovative, albeit uncomfortable. The only thing that this album's structure reminded me of was Fantomas' "The Director's Cut", but musically this is a completely different world.

By the time you've reached track four you'll be either scaring yourself shitless or sleeping. In my case, I was able to listen to this album three or four times (the last two by skipping a few of the tracks) before I started feeling dizzy and hoping my stereo would disintegrate. While on the previous album the music was a materialization of the world swallowing itself, "Deleted Scenes from the Transition Hospital" is simply a quick visit through its remains, full of terror, destruction and – unfortunately – boredom. Even the insane drum programming switches frequently between spastic bass-pedal frenzies and complete absence, while the guitars are usually way too repetitive and meaningless. The tracks are tight only on certain limited segments and they are commonly pulled for too long, with the few interesting ideas rotting before the next number kicks in. There are several experiments being done here – such as a piano/guitar jazz interlude at the end of "Pendulum Prey" and various horror-like clean vocal samples – but they are usually suffocated by the band's claustrophobic atmosphere which ends up irritating rather than proving to be entertaining.

Just like a horror movie, after a few times you've been through it and all the shock and gore are no longer a surprise, it loses appeal. For a music album, and compared to its predecessor, "Deleted Scenes from the Transition Hospital" unfortunately does so too quickly. This full-length simply demonstrated that it would have been better if I never remembered about this band. Dissapointing.

 

[Emi]

from METAL DISTRICT

http://www.metal-district.de/cdreview.php

Hm, ich glaub nicht einmal ein Jahr liegt zurück, als ich die letzte Veröffentlichung der Briten in den Händen hielt und so schnell wie möglich wieder los werden wollte. Damals übernahm ein Ex-Kollege die Qual sich durch die fünf Songs von „Physical Illucinations“ zu skippen. Na, und heute hat mir Cheffe Päddl die nachfolgende Geräuschansammlung namens „Deleted Scenes From The Transition Hospital“ zukommen lassen. Toll, ne? Vor allem der Titel! Der sagt nämlich schon alles aus, was dieses Silikonprodukt in sich birgt – Unnötige Szenen einer Reise ins Jenseits. Interessiert also keine alte Sau. Dazu schimpft sich die Mucke als Ambient-Music. Na toll! Und „Postapokalyptischer Black Metal”! Na supertoll!! Eine verstimmte Jazz-Gitarre bei „Pendulum Prey“, dazu ein Piano, an dem Opa Grinsebart sich die Finger fuselig schwirbelt, und das alles soll dann „Ambient“ oder gar „schwarz-metallisch“ sein? Wenn ich mir ähnliches gönnen möchte, dann leg ich ARCTURUS auf, denn die können es wenigstens und verheddern sich nicht in belanglosen Spielchen am PC.

THE AXIS OF PERDITION möchten sicher ganz originell sein und etwas besonderes machen, aber das können 13-jährige an ihrem neuen PC auch. Vielleicht nicht ganz so düster, vielleicht auch nicht ganz so nervend. Von anfänglichen Blähungen im UKW-Bereich über Aufnahmen einer fiktiven Metzgerei bis hin zu allerlei verfremdeten Tönen und Klängen sollen dem Hörer ein Gefühl bescheren, das ihn auf dieselbe Reise führt, die die Studioband (offensichtlich unter massivem Drogenkonsums) bereits bezwang. Manchmal kommt eine Stromgitarre zum Einsatz, die es aber auch nicht mehr herausreißt und dem Album mit dem schrecklich-billigen Drumcomputergedöns im Hintergrund den Titel „Rohstoffverschwendung“ eher kräftigt als dass es die Wertung in die Höhe treibt.

Für erfolgreiche Bands, die vom andauernden Zugabespielen irgendwann die Schnauze gestrichen voll haben und ganz sicher gehen wollen, dass die Fans nach Hause gehen und ein perfektes Outro suchen, ist die „Musik“ von THE AXIS OF PERDITION durchaus interessant. Für alle anderen: FINGER WEG!!!

