GUSTAF HILDEBRAND "Primordial Resonance" CD Reviews
From the Ventrilocution webzine (Portugal)
Amidst the harrowing baseness upon which the puny
deeds of men are built – pleasurable as they may be –, some
perhaps unfortunate heralds from the distant pits and endless voids
of the cold beyond successfully attempt to usher in a new dawn and free
us from our transparent cage. Granted, we may have to sort out exactly
how we will manage to flee from it before our own droppings begin to
outnumber us – or even if the escape is desirable –, but,
ultimately, the calling of the great outer limits is stronger still
than it has ever been, especially when we gaze at these documents from
distant eras, which miraculously reach us through the commonest of mortals,
remembering our diminished size and importance to the grander scheme
of things – whose guidelines are constantly shaped and re-shaped
by the smallest and most insignificant of actions. Quite possibly one
of the few preferential lairs for these heralds, Cyclic Law is less
than willing to keep its protégées hidden beneath the
cloak of anonymity and, thankfully, unveils upon us their primordial
doings. Were it not so and we would have to dwell longer in the anguished
throes of ignorance, unknowing of the vast fields of post-oblivion wherein
abide the hollow structures and shelled phantoms of a ruined, lost and
failed utopia. Their legacy is, however, not that of an affirmative
course of action, but rather a contemplative gaze at our attempts to
emulate the only possible utopia – that of the omnivoid –
by applying its rules through a grand design which never had anyone
at the helm to begin with, hence the need to create one that would act
as we do. Liturgies and litanies alike dwindle in the need for likeness
and unity of that which is naturally different and, for that same reason,
Primordial Resonance is frightfully dismissive of such rituals in the
sense that it unveils what lies hidden beyond our limited grasp without
enlightening a path to follow. Instead, it shameless and mercilessly
reveals how inscrutable our own neighbourhood is, let alone what lies
ahead of it; which may be, to some, a bit too much to handle. All of
this comes at price, as all else in life, and that price is the absolute
rejection of all traces of acquired greatness – a humbling request
that is reminiscent of two of e. e. cummings’ verses, which read:
then we'll believe in that incredible unanimal mankind(and not until)
More than animal, mankind is also – regardless of how much we wish
to control our surroundings and our fellow men – incapable of transcending
its own primordial limitations, a state evoked by Gustaf Hildebrand
in the cruellest and most appealing fashion. Not daring to seek out
his depiction of lifeless and oppressing places, as well as their disdain
towards time, would be too high a price for me to pay and I am convinced
not many would be pleased to do so.
From the Somewhere Cold webzine (U.S.A.)
Gustaf Hildebrand hails from Sweden and brings
to the table a very dark vision on his second full length offering Primordial
Resonance. When I say dark, I mean dark. This is not an ambient disc
for the faint of heart. The dark, abandon places in the middle of nowhere,
the corners of large cities were despair lingers, and the depth of nothingness
are conjured up by these tracks. “Dark ambient” is an understatement.
“Omega Continuum” breaths out the speakers as the disc starts
to spin. Forbidden landscapes with haunting voices and swirls begin
this disc, giving the listener a hint of what is to come. This changes
to something subtler, as machines crash far in the distance and a noise
like a foghorn fills the speakers. Amidst these sounds play cries and
moans of keyboards and samples. The lush, dark soundscape hypnotizes
the listener and brings her into a sort of easy lull. This leads into
“Post Oblivion Fields,” which starts out minimal, with whiling
hums and a wind blowing through the tracks. This track is spacious and
broad, recalling giant wastelands like the frozen tundra of the north,
gray and white for as far as the eye can see. Metal clangs together,
perhaps these are chimes, as they float on a bed of drones. The dissonance
that the drones and metal creates is striking, like chaos in the midst
of order.
