Dead Ringer

Dead Ringer

ASIN: B000068QSF

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
RJD2 creates music that's not easy to pin down, though everyone seems to try. The Columbus, Ohio-based DJ-producer explores the same basic formula used by DJ Shadow and Moby, but his style is more complex and, refreshingly, a hell of a lot less pretentious. Less bass-heavy than Shadow's 1996 release, Endtroducing... (the album it's often compared to), Deadringer showcases RJD2's master ability to layer unusual samples with complex drum patterns, funky grooves, and original vocals. The '50s horror movie-sampled "The Horror" starts things off on the grunge tip and then the album's sound progresses into straight-up hip-hop, break beats, rock & roll, blues, and more. Songs like the Jimi Hendrix-influenced "Smoke and Mirrors" and the honky-tonk soulfulness of "2 More Dead" up the ante, demonstrating just how far the trip-hop genre has progressed since the mid-'90s. One of the most enjoyable albums of the year, Deadringer is an essential addition to your listening library. --Rebecca Levine

From URB Magazine
Most hip-hop producers make beats. RJD2 makes dope instrumentals that you can rhyme over. There's a big difference. Known as DJ and producer for the merely decent crew MHZ, RJ has really come into his own, and his debut full-length is quite an impressive piece of work.

On just about any track here, you can point to shards of DJ Shadow, David Holmes and Cup of Tea's instrumental output from the mid-'90s. But there's also something very unique about RJ. He takes what he needs from both his peers and his dusty 45s, treating them all equally, without undue influence from past or present. After starting with the movie score-ish "The Horror," he hits his stride with "Smoke & Mirrors" and "Good Times Roll Part 2," cueing rare-groove drum thwaps, strutting bass lines, dramatic chord changes and long-played blues vocal samples. Sure, Moby has walked a similar path. But there are so many twists and turns in RJ's work ("Smoke" takes a 90-degree diversion into a rain-themed female vocal; "The Chicken-Bone Circuit" breaks down with groupie samples while the drums get sloppy) that such comparisons fizzle into mootness. Three cuts feature MCs, and do a good job changing the mix up. Jakki da Motamouth's turn is probably the best, with "F. H. H.," a curmudgeonly think-piece on where rap is today, intoning, over a lite, harpsichord-imbued roller, "so what the fuck is your definition of underground?/depressing beats and bleak cats who love the sound? " No depression here, just dope songs that keep you engaged every step of the way.

Brian Coleman

Dead Ringer,Rjd2,Definitive Jux,Alternative Rap,Hip-Hop,Pop,Producer,Rap,Rap & Hip-Hop,Underground Rap

Average customer rating:

YESSSSSSSSS

instant classic

For those who love to discover new music, and to add to your classics...

Nice

Essential

Dead Ringer
Rjd2
Manufacturer: Definitive Jux
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music
General | Rap & Hip-Hop | Styles | Music
Pop Rap | Rap & Hip-Hop | Styles | Music
General | Rap & Hip-Hop | Indie Music | Stores | Music
Similar Items:

Since We Last Spoke

The Horror

Psyence Fiction

Magnificent City Instrumentals

Preemptive Strike

ASIN: B000068QSF
Release Date: 2002-07-23

Tracks:

The Horror
Salud
Smoke and Mirrors
Good Times Roll Pt. 2
Final Frontier
Ghostwriter
Cut Out to FL
F.H.H.
Shot in the Dark
Chicken-Bone Circuit
The Proxy
2 More Dead
Take the Picture Off
Silver Fox
June
Work

Amazon.com

RJD2 creates music that's not easy to pin down, though everyone seems to try. The Columbus, Ohio-based DJ-producer explores the same basic formula used by DJ Shadow and Moby, but his style is more complex and, refreshingly, a hell of a lot less pretentious. Less bass-heavy than Shadow's 1996 release, Endtroducing... (the album it's often compared to), Deadringer showcases RJD2's master ability to layer unusual samples with complex drum patterns, funky grooves, and original vocals. The '50s horror movie-sampled "The Horror" starts things off on the grunge tip and then the album's sound progresses into straight-up hip-hop, break beats, rock & roll, blues, and more. Songs like the Jimi Hendrix-influenced "Smoke and Mirrors" and the honky-tonk soulfulness of "2 More Dead" up the ante, demonstrating just how far the trip-hop genre has progressed since the mid-'90s. One of the most enjoyable albums of the year, Deadringer is an essential addition to your listening library. --Rebecca Levine

