Darkrad - "Little Black World"

Artist: Darkrad
Album: Little Black World
Year: 2014
Label: Mrakmur
Genre: Death Industrial, Dark Ambient
Website: darkrad.bandcamp.com













Basics:
Little Black World is the newest release from CMI alumni Darkrad. This comes as a cassette and is limited to 50 copies (though also available digitally). Here we find Darkrad exploring deep, hellish nightmare realms.

Stuff:
Perhaps not exactly what you'd from someone affiliated with CMI, this release inhabits the darkest & most disturbing sectors of the human psyche and is much closer to lo-fi death industrial (although it has a"lo-fi" feel, it features solid mastering from Flint Glass's Gwen Tremorin).
Side A seems to be more focused on gloomy atmospheres. It opens with "Chernota" which is a four and a half minute dirge of the utmost decay and blackness. "Nobody Knows" and "Feel the Blood" are similar; languidly moving amorphous black masses of sound wash over the listen and drench them in filth. The listener is taken to the dank, lightless sewers of the the abyss within. There are what sounds like very effected vocal bits here and there - like transmissions from a mental asylum in hell. Would be fitting for something like Silent Hell, or your nightmarish horror location of choice. The A side ends with "Someone Beneath" which is the first song I don't really like, too murky and formless for me, it's hard to make out if anything is really going on.
The B side is harsher and utilizes more feedback and noise - it reminds me of Malignant act Deathstench (although there is no black metal here). "Dread Unknown" and "Ocean Beckons" both utilize that wall of black noise sound, immersed in reverb. There are more vocals (I think) here, equally effected and indecipherable. I think it would be nice to hear this material with more discernible, up front vocals although it's not bad as is. "All is Wrong" harkens back to the sound of the A side tracks, but is more minimal with a steady ritualistic beat. The final track, "Rasshelina", is the first to introduce melody -- which I quite like. It doesn't change much, though I found myself liking it anyway. It feels like a lull in a nightmare where you can almost appreciate the beauty of all the horrible structures encircling you.
The tracks are all fairly short; generally 4 minutes and under. This is appropriate since none of the tracks have all that much progression, instead they get right to the point and end before wearing out their welcome.

Overall: 
Super dark and scary material. This material is absolutely fitting to be released on cassette tape and I think it will please fans of that lo-fi, ultra black ambient sound. Make sure to listen to this on a system that can accurately reproduce the critical low end which makes up the bulk of this tape. Put it on in a pitch black room and face your demons. One to check out for fans of Malignant, Danvers State Recordings, and similar lo-fi death industrial/PE leaning labels.