Title: Negativ
Artist: Black Heaven
Genre: Electronic
Release Date: 12th September 2008
Label: Dark Dimensions
Album Review
BLACK HEAVEN already was created by the time of MANTUS, being the former main project of Martin Schindler and his sister Tina, to live out his electronic side. Since its inception the project has released 6 albums, including the recently released new work ‘Negativ’.
‘Negativ’ starts with ‘MMXII’, a small intro with orchestral (synth) passages and later a hard electronic beat kicks in to contrast them. A little threatening appearing drones lead into the first real track ‘Staub zu Stein’ which is carried by a strong dance beat and Martin Schindler’s characteristic dark vocals as well as sustained pads, piano and for the harder part some guitars. ‘Violent Acts of Hate’ keeps up the hard-hitting beats, but with a slower tact. The special feature of this English performed track is its use of middle-eastern synth melodies creating a somewhat mystical atmosphere in the otherwise quite cold track. With ‘Glut und Asche’ another danceable track awaits the listener, but with Tina on the vocals this time adding a different note to the sound. Otherwise it’s a pretty standard electro track with the usual elements like strings etc. Two ballads are about to follow with ‘Weisse Lilie’ and ‘Von hier zu den Sternen’ both very much living from the big emotionality in Martin’s voice and the massive use of spherical melodies. ‘Killl the Pain’ and ‘Decadence’ on the other hand both are made for the clubs; the first one being a typical straight 4/4 dance track and a melody I could swear I’ve heard in another song before, while the latter one is more of a shuffling experience with some guitar fragments; and it’s instrumental.
Even if ‘Egal’ drops the tempo a little I still can see the crowd stomping on the dance floors. The title track picks up the approach of using middle-eastern synth melodies whilst the lyrical tenor still remains, in the true sense of the word ‘Negativ’. But if you’re looking at the world sometimes, it’s understandable becoming a pessimist. Guess what, another dance track; a whole lot of these gather on the album. ‘Veitstanz’ is another instrumental, influenced by medieval bagpipe melodies and enriched with rocking guitars and of course a danceable beat. ‘War Atrocities’ cries out anger and sadness, keeping a stately pace all the time, developing from piano accentuated verses to an angry chorus with distorted vocals underlined by harsh riffing. The last one on the regular track list is literally a classic: ‘Der Leiermann’ and if it now reminds you of COVENANT then you’re not too far off as they also the lyrics conceived by the German poet Wilhelm Müller, being the last part of 24 poems, being the textual reference for Franz Schubert to create on of his two great song cycles ‘Winterreise’ (Winter Journey). Only supported by piano and some strings here and there, Martin performs the lyrics.
The overall mood of ‘Negativ’ is, as expected, quite dark. Between w hole lot of danceable tracks, gathering on the album, there’s some place for balladry tracks as well like ‘Weisse Lilie’ or ‘Von hier zu den Sternen’. A nice idea is the use of these middle-eastern melodies in two of the tracks. Maybe something they can intensify on the next one. Coming back to this one, I have to say that it sounds all pretty standard to me. If it wasn’t for some great melody approaches and the emotional vocals, this project wouldn’t be different from hundreds of others out there. But for long-time BLACK HEAVEN fans this one will certainly pay off.
Tracklist
01. MMVII – 2:16
02. Staub zu Stein – 4:59
03. Violent acts of hate – 4:08
04. Glut und Asche – 4:52
05. Weisse Lilie – 4:00
06. Von hier zu den Sternen – 4:14
07. Kill the pain – 4:28
08. Decadance – 3:33
09. Egal – 4:46
10. Negativ – 4:46
11. Etwas – 4:49
12. Veitstanz – 3:15
13. War Atrocities – 4:07
14. Der Leiermann – 3:22
15. Luctifer (Bonus Track) – 3:16
16. Augenblicke (Bonus Track) – 3:48
17. Kaltes Licht (Bonus Track)-3:53
Line-up
Martin Schindler - Production, Lyrics, Vocals
Tina - Vocals
Website
http://www.black-heaven-project.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/blackheavenproject
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 5
Sound: 5
Extras: -
Total: 5
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