1. räfst
2. ohägn
3. fistelgång
4. räl
5. framfall
6. spjällmotor
material recorded in and out of doors, 2004-2006. somewhat more intimate in feel than their previous lp/cd 'hålrum' [which you should all go and buy as well, if you haven't already], the stark scrape and squeak of metal sharply contrasting with the ghostly goings-on underneath and in the distance. convenient digipak sleeve with photography by the group. edition of 500.
released november 13, 2007
reviews ::
"Admittedly I know little to nothing about the concept of this album. I am unsure about what language the track titles are in, and also unwilling to do the research to find out. Of course, the sounds on Skrankverk aren't the kind of sounds that actually need explaining. Although being quite concrete in nature they are designed and arranged in such a way as to almost completely tear them away from their tangible sources and bring them into the metaphysical realm where almost anything is possible.
The tone here makes me think so much of Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker on so many levels. The absence of vocals and any “human” element and the addition of such creepy abstractions really make Skankverk a unique and spiritual even, listening experience. This should be enjoyed in the most quiet and intimate of places. As for the concepts here, well it does seem like the excellently designed artwork is trying to guide me to some sort of vision. A vision of rusted factory parts combined with organic textures and large, seamless open spaces. It may sound like the formula for a generic dark ambient album but I will testify this is anything but.
The style, if you're not familiar with the work of Niellerade Fallibilisthorstar lies somewhere in between the more polished work of I.Corax or Zoat Aeon, to the dirtier industrial outings of Anapthergal. Sorry, I'm not sure if comparing these guys to probably even lesser known acts helps, but it's all I can muster because their style isn't exactly common-place.
A reviewer has already described this as leaving off where Hålrum ended. True, but this rises above the sloppier noisier soundscapes to a place that might be very vulnerable for other artists, but a place where Niellerade Fallibilisthorstar have easily made themselves comfortable. Letting go of the frantic industrial barrage of field samples for much more wide open lush atmosphere's Niellerade Fallibilisthorstar has truly found how to make the best use of their excellent source material. There are gestures here, the listener is pulled into a direction and then thrown about. We are lulled into a sense of peacefulness only to be rudely awoken by the sound of a wooden rod being tossed onto concrete right next to where we have laid our heavy heads, like the moments from Fistelgång.
There are so many small details that just make this a completely mesmerizing listening experience, I've noticed something new every time I've listened and it fills me with that perfect mixture of a sense of peacefulness and urgency, due to the conflicting feelings that Skankverk conjures. In one sense, this is composed to be more of an ambient album, slow, shiny, dripping with condensation. But the source material all comes from something that would feel much more at home in an industrial noise record. Scraped and scratched metal, shuffling through piles of junk, slamming on industrial materials, throwing things across the room. It's a simple yet effective juxtaposition.
Niellerade Fallibilisthorstar have crafted a masterpiece that raises the bar for electroacoustic and ambient music and Dystonia EK has insured that it is presented with class and focus. With an album like this it's futile to give a track by track rundown because it needs to be seen as a whole, and at the same time there's too many secrets hidden within these decaying walls, too many things to uncover and treasure, and a few things that might be somewhat unsettling."
- Blood Ties
"This is a premiere for yours truly, although NF have already published a handful of releases in various guises. Basically, this project consists of the duo of Swedish Petter Sundlöf and Daniel Engberg [incorrect! - dek] working with those materials that car cemeteries and deserted factories own in abundant doses. Metals, above all. Then again, sometimes the onomatopoeic character of a title immediately gives the right idea of a certain kind of music and “Skrankverk” is one of these instances. The very first comparison that sprang to my mind was Z’EV, and there’s no doubt that supporters of that artists will also find something to love here. Rumbling and whistling, whooshing and clanging. Whams. How many people do this today? Maybe too many (I’m not exactly checking, though). Yet these guys have a knack for rendering things more appreciable aesthetically, as opposed to the mass of bangers and scrapers who think of themselves as esoteric but can’t tune a string when handed an instrument. One of the methods applied by NF is the choice of the surrounding ambience. In fact, most of this stuff sounds like recorded in a natural setting, not in some desolated large room, and there are moments in which we figure that the wrecked walls and the high ceilings are placed near an extended country area or a wide urban periphery. At least, so it seems. In a word, the noise made by Sundlöf and Engberg is “beautifully menacing”, sounding ecologic enough to these ears. It is in tune with something deep, surely deserving better than a single distracted listen."
- Massimo Ricci, Touching Extremes
"Sweden's NFH are a bit of an anomaly. They have, by their own admission, virtually no familiarity with the type of music they've chosen to make, no in-depth knowledge of its history or sub-genres. Instead, their music is purely intuitive, largely improvised, relying on the gifts of particular surroundings for its considerable atmosphere.
'Skrankverk' is the latest opus from the five member ensemble, who have managed to develop a sort of cult following. The sound, if you've heard their releases before, is a natural evolution from previous releases. The pieces reflect a decaying modernity, using sounds processed from various found objects and locales, resulting in a sound-scape that is both identifiably organic and undeniably alien.
The album ranges from an almost unbelievable starkness to a beautifully thick cacophony of percussive rattles and crashes to eerie, atonal washes. It's difficult at once to describe the sound in a way that will be meaningful without falling back on clichés that don't do the sound justice.
As you might glean, from what I've said, the album will be a challenging one for many. It neatly ignores any established genre boundaries and will prove frustrating for anyone who is used to music that works within defined parameters. that said, it's also exciting, exotic and rewarding in a way that few new artists are.
A particular favourite for me is "Spjallmotor", which sounds like a recording of objects being disposed in and consumed by an incinerator.
