Nuclear Weapons are currently very present in todays newspress. By chance i stumbled over an interesting band project about the same issue this month and decided to do a review at once. Actually it doesnt matter, because nuclear war is a serious problem for mankind in general, lost some importance since the cold war ended and rised again a bit with Iran's nuclear power plans. And because i don't know more about Irans nuclear weapon program than anyon e else, i better tell you something about Atomtrakt's music today.
What we have here is ambient music (precisely: dark ambient). This does not surprise the informed reader because Atomtrakt is a side project of Vinterriket, a very famous ambient band that can be counted to the founders of modern dark ambient and is since the mid 90's in business. Vinterriket has some more side projects but i found Atomtrakt to be their most impressive one.
The EP contains 4 tracks that feature a play length between 6 and more than 7 minutes each song. That was a good decision and fits the music very well. Atomtrakt did a good job with the composition, no track seems too short or contains oversized parts nor annoying repetitions.
Now what does it sound like? Well, first of all you can find it out yourself because the whole EP is downloadable from the band's webpage. A great opportunity for those who are new to ambient music. Atomtrakt always try to put some appealing tunes in the songs and they show a lot of talent for both rythm and melody. I especially like the last song "Flammenmeer", which is mostly dominated by various flutes and a shiny, cristal background singing, sometimes marshing drums and a constant noise level of wind and what sounds like great, empty planes. If you like to use your imagination you could think of some lonely machines here and there, maybe built by last survivers of an inferno, silently crackling, ringing in the last hours of all life on the former so green planet. Just a few thoughts from my side. If the listener does not shut himself off from the music, it can be a fantastic experience.
All songs are underlaid by irregular radio signals, heavily distorted voices, hard to decide what they're trying to tell, a warning from the near future, or like stories of an alternate reality, maybe only walkie-talkie communication of some outposts sending requests over burned soil of no man's land? While the songs are widely realized by an artificial synthesizer, piano tunes and violins are also often to be heard and finally round up the impression of an interesting ambient album full of innovation, imagination and contrasts. Someone once called ambient a majestic genre, a better description can not be found for this outstanding release.
Atomtrakt get my very recommendation for their interesting work and their well done arrangements and detailrich compositions. Their first full time album is released soon and you will find another review of it as early as possible, not in F_GX's pick, but in the review section here, at the DeutscheMusik.net!
Score: 
Reviewer: Tobias Weigl
Hompage: Atomtrakt.com
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