01	Apoteosi Del Mistero						04:20
	02	Threats Of Stark Reality						02:59
	03	Sequenza Ritmica Etema						07:06
	04	Lullaby						08:05
	05	Quiet Drops						06:46
	06	Opening Theme						02:53
	07	The Photosession						07:14
	08	Symphonic Holocaust						17:51

Niclas Berg - mellotron, fender rhodes, thermin, sampler, guitar, bass
Stefan Dimle - bass, mellotron, moog
Reine Fiske - guitars, mellotron, violin, fender rhodes
Peter Nordins - drums, percussion, mellotron

Yessica Lindkvist - voice on track 4
Janne Hansson - waves on track 7

Bob Eichler:
Let's see, four guys from Anekdoten and Landberk get together to make an album. All four are credited with Mellotron in the liner notes, even the drummer. They play music borrowed from horror movie soundtracks. The cover of the album shows the band walking amidst blood red skulls against a black background. If you're guessing that the album is gonna be heavy and dark, you're right. However, there's also a decent amount of bittersweet melodies and enough musical complexity to keep it interesting.
The six cover songs (including one with an new three minute introduction) are all nice. Standouts for me are the opening "Apoteosi del Mistero", "Lullaby" (although that one runs on a little long), "Quiet Drops" and "Opening Theme" (both of which sound like something Ummagumma-era Pink Floyd might have come up with).
But the real highlight of the album is the massive title track. Rumbling on for nearly eighteen minutes, this one sounds like it might have been largely (entirely?) improvised. It's fairly repetitive, but uses that to create an almost hypnotic effect. The music occasionally builds into some loud, heavy rock, only to come back down and brood some more. During the last several minutes the intensity is slowly cranked up to the maximum, making for a truly apocalyptic conclusion. Great song, play it loud.
If you really like Anekdoten, then give this album a shot. I can't speak for Landberk fans, because I have yet to hear any of their music. If you're a big fan of the mellotron this album is just what you're looking for, although that's not a requirement for enjoying the disc (I'm personally not that fanatical about the instrument). If you've got a low tolerance for dark, occasionally repetitive, slow building instrumentals, then you should probably skip this CD.

Jack Hesse:
1990's Swedish Prog Rock Superstars pay tribute to 1970's horror movie music. The liner notes talk about going for that "elusive 'dark feel,'" and I think they pretty much nailed it here. It's not creepy or evil like Univers Zero's early work, or campy like Devil Doll, but it's depressing as hell. Boy, is it ever...
The lead melodies, usually played on guitar or Mellotron, are fairly simple but have a weeping lyrical quality to them. The drum and bass parts are pretty basic, providing the forward motion necessary to keep the music moving. It's like when depression sets in, and I don't feel like doing anything, but I know I have to get up and move or I will never get out of it. Sometimes the music is given a break to sit and stew in it, but then it's back to business. It often has a loose, or slow-motion feel to it - like an uneasy dream, where I'm desperate to act, but powerless to do so. Reine's slightly-flat and slightly-behind-the-beat guitar work on many tracks punctuates this.
Morte Macabre makes good use of space, letting the music breathe as it needs to. Nothing is forced or abrupt. They'll end a phrase and let a remnant of it linger on, quieting down, repeating, and then build back up slowly. It reminds me The Great Deceiver-era King Crimson, with their improvs and segues into and out of songs. These guys' parentage (Landberk, Anekdoten) is apparent.
This is all apparently supposed to culminate into the title track at the end of the album. Unfortunately, I don't really get into it much. The other tracks have a loose and natural feel, but listening to them more closely, it seems like the arrangements were carefully thought out and planned ahead. "Symphonic Holocaust" (the track) seems like it was made up on the spot. It starts with a simple idea, builds it up, then moves onto something else, builds that up, and then ends with a big grand finale. But unlike the rest of the tracks, it goes on way too long, and it feels more like a collection of leftover rock riffs than a continuous movement. Nevertheless, I like this album a lot. I've filed it under "Depressing Rainy Afternoon Music."

