VINTERRIKET - Landschaften ewiger Einsamkeit

Ketzer Records

Posted: 1/16/05

Reviewed by: Steve Gottlieb

Category: Ambient Instrumental

Released: 2004

Label URL: www.ketzer-records.de

Artist URL: www.vinterriket.com

On the surface, this obscure German band with the odd name and even odder album title looks like it would be your run of the mill black metal album.  Oh, if only it were!  Instead, I was ‘treated’ to over one hour of ambient keyboards.  The six tracks that make up the album, each between 10 and 12 minutes long, are virtually indistinguishable from one another.  There are no drums, no guitars, no bass, no vocals, nothing but ambient keyboard sounds.  And just so I’m clear, there are no melodies, no rhythms, nothing but ambient keyboard sounds.  Did you ever hear one of those ‘mind, body and soul’ type cd’s that feature ambient tracks with innocuous titles like ‘soothing ocean waves’ or ‘harmonies of the forest’?  You know, the kind of cd that might accompany an aroma-therapy kit?  Well, this is just like that, only perhaps a little darker.  But not much.  At least if the ambient sounds had a hint of evil to them, this cd might have some use as background music at a Halloween party.  As it is, the only application for this cd would be as a donation to a local planetarium for use as background music during a ‘journey through the stars’ presentation to a bunch of 6^th graders on a class-trip.

The Bloody Truth:  In introducing the album, the promotional notes state proudly that “words like darkness, coldness, melancholy and emptiness have to be redefined.”  Luckily, words like boredom, monotony, sleep-inducing, and tranquilizing sedative do not.  Give me a keyboard pre-programmed with a ‘wind effect’ and I could probably make something on par with this god awful waste of time.