A subtle, pulsing drone anchors “Hollow Structures.” The build
on this disc is slow, patient, and filled with metal objects clanging
through the speakers. Wicked laughter rings amidst the drones as the
swell of sound builds. Metallic bangs and what sounds like “slinkies”
bounce around in the background. A voice mumbles unintelligibly and
laughs periodically. This turns into the disturbing sound of a child
crying amidst the drones. Unsettling to say the least. “Omnivoid”
clears the aural palette and brings a subtler rumble to the fore, washing
out the memories of the crying baby. What becomes evident and this point
in the disc is that, well, more of the same is coming. Sure, the sampled
touches like the baby crying or laughter have given slightly different
characteristics to each track, but, over all, you have wind and a low
drone peering through your speakers the entire time. A bit repetitive
for my taste and doesn’t hold the attention one might wish an album
to hold. Sure, “Omnivoid” is subtler, but the drones and content
are too similar to what comes before. “Ruins of a Failed Utopia”
brings a breath of fresh air to the mix. Perhaps this is the track that
is supposed to wake the listener up again. Gregorian chant fills the
speakers as metal grinds and drones flow in the background. This track
continues on this trajectory till its end. Rounding out the album is
“Wanderer of Strange Spheres.” This is the longest track on
the disc, clocking in at over nine minutes. The low drone and pulsing
movements in the background make their appearance again. This drops
down to a minimalistic drone that is perfect for the closing of this
dark adventure. Ok, so, how does one put a judgment on something that
one does not like that much. All in all, the drones are beautiful, but
a bit repetitive for my taste. Even drone albums can have more variation
to them. Also, the darkness is too unsettling. I know that is probably
what the artist intends, but I can’t recommend this disc to a general
audience. It certainly is not for the faint of heart. It’s a disc
for lovers of horror movies, darkness, and wastelands.
From the Moving Hands webzine (Sweden)
As I haven’t heard Gustaf’s earlier
works I cannot compare this one with the older ones so this is my opinion
hearing his music for the very first time. Gustaf Hildebrand, coming
from Sweden and with four releases on Cold Meat, Erebus Odora and now
on Cyclic Law he has surely made a name for himself in the darker kinds
of industrial and ambient genre. First thing that hits me when pressing
play on this CD is the dreamy soundscapes. It’s like a long dark
dream set on six tracks. It’s hard to listen and write at the same
time when you listen to this record and it’s easy to wander off
when you hear the dark sounds and other ambient noises as bells and
such. The music is flowing and changing all the time into new emotions
and sometimes it gets louder and darker just to fade into a more ambient
and desolate soundscapes. I’m no expert on dark ambient, I just
transfer onto you what I hear and what I feel when listening. I really
enjoy this recording and it has been spinning for a long time on my
stereo and every time I find different things in the music. It really
grows with each listening. The third track “The Hollow Structures”
has an especially wide spectre of sounds and noises and sampled voices
and screams and as it fades, it really leaves an imprint in your mind.
As I have said in many other reviews about other artists - looking forward
to hear more from Gustaf and maybe this CD will keep spinning until
his next one. 8/10
From the Chain DLK webzine (U.S.A.)
I’m beginning to really like Cyclic Law as a label. I have reviewed
a few of their discs and they have all been excellent. This one is no
different. Their releases are the ones that you know that you should
pick up eventually but you never get around to it – this is a problem
because they are putting out amazing dark ambient soundscape material.
As usual with Cyclic Law releases, this one comes nicely packaged in
an oversized cardstock cover with dark visuals. Nicely packaged, now
on to the music. This disc is a good addition to the pantheon of dark
ambient releases. What makes this release interesting is the noisiness
of it. For example, "Ruins of a Failed Utopia" features chanting
layered over deep drones and clanging metal. For me, the standout track
on this disc was "Post Oblivion Fields" – synth drones
with metal bells and chimes interspersed. The only track that I did
not really enjoy was "The Hollow Structures," which features
a baby crying angrily. Some people may like that kind of thing, but
I prefer my soundscapes without angry children. This is not dark ambient
that fades into the background; it demands to be acknowledged. Because
most people like comparisons, the best way to describe this album is
as the middle ground between Lustmord’s "The Monstrous Soul"
and Inade – not quite as noisy as Inade but with all of the heavy
drones of Lustmord. Also, for those of you who enjoyed Terra Sancta’s
"Aeon," you should enjoy this disc as well. It's heavy without
becoming too oppressive, which is a tough line to walk. However, Hildebrand
manages to accomplish this feat, maintaining well the tension between
noise and drone. So if you like your soundscapes with some noise, this
is a good album to pick up.