Customer Reviews:

YESSSSSSSSS.......2006-11-11

It is new and old, calming and at the next moment exciting. It is art that you experience. It sets a mood, leads you on a journey. It is music for meditation, for making love, for dancing, for cleaning the house. It is great! You will love it if you love DJ music, dance music, or Jazz. It combines so many things together but with smoothness. This album makes its very imaginative combinations seem natural.

instant classic.......2006-08-08

I discovered this CD in a local music store. I had never heard of RJD2. I picked this CD up on a whim and was very pleased with it. I have been a fan of Moby, DJ Shadow and all of the other DJ's and producers that RJ has been associated and compared to. With that being said, RJ sounds NOTHING like Moby. There are some tiny similarites, but they are not in the same class of style or genius. DJ Shadow and RJ don't really sound anything alike, at all. I don't see the comparison.
Being a producer/music creator myself(not a DJ), I can appreciate the style and creative force that RJD2 wields like an iron sceptor. Each song is crafted and laid out with tight beats and awesome production. All of the reviews on this spot seem to classify RJ as this or that. WEll, to be honest, he has his own style, RJ style. It sounds like no one else.
RJ seems to enjoy using samples, but his creative energy shines forth. This album is more "hip hop" oriented,, even featuring a few emcees who rock the mic right. I love this cd and I would recommend it to all who enjoy tight beats.

For those who love to discover new music, and to add to your classics..........2006-06-19

By classics, I mean every album in your collection. Obviously, to you they are classics.. Otherwise what the hell did you buy them for right?

Having recently discovered this thanks to the site - Having been an obsessed fan of Shadow, Krush and Cam before, during and after their 'hey day' since in the US they never got recognized. I became and discovered the underground... meaning big on music that mainstream definately has never heard of at all....nor intention of ruining thank karma.

RJ definately shows that he has skill as a DJ. If you buy The Horror Remix disc, (which like another reviewer said is basically an album in itself) you can watch first hand on the DVD as he raws (awesomely performs) it live on the second disc.

The two tracks with rappers are good. I've never liked rap for rap. But when it stays true to the origin, like this - a dj and 2 mc's... The mc's tell a real story, or they express their hearts in rap forms. There's no clapping and sugarcoating to get the azz up like today. The lyrics are real, it screams out for attention but it craps on the mainstream like everything should be.

The instrumental tracks vary a lot. Sure they keep a solid hip hop flow as far as the beats go, which is good... but some tracks have a little too much of the vynl over dubbed over his created add ons...Songs like 'Good Times Roll' for instance. It's normal though if you're big on sampled music. If you're deep with music and find a flow in a piece of the song than it won't bother you. But the song is repetitive. No breakdowns or breakouts like the lead off track or the big break in 'Smoke N Mirrors."

The Hip hop tracks are reminiscent of DJ Cam's rap tracks. Samples all over the track dubbed with a spitter literally pardoning the French.

Now my big problems with the CD... The tracks that I really dig, like "Shot in the Dark" - an old gangsta western track with a voiceover sample is only a minute and 21 seconds. The tracks I'm all over are the fade in, and fade out... why the artists always do that I don't know. Maybe its financial ties with pushing the disc out the door and it's an unreleased track.

I've done that a few times with some of my tracks, but I loved it, and just couldn't build off of them....

If you are new to this 'genre' then I say welcome, hope you like and venture into discovering more. But to be honest, RJ is the closest thing to Dj Shadow (not UNKLE) than Mr. Obtuse (look him up on myspace) and that's it.. And I spend everything on music. 10-05-06=$268.44 look at my profile for proof...

The review sucks but hey.. If you know what to expect when you hear the clips, than you know you will like it. I did, and I do. If you buy old cd's because they are new to you, yet published 3-10 years ago than go for it. Obviously today has gone awry and anybody who is real unlike cable television and source awards can tell you... Go get this disc. Hell.. Kanye would like it... so what's that say?

Nice.......2006-05-04

Rjd2 is nice, but a number of his songs tend to follow a very similar run down chord progression, and there's the feeling that some of the songs didn't sound all that different in their original non-sampled form, more so on this album, less so on the following. (Which granted could be taken for masterful sample blending, but i think not.) Though, they're good songs. If i were to rate them on their production/sampling originality, i'd have to go 3 stars, but i'm going to rate them on their good songness factor.

