Na-Hag - Lost Cities

It is not a secret, that industrial music is explored already for three decades. So many things were played, so many subgenres invented. There is a huge field for experimentations, and many bands try to mix their own cocktails of different genres, cultures and instruments as the goal to create something special, that can refresh the genre. That's why, there are some guys here and there, which try to look at tribal and new age through the prism of industrial music. Here is one of them, located somewhere in a distant Ukraine, and he brings us one solid piece of an album, called 'Lost Cities'. It is already his second creation during the last year and sure, I didn't expect it to be that good, because the theme to discover is really hard. One has always to remember that it is industrial music and it should stay industrial, otherwise it can turn it to one more pathetic tribal electronic
album.

So, what do we have here? The CD starts with three amazing tracks, which blast me and make me sink into the atmosphere of lost civilizations, exactly as the name of the album says. The compositions are full of rhythm, full of power that fire me up. A complex mix of eastern percussions presents during all the album run and give it an exact touch of an ancient mysticism together with a modern type of harsh electronics, which is so significant to the tribal electronic music. The mix of different styles is so thick, that sometimes it is hard to navigate through them, but the structure that they create is fascinating indeed. For example, "Lost Cities" is a track that starts with a mid tempo gloomy layers and by the end transforms into mix on rhythmic noise and even break core. The third track, "Having a Knife" is the most rhythmic and danceable, which will suit the djeys between us that will definitely use it to shake the dance floor. Though the album opens with the powerful charge, slowly it starts to lose its identity with more easy listening tracks, when some of the slow parts are little bit overextended, like the opening 5-6 minutes of the composition "Naked Pursuit". But still, the gloomy atmosphere remains to keep me entertained until the end of the very last composition. The music stays to be organized and not chaotic, while the main aspect of its pressure is the exploration of the darkest and scariest corners of the human history, full of blood sacrifices and worshiping of the cruel gods.

To summarize what had been said, Ruga roo - the man behind Na-Hag, presents us with this album a true piece of a solid and rhythmic music, and has a great opportunity to compete with such monsters like This Morn Omina, Ah-Cama Sotz and others in the never ending run to capture the hearts of the listeners. Oct 31 2011