The band that started it all, Douglas Pearce and his revolutionary Death in June project.

Death in June are a neofolk group led by English musician Douglas P. (Douglas Pearce). The band was originally formed in the United Kingdom in 1981 as a trio, but after the other members left in 1984 and 1985 to work on other projects, the group became the work of Douglas P. and various collaborators. Over the band's four decades of existence, they have made numerous shifts in style and presentation, resulting in an overall shift from initial post-punk and Industrial music influence to a more acoustic and folk music-oriented approach. Douglas P.'s influence was instrumental in sparking neofolk, of which his music has subsequently become a part.

Here is my favorite record by them, released in 1992...

Death in June > But, What Ends When the Symbols Shatter? (1992, New European Recordings)

 

The band that started it all, Douglas Pearce and his revolutionary Death in June project.

Death in June are a neofolk group led by English musician Douglas P. (Douglas Pearce). The band was originally formed in the United Kingdom in 1981 as a trio, but after the other members left in 1984 and 1985 to work on other projects, the group became the work of Douglas P. and various collaborators. Over the band's four decades of existence, they have made numerous shifts in style and presentation, resulting in an overall shift from initial post-punk and Industrial music influence to a more acoustic and folk music-oriented approach. Douglas P.'s influence was instrumental in sparking neofolk, of which his music has subsequently become a part.

Here is my favorite record by them, released in 1992...

Death in June > But, What Ends When the Symbols Shatter? (1992, New European Recordings)

I did a tour with a band whose singer Paul "Bee" Hampshire with Rose McDowell sang some vocals with DI6 and Current 83. Annie Anxiety sang backing vocals for the band replacing Rose. I think they might have known each other through Genesis P Orridge but I don't know them well enough to corroborate.
I looked at a the bios of artists from some of your recent threads and those of others in the genres and Throbbing Gristle are cited as an influence for the more industrial stuff.
I was more into Psychic TV than Throbbing Gristle.

 

Masterful collaboration between American experimental group Blood Axis, masterminded by journalist Michael Moynihan, and the French dark ambient project Les Joyaux de la Princesse. The theme is absinthe, the green fairy or the green madness of the 19th century decadents. The album includes excerpts from works by celebrated authors such as Maria Corelli or Ernest Dowson...

Blood Axis & Les Joyaux de la Princesse > Absinthe: La Folie Verte (2002, Athanor)

 

Next we are going to meet the brilliant Luxembourgish singer/songwriter Jerome Reuter who released one of our epoch's defining discographies and he sure isn't stopping yet. He mixes the old martial neofolk tradition with the chanson française tradition of a Leo Ferre or Jacques Brel. Here is his LP from 2009, one of his timeless masterpieces:

Rome > Flowers from Exile (2009, Trisol)

 

(Cold Meat Industry)
The original line-up consisted of Tomas Pettersson and Mikael Stavöstrand. They worked together from 1990 to 1993, then the former went on to form Ordo Equilibrio, while the latter continued under the name Archon Satani, as well as with his other project Inanna.
Here is their final compilation from 2002, "an archival collection of lost and forsaken songs from between the years 1990 - 1993".

Archon Satani > Of Gospels Lost and Forsaken (2002, CMI)

 

(Cold Meat Industry)

Now we are going to meet the celebrated Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio, the great libertines of the post-industrial underground. The mix esotericism with (extreme) eroticism to great effect. We'll see a couple of their official videos then we'll listen to their 2019 compilation sold during their China tour, limited to 333 copies...

Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio > 17 Gospels (& the Sweet Taste of Apocalips Kisses) (2019, Dying Art Productions)

 

(Cold Meat Industry)

The masterpiece that got me into the whole post-industrial underground in the mid '00s, a masterful split between ORE and Rome's Spiritual Front whom we shall meet in a bit. Enjoy Satyriasis...

ORE & Spiritual Front > Satyriasis (2005, CMI)

 

Rome's Spiritual Front, sleazy libertine geniuses, masterminded by the charismatic Simone Salvatori. I would first like to show you some of their videos to get you familiarized with their erotic aesthetic, then we'll hear some of their "nihilist suicide pop" albums...

Spiritual Front - Armageddon Gigolo (2006) FULL ALBUM

Tracklist:00:00 Slave04:11 ******* Angel09:14 I Walk The (Dead) Line12:41 The Shining Circle16:32 My Kingdom For A Horse20:08 Jesus Died In Las Vegas25:29 Cr...

youtu.be

 

More Spiritual Front, trying to get you guys hopelessly addictive like I am

Rotten Roma Casino, by Spiritual Front

12 track album

spiritualfrontofficial.bandcamp.com

Amour Braque, by Spiritual Front

13 track album

spiritualfrontofficial.bandcamp.com

 

(Cold Meat Industry)

Alright, time to introduce a new act. Meet Raison d'être...