Essential.......2006-05-01

I think that this is essential for anyone whos even slightly interested in this kind of stuff. It's mad cool, and when you find a track you like, it gets stuck in your head, and you find yourself humming it. And its not a bad thing, too. My favorites are:
The Horror, June [the rappings not bad, but the melody is insane], Smoke and Mirrors, Cut Out To Fl. [this track is extremely catchy], the Final Frontier [its strangly refreshing], F.H.H. [becuase he rhymes about how i feel about rap, and its a nice instrumental], 2 More Dead, and Work. The main reason i love work [it could be my favorite track] is because of the hidden song that cuts in 5:40 min. into the song. This is [In my opinoin] the best song on the disc.
I gurantee [i think i spelled that wrong] that if your into DJ Shadow, or just appreciate mellow tunes, then you'll love this.

Average customer rating:

Dead Ringer = Dead on Arrival
Beautiful album
Feh
How did this get such a bad review?
Best Meat Album EVER

Dead Ringer
Meat Loaf
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Pop | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

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Welcome To The Neighborhood
Bat Out Of Hell III
Bad for Good
Bat out of Hell II: Back into Hell
Heaven & Hell

ASIN: B0000025GD
Release Date: 1993-01-26

Tracks:

Peel Out
I'm Gonna Love Her For Both Of Us
More Than You Deserve
I'll Kill You If You Don't Come Back
Read 'Em And Weep
Nocturnal Pleasure
Dead Ringer For Love
Everything Is Permitted

Customer Reviews:

Dead Ringer = Dead on Arrival.......2007-05-13

Definitely not Bat Out of Hell caliber. Another side of Meat Loaf that is a bit uncooked. Not an album that I listened to over and over, but there are a couple highlights.

Beautiful album.......2006-07-01

Ignore the previous reviewer, as for angst, this is no worse than Bat out of Hell, so if you liked that, you'll love this too. The production isn't the best, but it's a great album nonetheless.

Feh.......2005-07-29

This album is written for people that are emotionally 16 years old and insane. Every song is from the point of a disenfranchised boy moaning at the world. The end of 'I'm gonna love her for both of us', when he keeps saying the title with different inflections...don't you just picture Rainman rocking in a corner somewhere? And if she doesn't love him back, he'll kill her! Unless she's in bed with a group of his best friends?? No wonder 'Everything is Permitted.'

This is bad. The production is bad, the tone of the guitar is godawful, Meat's voice sounds worse on this cd than any of his others by far (I know he lost his voice and was doing weird things to try to get it back. I don't hold it against him, but I'm the one that has to listen to it.) The band is fine, and I like some of the actual music. It's the song titles and lyrics that are awful.

How did this get such a bad review?.......2005-06-23

I had never heard this album until recently. I'd heard "Dead ringer for love" and loved it. But all I'd heard of the album was that it was not half as good at "Bat out of Hell". Well what I say to that is that this album is a brilliant follow up to the album. What were they expecting? An album better than Bat out of hell? Thats impossible. But anyway, the album starts off with the brilliant "Peel out", which will be banging in your head for hours. The next few songs are the ones that get the chorus' stuck in your head. Even though "Read em and weep" is slightly too ballady, it will still get stuck on your brain! "Everything is permitted" is perhaps not the best way to end the album. "Dead ringer for love" would've been quite a finish! Though Meat Loaf's voice is recognisably more high pitched, you would still associate this album to the artist who made an album that stayed in the UK charts for 472 weeks! This is a must have album.

Best Meat Album EVER.......2005-05-20

Yes I said best ever. Bat is good, don't get me wrong. But more than you deserve and I'm gonna love her for both of us have sentimental value here. Okay, so I'm a little biased. But I loved this album! Get it! Now! What are ya waitin' for, an invitation??

Average customer rating:

Good but not the best stuff
Pink Floyd Meets Crowded House
Let it grow on you
The world's gone mad!
Steve Hogarth has earned another chance

Marbles
Marillion
Manufacturer: Dead Ringer
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | British Alternative | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

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Progressive Rock | Progressive | Rock | Styles | Music

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Album-Oriented Rock (AOR) | Classic Rock | Styles | Music
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Somewhere Else
Fear of a Blank Planet
Misplaced Childhood
Clutching at Straws
Script for a Jester's Tear

ASIN: B0002Y4TM4
Release Date: 2004-10-05

Tracks:

Invisible Man
Marbles I
You're Gone
Angelina
Marbles II
Don't Hurt Yourself
Fantastic Place
Marbles III
Drilling Holes
Marbles IV
Neverland
Don't Hurt Yourself [*][Multimedia Track]

