Arboreal Eternity

Upon hearing this album, and reading the reviews associated with it, my opinion on black metal has been thrown into confusion. Personally, I don't delve too deeply into bedroom BM bands; Rainfall embodies the reasons why. This music sucks. I'm sorry, but it's terrible. It seems to me that most people agree and yet, there are people on this page giving this pile of shit scores that I would associate with something like The Somberlain or DMDS. The repetitive and hilariously simple "riffs" present here were hopefully created in a matter of minutes. If they took any longer than that, I highly suggest another instrument for the composer. The drums are barely worth mentioning, as they clearly aren't real. My 20 dollar metronome gives off a similar sound to the hi-hat on these tracks, and could probably keep better time. As for the vocals...I am in awe. Without the horrendous inclusion of these terrible croaks this album would be infinitely better....even then, it would be nowhere near "good". The vocals are poorly delivered, and have no place in the song structure of either track.

Umbra's half of the album is offensively bland. Effective ambient music focuses on creating an unsettling mood, and connecting with the listener through the intricate utilization of seemingly simple melodies and sounds. Umbra has none of this. This portion of the album reeks of poor craftsmanship, or perhaps a poor grasp on the genre he attempted. I would say more, but there is nothing to talk about.

I don't recommend this album for any reason other than as a perfect example of how NOT to attempt your own music project. I don't understand why Noktorn/Aether persists with this tripe; does the feedback of the masses mean nothing? I am in no way writing this review for the sole purpose of slander, and I hope in the future Rainfall succeeds with a release devoid of all the factors that made "Arboreal Eternity" so abysmal. Maybe there is still hope.

Ahh Rainfall, the oft-maligned bedroom black project designed solely to worship at the feet of Animus. While scorn is heaped upon this project by the denizens on M-A, in reality Rainfall isn't too bad. I have definitely heard much worse, and not just from bedroom black metal bands either (Black Funeral's "Ordog" is infinitely worse than either of Rainfall's demos, for one) On this release, some of the major problems with the demo have been somewhat cleared up and, though this is still very flawed, shows some serious promise for a future release. As has been said, the drum machine is atrocious and amazingly cheap, and the vocals are pretty crappy - though better than Autumn One, not that that is much of an achievement - but the riffs save it. I like the guitar tone, for a bedroom project with literally no budget it sounds pretty cool. Probably pretty easily replicated, but pretty good nonetheless. The repetition does get a little old after awhile - some fat could definitely have been trimmed, especially from "Moonlight," but it nonetheless is pretty good for what it is. Also, I do get an image like that of the cover art, that of being lost in a misty forest when listening to Rainfall, which is a definite plus. Don't get me wrong, this is no Wolves in the Throne Room or anything, but the atmosphere is getting there. Still, the vocals and drum machine are glaring weaknesses that must be remedied if this project wishes to become anything more than the butt of jokes. Throwing in a bass couldn't hurt either.

Umbra, on the other hand, is quite capable at what it does. Minimalist dark ambient, nothing more, nothing less. It does manage to be somewhat unsettling, which is the main objective as far as dark ambient is concerned. Not the most riveting music I've ever heard, but good background music for what it is, which is how I generally treat ambient music in general. True, there isn't a whole lot going on here, but it doesn't offend me in minimalism or bore the shit out of me like, say, any of Stijn Van Cauter's ambient projects. The brevity of Umbra's side of the split is what helps it. I don't think I could take an entire album of Umbra, but as half of a split with a black metal band, it works fairly well.

Not a release that I would recommend one to rush out and get (or rather, download), but a decent split. Hopefully Rainfall continues to improve by getting a live drummer and an actual vocalist, and hopefully Umbra realizes its own limitations and improves upon itself as well.

The bad part is that, sadly, this release is not a joke. In fact, Aether wants you to take his project seriously. I hope I'm wrong on this one, because the songs featured on this release are terrible. I have heard of Burzum clones before, but I've never heard of a Burzum butcher before. This is seriously what it is: 2 tracks of so called 'black metal' with terrible production, really lame attempts at atmospheric riffs, and really bad drum programming. I honestly hear absolutely zero potential in this guy's work, I really hope this is all a Velvet Cacoon styled hoax, but even then, justl ike Shadow0fDeath before him, Aether's credibility has gone down the drain.

Umbra, which is featured as the ambient side of the split, is just as bad. Myself as an electronica/ambient artist, I work with manipulating sounds in order to achieve a certain mood throughout the piece. Whether my material is good or not is irrelevant (I think its average at best tbh) though. Any ambient artist should know what a good piece of sonicscape should sound like, and this isn't it. There is nothing wrong with repetitiveness in an ambient song, but when it sounds like the guy picked a few different samples from a random VST program he downloaded and mashed them together behind a bunch of minor-key sine wave chords, its not going to sound right. I only made it through this release just to see if there was anything redeemable about it, and sadly, I found none. These bedroom acts should stay in the bedroom, please do not come out until you KNOW that your material is worth a release, not for our sake, but for yours.