 

[Emi]

from METAL.DE

rate: 8/10 points

Diese Promo muss man mit Kettenhandschuhen anfassen. Ihr kennt vielleicht „Das große Monsterhandbuch“ aus einem der Harry-Potter-Filme? So muss man sich dieses Album vorstellen, es zetert, kreischt, beißt und windet sich aus jedem Versuch, es gerne haben zu wollen oder zu verstehen. TAOP sind Briten bis aufs Blut, mit sperrigem und sehr gewöhnungsbedürftigem Musikgeschmack. Stilbezeichnungen lassen wir mal außen vor, weil sie nach unseren deutschen Kriterien nicht greifen. Sicher ist zunächst mal: wer unter „Industrial“ so etwas wie FEAR FACTORY versteht, der kann jetzt auf seinem Browser den Button „Zurück“ betätigen.

Wenn Ihr jetzt noch hier seid, erwartet Euch eine düstere, klaustrophobische Angelegenheit, mit bis zur Unkenntlichkeit verfremdeten synthetischen Sounds, Klängen, Samples und Kollagen, einem echt abgefuckt programmierten Drumcomputer, tiefen wummernden Gitarren und völlig schrägen und garantiert atonalen Tonkombinationen, die von nervenzerreißenden Schreien durchzogen sind. Strukturen, Parts, Patterns, Harmonien oder feste Taktzahlen gibt’s hier nicht. Für den gewöhnlichen Konsumenten ist das unerträglich und dient auch garantiert keinem Hörgenuß, sondern schlicht und einfach der Beschwörung einer postapokalyptischen, feindlichen Atmosphäre, die kein „Alien“-Film und kein PC-Spiel so intensiv erzeugen könnte. Die Verzweiflung des Großstadtmenschen, der Wahnsinn des Klardenkenden, Verlassenheit und allumfassende Angst, komprimiert in die schwarzen, verfallenen Räume des „transition hospital“, sorgen beim Rezipienten dieses Psychosounds für den unbedingten Wunsch, wegzulaufen und sich im warmen weichen Bett zu verstecken. Besonders schlimm ist die Sache, weil THE AXIS OF PERDITION die hohe und fast vergessene Kunst der Wortmalerei beherrschen. Liest man die Songtitel aufmerksam („In the hallway of crawling filth“, „The elevator beneath the valve“, „Pendulum Prey“, „Isolation cubicle 312“, „This, then, is paradise?“, “One day you will understand why” usw.), tauchen sofort Bilder im Schädel auf. Riesige Hallen, voll mit rostigen medizinischen Instrumenten, Staub und Schutt, ein Pater Noster aus verfaultem Holz, ein riesiges schwarzes Pendel in der Dunkelheit, ein blutiger riesiger Rollstuhl, die Personifikation einer tiefen, furchtbaren Ernüchterung. Wenn man sich auf diesen kleinen privaten Horrortrip einlässt, spürt man erst, wie gut und realistisch dieses Album eigentlich ist, auch wenn natürlich den Bogen ein bisschen überspannt. Die „gelöschten Szenen“ sind weniger ein musikalisches als ein atmosphärisches Meisterwerk, mehr Hintergrund als Blendwerk, mehr Tiefe als Eingängigkeit. In der letzten Zeit habe ich selten eine CD gehört, die man auch so erleben kann wie es sich die Musiker wohl vorgestellt haben, mit der sich aber nur beschäftigt, wer die Zeichen der geilen Digipack-Aufmachung schon richtig gedeutet, zwischen den Zeilen der vernichtenden Reviews gelesen hat und sich selbst als Kämpfer mit einem Werk versteht, wenn es das erfordert. Das ist etwas, was code666-Bands ohnehin aus dem FF beherrschen und das sowohl dieses Label allgemein als auch TAOP im Besonderen als echte Kunstliebhaber auszeichnet. Sperrige, ätzende Kunst, aber immerhin Kunst.

 

[Myklon_B]

Wow, a German zine that doesn't think we're a big pile of tedious, moronic, annoying, enervating shite. You see something new everyday.

 

[Emi]

Wow, a German zine that doesn't think we're a big pile of tedious, moronic, annoying, enervating shite. You see something new everyday.

hehehe... the guy who wrote this review is Florian from ENID... he knows that a bad review would be the end of their contract...

hehehe, I'm joking of course, he proved to be one of the few german journalist with an open mind and enough brain to understand what the album is all about.

