I often hear people say that much of the old Cold Meat Industry catalogue has lost its allure. I tend to agree, especially when it comes to the acts that leaned toward Dark Ambient. Not because those releases were particularly bad, but because the style got watered down by the trends of modern sound design. Huge hall-like reverbs, movie samples etc. Now what I would like to do is to turn this discussion around and instead talk about the releases that still come off as fresh and relevant. Any opinions?
A few CMI releases I still hold in high regard:
Blood Axis - Blót: Sacrifice In Sweden (Mainly for nostalgic reasons)
Brighter Death Now - Great Death & Pain In Progress (my two favorite BDN releases)
Lille Roger - Golden Shower comp (as a fan of the so-called "Death Industrial" this is pretty much as mandatory as it gets...)
Mortiis - Ånden Som Gjorde Opprør (absolutely ridiculous project, but the extreme level of kitsch has somehow saved it from irrelevance)
I've already mentioned elsewhere that I fucking love Cernunnos Woods "Awaken the Empire of Dark Wood" from the CMI sublabel Cruel Moon. Even more primitive than Mortiis, but also lacking the slightly comical aspect.
When I revisit other CMI stuff, I find that I really enjoy most of what I used to enjoy back then. Come to think of it, I'm obviously not sure I even agree with the premise of this thread. Since I took until now to realize that, I will list a few releases anyway.
M.Z. 412 - In Nomine Dei Nostri Satanas Luciferi Excelsi (Not a very cool theme, but good music - dark, sometimes a bit harsher, always interesting).
Aghast - Hexerei Im Zwielicht Der Finsternis (This I actually like better than I did when it was released - back then I found it a bit annoying for some unclear reason. Misogyny, no doubt)
Deutsch Nepal - ¡Comprendido!... Time Stop! ...And World Ending (The points made in the original post have some relevance for this album, but I still think it rocks)
Any Proiekt Hat, even after all that's been said most Mortiis too... And of course the In the Shadow of Death compilation 7". Lots of it, really. To me, the stuff that "doesn't hold up" never really did.
For me _the_ CMI project is Brighter Death Now, which has been on heavy, heavy rotation here lately. I must admit, I am more into the direct, power electronics side of proceedings but slowly I have started to understand Necrose Evangelicum side of things too. Beyond this, I don't know much of the back catalogue and I'll certainly check any recommendations made in this topic. One thing I know is that I can't stand Mz.412. It wasn't just dated to me but it was simply weak, at least on Burning The Temple of God LP, which I admittedly checked out mainly due to the LP cover.
Which Brighter Death Now releases do you prefer?
Quote from: 13 on May 23, 2016, 07:25:59 PM
Which Brighter Death Now releases do you prefer?
As I said, I like mostly the power electronics stuff so my favourites are May All Be Dead/Obsessis/With Promises of Death.
INSTITUT - Live Like Traitors, Die Like Traitors
INSTITUT - The Struggle Never Ended
IRM - Red Album
IRM - Oedipus Dethroned
IRM - Virgin Mind
IRM - Order4
BDN of course which has been covered already.
https://www.discogs.com/Vestigial-Translucent-Communion/release/1371931
Quote from: Zeno Marx on May 23, 2016, 09:58:01 PM
https://www.discogs.com/Vestigial-Translucent-Communion/release/1371931
great act.
seen live a couple of time. very impressive . lost in oblivion...
I think almost the entire catalog remains very relevant
Here's what springs to mind for me: Nihil DLP comp with IRM, Institut etc, IRM "Red Album" and the 4 Stories for a Crucifixion 10", Brighter Death Now "May All Be Dead" DLP.
Besides the ones mentioned above i love all the Raison d'être output
Aside from the obvious like BDN, IRM, Blood Axis' BLOT, Mz412
i would also add:
Sophia (I love the entire discography of this project!)
Proiekt Hat
Deutsch Nepal
Aghast
Mortiis
I actually think CMI is more relevant (in my mind) than ever... I think this kind of dark ambient / semi digital (at times) style is coming back... Maybe some would not see this for the better? I do!
Brighter Death Now's "Necrose Evangelicum" will always be a favourite album of mine. Utterly fucking perfect. "They were playing gas chamber games...".
MZ 412's "Domine Rex Inferum" is probably the best release of the band and a high water mark of dark/"black" industrial in general. "A plague on both your houses!".
I still love Archon Satani's "In Shelter", especially the highly evocative "Shelter - Offering" - like a mini radio play without dialogue. "We will all become ambient death heads, if not......"
Anything from pre 2006 ish I'd say. At least in terms of the newer bands they never did it for me. Never got into Mortis either.
don't know if i'd say any of the CMI classics still sound "fresh" but after listening for all these years the dated sounds are part of the appeal of the releases i still listen to.
everything already listed is pretty much the good stuff... i would insist that any/all PROIEKT HAT is golden and probably the best PE the label has to offer.
