Rosengracht - Magic Of The Innocent album flac

The opening piece is entitled "Dark Blossom", taken from the LP "Iceage" and is a piece of dark ambient noise - distant thunderous booms, reverberating metal sounds, twisted animal-like noises all combining in a non-beat mood to images which suggest a torch pointed at the camera from a variety of angles, later warped & mutilated by FX. "Land", from the "Drainage" LP heads off in a totally different direction - a Folksy piece reminding me of dark mood POPUL VUH mixed with lighter, more melodic & poppy music of, say, STEELEYE SPAN. Images change from still photographs of various group members to Slo-Mo live footage of the band playing live & posing in a variety of 'far-away' attitudes. "Bleeding Darkness" comes from the "Ars Obscura" cassette/DAT compilation - a dark, ritualistic mood piece based on a simple drum pattern - a plodding beat closely followed by guitar while the female vocalists sing like lost souls overhead - images combine more group members, naked torsos, heads being shaven (presumably for the ritual of the live show), stroboscopic images of bodies against bodies, of beards & hair set alight. Next comes a live track, taking the same title "Bleeding Darkness" but is a much different piece, lasting 21'55" - it was recorded at E.K.H. in Vienna in May 92 and starts with dark vocal harmonics which give way to smashing, destroying guitars. A brief pause as they set light to various objects, then the sound returns, starting & stopping a couple of times before settling into their epic, ploddingly morbid ritual soundtrack, which sees them setting light to various objects (and fellow members). The music works its way into your consciousness, insidiously worming in, ever-promising to falter & fall. It gains in intensity, warming the blood with it's raw emotional content - watching the drummers is fascinating - they become intensely involved & you seem to appreciate what they're doing more by witnessing their determination. Not a subtle music - far too huge and dramatic for that, but magnificent in it's simplicity. The next piece is again a large, long track called "Shed the Skin" - it's another live recording (from Weißenkirchen - 18/7/92) recapturing the mood of the previous piece, although this time the drums are a little more 'toppy' & the guitars content to boom, blast & feed back. At times it suggests Rock influence (late 60's / early 70's progressive underground), but only hinting at any association. This reminds me a little of a half-speed "Sister Ray" - y'know, the VELVET UNDERGROUND dirge. Most of the images are in darkness with only strobes & flashes of light offering illumination. Everything is suddenly cast in animate light as burning oil is cast at the draped walls, painting silhouettes in bright yellow flickering gold for long moments. Unfortunately the sound cut out here, just as things began to look really impressive, starting up again, but having disturbed the mood (but perhaps this is merely a fault on my copy). The final piece which draws the video to a conclusion is "Brothers" from the forthcoming CD "Bleeding Darkness Die" - a much shorter piece, again in their more Folk-like style with strumming guitar & harmonic voices - the visual side is an exploration of their live set-up - a sort of Dada-istic crossover with Primitive Art set in a cave-like room, ending with more band photographs.Originally reviewed for Soft Watch.