GJÖLL

"Sum Of Transformations"

Ant-Zen - 2009

CD

Ant-Zen delivers the third full-length release of Gjöll, the Icelandic duo that has already raised a certain interest with its haunting and icy music. "Sum Of Transformations" sports a greyish artwork, with desolated pictures of rocks and frozen waterfalls, a perfect visual counterpart to the moody and alien sound of the seven tracks. You will find Gjöll filed under dark ambient, industrial or whatever, but what you hear on the CD is another story, it's pure vibrations, drones and glaciers' echoes, sometimes enriched by a distant, eerie voice repeating formulas in the language of Vikings, and the mutated strings of an acoustic guitar. Certain passages, especially in initial "Natural Anarchy" and "Abandon All Hope" are not too far away from the most dissonant experiments of Neu! (not by chance kraut rock is quoted as an influence), whereas the purely atmospheric parts can't be compared to any dark ambient, there's no dark melody or soundscape, just pure sound rotating endlessly, like the gigantic movement of a galaxy.

Gjöll's music is colder and more alien than anything you can think of, it's hypnotic and disquieting at the same time, with an interesting blend of electronics, noise and treated instruments, conjuring some genuinely alien scenario. Recommended for a headphone listening in an evening of total misanthropy.

- Simon V.

Website: http://www.virb.com/gjoell

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/gjoellproduct8