Quote from: Andrew McIntosh on May 24, 2016, 06:25:04 AM
Brighter Death Now's "Necrose Evangelicum" will always be a favourite album of mine. Utterly fucking perfect. "They were playing gas chamber games...".
Easily my favorite BDN album.
Quote from: Andrew McIntosh on May 24, 2016, 06:25:04 AM
MZ 412's "Domine Rex Inferum" is probably the best release of the band and a high water mark of dark/"black" industrial in general. "A plague on both your houses!".
I really wish they would've included tribal drumming more often, like on In Nomine. They dropped the ball by not doing so. I don't think their dark ambient/quasi-PE holds up very well because it lacks that layer. Not to say it isn't decent atmospheric music, but I also don't feel it tends to stand out.
Aghast album is a timeless classic, all old BDN is incredible, Raison, old Mortiis, some MZ412, old Puissance, Archon Satani, Deutsch Nepal- this is how I got into ambient/noise music to begin with in the 90's. I can still remember hearing Let Us Lead right after it came out, how orchestral but beautifully militant the atmosphere was, plus the booklet full of concentration camp pictures, weapons, diatribes about how evil will always conquer good....cliche traits for most people now but made a STRONG impression on me as a youth. These records are not only nostalgic but I think have held up damn well over time, although some more then others.
Also someone mentioned Burning the Temple of God, what an awful album. I like MZ 412, but this album does not hold up well at all. I put it in a few months ago and couldn't even get half way through it, just boring and really cheesy, the incredibly stupid sample of the reverse exorcism in the first song pretty much sums it up haha "Jeswus Chwist, get outta my Whife!", and this is coming from someone who usually loves over the top approaches, bad taste, and cheesyness. I immediately threw it in my 'to sell' pile and will not miss it...
So youre saying that album wasnt represntative of mz.412? I must admit, I chose it based on the burning church cover artwork, haha. What would you recommend instead?
Nordik Battle Signs is their most memorable for me.
Actually, I don't think the CMI catalogue is at all redundant. As others have said, there's always BDN, Mz.412, and Deutsch Nepal - and while I have seriously gone off the latter, his works up to and including Comprendido... Time Stop... still stand up very well. Oh, another obscure little project they had was Nod - nothing remarkable, but they did have a couple of really good tracks on their Three Little Pigs CD that I still enjoy.
https://www.discogs.com/Nod-The-Story-Of-The-Three-Little-Pigs-And-The-Big-Bad-Wolf/release/144744
lovely experiment
MZ412 " In nomine dei nostri...."
the darkest album i think
Quote from: F_c_O on May 24, 2016, 10:23:00 PM
So youre saying that album wasnt represntative of mz.412? I must admit, I chose it based on the burning church cover artwork, haha. What would you recommend instead?
The album is like a weird mishmash of styles and approaches that aren't really interesting, go on for too long, or are just too incoherent ultimately, but for some reason this approach appealed to me years ago and now, with this album at least, it does not. Burning Church artwork is the same cover as the Lords of Chaos book amusingly enough. Somehow very fitting..
I'd say it isn't representative of their style really, the already suggested In Nomine Dei Nostri is EXCELLENT in my opinion and holds a very interesting and a somewhat ritualistic feel. Nordik Battle Signs is also really good, Algiz- The Convergance of Life and Death is possibly my favorite MZ 412 song and is very powerful for me as this rune is also very significant to me personally.
Or you could just listen to old Emit, whichto me is easily the best 'black noise' (or whatever kids are calling it these days) since Abruptum. Easily.
Quote from: Zeno Marx on May 24, 2016, 09:52:29 PM
I really wish they would've included tribal drumming more often, like on In Nomine. They dropped the ball by not doing so. I don't think they're dark ambient/quasi-PE holds up very well because it lacks that layer. Not to say it isn't decent atmospheric music, but I also don't feel it tends to stand out.
Around the time I got the "In Nomine..." album I also got Archon Satani's "The Righteous Way To Completion" on Cold Spring and was impressed with the use of percussion on that. It can work really well. But ultimately MZ have always had pretty mixed output. "In Nomine..." is a great album of well created and recorded individual tracks which is what they usually do but "Domine..." is a wider-spread album, more conceptual.
I'd also agree that "Burning The Temple..." could have been a lot better, but mainly for their overt Black Metal pastiches. Those bits just don't work. The opening sample didn't sound cheesy to me, just a bit cliched. The line between appropriate and cheesy when one chances Black Metal imagery is very thin and often crossed (I recall an interview in one of those CM catalogues in which they said they "had not discovered the treasure of Satan" until after they formed. That bit made me groan). All up, though, it's still an album I like and return to. MZ 412 at that time were great and I picked up on them around the mid-90's at just the right time I suppose.
I feel that 90% of the discography is still essential for me.
I've been checking some mz.412 for now and I am surprised how much I like this. Burning The Temple of God certainly gave me the wrong idea about the project. I must say that at the moment my favourite moment is the fact that the live version of Kreuzigung from the re-release of Macht Durch Stimme starts with Supertramp's Breakfast in America and a radio bit. I have no idea if thats intentional or not but to me it works really well, actually.