I downloaded this because everyone likes free albums, but almost immediately defeated it after the first track. Somehow I managed to finish it up, though, and then it was recycle bin time. I do not see how anyone could find enjoyment out of this, or if the actual musicians are serious.

The big word thrown around by many reviewers here in regard to this is "potential." Where is it? The music on the Rainfall side consists of excruciatingly slow and dull riffing with horribly programmed drums on top of it. There's no bass, the vocals are weak and comedic, and the two songs go on for far far too long. Repetition can be a good thing, but there is a right way and a wrong way to do it; Rainfall hits every marker of the wrong way. Darkthrone, Burzum, and several other classic black metal bands mastered the art of creating vast atmosphere with little instrumentation. This is where Rainfall falls flat on its face, it sounds exactly like what it is: A kid in his bedroom playing his guitar after mommy and daddy went to bed. The hilarious song titles and lyrics are so stereotypical that it's hard not to laugh, I mean Sunlight and Moonlight?

Umbra is ambient, though that's a loose tag. It's not really ambient MUSIC, it's a bunch of ambient sounds thrown together with the same deep bass behind all the tracks. There is also a good way and a bad way to do ambient. Good ambient is repetitive but varied, subtle yet dynamic. Umbra is laughably boring. It's more enjoyable than the Rainfall side, but that's a relative term. There is about as much enjoyment in either side as there is in sticking a powerdrill in your ears for 30 minutes.

I do not hear anything positive in this release, nor any potential. Rainfall and Umbra both deserve credit for trying, but not much. Music requires effort to make, not just a little bit of time and a silly idea.

Rainfall has definitely gotten better since Autumn One. Still not amazing pieces of work but there is an obvious progression. There is much more unique riff patterns and the drum programing is above descent. Still no bass as I can gather, and by this point the music could use one. The vocals on the first track are much more solid with their effects and production, but the vocals on the second track drag down the better music. What Rainfall needs to do is stop focusing so much on how he comes off with all the fancy artwork, changes in logos , leaves in the demo case, etc. and start working on improving his song writing skills. There is potential, it’s just buried under bad production and lack of inspiration. Overall the music is average at best and too raw for it’s own good, but getting better.

A few suggestions for Aether: get a drummer, or work more on drum tracking; improve the vocals either with training or effects; some keyboards would help out a lot; and put some bass in the songs.

Umbra is the other band on the split, and they run from interesting idea to boring concept. The music is very bland with thick ambiance and noise. It would be much more interesting if there was actually a point to it, but each track just seems to drone on and on with dull atmospheres and dark moods that get a tad irritating. I preferably just keep the Rainfall tracks over Umbra’s half, considering I almost never delete anything I put on my iTunes.

Well, yes it is, it is really better than "Autumn One", but we all know that it isn't a real challenge to rise above three multiple riffs which drags for 11:30 minutes at constant tempo of 120BPM. "Arboreal Eternity" isn't a real improvement, it's the same old thing under a different cloak but it has two tracks which are shorter than "Fall", that's why it sounds less repetitive...though it's still extremely repetitive.

"Moonlight" open with a slow and tedious plucking of some random notes in a monotonous order, and that's drags on for fucking five minutes! Five minutes which seems like a boringly eternity! What am I suppose to feel within all this wasted time? Seriously, I ain't an aquarium fish, I don't loose my memory each six seconds, I know that something here is too repetitive, that someone is cheating me with the same crappy plucking for far too long. For this whole section, there aren't any drums, only the guitar which also makes too much background noise. I think it was meant to be like that, that the strings aren't muted. If it had to give me some "dark" atmosphere because there are echos within this plucking, it failed. It could work better if Aether was adding some reverb within it, if he wanted to catch any freezing mood here...anyway, nothing can save such extremely lengthy repetitive section. After this tedious part, the drums comes in and increase some activity within the song, but there is a serious problem even with the drumming! And yes...you guessed right, it's fucking repetitive. Slow, one dimensional, droning like a shit, boring, sounds like a simple sample of a drum machine. With the drums comes also another riffing, if I dare to call it riffing, it contains just another scuffed power chords and continues until the song overs. The vocals got worse from what they used to be. Now it is just slow feeble whispers which carries again some clichéd lyrics...Honestly, I prefer to read the instructions of my washer than this.
There is no need to describe the seond track, because the first one really sums up the idea of "Rainfall" in this split...which is horribly boring. Maybe I should mention that in "Sunlight" the vocals are such ridiculous and sounds like an elderly frog from all these childlike cartoons. The second part of the demo is different. "Umbra" still creates a boring music, but he doesn't get on your nerves like "Rainfall". But there is no actual music, only some voices and choirs here and there without any actual meaning.

Well, I'm sorry kids, but it seems like you didn't did your homework! Anyway, I'll give you a little candy in the final rating just to be sure you won't get upset, again. Until your next crappy record, try to learn exactly how to play your instruments, how to create an audible vocals, and of course, how NOT to suck THAT hard!
Thank you and good night! Meanwhile I'll go to clean myself with some REAL metal...

