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7/05/2018

System Morgue – Gegenstrom (2013)




  • Drone 
  • Post-industrial 
  • Abstract 
  • Ambient drone 
  • Dark ambient 
  • Avant-garde 
  • Microtonal 
  • Experimentalism 
  • Sound art 
  • Drone doom

Comment: elementally I have reviewed Russian-based artist System Morgue`s brand new albums like Froid (2017, Frozen Light) and Distress (2018, DNA Production) but Gegenstrom is a thread from earlier years and aesthetically there are up some distinct features regarding comparison. The recent issues are more polished and structured (yet not suppressing its enchanting magic) and by its structure come into the experimental/avant/post-rock genre, however, Gegenstrom is conversely more hazy and foggy and subsequently oneiric. At its nucleus all of that is being headed by a ghost-alike drone which is galvanized and impelling by its physical and emotional appearance. It is like the maelstrom or black hole governing all the matter coming into their realms. For sure, it is not a sort of rock music with regard to the artist`s latter albums, it is more like a decent manifestation within the dark ambient, drone and partly sound art genre. Yet the self-titled track is the exception because it is the sort of drone doom rock by flourishing through oscillating pulses and lofty apexes. At first glimpse, it may seem the listener is trudging across a barren landscape where all is thoroughly destroyed and eradicated yet the more you listen to it the more you will see interesting echoes, glimpses, flickers, vibrations, even colours to come out of these five compositions. I cannot be wrong by bounding it geographically to northern, even subarctic hemisphere being generally dominated by northerly airflows and lengthy darkness. In a word, it is an outstanding work on a Russian imprint, DNA Production.