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Forgotten Realm

by Hall of Mirrors

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1.
The Crossing 17:55
2.
3.
4.
5.
The Fortress 13:55

about

Second 'chapter' in the Hall of Mirrors saga, a project that hides the fervid minds of Giuseppe Verticchio/Nimh and Andrea Marutti/Amon. On this release they're supported by Andrea Freschi (Subinterior, Konau...) and Andrea Ferraris (Ur, Sil Muir...), who gave their contribute with additional sound sources.

Another long and fascinating journey among the ruins of lost and ancient civilizations, among desolate landscapes forgotten by time...

To enrich the already busy electronic stratifications, among slowly evolving ambient sonorities and occasional parts of more sharp and 'rough' elements of a Post-Industrial nature, we also find the suggestive sound of reverberating flutes and dilated electric guitar parts, ending with delicate melodic arpeggios and evocative rhythmic accents of a vague cinematic taste.

The adventure goes on...

(label press release)

Published by Silentes Minimal Editions, sme 0927
store.silentes.it

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"Forgotten Realm is the second album published by the duo Andrea Marutti (Never Known, Amon, Sil Muir) and Giuseppe Verticchio (Nimh) under the project name Hall of Mirrors. In this new release, they are seconded by guest musicians Andrea Freschi and Andrea Ferraris who provided some field recordings and some guitar parts. If their first offering was a shadowy heavily lugubrious atmospheric ambient manifest (made of static, ferocious, muted dreamscapes), "Forgotten Realm" is much more a primal-alchemical music procession that could be nocturnal hyms to the genesis, to the ancient time. Consequently the dynamic dronescapes and textural electronic waves are profundly expressive and intuitively beatific. The serene and deeply absorbing ethno-electronic pieces are stylistically close to the most ascentional synthesized works by Alio Die, Vidna Obmana, Harold Budd (...) but with much more emphasise on nocturnal motives. Thus it is less luminous and most vertiginous with a constant association to mnemonic traces, fractured living memories and melancholic visions. The opening track is an organic classic ambient piece with long chordal dronespheres. "Gates of Namathur" partly uses acoustic instruments that seem to flow in a magic worship. "Decadent Splendour" is a moody-funereal sanctified music ritual for echoing guitar chords and foggy harsh noises. This is among my favourites, the perfect way to experience contemplative ecstasy through music. "Among the Ruins" is a detached soundscape that connects us to some other worlds. The atmosphere is progressively charged with some kind of high tension including buzzing noises and doom like feelings. During the last minutes we go back to the heavenly origins with superb acoustic flute lines. The album closes with an utterly dark and primordial synthscape, admitting hermetic cyclical melodies into it and guitar epic dreaminess. "Forgotten Realm" is a voluptuous-essential vertical trip in cristal like spheres and lost paradises."

Philippe Blache, Prog Archives, January 2010

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"A hall of mirrors is a house of doubt, erected for the specific purpose of disarraying the senses – which image is the substantial one? Andrea Marutti (as Amon) and Giuseppe Verticchio (as Nimh) have teamed up before for the album "Sator" and once previously as Hall of Mirrors. For this perfectly balanced third collaboration, they have chosen to work closely with veteran Andrea Freschi and Andrea Ferraris, Marutti's partner in Sil Muir, just as they did with the lesser-known Guilio Biaggi and Daniela Gherardi on the first Hall of Mirrors album, "Reflections On Black". Arranged in five, grand audio frescoes, they convey a mixed message in combining clearly Buddhist and southeast Asian inspired iconography with the grimy, almost entirely abandoned ambience of urban gray zones. A mixed message which can be very attractive in its ambivalence, like the lone Thai flute being blown against a distant hiss and hum of heavy machinery losing momentum on "Gates of Namathur". It is as if nature, having given way to civilization, which exploited it until exhausted, is being reconsecrated and reclaimed. A light-hearted guitar coda recurs on the final track, broadcasting optimism and rejuvenation. This is how Hall of Mirrors sows doubt and thus dimension in its music - does this music grieve or celebrate?"

Stephen Fruitman, Sonomu, April 2011

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"Andrea Marutti (also of Amon and Never Known) and Giuseppe Verticchio (of Nimh) are the Italian duo behind this project. "Forgotten Realm" is their second album. Through the five tracks on offer here Marutti and Verticchio shift from disturbing dark ambient to intense and post industrial drones. The titles of the five tracks suggest that they are taking us as tourists through the forgotten realm that they had built. From the ominous track "The Crossing", through "Gates of Namathur", "Among the Ruins" and finally to "The Fortress", the buildup of the music grows more and more intense. On the track "Among the Ruins" the listeners are being drowned inside metallic, post-industrial feed-back and drones, drilling through one's head until it is hard to remember a few sonic steps back. On earlier tracks, all we could hear was vague ambient rustle, followed by tense, yet soft guitars. Whatever the atmosphere is, Hall of mirrors keeps it musically interesting and highly professional. Further listens to the album reveal more sonic details. Hall of Mirrors are smart enough to be too harsh to fall into the Dark ambient genre and too dynamic to be simplified as a drone act. Instead, this album offers you a wide variety of perspective over a dark landscape that Marutti and Verticchio are excavating."

Oren Ben-Yosef, Musique Machine, September 2010

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credits

released December 10, 2009

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1. The Crossing [17:55]
Andrea Marutti: samples, turntable, treatments, audio montage
Giuseppe Verticchio: guitar, samples, effects, audio montage
Andrea Freschi: field recordings, treatments

2. Gates of Namathur [13:50]
Andrea Marutti: synthesizers, samples, effects, treatments, audio montage
Giuseppe Verticchio: khlui (thai flute), effects, audio montage
Andrea Freschi: field recordings, treatments

3. Decadent Splendour [12:53]
Andrea Marutti: analogue synthesizers, samples, effects, treatments, audio montage
Giuseppe Verticchio: guitar, synthesizers, didjeridoo, effects, audio montage
Andrea Ferraris: transfigured guitar, samples, treatments
Andrea Freschi: field recordings, treatments

4. Among the Ruins [12:05]
Andrea Marutti: synthesizers, samples, treatments, audio montage
Giuseppe Verticchio: synthesizers, field recordings, voice, effects, audio montage
Andrea Ferraris: guitar, samples, effects

5. The Fortress [13:55]
Andrea Marutti: analogue synthesizers, samples, effects, audio montage
Giuseppe Verticchio: guitar, synthesizers, sequencing, effects, audio montage
Andrea Ferraris: transfigured guitar, effects

Composed, performed and recorded between May and October 2007 in Milan,
Rome and Casaline (AQ), Italy.
Mastered in October 2007 by Giuseppe Verticchio.
Pictures by Enrico Verticchio, artwork by Andrea Marutti / Afe Creative Laboratories.
Special thanks to Daniela Gherardi, Philippe Blache and Stefano Gentile.

www.andreamarutti.com
www.oltreilsuono.com/nimh

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about

Hall of Mirrors Italy

HOM is a music project founded by Andrea Marutti (Amon) and Giuseppe Verticchio (Nimh) in 2005. During the years they have used many collaborators, but on their latest CD "When Only Shades Remain" they decided to go alone. HOM combine Dark ambient sounds with ethnic-ritual elements, often crossing noisy territories and Industrial music, but also developing Ambient and calmer/melodic atmospheres. ... more

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