KAMMER SIEBEN

"Unfinished Movies"

Eis & Licht - 2007

CD

This new-born German duo revealed itself with the track "Dismembered Memories", included in the "Eisiges Licht 2" sampler two years ago. Kammer Sieben are now back with their debut release, "Unfinished Movies", presented by Eis & Licht inside the as usual extremely luxurious digipack: eight white panels decorated with blurred pictures of desolated landscapes, dwelled by ghosts and sinister unseen presences. The music itself seems to be strongly inspired by such type of images and the suggestion they conjure.

The compositions featured on the CD are quite different from each other, but all find a common denominator in solemn, dramatic and evocative atmospheres, evoked by a well-refined use of powerful keyboards, orchestral elements, marching drums and gentle, melancholic vocals, both in English and German. While opening "Hello Amerika" would fit into the overcrowded "martial-industrial" area, following "Black Sun" sounds more like a neofolk song, or a closer relative to Dernière Volonté and Hekate. But, it's the following tracks to reveal Kammer Sieben's real interests: texts by Richard Dehmel, Goethe, Christian Nonne sung on thundering and magnificent soundtracks to epic battle scenes, or narrated on introspective orchestrations which sound like the prelude to great events waiting ahead. The epic "Flamme Empor", the mysterious "Pingo", the tribal "Them", the gloomy "Dismembered Memories", the fabulous "Blood", the all-consuming "Love Fragments"... each one is unique in its approach.

The only moments that sound a bit out of place are "Anywhere", "Zweite Allianz" and "Wintermute": these three tracks suddenly shift into harsh noise, with almost power-electronics-like distortions, metal thuds and obsessive repetitions. Although not bad per se, they give the impression of older demo material, maybe assembled when the band was still looking for a precise musical direction.

Kammer Sieben are sure to appeal to the neofolk and "martial-industrial" audience, but their real reference is to be found in the works of In The Nursery, especially those the Humberstone twins realized for the cinema. "Unfinished Movies" is a promising CD that stays true to its very title: the music is a perfect collection of soundtracks composed for never-completed motion pictures, imaginary sequence of images rolling before the eyes of our mind.

- Simon V.

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