Bone Parade - Vollmondlieder

Bone Parade's Vollmondlieder is a exercise in chilling ambient darkness put together by by married duo and Albany Sonic Arts Collective regulars Kevin Johnston and Erica Sparrow. The music within is of the droning doom variety and while music like is limited with what you can do with it, Bone Parade do manage to come up with something that is not just another homage to Sunn O))). Originally released on cassette by Scotch Tapes, it is only 20 minutes long containing 4 tracks on a wonderfully made hand-made, hand-sewn sleeve. Opener "Mandragora/Death And The Maiden" engulfs you in drone and operatic vocals and the feeling you get off this is one of coldness. I can't help thinking about a frozen wasteland while listening to this. You have the operatic singing of Erica Sparrow which gives the music a entirely different atmosphere to most other bands in the drone genre. Kevin Johnston provides the noise behind it while Sparrow recites a spoken word passage, very effective and like I said before - chilling. "Selenite" has a more industrial feel about it while making a hell of a thunderous noise. "The White Ship Has Sailed" and "Veneration" seems the music more grounded but the vocal sharing on "Veneration" from Johnston and Sparrow creates a even colder atmosphere but seems to be the least original piece of the EP. This is best described as "esoteric drone" so might not be to everyones taste but I like it, if you are already a drone fan you will know what to expect. They are hardly breaking any new ground but they are also not copying anyone either, this sounds fresh in a genre that is trapped within its own cliches. The CD version of Vollmondlieder is limited to 200, and one look at it and you will see the hard work that went into making it. 8/10

www.myspace.com/boneparade