 

[Emi]

from SCREAM MAGAZINE (norway - printed)

rate: 4/5

 

[Emi]

from FLASH MAGAZINE (Italian - printed)

rate: 80/100

 

[xXtaXidermyXx]

I guess Myklon and Tetsuo are actually the dudes in this band: holy shit, guys, this album slaughters. everything I've heard you do slaughters. scariest, most black-hearted music I have ever heard.

 

[Emi]

from FEEDBACK FANZINE (Uk - Printed)

I first played the second album by British band The Axis of Perdition, ‘Deleted Scenes From The Transition Hospital’, when I was in the car. I was immediately struck by the atmospheric music, so much so that I actually turned it off so that I didn’t get too distracted. Back in the comfort of my home I put it on again, and couldn’t really believe what I was hearing. This isn’t just music, it is an all encompassing experience that is going to cause one of two reactions in the listener: either they are going to hate this with a passion and find that they cannot understand or comprehend what is going on or they are going to be suitably awed by the experience. I guess I fall into the latter.

On digging out the press release I can see that the music they play is described by the label either as ‘cinematic industrial black metal’ or ‘post-apocalyptic black metal’. This may be black metal, but I have never encountered anything like this. It is threatening, it is oppressive, it is funny (where did that loungecore come from?) and it also contains the closet thing to Gregorian chant that you will come across within this genre. But what it is at all times is atmospheric, and extremely visual. These guys live in a dark world that I don’t want to visit, but I am more than happy to watch it from the outside

It isn’t possible to describe this just as music, and I can’t possibly start to impress on you the impact that this has made, but if you want something that is not only breaking the boundaries but creating a new world all of their own then this is for you. It is nothing short of astonishing.

 

[Myklon_B]

PAHARDCORE:

Overall score - 98/100
Technicality - 93/100
Originality - 100/100
Vocals - 100/100

Similar Bands:
.....

Review:
Axis Of Perdition is a band I have been following for a couple years now, since their 2003 debut, "The Ichneumon Method". Something about this band completely fascinates me and sets it apart from any other band, in a "teasing myself with fear and wonder" sort of way.

"The Ichneumon Method" was a raging black maelstrom of thick discordant spiralling guitars, sporadic blasts of machine gun drumming, and opressive, omnipotent vocals from hell. With it, the German mastermind duo that is Axis Of Perdition crafted a storm of post apocalyptic discord that I will admit, was the first album to ever truly scare me.

Their next release, the EP "Physical Illucinations In The Sewer Of Xuchilbara", was a completely different animal, and rather than being a brutal tech black metal whirlwind, it was an epic of white noise and ambient industrial sprawl and terror. The album also brought about an extra pronoun to their name, and made it "The Axis Of Perdition". It was a precursor to their newest album, "Deleted Scenes From The Transition Hospital", continued and elaborated on it's changes to the band's sound.

Let me warn you now: do not listen to this album during the day, the effect will be lost on you, and you'll likely toss it on the shelf. Listen to this in the middle of the night, with headphones, alone, preferably while wandering.

Where "The Ichneumon Method" focused itself on sheer chaos and brutality and was more tech death metal based, this album, like the preceding EP, focuses on ambience to create an alternate and futuristic world of sheer terror and claustrophobia. One of the things that separates this release from the vast majority of traditional music is its sense of presence... most of the actual "metal" of the album sounds somewhat far off, as if it is only secondary to the horrific atmosphere and tortured textures these German madmen create. Consistent are the distant agonized shrieks and beggings of "patients" in the Transition Hospital that this massive concept album spends its length detailing and creating for its listeners, as are the rustling of chains, and the clanking and scraping of materials against the created walls that the production makes very evident. There are also some very strange surprises to be found in this release, such as the strange jazz interlude that breaks up the third track, "Pendulum Prey", for a relaxing (albeit eery of course) break from the unrelenting horror, psychotic howling, and the blistering drum machine attack.

To break away from the hollywood dialect here... the guitars have stripped away most of the grating technicality that defined the first album, and have been simplified to leave more room for ambience (as if there wasn't enough to begin with); and while the drums are still trademark Axis, they are more spread out and given some more time to breathe. The most straight up metal track of this album is certainly "This Then, Is Paradise", while "The Elevator Under The Valve" is nothing but pure industrial sound.

