All it takes is 3 chords and a dream!

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Review: Troum - Eald-Ge-Streon


Troum - Eald-Ge-Streon
2009, Beta-Lactam Ring Records


Troum is the old German word for Dream, and the name fits the band. GlitH and Barak[H] have been together since 1997 as Troum, but worked together previously in Ambient/Industrial mavens Maeror Tri. Based in Bremen, Germany, Troum has played all over the world with acts such as Spear, Tarkatak, Ultrasound, Bad Sector and Vance Orchestra. Troum is conspicuous for their blending of Ambient and Industrial styles, and their latest album, Eald-Ge-Streon is a protypical album for the band.

Eald-Ge-Streon might as well be titled Ambient Music for the Mortally Wounded and Chronically Depressed. The offerings here feature heavy accents within ambient structures that are reminiscent of things you might hear on an old Pink Floyd album or in a movie sequence featuring strange and wonderful spaceships floating majestically in the air. Elation opens the set with heavy ambience and a constant tension that fluctuates but never resolves. Ecstatic Forlorness takes aboriginal rhythms and blends them into an almost Ambient/Industrial mix (if that's possible). The result is something that sounds like something you might hear in a blighted future industrial landscape. The rest of the album essentially follows this ambient structure, seeming to be more about sound than any sort of structure or musical communication.

Eald-Ge-Streon is an album for those who wish to meditate on the wonders of the universe; fans of Ambient Music, Pink Floyd fans and others who might want more experience and less song from their music. Troum is quite good at what they do, although I generally found the album to lack a real creative spark.

Rating: 2 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Troum at http://www.troum.com/ or www.myspace.com/troum. You can purchase a copy of Eald-Ge-Streon at Amazon.com.

1 comment:

www.burgos-3d.com said...

Gosh, there is so much useful data above!