Raison d'être is a Swedish dark ambient project formed by Peter Andersson. The name of the band was taken from a sentence in a book by Carl Gustav Jung: "the individuation is the raison d’être of the self". Dark ambient atmospheres, drone elements, industrial sounds, ecclesiastical hymns are all blended together to constitute the music of Raison d'être.

The music produced by Raison d'être is variously dark ambient and soundscape in nature. For example, synthesizers might play a droning melody over the sound of metal scraping together. Andersson often mixes tapes of Gregorian chant with his own keyboard and percussion playing.

We will inspect a few classic masterpieces of the celebrated project...

Raison d'être > Prospectus I (1993, CMI)

Raison d'être > Within the Depths of Silence and Phormations (1995, CMI)

Raison d'être > In Sadness, Silence and Solitude (1997, CMI)

 

(Cold Meat Industry)

Time for us to get acquainted with a new act. This is Ataraxia, Italy's pride and joy...

Ataraxia is an Italian neoclassical dark wave band founded in 1985. Fronted by vocalist Francesca Nicoli, it combines modern technology with archaic instrumentation. Its lyrical themes are frequently drawn from nature and ancient cultures.
The word ataraxia is taken from Epicurean philosophy and means "equanimity", "calmness" and "unflappability". Ataraxia place themselves in a spiritual tradition from Greco-Roman and Celtic cultures. Nicoli has described the production process as "medianic" and associated it with the cult of Dionysus, where "the musician was possessed by the God of Nature who spoke through him/her". Regarding the band's pagan themes, Nicoli associates the word paganism with the countryside, and maintains that life in the countryside creates a connection to the rhythm of nature. In that sense, she considers Atarax a pagan band: "I feel that I'm in a communion with that which surrounds me".

We will watch their concert live in Portugal "Os cavaleiros do templo" from 1998, released on VHS, afterwards we'll listen to their 2007 double CD compilation going through much of their early discography and masterpieces...

Ataraxia > Sous le blanc rosier (2007, Shadowplay Release)

 

(Cold Meat Industry)

OK, it's high time we met another CMI revolutionary project. This is Henrik Nordvargr Björkk, one of the most prolific experimental artists within the post-industrial underground. We'll focus on his Maschinenzimmer 412 entity for now...

In 1988 Nordvargr became part of the influential black industrial combo Maschinenzimmer 412 (later Mz.412). The first album, Malfeitor, was released in 1989 on the Cold Meat Industry label. This first album was limited to seven hundred copies. Since then, he has systematically explored the broad field of post-industrial music, releasing solo records covering noise, power electronics, militant, dark ambient, drone, blackened noise, experimental and avant-garde. In parallel to his band activities, he has pursued a solo career with a vast amount of record releases.

Maschinenzimmer 412 > Malfeitor (1989, CMI)

Maschinenzimmer 412 > In Nomine Dei Nostri Satanas Luciferi Excelsi (1995, CMI)

Maschinenzimmer 412 > Burning the Temple of God (1996, CMI)

 

Brilliant neofolk/darkfolk newcomer upon the scene, a shimmering, far-dreaming jewel of melancholy twilights...
Released by Heimat Musik late last year, mastered by the legendary Schwadorf of Empyrium himself.

 

Here's another heavily talented newcomer, the Norwegian darkfolk mist-dreamers Enge Store. The sonorisation of gently falling night...
Released late last year by Eisenwald in Germany.

 

A wonderful, mysterious act from Finland released through Anima Arctica. They usually do darkfolk but this album is bona fide neofolk. I'll let the label explain...

With Patria Tervahäät takes a leap towards traditional neofolk. Somber songs are based on warm vocals, determined acoustic guitarwork, and samples of Finnish classical composers. About half of the lyrics of the songs are borrowed from Finnish poets and writers who also loved our homeland each in their own specific ways.
Patria is a concept album of our fatherland Finland seen through the eyes of the duo Tervahäät.

 

Since we're discussing the Finnish folk underground, I wanted to share my personal favorite album/band, also on Anima Arctica...

Traditional to the bone, but still clearly finding it’s own sound despite the classic ”man+guitar” approach, Pyhä Kuolema debut album ”Saavun vaikken kulkisi” brings forth a dozen of atmospheric, national romantic, extremely emotional and intimate songs sung in Finnish.

The style of playing and singing varies from solemn ritualistic neofolk-songs to troubadur-like playful approach to traditional folk music. Mikko Ilmari "Riimu" Pöyhönen composed, sung, played, recorded and mixed the whole album by himself, giving it the intimate touch and thus manages the handling of the double edged sword that this kind of folk can be – the sometimes even rough and stripped down output with no gimmicks is this time succesfully shaking hands with the alluring soft intensity.