Gary Varney:
Initially, Symphonic Holocaust underwhelmed me because I had been expecting material that was gratuitously horrifying, but it certainly grew on me over time. This album is not designed to hit you over the head, but it must be given time for its sinister subtlety to worm its way under your skin and deep into your bone marrow. Morte Macabre (consisting of two members from Anekdoten and two from Landberk) took instrumental soundtracks - mostly from old horror movies - and worked their moody magic on them. It's not as "scary" as one might imagine, but it is without question somber and depressing. I assume the material is not from the sections of movies where hapless victims are suffering the loss of limbs or other such horrors; instead, the music often sounds like it might accompany the aftermath of horror, where tension in the film is subsiding...yet evil still lingers.
With all four members credited with the instrument, this album drowns in mellotron. Its usage here isn't inventive, but that isn't the point. On some tracks, notably "Apoteosi del Mistero" and the stunning "Sequenza Ritmica e Tema", the 'tron effectively states the melody in a grandiose and gothic manner.
The title track, an original, may be the best song. A single mellotron note repeating infinitely - akin to Fripp's "one-note solo" on "Starless" - is decorated by Dimle's bass guitar darting around it. Meanwhile, Fiske squeezes out slow, glittering notes from his guitar to color the tortured proceedings, which are interrupted periodically by sudden bursts of fury. I also happen to like the brief "Threats of Stark Reality", another Morte Macabre original, which is not so much a song as it is a sinister effects-laden lead-in to the subsequent track. Of note is Berg's relentless theremin, lending the piece a ghostly air. "The Lullaby", from the well-known film Rosemary's Baby, is a slower piece in 3/4 and memorably marked by a young woman's chilling "la-la-la" melody.
With meandering passages that often do nothing more than set a tone, this CD doesn't cater to short attention spans or to those who may require more "action". But if you like to just sit in the dark and stew in the mood, Symphonic Holocaust is for you.

Brandon Wu:
When I got this, I was expecting a gratuitous orgy of mellotron noise, but to my surprise, this album is actually quite restrained and tasteful, for the most part. While I don't see myself pulling it out particularly often, Symphonic Holocaust sets an undeniably effective mood with its imposing mellotron and mournful, sometimes tortured guitar picking. The real highlight for me is "Threats of a Stark Reality" and "Sequence Ritmica e Tema"; the former is a haunting improv of bumps in the dark that reminds me of 1970s King Crimson, and it segues seamlessly into the latter, a rocking piece with some nice bent bass lines and spacy yet driving drumming that's will remind diehard Anekdoten fans of that band's Live in Japan album. While those tracks, as well as the opener and closer, have lots of mellotron and are quite dark, the rest of the tracks are slow, tasteful, even oddly beautiful at times. This will never be a favorite of mine, but when I'm in the mood for something slow, dark, and moody, it definitely fits the bill.

Morte Macabre - Symphonic Holocaust

Released: 1999
Label: Mellotronen
Cat. No.: MELLOCD 008
Total Time: 55.33


Reviewed by: Stephanie Sollow, April 1999
Morte Macabre are Nicklas Berg, Stefan Dimle, Reine Fiske, and Peter Nordins - members of Anekdoten and Landberk. Knowing of any or both the bands will give you a good clue as to the style of music played here - that is, given the title of both the band and the album, you know you aren't going to get happy, uplifting pop music.

Interesting thing about the packaging before we delve into the review proper - the CD itself is protected by a gauze sleeve (like LP's used to be, only paper). My first thought was of medical gauze - i.e. bandages. The music here is a melding of progressive music and horror themes - nothing new, as the liner notes state - but I had to wonder if the choice of material for the sleeve was deliberate, or that I'm equally macabre.

Alright then, what about the music. Dark it is, without a doubt. What film music is interpreted here? "Apoteosi del mistero" from City of the Living Dead, "Sequenza Ritmica Etema" from The Beyond, and the very eerie "Lullaby" from Rosemary's Baby. I've never seen the film, though I've seen clips, and this is truly an eerie, creepy track. (Was the original film music this creepy?)

I was intrigued by this not because I am a horror film buff, but because of the artists involved. The minimalism present in much of Landberk's work is present here, not surprising. In someways, the arragments are spare, open, and airy yet never light. The negative view to what is really a very good album is that it is very depressing, much is played at a very slow pace. I can see that an audience used to upbeat (at least musically) stylings of Yes, for example, would find this the antithesis.