This album is pure sonic terror. That's the best explanation I can give to the music world for it. It's 10 hours of every horror movie that's ever actually given you goosebumps, sped up to a period after every major city in the world has been destroyed and the sun has been blotted out by ash, and all you have left is darkness and the walls surrounding you. Listening to it while wandering my own house just to the fridge and bathroom at midnight, I was truly at unease, experiencing a side of music that hadn't ever come to me before.

PS: Buy this release, cretins.

ERIC PARADOX

 

[Tetsuo unit]

I guess Myklon and Tetsuo are actually the dudes in this band: holy shit, guys, this album slaughters. everything I've heard you do slaughters. scariest, most black-hearted music I have ever heard.

Thanks very much!

 

[Tetsuo unit]

www.deadtide.com

Raging blackened industrial soundscaping taking you on a mentally ravaged journey through The Axis of Perdition’s expansive psyche, Deleted Scenes from the Transition Hospital is a deranged, horrific amalgam of scares and sounds. Backlit by dimming doses of depraved instrumentation, accompanying screeches, clicks, scrapes, screams and scorches, these eight tracks blend unmercifully into one ghastly trance of mental instability. “In the Hallway of Crawling Filth” and “Pendulum Prey (Second Incarceration)” set the pace with stabbing discord, taking the most extreme, abstract moments from Obscura era Gorguts juxtaposed unto scrawling, screaming dark ambient torture and insane programmed drumming. The insanity inducing interstitial instrumentals let the patient breathe ever so slightly before again delivering another dose of sonic beatdown. The tracks are supplemented ever so gracefully by vocal spewing dissonance, leading the way akin to a furor spouting war-march propaganda. Deleted Scenes… sucks in your mind, ripping it to shreds unmercifully; ears will bleed and screams will go unheard. The scariest record this year.

 

[Emi]

from BABYLON MAGAZINE:

http://www.babylonmagazine.net/vis_...o=Deleted Scenes From The Transition Hospital

rate: 8/10

Avevano avvertito: dopo aver cominciato con "The Ichneumon Method" raggiungendo già il massimo esprimibile dell'industrial malato di black metal, avrebbero puntato alla psiche. Non ancora riassorbita la ferita di "Physical Illucination", breve e sconcertante sguardo nel futuro, ecco i The Axis Of Perdition catapultarvi in un miasma di liquidi e imprigionanti incubi, tortura mentale e disturbo, violenza introvertita, e, soprattutto, viaggio. Viaggio al centro dell'orrore, similmente a quel tipico Silent Hill feeling degli orrori del sè, che non smettono di scavare a fondo e rivelare aspetti spaventosi, deformati, ingigantiti nelle mostruosità, dell'inconscio. I The Axis Of Perdition ritornano nel 2005 con una nuova produzione, all'altezza dei nuovi suoni. Maggiore pulizia per maggiore, brumoso spessore che ammanta di malato stordimento l'esplorazione del Transition Hospital, centro di ricovero per menti sane, edificio marcescente e labirintico senza uscita, con unica meta un infinito sprofondare verso il centro, abissale, spesso, arrugginito, tagliente all'odore, consuetamente disumano.
Ora dovrete avere il fegato: le growl e gli scream sono più "presenti" nel sound che mai. Se tanto si temeva che la produzione migliore avrebbe portato uno snaturamento del sound eccessivo e distorto del duo, mai timore è stato più superfluo come in questo caso. E i The Axis Of Perdition fanno di tutto per destabilizzarvi con un'insania ancora oggi inclassificabile all'esperienza. Puntando su un sound più evocativo e cinematico, la solennità delle synth arriva ad essere una sentenza cadente sulla testa dell'ascoltatore ad ogni riff. La grana delle growl è qualcosa di indicibile nella ferocia grezza e nel delay vocale che, mai come qui rappresenta distorsione e dilatazione in modo perfetto. Nemmeno la dimensione della follia, nemmeno la misura delle dosi sembra preoccupare molto i due primari del Transition Hospital, che, tanto per dire, con "Deleted Scenes I: In The Hallway Of Crawling Filth" si prendono nove minuti per riproporre un rivoltante clima d'attesa simile all'inizio di "Physical Illucinations", per deflagrare poi con chitarre taglienti e diffuse; per sconcertare infine con inserti vocali agonizzanti e growls dalla natura primordiale e soprannaturale. Poi, pausa di riflessione, con "The Elevator Beneath The Valve", e ancora incubo a spirale avvolta su sè stessa in "Pendulum Prey: Second Incarceration". Ma qui, dopo le chitarre eteree e disturbanti, dopo i rallentamenti più agonizzanti, dopo le urla oltre il muro dell'insania in una lentezza abominevolmente sprofondante nell'incubo, troviamo spazio per due minuti di blues malato. Quanto basta a mandare il cervello in totale annichilimento di forme, grammatiche di generi, contiguità sonora. Ma attenzione: non è il genere di per sè nel suo mix, è il COME, ed è un come che per qualche ragione i più sensibili accoglieranno non senza una sensazione di annichilito terrore. Il viaggio dentro il Transition Hospital non prevede le solite scudisciate di refrain chitarristici su scale ascendenti che poi ricadono su loro stesse, come su "The Ichneumon Method": attendetevi urla digializzate ed integrate nel muro impacabile ed implacabilmente disumano di riff dilatati, momenti ambient, break lenti e desolanti. Intere tracce addirittura completamente d'atmosfera claustrofobica, senza strumenti, nè cantato. Pagherete tributo alla fine, in ogni caso. L'epilogo "Deleted Scenes II: In The Gauze-Womb Of The God Becoming" diventa l'antitesi del prologo, puro delirio distorto di effetti digitali e tastiere, un ambient aperto a sonorità tendenti all'astrazione, fino ad uno sfogo supportato da pesanti chitarre, growl disumane e doppia cassa impietosa e precisa. Furia controllata, aliena, gestita, e apparentemente inesauribile. Per poi lasciar spegnere l'incubo in una brumosa distesa di metallici veli ad ammantare un costante istinto d'annientamento.
Ennesima conferma del duo, inaspettato talento profondo: questi uomini sanno ritrarre il disturbo psichico, e lo fanno in modo mentale. Come sempre, la proposta è estrema abbastanza da consigliarsi solo a chi riesce a maturare curiosità per stati d'animo del genere. Rimane il dato di fatto: The Axis Of Perdition dominano la ricerca in questa sperimentazione, hanno scritto pagine di un estremismo avanguardistico sulla violenza in musica che sono addirittura innovative. Impressionanti, elaborati, istintivi e impietosi. Aborym, Thorns e consimili devono cominciare seriamente a pensare di fare i bagagli, i The Axis Of Perdition sono tornati.