Customer Reviews:

Good but not the best stuff.......2007-04-09

Ive heard See It Like a Baby ... it's kind of catchy ... very commercial
... I will (eventually) buy the new CD ... MARBLES is a good record (3.5 stars) but too many sleepy-yawn tracks like Angelina and Don't Hurt Yourself {and I don't care for Steve's falsetto voice in the chorus - if a chorus is not in your range of your real voice, write a different melody} ..... Don't know if anyone agrees but sad to me the days of BRAVE, AOS and SEASONS END are just flat-out gone ..... Marillion like any band wants to be successful and has decided they just can't do it making the type of music of the above ... maybe they're right ... Or maybe for some odd reason they prefer this style ... Anyway good CD and I look forward to new Fish release (I support both artists =lly)

Pink Floyd Meets Crowded House.......2007-02-20

I think this best describes Marillion. They have the David Gilmour type solos, the Neil Finn-like singing, the Pink Floyd minor key tinged songs and epics and the Crowded House melodies. My advice is to skip the domestic US release and get the double CD import. To fully enjoy this CD, one must listen to the song "Ocean Cloud," which is only available on the import. Great album, great band.

Let it grow on you.......2007-02-12

This is a review of the single cd version.
On the first listen I was surprised it sounded so mainstream (for Marillion, anyway). Since I found the music quite pleasant, I kept playing it and kept finding layers and layers of surprises, which is quite typical from these guys. I like it a lot now, A LOT.

The world's gone mad!.......2007-01-29

When you can put on an album and just sit back and do nothing, just let the music take you on an emotional and powerful journey, it's really something special about it. There are very few albums that have the same effect on me like Marbles have. Its melodic and professional, sometimes relaxing, sometimes upbeat music takes you through a delightful darkness with a colourful brightness and a loving atmosphere. Not in the same musical style as Misplaced Childhood, but it still brings the question; "Can music be any better than this".

Steve Hogarth has earned another chance.......2007-01-29

I had given Marillion every chance to keep my interest in the post-Fish era, but had found the band to maddeningly inconsistent. "Season's End" was pretty good, but included a couple of la-la-la love songs that were completely out of place. "Brave" had its moments, in spite of the fact that it just seemed like the band was just trying too hard. Other than that, there has been nothing in the Hogarth era that I could stomach. The lyrics had completely deteriorated to over-used metaphors that any heartbroken teenager could have written (i.e. these chains.... yucch.)

In the fall of 2004 Marillion came to Cleveland. I went to see the show, not knowing they had a new album out (since I had long since stopped paying any attention.) I figured it would be worthwhile to sit through a few sing-alongs to get a dose of Steve Rothery's masterful guitar work.

As the concert got underway and gained momentum, the two things that completely struck me were that I did not recognize any of the songs, and that I was really really enjoying the show. I came to the conclusion that these songs must have been the best of the albums that I had never given a proper chance, or had never bought in the first place. And evidently I wondered this aloud to a stranger next to me, and he was nice enough to bring me up to speed. What they had been playing was the new album, "Marbles," in its entirety. Really? This could change everything, I thought to myself. And that thought had no sooner crossed my mind when the first haunting notes of "Neverland" washed over the audience. The song lasted 10 minutes, and at the end I remember trembling as though I had just experienced something spiritual.

The next day I went to the local indie music store and bought my copy of "Marbles." This is a pretty good record. The first song ("The Invisible Man") and the last song ("Neverland") are the strength of the record, both powerful prog rockers featuring changes in tempo and volume. If you have 22 minutes to kill, playing just these two songs at substantial volume would be a wonderful use of your time.

The record also includes a few pop toe-tappers ("Don't Hurt Yourself," "Fantastic Place" and "You're Gone"). I find that I will listen to these if for no other reason than to allow myself to catch my breath after "Invisible Man" has ended and waiting for "Neverland" to start. If had only the time to listen to the toe-tappers and was not able to hear either or both of the bookends, I would be left feeling cheated.

The rest of the record I tend to skip over. "Marbles I-IV" was cute the first time or two, but now seems like an interruption. "Angelina" bores me, and "Drilling Holes" is an irritating bit of noise.