Mellotron is used extensively - all four instrumentalists play at one time or another. Vocals, though no lyrics, appear only on the above mentioned "Lullaby" There is complex interplay between the musicians, strange counterpoints, at times the music is off-kilter. Evident most perhaps in title track which closes the album - on which Nicklas Berg's guitar occassionally vears off into discord.

Do I like it? I'm not quite sure. From a purely compositional perspective I do; I admire the skill these musicians possess. And I recommend it on that basis. As something I could listen to repeatedly? Probably not - just a little too dark for me.

=============================================
[GEPR]
Reviews
This project teams up Anekdoten's guitarist Nicklas Berg and drummer Peter Nordins with Landberk's guitarist Reine Fiske and bassist Stefan Dimle, and has them performing inventive cover versions of horror movie tunes from 1968 to 1981, with the nucleus of the sound being Mellotron played by all the members.
The musical pieces on Symphonic Holocaust (Mellotronen MELLOCD008) come mainly from gory potboilers of Italian directors Lucio Fulci (including the "how to puke your guts out - literally" zombie movie "Paura nella Citta dei Morti Viventi") and Ruggero Deodato, as well as Roman Polanski's "Rosemary's Baby" and even one hardcore porno movie, but all have been rearranged to create a uniform and unique sound which is both convincingly retro and profoundly bleak. Instead of screaming shocks and hectic horrors, the album is largely a study in moodiness and haunting atmospherics, only occasionally erupting with bursts of fury. The influence of Landberk and Pink Floyd (circa Ummagumma) is noticeable in the way that the rhythm section creates simple, almost hypnotic grooves with slowly throbbing bass and top-heavy drumming, which then swell impressively from swishing to crashing. Over this we get sombre guitar arpeggios and restrained, but evocative solos, as well as a liberal dose of Mellotron, which sets the alternatively haunting and doomy mood, with occasional help from synths, sound effects or theremin. The tactic works best in the magnificent version of Goblin's "Quiet Drops" (from their Buio Omega soundtrack), where Fiske wrenches an incredible amount of emotion out of a simple but strong guitar melody with the rest of the band gradually building up intensity behind him; the track economises on notes but invests heavily on atmosphere, dynamics and melody - and cleans up beautifully. The album can also accommodate the desperate doom of "Apoteosi del Mistero", with a gloomy Mellotron choir and guitar growling its anger against the thrashing of the rhythm section; the sunny wistfulness of "Opening Theme", whose nostalgic Mellotron melody is probably the strongest on the album; and the "seaside lounge way after closing time" ambience of "The Photosession", a song of that could have come from Floyd's More soundtrack. The album's only vocals are the childlike "la la" vocals on "Lullaby", smoky innocence against clunky, slightly off-key Fender Rhodes stabs and the dark waves of Mellotron strings.

The band have included two original compositions, of which "Threats of Stark Reality" is just a brief, spooky and improvisatory prologue to another track, but the title track stretches the improvisation to nearly 18 minutes, with predictably mixed results. A Crimson-influenced tune with Morsecode Mellotron, crunching guitar riffs, bubbling, bulky bass and powerful drumming, "Symphonic Holocaust" ebbs and flows and then builds and builds in intensity until the mood gets so apocalyptic that the tune has nowhere to go but falls apart instead. Impressive as they are, the dynamics and intensity can't quite hide the fact that this is essentially a two-riff improvisation without the kind of development and balancing between the structured and the improvised that lifts pieces like "Starless" from mere impressive to stunning. So while "Symphonic Holocaust" is breathtaking on first couple of listens, I find it less enduring than the shorter, more composed material on the album.

In addition to the CD version, Symphonic Holocaust was also released as a double LP which features a three-minute bonus track, "Irrealtа di Suoni" (also available on Black Widow Records' ...e tu vivrai nel terrore compilation). This is not an album for those expecting a virtuoso gorefest, but extremely recommendable to those looking for a subtly menacing but no less terrible beauty. -- Kai Karmanheimo

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Morte Macabre - Symphonic Holocaust
Format: CD
Record Label: Mellotronen (Musea)
Catalogue #: MELLOCD 008
Year of Release: 1998

Morte Macabre is a project based around members of Scandinavian outfits Landberk and Anekdoten. The magic word of their album Symphonic Holocaust is Mellotron. Steve Hackett once said about this reverred instrument: "I know people still like to use them, and they sound really good; string samples recorded in 1952 apparently by three ladies.... odd to think the uses they've been put to."
And the mellotron has been put to all of its uses on this album. The first track Apoteosi Del Mistero takes you back to King Crimson's In The Court of the Crimson King whereas a track like The Photosession reminds one of Anglagard.