Pyhä Kuolema translates to Holy Death, while the album title means "I'll arrive even if you don't go".

 

(Cold Meat Industry)

Alright let us meet another seminal CMI artist, the dark ambient colossus Atrium Carceri...

Atrium Carceri is a Swedish musical project by Simon Heath, initially released by industrial record label Cold Meat Industry. Fourteen full-length albums have been released so far, as well as fourteen collaboration albums together with other artists of the genre. In 2011 Atrium Carceri left Cold Meat Industry and started the Dark Ambient label Cryo Chamber. Simon Heath also released ten albums under the name of his side project Sabled Sun.

Cryo Chamber is possibly the world's most important dark ambient label at the moment, we'll meet their artists a bit later. For now let's take a deep dive into the CMI past of our artist here, Atrium Carceri. The albums are not, seemingly, on YouTube, so we'll rely on Spotify and Bandcamp.

Seishinbyouin, by Atrium Carceri

14 track album

cryochamber.bandcamp.com

Kapnobatai, by Atrium Carceri

14 track album

cryochamber.bandcamp.com

Ptahil, by Atrium Carceri

13 track album

cryochamber.bandcamp.com

 

Did any label take over the repertoire of Cold Meat Industry or did the artists move to a bunch of different labels?

 

They all moved to different labels, the ones still active as far as I know. They are preparing a documentary on the legacy of Cold Meat Industry, think they'll release it at the end of this year:

 

(Cold Meat Industry)

Here's a shockingly delicate band by CMI standards, an Italian gothic act full of romanticism and airy fantasies... We'll be focusing on their CMI debut from 2005, a masterpiece of rainy moods and silken melancholy, carried gracefully by their singer Viola's fragile voice, an aching dream of desire and loss...

As You're Vanishing In Silence, by All My Faith Lost ...

11 track album

allmyfaithlost.bandcamp.com

 

Let's meet our next act, shall we... Danish musician Kim Larsen's :Of the Wand and the Moon: plays a highly original strain of melancholic darkfolk, cultivating a somber, pessimistic, benighted poetry that I find most entrancing and addictive. He has gained quite a bit of fame in both metal and post-industrial circles over the years, becoming something of a household name nowadays. We will intoxicate ourselves with a number of his releases, starting in the late '90s...

https://open.spotify.com/album/6UsmGnJVBB2Kx1XupPIDfT?si=ztRMGzujR02TK2fzTleRuw

 

I'm doing another Of the Wand and the Moon post to show you some of Kim Larsen's official videos, I think they are rather brilliant...

 

I greatly enjoy promoting this Norwegian artist's work, given how excellent and how utterly obscure it is... We'll consider Erik Evju's first two LPs on Soulseller Records, from 2012 and 2013 respectively, masterful darkfolk for the crestfallen...

 

Since it just got released, let's meet our first Cryo Chamber artist - Sweden's Dahlia's Tear. He's been releasing dark ambient since 2005 on various labels, including an album on Cold Meat Industry in 2012 just before the label's shutdown. Since then he's been on Cryo Chamber. This is what the label has to say...

Dahlia's Tear presents us his new album Tales from a Feeble Dream. A masterfully crafted album with rich ethereal textures and droning detailed compositions.

"As I slowly approached the ghost town covered in thick fog, all I could see were countless derelict kites hanging from iron bars stuck in the ground. Every faint object that I could see in a blurry way was as if it hadn't been touched for centuries. The melody I heard from a distant place was familiar. I was somewhere between dream and reality. Time was moving slower than usual. In the dark silver-painted sky, the moon and the night were embracing each other. Pushing the heavy gates open the touch of the iron bars, as cold as ice, seized up my hand completely. Even though I could feel the unevenness of the old cobbled path beneath me, they were smooth in contrast to the crunching of the odd dead leaf that I stepped on. This gate was the one that would carry my consciousness into infinite dreams..."

Recommended for fans of melancholic powerful atmospheres.

Tales from a Feeble Dream, by Dahlia's Tear

8 track album

cryochamber.bandcamp.com

 

Another neofolk act that I endlessly enjoy promoting due to its brilliance and extreme obscurity, the Dutch Strydwolf, seen as something of a giant among experts. He achieved some of the purest expressions of the World Wars of any genre. We will illustrate with two LPs, one early and the other one recent...

 

Dresden is home to the legendary Darkwood, one of the stars of the German neofolk scene. Like Strydwolf, he produced some of the best expressions of the World Wars and serves as a prime example of neofolk martial purity. Let's consider his compilation from 2015, Flammenlieder, going through some of his best material...

 

Hungarian neofolk-industrial project of Sörös Gergö (former member, now contributor of Cawatana) on vocals, percussions, acoustic guitar, and keyboards, with various guest musicians on stage and in the studio. This is the project's third LP released by Rage in Eden in Poland.