Black Tribe's output seems to be quite eclectic indeed. There's the abrasive, droning noise of Abyss, the super raw black metal of The Return and now this strange mix of crowd recordings, militaristic beats, piano, and well, whatever else John Gill can lay his hands on.
It's hard to compare this album to anything else. A good description for this album would be 'slightly fucked-up neofolk'. I don't exactly know what this album means, so sorry if I'm totally wrong with this interpretation, but it seems to be a lot about the effect of the crowd/herd mentality on the individual. Most of the songs in this record have a lot of voices going off at once, whether it's the kveldssanger-ish vocal layers of 'Wut Hass Trauer Zweifel', the sample of an old german tune on 'Sacred Tears', or the layers of voices in the first song. It's a powerful and unnerving method that more bands should use. Some of these songs then proceed to take a left turn into a much more disturbing, nihilistic kind of area.. Which lots of synths, some truly creepy voices, and lots of that trademark Black Tribe noise. Perhaps this is describing the dark side of the crowd mentality.. The brutality of a mob? The Holocaust, even? Chances are I'm totally wrong about this, but that's definitely what I'm thinking of when I hear this. Maybe it's the fact that everything sounds german.
The shining gem in this album is actually a cover of a Death in June song. I haven't heard the original, so I don't know which version is better, but this is indeed a very good song. The slow, plodding beat, noise samples and piano remind me a lot of Neurosis song, which can only be a very good thing. It's powerful, nihilistic and really quite good, definitely the standout track on this album.
This album, and indeed this band are quite fascinating. Admittedly, the last two songs aren't all that great, seeming to be tacked on to the end of the album, not really needing to be there. But the rest of this album is quite esoteric and mysterious, a strange mixture of noise, neofolk and industrial. The samples are really well fitting, and the use of synths and programmed drums is also very appropriate. A good album for those that don't mind a challenging, unique listen.