All of the tracks on the album are actual or imaginary soundtracks to Horror movies, including such classics as City of the Living Dead, Rosemary's Baby and Cannibal Holocaust.

As you might have guessed, Morte Macabre explores the darker side of the symphonic spectrum. Carried by the melancholy sound of the mellotron (played by all four members!) and Stefan Dimle's heavy bass this album makes for music that you shouldn't play when you're depressed!

The album is almost entirely instrumental except for female vocals on the track Lullaby which also features violin. Electrical guitar is used only sparingly, but takes a leading role on the Goblin cover Quiet Drops and the 17 minute title track.

Although I didn't like everything on this album (the vocals on Lullaby just sounded a bit childish to me) there's enough on this album to make it worthwile. The highlights are those tracks that contain substantial guitar parts, like the aforementioned Quiet Drops and Symphonic Holocaust. However diverse an instrument like the mellotron can be, its diversity is limited and this means that some of the songs sound a bit too much alike.

Clear influences are seventies King Crimson, especially because of the use of the mellotron and violin. A more contemporary band that Morte Macabre can be compared with is Anglagard, although I value their Hybris album a little bit higher.

To conclude, if you're into dark progressive music and like bands as Landberk, Anekdoten and Anglagard, you will certainly like this album.

Conclusion: 7+ out of 10.

Derk van Mourik




Symphonic Holocaust
1998
Genre: Progressive AOTM: Dec98

What a stunning album soaked in Mellotron, guitar playing of sublime beauty plus theremin, moog, violin, bass, drums and percussion. Horror Movie soundtracks played by 4 of the greatest musicians today from two of Sweden's topline bands, Reine Fiske/guitar & Stefan Dimle/Bass (LANDBERK) and Nicklas Berg/Guitar & Peter Nordins/Drums (ANEKDOTEN). There are so many things that make this album the highlight of 1998, not least the fact that all four members are playing Mellotrons. The various Horror Movie tracks (from the movies "City Of The Living Dead"; "The Beyond"; "Rosemary's Baby"; "Beyond The Darkness"; "Cannibal Holocaust"; "Golden Girls") are all played with interpretation that shows the "class" of these musicians while losing none of it's originality. This whole CD is one 57+ minute highlight but if I had to pick out one track it would be "Quiet Drops" written by Italian band GOBLIN for the movie "Beyond The Darkness", where Reine Fiske's odd tonal guitar playing is so delicate you can hear a pin drop with the attention you find yourself giving to this music. "Symphonic Holocaust" is the Cranium Music pick of 1998.. What a great way to finish the year as the December Album Of The Month. Check out the sound samples for this release.





SYMPHONIC HOLOCAUST
Written by Greger Ronnqvist

This album is really special to me because of many reasons. Let me tell you the story why.

When I was doing the Swedish military service 1987-88, there was a guy at the same regiment that I learned to know. The guy was Stefan Dimle and he would have a lot of influence on my future life. By that time he had a band called Kajuku and I taped some songs from him. One of the songs was "Дlvkungen" that I really liked. He also used to have tapes with him that I borrowed. He introduced me to band such as Hцst, Captain Beyond, Weed, Toad, Svanfridur, Mayblitz, Yellow, Garybaldi and others. Before that I had only listened to the big progressive rock groups such as Marillion, King Crimson and Genesis. Now a whole new world was open for me, and I became a real progressive fan. That was he's musical influence on me.

Once in a while he also brought horror movies to the regiment and we used to watch them when we were off duty. It was movies such as "The Beyond", "The House By The Cemetery", "City Of The Living Dead", "Cannibal Holocaust" and "Zombie". Most notably was the Italian director Lucio Fulci. The movies and the soundtracks that often were played by the Italian band Goblin astounded me. That was he's movie influence on me.

Stefan Dimle later started he's own record store and label Mellotronen, and became the bass player in one of the best Swedish progressive bands through time, Landberk.