Quote from: murderous_vision on May 25, 2016, 06:24:28 AM
I feel that 90% of the discography is still essential for me.
Of those un or only partially mentioned I will add the Soundsource offerings of Archon Satani and Inanna. These are in part I felt (feel) a kind of continuance of / sister to the Nekrophile catalog (among uncounted others in and around the period). Rough raw rude crude ritual dirgehell dungeontronics, or something. Throw in some half dead ganja music and you are there.
Quote from: F_c_O on May 25, 2016, 10:58:24 AM
Burning The Temple of God certainly gave me the wrong idea about the project.
I wanted to say something about that, too. "Burning..." is in fact somewhat better if you view it as a failed/strange black metal project in the vein of Puritas Virginum (which is way better, though, but also has this inconsistent, nonsensical approach to music). That only works if you're into failed/strange black metal, though.
The ones I still return to are
In Slaughter Natives - Enter Now The World
Raison d'Etre - Prospectus
Raison d'Etre - Within The Depth Of Silence And Phormations
Morthound - Spindrift
Brighter Death Now - everything
Deutsch Nepal - everything
I think anything that is noisy, holds up well, I think.
Projekt Hat, BDN, the mentioned MZ.412 Nordik battle sign (the most pure and cold industrial one), Archon Satani,.... Also recent re-visits to early Deutsch Nepal, his works before sung vocals, still working great. Not to mention 2 first Ordo Equilibrio. Especially the debut, which has clear form, but not yet routine template.
I would say a LOT of CMI holds up for me... all Brighter Death Now of course, IRM, Proiekt Hat, Mz.412, In Slaughter Natives, Deutsch Nepal, Institut, Iron Justice. Lots of real classics.
In related news, this tribute LP, in the works for several years, finally has a release date announced:
(http://i1292.photobucket.com/albums/b576/goatkomamnd/CMI%20TRIBUTE%20LP_zpsd11m1zhu.jpg)
Tracklist:
- Sinistrous Diabolus - Sacrifice (Aghast)
- Spire - Death, Just Only Death... (In Slaughter Natives)
- Temple Nightside - Winds of a Lost Soul (Arcana)
- Grave Upheaval - Necrose Evangelicum (Brighter Death Now)
- Antediluvian - Sephiroth (Raison d'être)
- Vassafor - Infernal Afairs II Doom Legion Ultra (MZ.412)
comp seems insane! how can metal bands pull it off?? i will buy
Quote from: yosef666 on May 31, 2016, 04:41:16 AM
I would say a LOT of CMI holds up for me... all Brighter Death Now of course, IRM, Proiekt Hat, Mz.412, In Slaughter Natives, Deutsch Nepal, Institut, Iron Justice. Lots of real classics.
In related news, this tribute LP, in the works for several years, finally has a release date announced:
(http://i1292.photobucket.com/albums/b576/goatkomamnd/CMI%20TRIBUTE%20LP_zpsd11m1zhu.jpg)
Tracklist:
- Sinistrous Diabolus - Sacrifice (Aghast)
- Spire - Death, Just Only Death... (In Slaughter Natives)
- Temple Nightside - Winds of a Lost Soul (Arcana)
- Grave Upheaval - Necrose Evangelicum (Brighter Death Now)
- Antediluvian - Sephiroth (Raison d'être)
- Vassafor - Infernal Afairs II Doom Legion Ultra (MZ.412)
NWN and Iron Bonhead .
quality assurance
Quote from: totalabuse on June 01, 2016, 11:25:46 AM
comp seems insane! how can metal bands pull it off?? i will buy
First sample was put up couple years ago: http://graveupheaval.bandcamp.com/track/grave-upheaval-necrose-evangelicum-bdn-sample
Will buy just for Antediluvian and Grave Upheaval!
http://ironboneheadproductions.bandcamp.com/album/ancient-meat-revived-a-tribute-to-cold-meat-industry
CMI is one of, if not my all time favorite label. Roger has excellent taste in both music and aesthetics. BDN (obviously), MZ.412, Raison D'Entre, In Slaughter Natives, Projeckt Hat, Deutsch Nepal, the early Arcana albums, old Mortiis records and many others are among my favorite artists. So many legendary and timeless classics on the CMI label.
I am pretty ambivalent about that CMI tribute LP on IBP/NWN. It will be interesting to hear, and Grave Upheaval is one of my favorite newer DM bands but metal bands should stay in their own territory. In my opinion the cross pollination of metal and industrial/PE only results in diluted, not exciting music. In theory the mix sounds awesome but the reality of it usually mediocre at best. MZ.412, Blut Aus Nord, and Ride For Revenge being the only exceptions I can think of, all three of which are phenomenal though.
I just listen to ESTHETICKS OF CRUELTY compilation and i think that it is great stuff and still a very good listening.
This CMI comp is great: https://www.discogs.com/Various-Nihil/release/97370