 

[Emi]

from TRUEMETAL portal (I was expecting a real bad one from those defenders... but I was wrong... they liked the album!

http://www.truemetal.it/reviews.php?op=albumreview&id=3575

rate: 80/100


La contaminazione tra metal estremo, di colore prevalentemente "nero" e di provenienza prettamente scandinava, e l'industrial/noise o addirittura il power noise ha avuto il suo momento d'oro qualche anno fa, con dischi che uscivano abbastanza regolarmente e lasciavano intravedere un'evoluzione delle allucinate idee dei progenitori Mysticum. E così, dopo i vari Diabolicum e Aborym (in realtà forse i più estremi e sinceri, ed ancora in piena evoluzione) è stata la volta della seconda generazione, tra cui vanno annoverati anche gli inglesi The Axis of Perdition.

Gruppo che, al di fuori di ogni logica mainstream, ha sterzato dal precedente EP Physical Illucinations In The Sewer of Xuchilbara (The Red God) verso una direzione che rappresenta l'estremo portato al parossismo, dove il noise (= rumore, e non viene detto a caso) più fine a se stesso viene miscelato alla disperazione del black metal "urbano", quello le cui grigie suggestioni fanno parte dell'immaginario estremo a partire dai dischi degli ultimi Satyricon, Thorns e compagnia amena. Il risultato è Deleted Scenes From The Transition Hospital, un concept che vede i suoi unici momenti sinceramente chitarristici, ritmici e quindi propriamente "metal" in singoli episodi incastonati in quello che è un nerissimo tappeto atmosferico, un soundscape che si propone in modo deciso come disturbante. Pendulum Prey (Second Incarceration) è uno di questi momenti: dissonanze chitarristiche di provenienza tipicamente svedese si fanno largo su uno sfondo costituito da campionamenti, effetti atmosferici ed ambientali e le urla disperate di Brooke Johnson, abile a dare voce al paziente (trapassato) di un ospedale psichiatrico in rovina. Brano che alla fine trova anche lo spazio per un minuto onirico, con una parentesi jazzata che sembra lasciar trapelare dei ricordi di un'epoca migliore. Semplicemente splendido, bisogna dirlo, ma bisognerebbe poter leggere i testi completi dell'album per poterne apprezzare il lato concettuale, un promo purtroppo può dire davvero poco in questo senso.

