Archived Reviews

Artist
Letum
Title
Broken
Format/Cat
CD cmi159
Label:
Cold Meat Industry
Style
dark ambient
Date of review
22 September 2006
Reviewer
Anya Hastwell
Rating
7.5/10
A Letum is apparently, a 'creature that lives in the Underworld. The name means 'death''. It's always good to know what you're dealing with before you open the complimentary can of worms ... especially as the CD copy tells the listener very little about who Letum are, and doesn't provide a website address, I should stick with the above definition and be done with it.

This CD begins with what sounds uncannily like one of monsters from the all-new Doctor Who, possibly Slitheen. Sadly, this is not a good thing, unless you have the delectable David Tennant whisking you off to the extreme ends of the galaxy going with it. "Broken" sounds quite cinematic though, it could be the background music for many a chiller or sci-fi film. This is the equivalent of a Goth chill-out album, or for those moments at the Slimelight when it's just too fogged up with dry-ice to see your hand in front of your face and only some gentle swaying from side to side will do.

It dawns on me listening to this that it is an instrumental album. "Betrayed" begins with a clatter that made me think for a split second that some dishes had been thrown in the kitchen. This is surely music to scare the cat with, or perhaps the paperboy first thing in the morning. Discordant; abstract and somewhat dishevelled, this would be ideal to play at around 11.30pm at pub closing time; clear-outs would never be quicker.

If I were a university film student making an amateur, low-budget film, this would be the soundtrack I'd use. Chiming church bells, thunder, and rain all clatter in the cacophony. It would also be perfect Goth coffee-table music when at a dinner party; a Hallowe'en round of 'wink-murder', 'Murder in the dark' or any other of those jolly Autumnal games that we do at this time of the year.

I wouldn't listen to it on my iPod when walking home in the dark as even I get scared sometimes; but then I don't have an iPod anyway.