Beautiful and highly appropriate artwork completes an excellent package."
- morelikespace
"This swedish band with the tongue-twisting name (I'm still not completely sure I've spelled it right) was formed in 2001 and appear to be collage artists; this, their fifth release, was recorded on location at various abandoned buildings, swamps, and forests, using materials found at each site, and the results have been cut-up and arranged in the studio to form ambient-noise collages. The six lengthy pieces here collect a wide variety of sounds -- some obviously processed, others far more ambiguous, nearly all of them unrecognizable -- into heavily-layered sonic sculptures of ambient noise, although some tracks (like "Ohagn" and "Ral") include rudimentary rhythms as well. Too noisy (although not generally in the sense of harsh noise) to be truly ambient and too spacious and amorphous to truly be songs in the traditional sense, these tracks more closely resemble soundtracks of incidental music, or perhaps field recordings carefully reassembled and constructed to sound almost random while still retaining a subtle level of composition. Stretches of natural ambient sound are broken by jarring noises; muted rhyhms from unknown "instruments" are supplanted by jagged clattering; peaceful moments of naturalistic ambience are shattered by explosions of sound. The very nature of the album's recording and editing process makes everything mysterious; the deliberate use of randomness makes it unpredictable, sometimes to the point of being unnerving -- even in the quiet moments, after a while, you're waiting for chaos to happen. Interesting and unorthodox, at times even haunting, with plenty of attention to detail. The disc also comes packaged in a lovely triple-panel digipak with excellent art."
- the one true dead angel
"These gentlemen from Umeå bring forth music that is very hard to categorize -- there are traces of many emotions but this is something entirely self-contained. Some of the sounds themselves you may have heard before but it's the combinations and authenticity that makes this so good. To try and describe it briefly, I'm thinking of a parallel universe where unknown beings act in ways totally unknown to us. You can see something happen before you but not understand what it is. It's also mystifying rituals deep in forests, scraping, stretching, whispering and grunting -- everything outside of the reach of us mortals. It's of course very organic but never tiring. The pictures on the cover make me think of a swedish "stalker" -- unpleasant but at the same time incredibly familiar, nature's mystery and cruelty perhaps?"
- segerhuva
"Clanging, scraping and squeaking metal resonates over the hum of flooded machine rooms and the gas bursts from rusting pneumatic tubes. This is the sound of toiling poltergeists, endlessly repeating the rituals of an industrial wasteland's cargo cult"
- mechanoise labs
"This group of hippies is a recent discovery and they truly bring something new to the experimental industrial noise whatever genre, which is very much welcomed by me. The nature of the beast at war with the beast of nature, or something like that."
- ny moral, best of 2007
"Yes, that is quite a mouthful, hard to pronounce, even when entirely sober. However we came across them before, when we reviewed their 'Hålrum' release on SNSE Records (vital weekly 492), influenced by Einstürzende Neubauten, New Blockaders and Metgumbnerbone and on 'Skrankverk' they continue that path. Despite being cut into various tracks, it comes off as one long track. Lots and lots metal rambling, not fast, but slow, maybe even intended to be magickal, ritualistik, I don't know if that's the intention. However they cleverly sometimes use tapeloops of electronic sounds, scratching the barrel and such like which give the whole album a feel that there is more to it than just metal rumbling. I have no idea where these boys are from but me thinks they are from Germany, although there is no evidence to substantiate that claim. There is perhaps not even variation between the pieces nor with previous album, which is too bad, I think. But fans of the more obscure semi-industrial music, along the lines of Cold Meat Industry and Old Europa Café know the drill: they have been alerted to get this. Me, I think it's a fine album, but perhaps a bit too alienated"
- frans de waard, vital weekly #602
"Definitely not a bandname that's easy to remember, which may be different for swedish speakers, but I have to doublecheck for typing errors and wouldn't even dare to pronounce it. The next thing is, do I dare to listen to it? Skrankverk, their third full length release is a very a challenging soundtrack to things mysterious and unpleasant. What's he building in there? as Tom Waits once wondered. Listening to Skrankverk is like being in the dark, only hearing people doing stuff that can't stand the light of day. Obscure business conducted in deep dungeons and you don't dare to close your eyes and imagine which instruments of torture are used exactly, not to mention the danger of what might happen to you if you stop looking. The absence of human voices, except for some heavy breathing, only making it only more scary of its exact nature. The subtle and hazy drones to add atmosphere to the mysterious labour are what should make music of what appears to be a random collection of recorded sounds. Footsteps, dripping water, heavy clunks, rattlings of big cogwheels and chains and overall a suffocating, humid atmosphere. When I put on this album at first this randomness seems too much like holding a mic to some desolate construction site, throwing around some objects and calling that music. but slowly it it sucks you into something darker, like fieldrecordings from the workingsite of in The Penal Colony by Franz Kafka, the one Frank Zappa suggested to read before listening to his 'The Chrome Plated Megaphone of Destiny'. This band from Umeå, Sweden (which features members of the perverse black metal band Woods of Infinity) demands an active imagination and preferably darkness. Without these, the experience may fall flat, but if you have both you're allowed to partake in some occult, cathartic ritual.
- martijn busink, musique machine
"Amazing release. Highly recomended to fans of TNB... with more atmospheric approach."
- dominick fernow, prurient/hospital productions
"NF are the best. So perfectly reserved, but always dynamic. Building detailed acoustics in darkness."
- hum of the druid
"Another PERFECT release from this mysterious swedish project. Incredible sparsely placed organic metal scrapes and chain clanks over great reverbed drones and thunder. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! One of my favorite projects around."
- aaron dilloway
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