Title: No Land Called Home
Artist: Subheim
Genre: Electronic / Acoustic
Release Date: 9th November 2010
Label: Ad Noiseam
Album Review
A group of people, together yet separated from each other, walks over grounds that don’t look like they ever could have been a home to anyone. Only the scattered remains, looming out of the wet sands reveal that once there must’ve been buildings. That is the black and white picture we’re first looking at when taking SUBHEIM’s second installment ‘No Land Called Home’ into our hands. It’s giving off a sense of uncertainty, of not belonging.
‘Dusk’ is the first chapter of that story, introduced by violins playing a serenade of loneliness. Once their weeping subsides, it is the hour of emotionally-charged piano lines to precede the start of a percussion-inflicted mid-tempo rhythm that right away reveals a remarkable progression within the sound of Kosta’s project, away from the purely electronic roots of the first album ‘Approach’. Also, it’s the first of several appearances of Katja as lead vocalist on the album. Her delivery makes any hairs stand on their end with transporting forlorn feelings with a range that goes from incredibly strong to fragile as glass. ‘Streets’ inhales the cold breath of estrangement many of us come to feel when looking how everything changed at the places we were born; not always for the better. Muffled ambient soundscapes carry your thoughts into the track; subtly swelling. A wailing trumpet breezes in from afar and then the lethargy is torn apart with a set of slow, broken beats woven with subdued percussions and angelic vocals. Be prepared for an intense journey.
They say that time heals wounds and pain, but it’s often that time only has you descending deeper into the dark and even though ‘When Time Relives’ sounds like a happy title, the corresponding track doesn’t radiate anything connected to happiness to me. It brings listeners into the dead of night, harbouring a sense of danger. Then, Katja’s vocals begin to creep directly through to your soul before something makes its start that builds and builds layers of tension as the rain begins to fall in the background to give a proper sonic depiction of the innermost feelings of a soul in solitude. ‘December’, the last month of the year, and the one that makes you realize how fast life ran past you again and that you still haven’t stepped out of the role of an observer and that all the hopes you had for it have turned to dust and keys still remain unfound. The rushing of time is put into music with an instrumental build that puts you in mind of IN THE NURSERY at times, with swirling percussive drum beats and dramatic strings coupled with splinters of vocals. Eventually it all subsides to resignation, fuelling the string arrangements taking over now, having to succumb again in the end.
By the title of the following ‘Between Fear And Love’, I was reminded of a quote from a movie, saying that these two would be the deepest human emotions and they are, and being caught between them isn’t a fun place to be. It’s like an emotional hurricane you’re caged in and the track’s giving it an audible equivalent while the real hurricane only is inside of you. ‘Veil’ is another excursion into new musical territory. It bears a kind of singer/songwriter feel to it, having the fragility of the acoustic guitar and the piano gliding over discreet, almost jazzy rhythms. But what’s making that track so special is the vocal talent of Timothy N. Gregory, enlisted for this song. A raspy, yet clean and haunting timbre he has that compels from the first second you hear it. ‘The Cold-Hearted Sea’ flows in with a distant surge; the sound’s bringing a feeling of cold with them. It leaks into the skin and oppresses the heart. It’s like a soundtrack for the end, so many have found within its floods and the positivity it’s taken to the grave with all the lives taken.
From the wet shores of the sea we’re now travelling to the dry landscapes of the desert on ‘Dunes’. The change of scenery comes with a natural change of moods; a shift towards the mystical with shamanic vocals and ambiance. The very unique atmosphere subsequently gets filtered through a torrent of sweeping, entwined percussions, adding a ritual, an invoking note just like the clarinet that is used throughout the song. In the last chapter of the album we arrive ‘At The Edge Of The World’, having travelled far and now looking down from a cliff into the endless nothingness. Have we found what we were searching for so long and just come here to see what’s beyond, or have we given up completely wanting to end it right now by jumping off? To find out maybe you should be listening to the whole album and make an opinion for yourself. Everything’s open for interpretation. A few words about my opinion? Well, I think it is obvious. SUBHEIM’s gone through a remarkable transformation with the album and I strongly suggest you listen to it. A late highlight!
Tracklist
01. Dusk - 6:32
02. Streets - 6:17
03. When Time Relieves - 6:27
04. December - 4:08
05. Between Fear And Love - 4:36
06. The Veil - 4:51
07. Conspiracies - 4:54
08. The Cold Hearted Sea - 3:43
09. Dunes - 4:30
10. The Ravage Below - 1:37
11. At The Edge Of The World - 4:37
Line-Up
Kostas K - Music & Production
Katja - Vocals
Website
http://www.subheim.com / http://www.myspace.com/subheimmusic
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 10
Sound: 10
Extras: -
Total: 10 / 10
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