Customer Reviews

All Reflections Drained (Dig)

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While this release was...fairly interesting,and a step up from defective epitaph,even though I personally like defective epitaph very much.It comes with a second disc with alternate and unreleased songs,and it is funny because the 2nd disc is like another release all together.But if you are looking for another Subliminal Genocide or Suicide in Dark Serenity,you will not find that on this.This one is mostly atmosphere and experimentation.It is not bad,just not what I was expecting,but I will never part with it being the Xasthur freak that I am.If you are into Xasthur even a little bit,I do recommend it.But keep an open mind with this one.

NOW ONTO:PORTAL OF SORROW since amazon hasn't even listed it's existence as of yet.

And now that Xasthur is done and gone,yes Malefic called it quits and went out with a bang.He made his own label called Disharmonic Variations.And has released the final Xasthur release entitled...Portal Of Sorrow.Portal Of Sorrow is fitting for a project that decided to end on a high note.This is great,I cannot say enough good things about this release.Picture Lycia,Dead Can Dance,Older era Xasthur,Spooled together with some doom and a soundtrack from a haunting film and this is what you get---->Portal Of Sorrow.As hard as this release is to get,anyone interested in Xasthur NEEDS this in their collection.This is an amazing release,just get it you will not be disappointed.Farewell Malefic,thank you for making extraordinary music all these years for us,good luck on your new adventures.

As I'm an immense fan of anything Wrest, (Leviathan, Lurker of Chalice) I was excited to dig my teeth into Xasthur from the dual discs that these two have pumped out. Right off the bat I'm treated to a funeral-dirge that slightly reminds me of some early out-of-tune Sabbath, culminating into a dark and ambient wash of guitars and noise.

The production quality is what jumps out at me the most on this album, and it really, really hurts it. I know that lo-fi recording techniques are the defacto standard for black metal acts, but most of this album sounds much more like it REALLY WAS recorded in Malefic's basement. In some rare instances this production quality gives way for some really beautifully dark ambient passages.

Right away, fans of Burzum--if you don't already know about Xasthur) should be right at home.

While I find plenty I do like on this record, much of it falls into some atonal categories that really make it sound more like Malefic just doesn't give a crap than supporting some artistic standard. Some of you might love it, but it doesn't hit me in quite the same way I was expecting it to.

My first impression of this album was dull. It left me feeling empty . . . But being as Malefic is, I knew this was how he wanted to express what he expressed - all of these miserable, wretched reflections, posed in perhaps no better way but music.

In all honesty, this has to be his best album, next to "Defective Epitaph" of course.. for he expressed what he wanted to! And although this music may not be for everyone, it should be judged for its excellently produced wretchedness as it has so achieved.

In all, it will leave you thoroughly miserable and rotting . . . and I'm sure this isn't beyond or below his intentions.

It is a masterpiece for what it is.

All reflections drained.

Last Spring Scott (Malefic) Conner decided to terminate the Xasthur project citing a lack of interest in the genre of "black metal" and a desire to move onto different things. All Reflections Drained, while not the final Xasthur release, already showed signs that Scott was moving towards something quite different. This release is only "black metal" in the sense that there are still black metal-like vocals and a few songs that are structured like previous Xasthur songs. Other than that, All Reflections Drained is quite different from all of the previous Xasthur releases. Some people have said that it is not as strong as previous releases. Well, I feel that this is a good, solid release. Much better than the previous one, Defective Epitaph, which I felt was caught somewhere between the two worlds of the new Xasthur and the older, much more "black metal" orientated Xasthur. The only weak point of All Reflections Drained, unfortunately, is the production. It plays out like a concept record in which each song blends into the other with ambient interludes. However, the production is so weak (even by Xasthur standards) that it hurts the record immensely. The drums literally sound like cardboard boxes. There are a lot of interesting ideas here nonetheless, so it's easy to sometimes simply overlook the bad production.

If anything, All Reflections Drained shows that Scott has the ability and the range to expand way beyond the confines of just being in a "black metal" band. I say go for it, Scott!