TESTAMENT

I thought Shub-Niggurath's earlier albums were OK but not brilliant zeuhl pieces which didn't really stand out from the crowd very much. This time around, though, they seem to be going for a dark ambient sound but are attempting to produce it using more or less conventional rock instrumentation. The end results are not appealing. They're neither quiet, slow, and placid enough to be particularly good ambient - not even industrial ambient - and there isn't quite enough happening for actual rock compositions to emerge from the noise. The end result is more or less indistinguishable from a band tuning up, or endlessly playing the intro to a song which never gets around to starting.

social review comments | Review Permalink
Posted Thursday, January 26, 2012 | Review this album | Report (Review #620629)

From dark ambient to noisy. When you are expecting Zeuhl things like this can make one disappointed, so I have tried to listen to "Testament" as it was a psychedelic or an avant album but unfortunately this none of the two.

The band members have surely had some fun in recording this noise. Only the first track, the dark-ambient one deserves to be listened. The rest as I have written is just noise, without the research of new sounds or any experimental use of the instruments. If I think to other "noisy" numbers of other bands it's always possible finding something interesting even when there is no structure to follow.

In this case there is a bit of structure, mainly in "Part III", but I find it totally uninteresting and lacking of a meaning. Maybe giving a title to the tracks could have helped the listener in catching hidden messages if any, but there are no track titles, too.

The album sleeve is totally black, so no messages at all.

The title "Testament" in this environment may signify "take my goods and do what you want"...

So we too can do what we want of this album: use it as a frisbee, tie it to a scarecrow, or even listen to it, but keep in mind that your speakers are working fine, it's the album that has something wrong.

social review comments | Review Permalink
Posted Thursday, May 3, 2012 | Review this album | Report (Review #747953)

While I've never managed to get into the sludgy style of Shub-Niggurath, I can at least appreciate the niche they carved for themselves and why they are considered a cult classic. This album though.... what's the point. I'm sure everyone who's reviewed it has had to pad out what they right in o ... (read more)

Report this review (#2920828) | Posted by bartymj | Monday, May 1, 2023 | Review Permanlink

This is not how I want to remember Shub Niggurath. This gross misuse of a good name is as far removed from the great first Shub Niggurath albums as it is possible to come. What we have here is seventy-two minutes of noise with no meaning whatsoever. Those who think Lou Reed's Metal Music is ... (read more)

Report this review (#298914) | Posted by toroddfuglesteg | Sunday, September 12, 2010 | Review Permanlink

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).