Without "The Invisible Man" and "Neverland," "Marbles" would still be an improvement over most of the work Marillion has put out in the last 15 years, but that isn't saying much. With those two songs, and in spite of "Drilling Holes," my rating for this record jumps to 4 stars. Unfortunately, I bought the single disk version at a store instead of the double disk version from the Marillion website (which includes another epic, "Ocean Cloud," a fantastic song that I have since heard on their live DVD "Marbles on the Road"). "Marbles" would have gotten 4 1/2 stars if "Ocean Cloud" would have replaced "Drilling Holes" on the single disk.

Average customer rating:

A great album
Apart from the title track this is great

When the Punks Go Marching In
Abrasive Wheels
Manufacturer: Dead Ringer
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Hardcore | Hardcore & Punk | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Punk | Hardcore & Punk | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

British Punk | Hardcore & Punk | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Post-Punk | New Wave & Post-Punk | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music
ASIN: B0000DI4T4
Release Date: 2003-11-25

Tracks:

Vicious Circle
1982
Danger Danger
BBC
Mayday
Voice of Youth
Just Another Punk Band
Gotta Run
Burn 'Em Down
Shout It Out
Slaughterhouse
First Rule (No Rule)
Attack
When the Punks Go Marching In
Army Song [*]
Juvenile [*]
So Slow [*]
Vicious Circle (Single Version) [*]
Attack (Single Version) [*]
Voice of Youth (Single Version) [*]
Urban Rebel [*]
Criminal Youth [*]

Customer Reviews:

A great album.......2006-12-12

This is a classic UK82 album, right up there with the likes of GBH and Discharge. Nothing about this album doesn't rock. Spike your hair up and put on your leather jacket and boots for this one.

Apart from the title track this is great.......2004-04-25

Looking from an objective point of view and not talking about musical talent or genre preferences this album should be the model for all copycat hardcore punk. This album is fast, pissed off, mostly untalented, and overall a perfect punk album. The original album gives us some of the catchiest tracks ever recorded for the Riot City record company, like Just Another Punk Rock band and Slaughterhouse. However this album doesn't stop with a classic punk album in fact it gives us a whole lot more. A total of seven bonus tracks appear on this album. These bonus tracks are better than the actual material on the album. So Slow and Urban Rebel are great punk songs; Urban Rebel is probably my favorite song on this cd. The Abrasive Wheels deliver all their songs really fast and really honestly too (as honest as punk rock goes). The only downside is the monotony of this album and the simply dreadful title track.

Average customer rating:

Dead Ringer
Meat Loaf
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Pop | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

General | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

Hard Rock | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

Album-Oriented Rock (AOR) | Classic Rock | Styles | Music

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Arena Rock | Classic Rock | Styles | Music

Classic Rock | Imports | Stores | Music

Rock | Imports | Stores | Music
ASIN: B00000GAYM
Release Date: 1998-10-13

Tracks:

Peel Out
I'm Gonna Love Her for Both of Us
More Than You Deserve
I'll Kill You If You Don't Come Back
Read 'Em and Weep
Nocturnal Pleasure
Dead Ringer for Love
Everything Is Permitted

Average customer rating:

Total Disorder
Disorder
Manufacturer: Dead Ringer
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Hardcore | Hardcore & Punk | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Punk | Hardcore & Punk | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music
ASIN: B0000DI4SV
Release Date: 2003-11-25

Tracks:

Today's World
Violent Crime
Complete Disorder
Insane Youth
You've Got to Be Someone
Daily Life
More Than Fights
Stagnation
Life
Out of Order
Condemned
Media
Suicide Children
Preachers
Remembrance Day
Rampton Song
Provocated War
3 Blind Mice
Bullshit Everyone
Maternal Obsession
Buy I Gurt Pint

Average customer rating:

Dead Ringer/Seattle Blues
Harry Nile
Manufacturer: Delta
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Poetry, Spoken Word & Interviews | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music

General | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000001VA4
Release Date: 1995-08-22

Average customer rating:

Very Best...So Far
Dead Ringer Band
Manufacturer: EMI Int'l
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Hopeville
Carnival

ASIN: B00007B4EB
Release Date: 2002-11-18

Tracks:

Living in the Circle
Home Fires
That's What Makes a Broken Heart
Australian Son
I Wish It Would Rain
Half Way to Sydney
Saddle Boy
Already Gone
Crazy Heart
Gypsy Bound
Family Man
Speed of the Sound of Loneliness
Am I the Only One (Who's Ever Felt This Way)
He Still Thinks I Care
That's More About Love
If I Needed You
Road to Nowhere
Just Like Yesterday (Song for Gram)

Album Description

2002 compilation for one of Australia's best (& most successful) country bands, featuring The Chambers Family including superstar Kasey Chambers. 18 tracks. Essence/EMI.

