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| R E V I E W S |
| This is amongst my TOP 10 of 2004.Excellent dark industrial/rhythmic noise masterpiece done by Romanian unfamous project Narkoleptik,which literally explained as "A disorder characterized by sudden and uncontrollable, though often brief, attacks of deep sleep, sometimes accompanied by paralysis and hallucinations".But the music presented here seems quite unharmonious with the name of this band,coz how can a man gets deep into narcolepsy always dreams the horroble scene which can torture his mind into molten iron. All tracks in this album built in grave soundscape,metal clash,liquid dripping,ponderous bray of beasts,twisted female moaning and heavy male groan.They start with bloodcurdling industrial clangs ,transfer to noisy rhythmic electronic beats and finally end up with beautiful ambient.Even some synthesized neoclassical touch intersperses around these fearful stuffs. Two things.The cover and the first track "Her Strange Beauty".I dont know who is the featurely guy on the cover,but this monochrome photo implies this must be a perfect doing or a piss of shit.Fortunately it testified to be the former impression.And I`m quite pleased when I hear a weird voice mixed by alternation of moaning from a woman and a man who seems to be making love and abusement.Take it easy,you know,it happens in your dreams quite often. review by Der Heroismus "Punisher" is a limited edition CDR (100 copies) that FIR label (Ion Rimaru Foundation) proposes as its debut on the timid Romanian underground. It is the 3rd material by this band, or better said, "project", from the city of Constanta - Narkoleptik. The 7 songs on the album, entirely instrumental, can be described as industrial-experimental. This time, the performer reduces to minimum any tendency towards ambient and darkwave that were present on previous releases, emphasising now the noise and industrial sides. There isn't anymore that calm, melancholical and meditation mood floating, but a more psychedelic sound, much more aggressive and schizoid at the same time. Perhaps for many it'll be less digestible than the first two materials, but it's in my opinion the best Narkoleptik release to date. Upon an entire listen in a row, the "Punisher" material gives the impression of a psychic disease, starting with an apparent calm tune, "uncertain" and "messy" at the same time, betraying some sort of anti-tranquility and psychic tension. Slowly, things get amplified, progressively with each song, getting to the climax with the last but one track - "Negative Reactor" - a striking peak sending quake vibes for 20 minutes on 100% industrial rhythms, obssessively repetitive, aggressive, when everything is delirious and out of control. The last piece brings an apparent calm, exhausted, but equally "clouded" and psychotic as the debut part. Almost as if it's a matter of time until batteries will get recharged and the cycle rolls again. It is the kind of music that I best see as the soundtrack for theatre plays or independent films with more psycho scripts and visions. As a matter of fact the audition of this material lead my mind to soundtracks of independent films such as Darren Aronofsky's "?" (Pi) or Shinya Tsukamoto?s "Tetsuo: The Iron Man". A step forward for Narkoleptik! Bravos! Rating: 9/10 review by Ionutz (Dark Romania) Despite an unfortunately somewhat shoddy package that could suggest otherwise, this Romanian dark ambient project is really quite good for most of this third release. Most of the compositions are rather short, three to four minutes or so, revolving around thick, flowing ambient soundscapes with lots of low-end and the occasional flirtation with midrange distortion. Opener "Her Strange Beauty" even makes tasteful use of a few moaning samples, which is an incredibly rare occurrence in my opinion. "Collapse" is somewhat more rhythmic in movement, with a distant sort of reverberation happening, whereas "Anamnesis" takes that farther with some blatant rhythmic surges and a lot more electronic tinges to the foreground textures. The 22-minute "Negative Reactor" is infinitely longer than the other tracks, and again pushes out more blatant rhythms, this time venturing into raw industrial beats that almost have a dance-ish vibe to their structure. It's variations on that theme for over 20 minutes? A very poor decision, to say the least. Most every piece is fairly consistent from start to finish, there aren't really any great variations within tracks, only changes from song to song. I'm gonna go ahead and assume that the guy on the cover is a serial killer or something, because the rest of the imagery is odd and subtly violent in a way, and the titles would sort of suggest some of that as well. Everything's in black and white with pixilated text and no contact information of any kind. Strange. I would've enjoyed this far more were "Anamnesis" and "Negative Reactor" not present as they're weak selections that have nothing in common with the bleak ambience of great numbers like the openly melodic "Patima". This release is limited to 100 copies if you're interested? I'd be curious to hear more, but I certainly think the rhythmic beat elements need to take a back seat. Rating: 6/10 review by AVERSIONLINE zine Focusing on the image and life of Ion Rimaru (sadist and serial killer) the new album by Narkoleptik is produced by a little label called F.I.R. (Fundatia Ion Rimaru). Respect the previous "Spectral Afterglow" this new one is less ambient and more industrial and recreate, in a good way, the sense of repulsion/morbid curiosity which the life of a serial killer usually gives to people. The tracks alternate digital noises (which sound like a chainsaw) and samples of squeaking doors mixing them with square waves forming in this way a sort of cyclic and hypnotic mantra. The first five tracks and the seventh (which ends the CD with an epic and sad atmosphere created by low noiseses, an organ sound and a beat which recalls the heatbeat) don't last really much (the longest one is 4 minutes and 1/2 long) and it seems that they have to prepare the listeners to the 21 minutes mayhem of "Negative reactor": a track based on distorted and delayed drum sounds which duet with rhythmic noises and various sonic violence. The CD is limited to 100 copies so you've got to hurry if you love early '80s industrial sounds. Rating: 4/5 review by Maurizio Pustianaz, Chain DLK This is quite a surprise album coming from the Rumanian scene. There are very few bands in this genre here and even fewer are of a good kind, Narkoletik is one of those few. This CD is dedicated to one of Rumania's serial killers Ion R�maru, which was active in the early 70`s, the music describes a travel in the mind of a serial killer or at least this is the way I see things here. On the first song you can hear moans, of whom, the torture person, the torturer ... you can imagine a walk in the park, where everything is calm, but there is one mind that does not see the things this way ... "Scissor" describes the killer going on a hunt, he's moving slow in the beginning, he sees someone walking ... but is to late. The following songs follow the same pattern in sound until "Negative Reactor" comes, an industrial song created on pulsating beats, this is the longest song here, 22 minutes. The Last song "Patima", is darker than the rest ... a feeling of regret? Rating: 85/100 Review by Carlaont Catalin, Arcana Noctis |
| REVIEWS OF "PUNISHER" |