The Place Where the Black Stars Hang

Lustmord

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 16, 2007)
• Original Release Date: July 16, 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Soleilmoon
• ASIN: B000GCGAOW
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #112,485 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Track Listings

1. Sol Om On

2. Aldebaran Of The Hyades

3. Dark Companion

4. Metastatic Resonance

5. Dog Star Descends

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

"The Place Where the Black Stars Hang" was first released in 1994 on Side Effects, via Soleilmoon and while the earlier Lustmord album "Heresy" (Soleilmoon) gave birth to the "dark ambient" genre, it is "The Place Where the Black Stars Hang" that defines it. It's a work regularly cited by critics, audiences and musicians as being amongst the very best and most influential albums of its decade . "Black Stars" has been unavailable since 2002. It has been re-mastered and given new artwork for this edition. The differences are subtle yet powerful, giving the album a more nuanced feeling of space and detail than ever before. Based on recognition established through recordings such as "Black Stars", Brian Williams, the man who is Lustmord, went on to provide music and sound design for numerous major motion pictures, with credits on over 40, including The Crow, The Negotiator, Pitch Black, The Saint and Underworld. He has also since scored music for video games and television, and provided sound design for commercials, including Nike and Budweiser. His resume includes work with Tool, Melvins, Chris & Cosey, Coil, Paul Haslinger (Tangerine Dream), SPK, Robert Rich, Current 93 and Nurse with Wound. He has done remixes for Jarboe (Swans), Venetian Snares, Lori Carson, Tool and Mortiis. From 1985 until 1999 he ran Side Effects Records, the label launched by SPK, releasing more than 30 albums. As Lustmord he has released 11 albums since 1981. Oft imitated, but never equaled, Lustmord: The Power of Sound.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars finally, it's re-released, April 3, 2007

By	Isaac Fischer (sacramento, ca United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

This is one of my favorite dark-ambient albums. Dark ambient is hard to describe. It is nothing, and I mean NOTHING, like the ambient elevator music (which is generally crap) we've all heard. This is music that is done on a synthesizer, but other than that, there's no similiarity. There is no percussion in this music and it is more just gentle sounds that are sort of rythmic and hypnotyzing. If you're new to this genre, I would get Selected Ambient Works, Volume 2, by Aphex Twin before getting this album, as it is a little more accessible. Not to say that's it's better, just an easier primer to dark ambient. This is the music I listen to when I really need to focus on something. Do not expect the simple melodies that are in all the other music we all listen to. These are "soundscapes," which are very different. There is a "melody" but it is complex and much more subtle. Another transitional album to help you get to the right place would be Stalker by Robert Rich and Lustmord. As far as Stars is concerned, trust me, this is like nothing you've heard before and its very exciting that they are re-releasing it as the album has been near impossible to find...

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lustmord is cosmology, December 24, 2007

By	The Pitiful Anonymous "Mazaro" (the Acres of Skin) - See all my reviews

Do me a favor. Put this album on in a dark room, and just sit and think. Lustmord is here to put you in your place... to help you realize the vastness of the universe; the degree to which it is unknown, the degree to which we can't understand it. He does this with a beautifully spacial but intentionally limited sound vocabulary. This is classic, vintage Lustmord, full of his trademark 'whooshing' sounds and windy resonations... little abrasion or sonic clarity of any kind. The progressions of the pieces themselves are slow, simple and repetitive, yet everything about this album screams 'big'. It feels like nature... unsympathetic, but not hostile. A very meditative mood.

Calling this album part of the "dark ambient" genre is kind an odd choice in my mind. "The Place Where the Black Stars Hang" is neither negative nor positive. It will not scare you the way the Robert Rich collaboration "Stalker" or the more recent "Zoetrope" would. It's simply a canvas for existential and cosmological thoughts. It inspires creativity.

"Metastatic Resonance" is my favorite track from here for its heavenly whistling brilliance. However, all the pieces are wonderful. The original version of this album was all one track, and I feel that's the only way to listen to it... as a single, long-form composition. "Aldebaran of the Hyades" is a close second. It feels like standing in the house of God.

"The Place Where the Black Stars Hang" is a great introduction to Lustmord, and ambient music in general. Recommended for anyone with a taste for transcendental or spiritual experiences and a little patience.

I wouldn't buy it here on Amazon, it's more expensive than it has to be. I'd buy it from the Soleilmoon label (just Google it) in the newly remastered edition.