From the Ikonen magazine (Germany)
Es gibt eine Tradition 'kosmischer' Ambientmusik, die bis zu Tangerine
Dreams legendärem Album 'Zeit' zurückreicht. Gustav Hildebrand
setzt auf seiner zweiten CD die Reise unbekannte, meist leblose Regionen
des Universums fort. Die Covergestaltung schließt an frühere
großformatig präsentierte Veröffentlichungen des Cyclic
Law-Labels an und schafft eine atmosphärische Reflexionsbasis (leider
sehr instabil und anfällig für Fingerabdrücke). Die Suche
nach dem Urklang geht weiter: wabernde Drones, sphärische Flächen,
bedrohliche Rauschfrequenzen und unergründliche Klänge begleiten
diese Erkundungen. Andererseits ist diese CD durchweg affirmativ zu
ihrer Vision, weist kaum Irritationen und Brüche auf und steht
somit am Ende einer kreativen Sackgasse. Dahinter folgt allenfalls -
die Ewigkeit (Kubricks 2001 ist da allerdings optimistischergedacht).
Was lange hallt, wird hier schließlich zum Außenposten einer
Form des inneren Kosmos, der seine Spuren langsam verwehen lässt
und bizarre, zerklüftete Formation zurücklässt: faszinierend
- aber erstarrt in einer Idee von Schönheit, die kaum noch Perspektiven
birgt. Der Soundtrack zum ätherischen Chill-Out. Für Fans
empfehlenswert, Normalverbraucher bleiben definitiv zu Hause - oder
schlafen so besser ein.
From the Morpheus webzine (U.K.)
STYLE: Thick, dark ambience - timeless and grey. Having said that -
Primordial Resonance is far from tuneless or dull. Tonal sound sculptures
twist and curl deeply enshrouded in atonal textures and synthetic air
movements - deeply atmospheric as pure if atmosphere itself had been
gathered, distilled and released into a new space. Crashing, coursing,
shifting winds roll and howl, breeze borne chimes and percussive strikings
reverberating in the middle distance. Uncertain voices - pitch-shifted
and deep, children, a crying baby, others wander lost in the veils of
dense haze. Industrial peripherals clatter, shake and grind - the clangour
of beaten objects piercing the mass of ambient cloud. Ruins of a Failed
Utopia contains monastic chanting drifting and moaning somewhere above
set against the scuffings and abrasions of metal and the wide-open rushings
of empty enormity.
MOOD: This is a thick smoke of music. The mood is initially dark and
desolate - industrial, derelict as if eroded and ancient. There are
suggestions of an old power now buried, lost, forgotten - yet still
heaving within. Despite the intense shadow Primordial resonance isn't
spooky or scary - instead we have the beauty of the unilluminated, the
monochrome aesthetic of fog, the sense of being something small in the
presence of infinitely larger and greater things.
ARTWORK: As with all of Cyclic Law's CDs the packaging is first rate
- the first 1000 copies come in an oversized fold-out cover of three
panels bathed in glorious graphic imagery. The front cover presents
a grey photomontage of decaying boat hulls on a beach with immense planetary
sphere looming in the gulf above. A spacey-organic abstract texture
floods the rest of the outside - blue-black - as the inside, where a
second textural creation fills all available space papery, ink washed,
ill-defined scripts lurking in the gloom. Text is functional - titles
and label details only on the outside, within a tracklist and credits.