Another record of Rainfall and now it is a split with Umbra, a band out of the depths of the dark-ambient genre whose four tracks are a contrast to the dark Black Metal performed by Rainfall. Surprisingly the roles of those two artists – both are at the moment this review is written one-man-projects – are only filled to some extend in their proper manner. As it is expected in droning Black Metal, the tracks offer long and widely structured songs with long parts, but the short tracks of Umbra are rather untypical for this particular style, especially when they are compared to artists like Mystified, who offers on several releases long-lasting and sometimes also with ideas peppered tracks; this is missing here. Yet this review is mostly about Rainfall.

As on the first release of Rainfall consist of three elements: Guitar, vocals, drum computer.

Guitars:
Slow, very repetitive, slightly distorted riffs are used, which now and then vary, but remain in their style mostly the same. They consist of several accords and mostly build the foundation of the songs, especially in the first part of Moonlight as it is the only used instrument. As there is no bass the concentration focuses on them and so the question arouses if they are able to fulfil their role that they need to? Being used as the only part of the music (first half of Moonlight), their style can only be described as boring and leading to nowhere, as no real atmosphere is created and their repetitiveness is rather disturbing than creating interest in the things to come. One might want to say to the musician: Hey come on… get along with it and show me something new and interesting! Even though other bands play a similar style (Oraculum for instance), the contrast existing lies in the weight laid upon each part of the orchestra. The balancing is not given here, because if the guitar fails to grab the listeners attentions the overall idea is likely to fail; and this is what happened. This better done in the second track Sunlight in which the guitars fit well into the overall composition and even though a lot of repetition is used, it is not that easy to recognize, because the mixture of the elements works.

Vocals:
Two different styles are used in the tracks, in Moonlight it sounds more like a dark voice, hardly recognizable, though fitting the music quite well; and it also fits well at this point, as the attention is drawn away from the guitars and song does not loose itself in the repetitiveness of the instruments. Sunlight is different on this aspect as a more croaking-like voice is used which marks the annoyance factor of this tracks. Furthermore the use and the extend in which the vocal performance is part of the second track can only be described as a total disaster. Neither of these elements – use, extend – does really fit the song and destroy the neat riff-structure presented there; which is better than in the opening track of the split. There is a phrase in German describing the vocal usage in Sunlight: Mitteilungsbedürfnis ( talkativeness in English). There are so many lyrics that if they were used all, the entire songs receives harm through this and this is exactly what happens here. Sometimes less is more; Dani of Cradle of Filth can do it, but that does not mean that everyone is capable of it.

Drums:
As a drum-computer has been used, the question arousing deals with the way of its programming. Like the guitars the style is very repetitive, but it fits the music quite well. Variation is likely impossible to put into it, because the overall idea of the tracks itself are not spreading of styles and so the drums have to play their role and nothing more. Yet track two they are able to give some momentum with their faster play.

The production is acceptable, but the sound of the drums is not optimal; as it is often the crutch of one-man-bands which use a drum-computer. Comparing this release to the previous one, there is indeed some improvement there, yet the overall quality of the music is still too low, to give a higher ranking and to start cheering the music. Some ideas are quite neat (end of track one, riffs and structure in track two), but the overall impression that the music arouses is that there is still a lot to improve. A step forward, but nothing more.

Rainfall's first demo got a lot of reviews for a "band" like itself, and this split might be on the same path. The split was released (for download) in full today (I believe) and this is already the (at least) second review...

Anyway, I actually like Autumn One, despite the over done snare sound which I don't need to get into. The droning helped the atmosphere which is what Rainfall is about, and what Arboreal Eternity is about. The atmosphere is conveyed better in this split than on the demo, most likely because of the more "developed" (for lack of a better word) guitar riffs. The riffs on Autumn One were good but these seem to fit better. The guitar sound is basically the same as Autumn One but slightly clearer.

Moonlight is the first track and is mostly guitar until the later half. The first half consists of a slow, droning pattern which varies a little after a few repeats but is basically the same for 5 minutes. This will probably turn a lot of people off, but I enjoy this kind of repetition. The vocals are different from "Fall" and seem lower in pitch and volume. It's almost hard to tell it's the same person. These vocals, like the riffing, will most likely not be loved by everyone, but they fit the atmosphere. At about the last third of the song, the riff changes and drums come in. The drums almost sound like a metronome but are better than the ones (or, one) on Fall. The song continues this way until the end at 9 minutes and 14 seconds.

Sunlight starts out with just guitar, but very different from Moonlight. After a short intro, the song starts, with the same plastic sounding drums, but this time they are better with more complex beats than any of Rainfall's previous songs. The riffs are in a similar style to the end of Moonlight but change up more often. The vocals on this song are an improved version of the vocals from Fall. The lyrics are sort of sung over the song rather than with it, not really following any beat (except for a few at the beginning and end of the song), which I liked.

Overall this is definitely an improvement since Autumn One, and Aether is no doubt on a path that looks good for Rainfall.

I won't get too much into Umbra's side because this is Rainfall's page and because Umbra isn't even in the Archives. This side is basically minimalist atmospheric stuff which brings you to darker places and states of mind. It goes well with Rainfall even though the styles are pretty different.