Somber Gravity is one of many projects by Napalm Dave, and a very dark ambient/darkscape with horror/sci fi theme. The project has been around for years and he finally decided put it to rest with this two albums finale. I was actually sad to hear that because this is really an excellent project and it's free to download...can't beat that!

I'll start with The Burial album. I really dig the prevalent theme mostly about horror and sci fi influenced lyrics on death and end of life. It's pretty fitting considering this is the last Somber Gravity material ever to be released. I really dig the ambiance on the track "This Bitter End We Meet Without" which happens to be my favorite track on this album. The best part of the entire album has to be the samples Dave used because they aren't that obvious with first listen but if you listen carefully then you will be able to noticed where those samples came from. I won't tell you what it is because that is the fun part of listening to the album!

Now, The Funeral album. Pretty much similar as the first album and a good conclusion for the project in general. I think this one is "softer" and more somber with the lyrics and the music composition. Love the song "Prelude To The End of My Life" and my main complaint with this album is that its much shorter than the Burial. At first I was suspicious of the two albums concept because most of the time when a band does that it would be too long and the music would be bit too spread out. However this isn't true for this project and I'm really glad Dave decided to do double album concept to end it. It's definitely a grand finale.


Score: 9/10

Best Song: "This Bitter End We Meet Without"-best song hands down on this albums and quite possibly out of all Somber Gravity tracks.

Worst Song:" Dead"-still a decent track but could use some more variety because it sounds bit "same-y" with other tracks in general.


http://napalmdrones.niceboard.net/forum.htm (a forum where you can find this release and learn more about Dave's other projects)

Labels: ambient, darkscape, review, somber gravity

This is a debut album by one man project called Hguols and will be released by EEE Recordings in December. I'm fortunate to receive the promo copy from the guy behind this project.

I've heard of the project awhile ago and when I found out its 100% MIDI used, I was actually suspicious because normally when someone use MIDI to make music, it sounds terrible and cheap. I was blown away and surprised when I gave the song on his myspace a listen. Now, I finally have the album and gave it listen yesterday and all day today. It's definitely a GREAT album for a debut effort.

The music is definitely very raw black metal with a lot of ambiance for atmosphere. Obviously there is no real instruments since this is 100% MIDI but the composition is pretty much top notch. I absolutely love the guitar patterns and the distortion being used in many of the songs.
I think the drumming is the weakest point of the album because honestly...nothing beat the real drumming. Generally I'm not a fan of programmed drumming so that's why it's a minus for me. However, it doesn't ruin the album so it's still enjoyable.


Best Song: "...Of Blackened Skies"-love the ambiance in this song and guitar absolutely slays!

Worst Song:"...Of Threnodies Abided"-overal a decent song but bit boring to be honest. I already started to skip this song.

Score:7/10


www.myspace.com/hguols

Labels: black metal, christian, hguols, review