Può dire molto in verità anche la sola musica in esso contenuta: basta spegnere la luce e lasciarsi andare alle immagini suggerite dal duo (coadiuvato da sessions) di Middlesborough. Difficile restare sereni, difficile anche solo non sentire a pelle che questa non potrebbe mai essere la colonna sonora di un film dozzinale, ma solo di un capolavoro alla Cronenberg: dove il linguaggio non è per forza quello della battuta/risposta, così come qui non è quello di strofa/chorus. Il magma che compone l'album è infatti inscindibile, impossibile anche solo estrapolarne una singola traccia capace di vivere di per sé, ed allo stesso tempo ogni fotogramma sembra doversi incidere indelebilmente nella nostra immaginazione. Sporco, buio, decadente come solo può esserlo uno dei tanti rifiuti della nostra civiltà lanciata verso il futuro: ed anche per questo motivo destinato solo a chi saprà coglierne le emozioni più profonde.

 

[Sheb]

Here is my review for the french webzine VIOLENT SOLUTIONS http://www.vs-webzine.com

Well it's in french but I rated it 17.5/20 so you can easily undertsand that I appreciated your album. i also reviewed the 1st one

THE AXIS OF PERDITION - Deleted Scenes From The Transition Hospital (Code666)

Voilà déjà deux ans que THE AXIS OF PERDITION explosait à la face du monde avec "The ichneumon method", un premier album remarqué (enfin au moins par moi) par son audace et sa créativité. Au fil des années, le duo est devenu quatuor, un bassiste mais également un batteur/percussionniste pour les concerts ont rejoint le groupe. Le groupe était resté relativement silencieux, un split EP avec BLUT AUS NORD avait un moment été annoncé mais je ne pense pas qu'il soit jamais sorti. Seul un MCD en édition limité sorti en 2004 n'avait donc sorti le groupe de son hibernation, donc bien peu de chose. "Physical Illucinations In The Sewer Of Xuchilbara", ce EP, s'était déjà totalement éloigné du black metal, préférant aller explorer des sphères industrielles et bruitistes. La démarche de "Deleted Scenes From The Transition Hospital" poursuit dans cette voie et est très différente de celle de son prédécesseur. Là où "The Ichneumon Method" s'appuyait sur une musique brutale au service de laquelle se mettaient quelques éléments industriels et atmosphériques afin de créer un tout chaotique, "Deleted scenes..." met en avant ces éléments qui en deviennent la base du travail créatif du groupe.
Ne disposant pas des paroles, je ne saurais vous développer le concept qui se cache derrière cet album mais on peut penser que le quatuor, nous emmène une fois de plus à la rencontre d'un futur des plus sombres, vision post-apocalyptique à mille lieues des thèmes abordés traditionnellement dans le black metal. Mille lieues ? C'est à peu prés ce qui sépare maintenant THE AXIS OF PERDITION. Si le précédent opus du groupe, pouvait encore le rapprocher du necro black d'un ANAAL NATHRAKH, ce "Deleted scenes..."voit le groupe s'éloigner définitivement de toute influence pour s'engouffrer dans une voie des plus personnelles. Les Anglais ont compris qu'il n'était pas obligatoire d'être rapide et chaotique pour créer une ambiance malsaine, ils ont donc ralenti les tempos, simplifiées les parties de guitares, préférant jouer sur les sons et les dissonances. "Deleted scenes I", titre qui ouvre l'album, est le parfait exemple de la version 2005 de THE AXIS OF PERDITION, tempos majoritairement lents, chant (que je trouve d'ailleurs tout simplement excellent sur tout l'album) oscillant entre le black et un chant déclamatoire plus proche de ce qui se fait dans le doom, parties de guitares dépouillées, laissant la place aux ambiances industrielles et synthétiques. Les expérimentations du groupe ne se limitent pas à l'indus et au noise, le groupe n'hésite pas à s'aventurer dans le jazz, lors d'un (trop) court passage sur "Pendulum prey (second incarceration)" ou piano et guitare jazzy viennent surprendre l'auditeur.
"This, then, is paradise" est sans doute le titre le plus metal de l'album, celui que l'on pourrait le plus rapprocher du style du groupe à ses débuts, alors que "The elevator beneath the valve" est un pur titre d'ambiant industriel qui nous éloigne vraiment du métal. Ces deux titres cohabitent cependant parfaitement. L'album forme un tout très cohérent, sans doute pas des plus faciles à appréhender et à digérer mais comme nombre de bons albums, "Deleted scenes..." se mérite, il ne se livrera qu'à ceux qui prendront vraiment le temps de l'écouter et qui ne seront pas rebuter par sa froideur.
Pour ma part j'adhère totalement au groupe, à sa musique et à son concept. Rares sont les groupes de nos jours à encore se permettre de faire ce qu'ils veulent sans se soucier de savoir si ça se vendra ou si les gens aimeront. THE AXIS OF PERDITION fait partie de ceux là et rien que pour ça ils ont gagné tout mon respect. "Deleted Scenes From The Transition Hospital" est selon la bio un album de "Cinematic industrial black metal", en cela il s'adresse plus aux amateurs de musiques ambiantes voire de musiques de film, plutôt qu'aux amateurs de black metal même si les plus éclairés de ces derniers sauront sans doute reconnaître le génie de ce groupe.

