What Night Brings

This short split recording showcases two bands whose musical styles were different at the time they made this recording but who share a similar approach to music composition and also have an interest in creating mood.

Trancelike Void's side of the split, "Emptiness and Torturing Nights" is a minimalist exercise of a repeating atmospheric-buzz guitar riff enlivened in the main by dry rasping vocals. While the fuzzy nature of the music has a comforting sheen, the monotony of the rhythm guitar and the lethargic plod of percussion beats do very little for the track. The track perks up a little when the vocals metamorphose into a harsh ghost-wind in the last minute but this isn't enough to relieve the overall tedium.

Bosse's contribution "Ghosts II" is a more pleasant though no less monotonous experience: a clearer production for the acoustic instruments gives them a sculpted sonic shape as opposed to the rather flat song on the A-side. Cello, guitar and piano play the same riff note-for-note over and over rather against a background of soft breeze ambience before each instrument drifts off distractedly into a lonely forest. It's a very ho-hum piece of work that's better suited (if edited for length) as an intro to a longer and more varied composition that includes definite melodies and harmonies as opposed to three instruments tapping out the same motif like a never-ending Moebius strip of cassette tape muzak.

Neither track in itself is enough reason to buy the split and in any case someone has kindly uploaded the entire EP to Youtube so it can be heard there. Bosse has a slight edge over Trancelike Void in the sound and the dark mood of its track; the piece also doesn't need very much - a violin or piano solo melody to act as counterpoint to the rhythm perhaps - to improve it.

This split definitely has "obscure" written all over it. No budget went into making this, and I imagine they'll break even because I can't see anyone buying it either. A quick listen tells you why; it's not really shit but the primitive black-ish and ambient downers within just don't do enough to warrant listening. It's a short split and thus I'll keep this review brief.

Trancelike Void's contribution sounds somewhat like a really raw rehearsal tape of an Alcest and Katatonia collaboration. A bit more black metal then Alcest (not that's saying much), but definitely more of a downer, slower, and more rock influenced then Brave Murder Day era Katatonia. It's not particular terrible, but also entirely unremarkable, and if we're being honest rather boring. Chords plod along, not really playing anything memorable, some dude screams occaisonally, the drums continue along the weary tread. The lo-fi, muffled as hell production doesn't help much either, although having said all this I though the warm pads giving the outro were pretty cool. Really though I'm being charitable, this is rather average.

Bosse give us a sort of interesting ambient experiment; I liked the real low tones near the intro and the fade out with the warm, pulsing tones was also real nice, but the meat of the song (a reverb heavy guitar or two playing some repetitive patterns) is boring as hell, and this is coming from an ambient fan. It sounds vaguely hopeful, I guess? Really though it's nothing great, just a few badly recorded guitars playing some rather uninteresting patterns. Could've been interesting with a clearer production, some dry delay added on top, perhaps. As it stands though it's a rather formless, shoegazey mess. Oh well.

In short: it's not the worst bit of music ever but this is still one of the most unnecessary albums to have ever existed.