Bohren & der Club of Gore
Black Earth
Ipecac 2004

01. Midnight Black Earth
02. Crimson Ways
03. Maximum Black
04. Vigilante Crusade
05. Destroying Angels
06. Grave Wisdom
07. Constant Fear
08. Skeletal Remains
09. The Art of Coffins

"Horror jazz". "Piano doom". "Ghost ambient". Easy titles for a band that started as metal/hardcore-based, to later form "Bohren" driven by ideas of a more unique approach. That was 14 years ago, and while Bohren is the chosen German word for drilling (thought you'd like to know), "der Club of Gore" was obviously added to honour the Dutch instrumental masters GORE (not that I had any clue either). So to cut things short, we have some metal freaks in sort of an alien jazz disguise - wouldn't wanna call it "sheep", would I?... There is a sax, a deep double-bass, cymbals, and maybe more... oh yes, the Rhodes. There's not at all any guitars to disturb them, as they keep their sound not very charged, but heavy on melancholy (and doom). A band that takes its time, not only by recording Black Earth in more than a year, but by stretching time itself ("dead slow" should be the perfect fit here, sorry), yet leaving things highly ventilated, perfectly weightless, devoid of any acuteness, excluding aggresion completely. Music for the spirit, opposite of the discharge it actually aims for - nearly could be listened anywhere, since it isolates you from the world. Simply, a disc of space, and one for people who're no longer afraid of the dark.

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