Defraktor - Themes For The Lunatic

Suite One - Armory
Suite Two - The Flood
Suite Three - More Space Shimmer
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So we come to yet another elusive and obscure Karsten Hamre project...Defraktor.

Defraktor's "Themes For The Lunatic" is the only release under this name, but it's definately an interesting one. Three tracks, one hour. Go figure. I was expecting a Noise release, I have to admit, but this is pure Death Industrial / Dark Ambience.

"Armory" is an all out emphatic alien recreation of sound. There is more than one instance where the feeling of being in the weapons room or the hold of a ship is evident. Bizarre Clicking and Scratching noises, deep resonant underwater Gongs are frequent structures here. What really makes "Armory" insatiable is the tangible feeling of distress.

Sudden increases in volume, and loud rumbling noises do little to settle the nerves, but when out of nowhere a sudden loud whoosh comes into sound (like a Jetplane going overhead), you don't need me to tell you what this does to the mind.

Defraktor is the sound of Galactic Supremacy. Air-tight vessels, locked in compression chambers, being under attack from unseen forces. Sci-Fi at it's most endearing. Nineteen minutes a track is ambitious, but works rather well when considering the content and malicious undertones of Defraktor.

With "The Flood" we can feel water and the void sucking in and eradicating the ship - there is a deep and downright complex layer of noises and sounds, all of which resemble your thoughts after being tied upside down for hours.

"More Space Shimmer" is a more vibrant, less frantic number, consider if you will taking a step into weightlessness - escaping a doomed ship, and searching for a new start, a new home in foreign and unhospitable terrority. The Stars even make a guest appearance here, shimmering and producing gentle intricate melodies.

I don't really know what to say about this record, and I don't feel anything I can say will really explain it. Karsten has made not just a sci-fi Ambient release, but also something you can sit on . (Three Piece-Suite, get it?). *Ahem*

Joking aside, I enjoyed it, I can't help but wonder why Defraktor hasn't re-surfaced out of stasis to produce another record though. Nov 02 2006