Album Details

Long Awaited Best of Collection from One of Australia's Best Country Bands which features the Chambers Family Including Superstar Kaswy Chambers.

Average customer rating:

Your Face Or Your Kneecaps
Rjd2
Manufacturer: RJs Electrical Connections
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Rap & Hip-Hop | Styles | Music
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ASIN: B000MMY6MY

Average customer rating:

better than i expected
Dark, bleak and crushingly beautiful
Could Arguably be best Burzum album
The Most Atmospheric album EVER

Hlidskjalf
Burzum
Manufacturer: Dead Ringer
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Ambient | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

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De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas
Filosofem
Daudi Baldrs
Det Som Engang Var
Hvis Lyset Tar Oss

ASIN: B0000B1A5J
Release Date: 2004-03-09

Tracks:

Tuistos Herz
Der Tod Wuotans
Ansuzgardaraiw
Die Liebe Nerpus'
Frijinsames Trauern
Einfsvernt
Frijoldene Trn
Der Weinende Hadnur

Album Description

1999 album from the infamous Scandinavian dark metal act, recorded in prison as their singer is serving a sentence for burning churches & murdering a member of a rival black metal group with a sword. Eight tracks (all listed in German only). Dead Ringer.

Customer Reviews:

better than i expected.......2005-01-09

while it is certainly too short at 33 minutes, hlidskjalf really is a good and diverse record, with a good booklet and atmosphere. some of the keys sound a bit cheesey, but i can forgive it because of the circumstance (done in jail).

the music is enirely keyboard driven, but with some good drums (electronic of course) in some parts. it isn't just a long midi rambling, there are some very different parts/songs on here, from the bombastic sounds of Ausuzgardaraiwo, to the very minimal and quiet tracks like Der Weinende Hadnur and Frijos Einsames Trauern. the entire thing is drenched with mythological themes, and comes off quite melancholy.

all in all, this record comes closer to the definition of minimal darkwave than it does to true ambient. i would recomend this as a first ambient or minimal electronic record as well, because it does have a lot of variation, and isn't as boring as some other albums i can think of (you don't have to be so much in an ambient mood to play it.) not that this is the absolute best, but it is a very good record.

Dark, bleak and crushingly beautiful.......2004-12-22

In my mind, this album is a testament to Vickernes' ability to single handedly make cold, bleak music that reflects his dark, warped mind. Now that he's incarcerated he only has access to a synthesiser to carry on making music, but I wondor if he'd have made this sort of music anyway. Burzum was one of the greatest black metal bands of the 90s, and it deserves that title due to its bleak emtional sound that so many black metal bands didn't have. And even though the distorted guitars and the tortured screams are gone, Varg still manages to convey those feelings with a digital synthesiser. It could have come off sounding cheesy (if not downright stupid) had it been attempted by most other people. But once again Varg proves he is capable of capturing moods where most people wouldn't know where to start.

The instrumentation is very sparse and simple for the most part, but then Burzum always has been. That's the beauty of it. What he does with it is what is important. Here he has created an ambient abstract album with an incredible feel. If you can get past the crude sounding keyboard, you'll find an album that slowly reveals itself to you over time and captures your imagination like few others.

Could Arguably be best Burzum album.......2004-06-14

In my opinion, any Burzum fan must get this cd. It is a very enjoyable trip into the darkness of the woods. This album is ambient and classical and is unlike any earlier Burzum which was straight black metal. I prefer this. I really do think Varg has found his voice in his musical output.

The Most Atmospheric album EVER.......2004-04-06

This is most definitely not the original black metal BURZUM, but it don't matter. Varg was seeing before he went to prison that everyone in black metal was doing pretty much the same thing. He took the format of black metal and mixing with the apparent story continuing life he has. The first song, "Tuistos Herz", is a gong (?) banging classical masterpiece, moving in and out of worlds. The second song and my favorite, "Der Tod Wuotans", is a indescribable song that makes me travel to the stars beyond the stars. The seventh song, "Frijos golden traunen", lets my mind travel to iced trees and sparkling rivers of unmoved crystal lakes while I taste the sweetest bush rippened fruits. The "lyrics" (altho there are none in the music!) in the booklet pages are (I thinK) meant for reading while listening to the music. Varg continues to show why he is, and always will be,the King of Black Metal.

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