NOTE: 17.5/20

(not yet online on the Webzine)

 

[Emi]

from MUUSIK MAGAZINE (printed)

rate: 4/4

 

[Emi]

from Fridhof portal

http://www.friedhof-magazine.com/criticas_detalle.php?id=457

rate: 6,5/10

Este es un disco difícil…muy difícil. Es retorcido, enfermo, paranoico, innovador... un estilo a medio camino entre el Black y el Doom pero aderezado con samples y muchos ruidos industriales, un estilo que pocas bandas practican, y desde luego no creo que ninguna de la misma manera que ellos. A decir verdad, musicalidad poca tiene, es más bien un reflejo de la locura que deben de tener estos tipos, ya que los ruidos y las paranoias continuas hacen que las pocas y sucísimas guitarras que el disco tiene sean casi inapreciables, ya que todos estos extraños sonidos están por encima de los instrumentos, (a excepción de la batería claro). Como ejemplo de esto, supongo que todo el mundo habrá escuchado algún vinilo alguna vez, pues el sonido que hace la aguja al reproducirse éste, ellos lo tienen de fondo en casi todo el compacto pero multiplicado por 3, de tal forma que el efecto psicotrópico que produce es casi palpable. Por otra parte, se alternan distintos tipos de voces; chillonas, graves, susurrantes…pero de manera diferente a lo habitual, transmitiendo mucha locura. La batería es programada, y me ha recordado un poco al sonido que sacaban los Limbonic Art en sus discos, aunque los bombos tienen una contundencia bastante lograda, me ha gustado mucho el sonido que le han sacado. Por lo visto se trata de un Cd conceptual, algo así como una historia que se desarrolla en un hospital donde se llevan a cabo una serie de ilegalidades con respecto a los enfermos, y la verdad es que se les ve que le dan muchísima importancia a la imaginería del disco, desde el art work hasta el tema de las letras, incluso en los temas, en función de que parte de la historia estén representando, pues meten sonidos relacionados con el momento, como el sonido de un ascensor, unas voces hablando, (simulando al doctor y a la enfermera mientras llevan a cabo alguna operación ilegal y experimental…), desde luego los tíos se lo curran, a su manera, pero se lo curran, (el concepto de la historia me ha recordado mucho a la película Sesión 9…desde luego el CD tiene unos aires de banda sonora que tira de espaldas). Quizás sean tan originales que yo sea incapaz de apreciar su trabajo, por más que escuche su disco una y otra vez. Desde luego intenciones de comercializarse no tienen ninguna, ya no sólo por el tipo de música que hacen, sino porque además que el disco comience con un tema de casi 11 minutos nos da a entender esto.
En fin, un disco realmente extraño, aunque interesante, para escuchar en momentos determinados, ya que puede resultar dañino para aquellos que tengan una salud mental delicada.