Wednesday, July 29, 2009

ITP REVIEW: JOYLESS/URFAUST SPLIT:"Unter Töchtern Der Wüste"/"The Adorn Japetus




BAND: JOYLESS (NORWAY)/URFAUST (NETHERLANDS) GENRES-DSBM (DEPRESSIVE SUICIDAL BLACK METAL (URFAUST)/POST BLACK ROCK/METAL (JOYLESS) LABEL-VAN RECORDS RELEASE DATE-5/8/09
PREVIOUS RELEASES (CATALOG)JOYLESS: Unlimited Hate- CD (1996 - No Colours Records)
Joyless-Apokryphus- SPLIT -(No Colours Records 1997)
Blue In The Face- 10" (1999 - Lustreless Eyes Productions)
Wisdom & Arrogance- CD/ LP ( 2000 - Selbstmord Services)
Eidyllion-Uppgivet Hjarta- SPLIT (2005-Split - Iron Flames)
Wild Signs of The Endtime- CD (2009-COMPILATION-SELF PRODUCED)
Joyless- Bethlehem- 7" split (2009-Ván Records)
Joyless- Urfaust- 7" split (2009- Ván Records)
(CATALOG) URFAUST: 2004 - Unväterlicher Sagen (DemoTape-2001)
2004 - Geist Ist Teufel (CD, LP-GOATAWAREX 2004)
2005 - "Verrräterischer, Nichtswürdiger Geist" (CD, LP-Full-length, GOATAWAREX 2005)
2006 - "Auerauege Raa Verduistering" split Split with Circle of Ouroborus, (TARGET: EARTH PRODUCTIONS- 2006) (CD, LP)
2007 - split with The Ruins Of Beverast (7") (Ván RECORDS 2007)
2008 - "Drei Rituale Jenseits Des Kosmos" (CD, LP) (DEBUR MORTI PRODUCTIONS 2008)
Joyless- Urfaust- 7" split (VAN RECORDS-2009)
Urfaust - "IX: Einsiedler" 12" MLP (WHITE) (VAN RECORDS-2009)

BEST RELEASE (S): URFAUST: "IX: Einsiedler" (2009) JOYLESS: "Unlimited Hate" (1996), Wisdom & Arrogance (2000)
JOYLESS/URFAUST SPLIT TRACKLISTING: "Unter Töchtern Der Wüste/"The Adorn Japetus"
TRACKLISTING:1- Urfaust 1 "Unter Töchtern Der Wüste"
2-Joyless - "The Adorn Japetus"
ITP RATING: ****
PRODUCTION: ***
SONGWRITING: ****
PERFORMANCE: *****

DSBM (Depressive Suicidal Black Metal) is a most talked about sub genre of black metal. DSBM differs from it's genre cousin of black metal as the thrash and brutality is tempered for a melodic dark, ambient, metal/ rock sound and the lyrical concepts revolve around depression, hate and suicide as opposed to anti christian and satanic themes.
Here we have a split 7 inch from DSBM legends JOYLESS (NORWAY) and ambient DSBM heroes URFAUST (NETHERLANDS). JOYLESS abandoned their earlier, nihilistic black metal roots on "Wisdom and Arrogance" (2000) for dark, depressive black pop. On the JOYLESS/ URFAUST split 7 inch, both bands perform their unique brand of depressive avant garde rock as URFAUST are stripped of their ambient folk, drone experimentation for a more straight forward approach. Dutch duo URFAUST are the masters of ambient/drone post black metal. URFAUST employ melodic folk over tones, clean vocals, drone and a raw black metal/production that would make DARKTHRONE proud.
I would have to say that "Unter Töchtern Der Wüste" is quite the departure from URFAUST's dark, ambient post black metal, "Unter Töchtern Der Wüste" is soo melodic and damn beautiful, it can not be denied. The diversity of URFAUST's avant garde (folk, ambient/drone black, depressive, black metal) experimentation is well worth the consolidation into one release as URFAUST perform all very well.
URFAUST's "Unter Töchtern Der Wüste" fades in well with Willem's soaring clean vocals as this is his best performance yet, as "Unter Töchtern Der Wüste" sinks in for a beautiful, melodic slow dance of melancholic depression. Interesting to hear URFAUST enter some post/black rock territory, and "Unter Töchtern Der Wüste" still feels raw and intimate, an anthem of melodic depression. Do check out URFAUST's latest ambient DSBM masterpiece "IX: Einsiedler", it's devastating.
Norway's DSBM legends JOYLESS round out the second half of this split 7 inch with "The Adorn Japetus" with it's beautiful chanted intro ala Ida Helleboe's mesmerizing vocals. "The Adorn Japetus" is a prozac crawl of gorgeous vocal melodies and a abrupt ending. "The Adorn Japetus" feels slightly incomplete, as if you genuinely wanted to tell someone they're beautiful, you never got a chance, and hours later he/she decided to take their own life. "The Adorn Japetus" leaves you wanting more, if not for the memorizing effect that JOYLESS can have on you.
The JOYLESS/URFAUST 7 inch over all is a keeper, two great DSBM legends, two quality tunes, a musical, Prozac laden soundscape of beautiful, melancholic depression.

ITP RATING: ****
PRODUCTION: ***
SONGWRITING: ****
PERFORMANCE: *****
Thanks-Stay Metal, Stay Brutal-\m/ -l-