INADE
The Crackling Of The Anonymous
LOKI 29
With The Crackling Of The Anonymous, Inade move beyond all preconceived notions of sonic creativity., The plethora of puzzle pieces that interconnect in the expanding universe that Inade unwaveringly explores have grown amorphous, no longer defined by distinct outlines, melding as one whole, obscure entity. The expansion comes in many levels, incorporating the vast parameters of time, dimension and reality as viable participants in Inade’s aural objective: to shine a light on the enigmatic unknown and give it a vague silhouette. The dark and hallucinatory masterwork that is The Crackling Of The Anonymous, is constructed via the never heard utterances of the void, while tapping into the psyche of the impossible. A stunning release that defies all logic because it creates its own.
Released 2001 as gatefold digipack CD and 2xLP
Tracklist: 1. Eternity’s Crevice 2. Disconnecting States 3. Chapel Perilious 4. Caldera 5. To Those… 6. Titan In Shivering Sand 7. Quartered Conclusion 8. Reiteration Of Void 9. Breath Like Ground Glass 10.The Engine Of Space
REVIEW (Aversion):
This, the second full-length from these dark ambient greats, was recorded over the course of a lengthy four years, and the time that went into the compositions definitely shows. The result is over an hour’s worth of supreme experimental electronic mastery. „Disconnecting States“ is simply superb, definitely on par with the professionalism and communicative atmosphere of soundscapes that might be used as the score for a film. Excellent depth, beautifully bleak musical melodies, intelligent and applicable integration of vocal samples… the works. „Chapel Perilious“ sort of has an industrial feel with heavy, repetitive percussion and some toned down vocal work as well. I guess it’s almost like a calm power electronics sort of thing, as there’s definitely some crunchy distortion and louder textures, but it’s not abrasive or anything like that… This one is definitely an example of the album’s diversity. „Quartered Conclusion“ uses some thick vocals deep in the mix amidst unique, spacey loops and gritty textures. I can’t make out the content of the vocals, and the pitch is pretty distorted so it’s hard to be sure what’s going on. „The Engine of Space“ closes the disc with over seven minutes of hypnotic repetition of strange percussive sounds and very quiet ambient rumbles in the distance – certainly one of the more disturbing tracks herein. This is another one of those discs that really plays out like a good, consistent whole as opposed to a segmented piece by piece listen, despite the fact that there is a lot of variation involved. The mood is what makes the difference, and here the tone of each track is very much along the same lines, thus carrying the experience. Even though most every song clocks in at more than six or seven minutes, I never find myself becoming bored. Of course the recording is perfect, as would be expected from such pillars of the genre. Everything is crisp yet full, with nice attention to subtle detail, even though things are somewhat minimal in nature (or at least they seem that way on the surface). The disc comes in a glossy digipack with lots of bizarre imagery that is mostly tinted green. The text is printed in a metallic bronze ink. Most of the imagery looks like landscapes of some sort, possible caverns or some sort of outer space scenery. Clearly there are some unique ideas at work here, as defined by the paragraphs that span the flaps of the package: „If one has risen into the depths of infinity, different phenomena become visible, noticeable and thus perceptible. The crackling of the anonymous is a symbol for the experiences, which results from the radiation fields of the immeasurable… Are you in the position to perceive the hidden tones and to cross the threshold?“ Of course there’s more to it than that, but you get the idea. Another superb release from both Inade and the stellar Loki Foundation. Highly recommended.
REVIEW (Funprox):
Inade first attracted my attention with their contribution on the “Saturn Gnosis” vinyl box. This German duo has a very good reputation, although they have not released that much music yet. In fact, “The Crackling of the Anonymous” is only their second regular cd release, after “Aldebaran”, which appeared 5 years earlier and which has the status of a dark ambient milestone. Last year also “Burning Flesh” appeared, a cd reissue of an older tape.
“The Crackling of the Anonymous” takes us of course to obscure territories, where darkest ambient fuses with industrial sounds. There is a somewhat ritual, occult feeling hidden somewhere underneath the music. Thematically Inade explores a lesser known universe. “If one has risen into the dephts of infinity, different phenomena become visible, noticeable and thus perceptible. The crackling of the anonymous is a symbol for the experiences, which results from the radiation fields of the inmeasurable…”
The sound on some tracks is very dense, though there is more space and air to breath than on most older work. If you listen intensively, there are many things to hear, with various elements skilfully merged. Recommended here are some good headphones! Deep basslines, dark drones, distant chants, vocal samples, eerie noises, scattered percussion, unrecognizable rumbles, all creating an intense atmosphere. At times rather tranquil, sometimes suddenly swelling to a massive sound. A few pieces sound surprisingly orchestral, like the opener ‘Eternity’s Crevice’, which has a martial feel. One of my favourite tracks would be ‘Chapel Perilions’, which contains strange spacy drones, noisy sounds, rhythmic percussion and occult sounding spoken words.
“The Crackling of the Anonymous” is the darkest and heaviest Inade work, but contains some fine intense music. Recommended, that is if you can appreciate a mixture of the darker Lustmord works, combined with some atmospheric Cold Meat and a few occult Turbund Sturmwerk elements. But I think that Inade doesn’t really need such external references any more…
REVIEW (Sputnik):
In my eyes, ambiance is a relatively hit-or-miss idea. Bands catering to an entirely ambient demographic sometimes have a lot to offer and sometimes have one or two soundscapes that they tweak at length for a good sixty minutes (or possibly much longer if it’s a discography-lapsing habit). In the so-called „dark ambient“ area, the latter seems especially prevalent: many of these bands do their best to create atmosphere, but when their only intent is to make it sound ominous, that atmosphere is expected to fall flat within a relatively short amount of time as the „band“ reuses the same ideas in a vain attempt at establishing mood.
In some areas of Inade’s offering The Crackling of the Anonymous, they seems prone to this syndrome, and in others they haplessly fall victim to it. The ten songs here are indeed intended to stir a very dark and sinister feeling within you, doing so through the use of airy, choir-like tone clusters, what sound like shifting string arrangements, reverbed and heavily filtered noises and in a few cases, voice samples. The way they utilize such sounds changes from track to track (though the windy emptiness seems to always be in the background), so in a way they steer clear of keeping things too similar. The only issue is that most tracks are around six and a half minutes, and they don’t expand too much on their formulas, they simply mix the same elements in different ways over time. This does tend to get tedious, and luckily the next track usually changes things at least slightly.
Overall, there isn’t much to say about The Crackling of the Anonymous. Inade shows a typical offering of ambient music; it is appropriate listening once in a great while, but it can get dull quickly. It is at least admirable that Inade create something interesting in a field that is over-saturated, but it is definitely not anything spectacular. Nonetheless, anyone interested in this sort of music could go for a listen.