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Review by HEATHEN HARVEST.
In the last Heathen Harvest update I reviewed two previous Skullline releases. Looking back at those reviews I must admit they were pretty badly written even by my poor standards. Someone actually called them shit. Fair comment. I’m open to honest criticism. I did though like my opening paragraph if nothing else. Which is why I’ve repeated it here. Again. Only it has now been relegated to the second paragraph. For which it is better served. I am if nothing else consistent. One of my better attributes.
‘Occidentem Appello!’ by Bleiburg comes in only one flavour. This is very important to note. A CD in DVD case, 2x insert, pin, with wire crucifix, hand numbered and limited to only 150 copies. Which ever way you look at it you can take it that this release is bound to become a collectors piece in years to come. Which explains why they, that’s Skullline by the way, sent in a CDr copy of the release for review. With only 150 copies being released there’s no way they could have sent in the full product for review. Which from my point of view is very understandable. I’m kind of jealous of course because I would have loved to have had the full product at hand to admire and caress at will. The sensual touch and smell of a recordings sleeve part of the whole listening experience. I’ll forgive them of course. Economics and all that. At least they sent it in for review. Small mercies etc.
Stefan Rukavina has been releasing music as Bleiburg since 1999. He not only has a nice back catalogue of releases, give the entire Bleiburg CDr series comprising 8 Double CDR’s & 1 Quadruple CDR for a total of 20 full length albums and priced at around 150 Euro which can be found released on another record label a try if your wallet can survive it, but he also has some very natty merchandise with which to tempt you into parting with your money. Go to his MySpace webpage and watch those Euros disappear. Who couldn’t desire a pair of Bleiburg white underpants? If they only did them in FF ( fat fucker ) size I would order a pair for myself. That is true marketing potential fully realised. Beats the ashtray hands down I was raving on about from another record label in one of my previous reviews. The Bleiburg march to world domination has started in earnest.
There are ten tracks and around 78+ minutes of music to be found on ‘Occidentem Appello!’ and…I never thought I would ever write this…this is far better than the Cold Spring release ‘Pieces Of A Broken Dream’ released last year. That was a cracking recording. This on the other hand is a fucking, sorry for swearing but it adds a certain strong emphasis, balls to the wall absolutely fantastic recording. No doubt about it. ‘Occidentem Appello!’ is the ONE. It has everything the perfect recording should have. Diversity. That is the key. Keep things interesting and don’t get bogged down by ridged structures. ‘Occidentem Appello!’ has more diversity than you can shake a shitty stick at. Stefan integrates a phenomenal amount of different sounds, samples and effects throughout these dizzying soundscapes and utilizes his vocal presence like an all empowering Deity . Maybe a slight exaggeration but one I’m more than happy with. He’ll happily create this blackened ambient atmosphere, complete with resplendent pounding percussion, one minute then hit you with a piece of electrifying experimental permutation the next. The whole aural structures are incredibly well put together and an unremitting dark force to be reckoned with. Throughout this work of artistic achievement Stefan spins these sonically bleak tracks into a web of stunning malevolence which is without equal. Even the foray into harsh noise is an abominable pleasure to treasure. The pursuit of which is never far from reach. Hello darkness my old friend this release screams out at you.
This crossing and mixing of genres on a recording has been done to death a million times, a slight exaggeration numerically, but nothing I’ve heard for a long time matches the powerful concoctions that Stefan has dreamed up on this release. A black and dense wonderful achievement that so few of you will ever experience thanks to its limited availability. Of which I do not wish to comment further. If I was to do a ‘my record of the month’ selection then ‘Occidentem Appello!’ would be it. No question about that. A five star experience if there ever was one.
Review by OBLIVEON.
Der kreative Output Stefan Rukavinas mit Bleiburg ist ungebrochen und wo man eigentlich meinen müsste, die Qualität der Veröffentlichungen liesse mit jedem neuen Album langsam nach, der irrt sich gewaltig. “Occidentem Appello!” erscheint in einer Auflagenhöhe von 150 Stück in einer DVD-Box zuzüglich diverser Inlays und führt das fort, was “Pieces Of A Broken Dream” und “History In Flames” in den letzten Monaten bereits eindrucksvoll unter Beweis gestellt haben. Elektronische Klangspielereien, die musikalisch im weiten Feld von Dark Ambient, Ritual und/oder Industrial anzusiedeln sind und phasenweise recht beklemmende Stimmungen zu erzeugen im Stande sind. Einzelne rezitative Sprechpassagen verstärken zudem den surrealen Eindruck, den so manch musikalische Sequenz der hier vorliegenden zehn Stücke hervorruft. “Occidentem Appello!” beinhaltet, in noch viel stärkerem Maße als alle Bleiburg-Veröffentlichungen zuvor, einen sehr visuellen Charakter, der mich mehr als einmal an Science Fiction-Filme wie “Dark Star” oder “Silent Running” denken lässt, die mit ihrem kultigen B-Movie Charme auch heute noch Eindruck hinterlassen. Vor diesem Hintergrund ist “Occidentem Appello” ein wirklich gelungenes Klangexperiment, das unter http://www.skullline.de zu beziehen ist.
Review by CHAIN DLK.
Stefan Rukavina aka BLEIBURG returns earlier than expected with a new full-length album, just 5 months after his DCD ”History In Flames” in collaboration with MANMACHINE, both out on the German special mail order service SkullLine. After the widely thrown in diversity which that DCD had to offer, this new album differs. Although the artwork presents a soldiers’ graveyard, it isn’t at all a release inspired by trendy Electro/harsh EBM styles. With his partner E. W. Schröder, who integrates some deep male vocals here and there, Stefan offers dark experimental electronic music somewhere based on Electronica, dark Ambient textures up to Ritual Industrial. The whole concept offers a very cinematic, at times futuristic background, rhythms or danceable tunes are mostly left out. Some rotations under a pair of headphones with fully attention should help to grab the content behind this work. Slow and creepy layering stuff, which should appeal you. As usual for SkullLine releases, also this item will be rather limited, this time to 150 numbered pieces and it is packed in a DVD box featuring 4 remarkable goodies (1 pin, 2 photos, 1 wired crucifix) as well. A hard-to-get collector's item and ONLY available at SkullLine.
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