Netherworld, Kall – The Abyss Where Dreams Fall (Mondes Elliptiques)

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Netherworld´s Kall - "cold" - is a four-part suite exposing the darker side of Alessandro Tedeschi´s musical persona. While thus far, at this early stage in his career, most of his music has had a more life-affirming tone - even while dealing with the sensations of dark and cold and isolation - Kall is barren and unforgiving, organic, yes, but the organic matter is rotting.

The pervasive sense of dis-ease is immediately established with the opening track, where the listener seems trapped in some vast cavern sitting between the nostrils on the snout of some enormous, dying beast, heavily breathing in, out, in, out. Other, less corporeal beings seem also to inhabit the space, hung in the air.

A sickening slaveship beat slips into oily darkness as the second track proceeds onto the third movement´s train ride to some abandoned station on the railway to Hell. It is a gaseous and ghastly ride featuring only the occasional shimmer of light bouncing off overhanging icicles being played like tubular bells.

Netherworld´s Kall has skies overhead of lead and ground underfoot of lead. One does not literally feel physically cold when listening to it, but a chill does constantly travel up and down the spine.

In perverse contrast to the musical content, the CD is packaged in an attractive, delicately designed cardboard sleeve, ltd. edition of 441.