OVERALL: Released on Cyclic Law Gustaf Hildebrand's Primordial Resonance
is in the company of like-minded artists. The label specialises in heavy
shadow and ambient viscosity. This is Gustaf's follow-up album to Starscape,
his second solo offering, having also released music under the project
name Lithium (CMI) and in collaboration with Karjalan Sissit, promotional
material explains "Gustaf's second full length is a unique, evolved
experience offering you to embark upon an odyssey through ancient and
lifeless surroundings. Sweeping ambient soundscapes and delicate textures
mingle with the distant shrieks of surreal machinery - conjuring up
images of abandoned and forgotten places, clouded skies and dead cities
where time has been standing still. A captured moment from a strange
no man's land lit by a perpetual gloom, Primordial Resonance is a voyage
only limited by the imagination of the listener."
WHO WILL LIKE THIS ALBUM: This is for fans of beatless ambience that
prefer minimal melody and abundant shadow. There's ample detail here
though to hold the attention - Gustaf Hildebrand masters the genre well,
providing sufficient harmonic content to keep the album from grating,
yet exercising restraint, maintaining the sombre mood and bleak imagery
throughout.
From the Mouvement-Nouveau webzine (Germany)
What pleasure do people get from listening to Dark Ambient? Why would
they subject themselves to a music that is most often described as being
bleak, mournful and desolate? Far away from the day-to-day rustling
of the music industry, a whole cosmos has formed made up of the most
dedicated listeners imaginable and composers perfectly happy with selling
a maximum of 1.000 copies per release. In a sense, being an artist in
this field is the aural equivalent of being a doctor: It’s a vocation,
not just a job. If that picture applies, Gustaf Hildebrand would be
chief physician in “Primordial Resonance”’s estranging
ER. Should you have a fixed notion of what “Dark Ambient”
is in your mind, then this album will both confirm and confront it.
As always, musical movement with regards to melody and harmony is minimal,
with motives taking the shape of murmuring and wailing patterns, slowly
shifting in time. However, this represents only one stream flowing thickly
through “Primordial Resonance”. The other is made up of metallic
scratchings, the deeply resonating drones of rusty cymbals, unsettling
breathing, distorted voices, and the sustained tones of a ship yard.
Both streams move independent of each other, sometimes overlapping and
occasionally merging, as in “Ruins of a failed Utopia”, which
integrates monophonic chant into a surrounding of asthmatically moaning
and chafing noises. All of this is, of course, part of the genre’s
defining characteristics, which Hildebrand himself helped to shape in
conjunction with the cyclic law label. On the other hand, with pieces
refusing to segue into each other and marked by an unusual focus (these
six tracks clock in at a comfortable 45 minutes) as well as a surprising
diversity and plentitude of ideas, this is more than just a repetition
of a proven formula. Most importantly, “Primordial Resonance”
is not just the pitch-black epic of sadness many will make it out to
be. Associations abound, but the general feel is more of empty beaches
in the moonlight, dissociation of time and of banks of fog opening and
closing into an ever-deeper void. Really, listening to this album is
not about wallowing in self-despair or enjoying despondency. It is about
accepting that there is something much bigger surrounding us, an infinite
continuum that makes us seem unequivocally unimportant in comparison.
The fear many people will experience when sitting this through is not
the same as when watching a horror movie. It is the fear when confronted
with regality. Painful it may be, but at the same time it is one of
the most uplifting experiences imaginable being able to come near it
– even if only for three quarters of an hour.
From the Absolute Zero webzine (U.S.A.)
Cold Dark Bleak and very very Haunting Dark Ambient going on here
. I would Closely compare this with projects like Schloss Tegal, Profane
grace, Raison D'etre and maybe even some of the darker Robert Rich recordings.
It give's you the very feeling of growing mad while being trapped in
space with no one else to talk to besides yourself and you running out
of that conversation a few years ago. The packaging with all Cyclic
law releases is beyond top notch, a 6 panel A5 cardboard setting. The
music is something that you need to absorb before you can even come
close to understanding its chaos and beauty. I would suggest 4 - 5 listens
before you even think about letting your opinions form. I'm on my 3rd
listen and I know I'm still missing things. Gustaf is clearly a master
of the Dark and occulist ambient realms. If you really explore this
release you will come in a novice and leave something far more.