On this album the best of both worlds is brought together. This is a musical collaboration with four of Sweden's best musicians in the progressive field. Two members of Anekdoten (Nicklas Berg & Peter Nordins) and two members of Landberk (Stefan Dimle & Reine Fiske), playing those legendary horror movie soundtracks. The CD includes 8 tracks. The edition is 1000 ex. The first 500 copies are packed in a beautiful special paper sleeve. The music is all-instrumental and contains music from "City Of The Living Dead"; "The Beyond"; "Rosemary's Baby"; "Beyond The Darkness"; "Cannibal Holocaust"; "Golden Girls" and two new songs: "Threats Of Stark Reality" and "Symphonic Holocaust", they are written by the four members of Morte Macabre.

Another great thing about this album is that each member plays the Mellotron. I really love the Mellotron, and here you got plenty of it. If you like the Mellotron, you have to love this album. But there's also some other interesting instruments here: Fender Rhodes, Theremin, Sampler, Guitar, Bass, Moog, Violin, Drums & Percussion.

The guitar player Reine Fiske is a man that has a great influence on the music wherever his participating. When I played this album to a friend of mine, he, without knowing what band it was, asked: "Is it the guitar player of Landberk?" There are not many guitar players that I know that has such an original way of playing. In Sweden we got Roine Stolt and Reine Fiske.

The aforementioned Italian band Goblin writes the best track. It's called "Quiet Drops" and was written for the movie "Beyond the Darkness". Here you can hear Reine Fiske at his best. Another very beautiful song is "Opening Theme" from "Cannibal Holocaust". A Mellotron drenched piece that makes your soul bleed. I also like "Sequenza Ritmica Etema" from my favourite horror movie "The Beyond".

This is definitely, without competition, the best album put out in 1998. It's also one of the best albums from the 90's. This is a true masterpiece in the progressive genre. If you like dark progressive rock like Goblin, Museo Rosenbach, Landberk, Cathedral and Italian horror movies, this is really something for you. Recommended!

The vinyl version (2-LP in blood-red vinyl) will be released in March 1999, and it's gonna have 1 bonus track: "Irrealta di Suoni aka Suoni Dissonanti", from "City Of The Living Dead".




Morte Macabre - Symphonic Holocaust (1998)

Symphonic Holocaust is an excellent album made up of incredibly doomy dark progressive rock, yet one that took me a very long while to really get into. Morte Macabre is sort of a concept band, made up from members of Landberk and Anekdoten, two of the more prominent bands from the recent wave of Scandinavian prog. Here, the band covers themes from a number of 70s horror soundtracks, such as City of the Living Dead, Zombie and, most recognizably, the haunting closing theme from the classic Rosemary's Baby. These are mixed in with a couple of originals, including the 18-minute title track. Musically, this is immensely atmospheric and haunting music, with gobs of mellotron and a rumbling heavy undercurrent that reminds both Anekdoten and, of course, Starless-era King Crimson. Another influence is clearly Goblin, and the band even does a rendition of their "Quiet Drops" from the Italian flick Beyond the Darkness.

The album is pretty much all instrumental, based around rumbling bass riffs and layers of mellotron. Reine Fiske's guitar work is exquisite, stabbing through the air in haunting fashion. Minimal, darkly colored passages are lit with faint snatches of melody, and build into and then back away from moments of sheer torrential fury. This must be played very loud for full effect. The opener "Apoteosi del Mistero" is incredible, being an exquisitely composed piece of towering 'tron melodies. Another ear-catching highlight is the aforementioned "Lullaby", which features an eerie female vocal chant that definitely provides a contrast from the general din. "Quiet Drops" is the Goblin cover, and is highlighted by Fiske's extraordinary playing, building up from simple guitar strands into a monstrous piece. The highlight of the album however, is the closing epic. This song apparently had parts improvised in studio, and definitely gives off that kind of vibe at points. The song builds *very* slowly around repetitive, hypnotic themes, but by the end is a hurricane of fiery bass lines, thundering drums and of course, godly amounts of mellotron. This song most recalls prime King Crimson, and listening to it as I'm writing reminds me exactly how much it kicks ass. Incredible. Overall, Symphonic Holocaust is an extremely solid buy for those into dark and moody instrumental music, especially when so generously inspired by the almighty King Crimson. The album may take a little while to sink in, but is definitely intense and rewarding upon frequent listening. An good example of what's currently right with progressive music. - Greg Northrup [April 2001]