Sal Solaris - Die Scherben 2004-2010

There are lots of industrial experimental bands on post-soviet area, blessed is a fertile soil for development of such a scene full of complicated political circumstances, natural inspirations and a hard lot of many people that are involved in it. Very often, music becomes not only a kind of "relief valve" for all the negativism and frustration accumulated by them, but also an opportunity to escape the everyday routine, contact brothers in arms and share with them the vision of creative freedom. One of the most significant names of Russian branch of experimental craftsmanship is Sal Solaris (direct translation is "salt of the sun"), a duo that's explored this field for more than fifteen years. These noble comrades became recognizable and important players on the international scene as well, especially with their last activity on Canadian based Cyclic Law label. But our conversation today is not about their contribution to "Einengrau" record; it will receive its detailed review on Brutal Resonance in upcoming weeks. Before this material saw the light during the first decade of 2014, Sal Solaris brought to our consideration a set of compositions from different periods of their highly productive career which was released by collaborative efforts of two famous Russian labels KultFront and Zhelezobeton.

I am sure that such highly abstractive genres like dark ambient raises completely different images for the majority of its fans while listening to the same albums, especially when many of them are crafted around a specific idea or theme. Somehow, the creation of Sal Solaris was always associated for me with post-apocalyptic worlds in the vein of Stalker stories of Strugatskiy brothers (see the note to this review). But I feel that there is no need to search for any kind of concept behind "Die Scherben" ("shards" ger.) because in this case we are talking about a compilation of tracks without any specific connection between them, at least this connection is unseen for me. Sharpen the sword of your judgment and prepare for a certain level of mood swings whether you like it or not.

Sal Solaris present more than 75 minutes of really diverse material to match the history of evolution and reveal the widest picture of their talent. "Die Schreben" contains twelve tracks of various genres, moods and tastes, from ritual dark ambient to neo-classic and even rhythmic noise; just choose your specific atmosphere and dive into it. You can walk a very tragic path of "Rotten Reverie" or bow to the ritualistic fires of "Prometheus", dwell in extraterrestrial signals and electronic waves of "In the Orbit" or dance to the distorted and industrialized sounds of Tchaikovsky with "Battle Swans". Russian speaking audiences will definitely enjoy "Class on Dreaming"; the track starts with a wide oppressive atmosphere and ends up with a massive piano guided song carrying a deep emotional impulse in its gentle and sensual words. Those of you who prefer more action can do justice to "Rush", an industrial remix of the famous Depeche Mode track that could adorn the best albums of Haus Arafna with its dirty minimalistic rhythm and heavily distorted vocals.

I should be honest and sign out two average tracks like "Pripadok" or "Start" where Sal Solaris didn't impress much, but there is some specific zest even in them and it sweets the pill for the listener to be able to reach a certain level of aesthetic pleasure. The music becomes noisier in "Trepet" gaining power from heavy electronic scratching sounds, but it doesn't lose a soft melancholic touch even while being quite rude in the beginning. "Out" presents machinery oriented hums with a wide background melody and "I.U.Z.M." finishes this album on the same note that it was started, tragic and dark, when the listener's personality sinks in complete desperation without any chance for salvation.

Those of you that keep an eye on my reviews could have noticed that I always try to dig into the very depth of each track, dismember it, smell and taste each chunk properly and digest it patiently. I had to spin this CD at least thirty or forty times to get the exact idea because of the diversity that I had mentioned above. But if you are tired from specific composition of this compilation, you can skip it safely without losing any story line. Each component can be played independently telling its own story, pressing its own buttons and manipulating with different, sometimes even opposite feelings. Once again, I think it doesn't work as a solid piece of album but it brings enough dark, passionate and sensual moments to meet expectations from such kind of a record.

P.S.
A note to this review.
Seriously, if you don't know who the fuck the Strugatskiy brothers, then you having a big hole in your industrial education. But it's not too late for you to discover.
Aug 19 2014