Throbberstalk - Lest / We / Forget

This is an interesting release to say the least. This album is about a forgotten project by the name of Throbberstalk, which recorded music from 1995 to 1999. In this time period, they wrote and delivered songs mostly with a dark ambient nature, with some influences from EBM. What they tried to do was create an orchestral soundtrack with influences from industrial, most notably from the vocals that take place. And, this is a compilation of their archival works; the best of the best chosen by the record label has been put on display for this rerelease. I came away admiring the distinction of this act.

It would be an understatement to call this project a delineation from a lot of other groups, you can believe me on that. You could probably pair these fellows next to most other projects, and I'd be able to point them out from the others. I mean, unless you're putting them next to a copy cat band, I doubt there'll be any real competition between these guys and all the rest. I'm not trying to make them sound like the best thing in the whole world, I'm just saying that they are different.

However, I must say that there is a certain falsehood for the label to describe Throbberstalk as being orchestral. You can take Puzzled and jam it in our faces, for their is a certain flare with that song that perfectly fits the term, but the rest of the album takes precedent within the ambient and EBM crowds. Perhaps there were more works by the band that fit the definition, but only one on this compilation can directly be compared to that.

I mean, even looking at the first song on the album, Torment Me is more EBM and noise than anything. There are distorted and somewhat harsh vocals going on, with the beat slow and daunting, and haunting. It works almost like a spoken word type of song, except the man talking sounds really disturbed and as if he belongs safely behind the walls in an insane asylum.

Now, one song that made me question the entire album just by the title would be As Black As Incest, as it sounds like something that would be off an offensive metal album. But, the song did not fail in delivering. Drums, more of the disturbed voices following, and a soft beat followed through the song. It was decent, but nothing great.

However many tracks are delivered on this album, however, I cannot really get too much into the groove with it. Yes, it's interesting, and unique, and I could listen to it if I had to, but the inconsistency between vocals and beats just kind of pull me off my life support. Normally, I don't mind hearing contrasting beats and vocals, but the vocals just sometimes over power the beats too much, so that the sole focus becomes these strict distorted and tormented sounds, and almost hard to listen to screams.

Meanwhile, the tune to the song, as much as I enjoyed them, just stay in the background, and never really get their time to shine. Well, they do in the instrumentals which is why I enjoyed the final three tracks so much, which were From Fear to Desire, Im Arm Der Liebe, and Graveyard Poetry. The final of the three was my favorite, as it supplied a great dark ambient sound with angelic humming and a never ending supply of synthwork. It was rather somber and I enjoyed it.

And, though I have stated time and time again about how unique this project is, or was, I still have to say that it's not that great. Good? Yes. But, it's far from perfect. This was an amateur work, as it only did record for four years. Sure, there may have been side projects in the past, but this project was just on the verge of finding it's true calling, and for that, I am rather disappointed. I am shocked by the amount of liberty they took with the album, and have created something I have never heard before, but I cannot say that it shoots to the sky. Aug 15 2013