Desiderii Marginis – Strife (2004)

Stealing the spotlight for this week’s rather arbitrary choice of music slab is the one man ‘band’ (and I say this lightly, mind you) Desiderii Marginis, an entity solely composed of ONE man (duhh), by the name of Johan Levin, who has been proudly releasing material under this moniker since 1993. I personally discovered D.M at about the time this album was released and it was also the first ambient recording I ever listened to, so it’s safe to say it had a terrible impact on me (on the good side of terrible, that is). 

I said ambient, didn’t I? Well that would be the simple way to look at D.M.’s offerings; a more complicated explanation would be that it resembles Chester’s choices of music that sounds like bears fighting with trash cans inside an electrified cage, only slowed down to the point that you can actually approach the bears, tap one on the shoulder and say “Herp derp, buddy bear, mind if I join the ruckus? ”

Non-serious rambling set aside, Strife is an album that holds only eight tracks, each and every one of them taking on the form of an apocalyptic soundtrack to modern life, ranging from the dramatic crescendos on Blackout, to melting your ears with repetitive_ machinery_ sounds_ that_ melt_ your_ ears on A Failure at Liberty, rushing (more or less) rapidly through the mine inflicted terrain and bomb runs on Nightraid and finally opting for a sojourn in which you become a witness to apotheosis in the final track, The Sweet Hereafter (and what a perfect name it takes on).

Boy, was that a mouthful. But the rest is up to you to discover, since I’m not really the one to give too many spoilers. So find it, listen to it, get all wrapped up in the drone infested atmosphere and finally come back and tell me what a great recommendation this was. WORD.

Pros: everything

Cons: nothing

Highlights:  Blackout, Deceit, The Sweet Hereafter

Rating: 10 (Yes, I’m not afraid to say it, I can’t fault this album, try as I might. It just IS that good in its genre.)

Track List:

1. Forlorn Pt 2
2. Blackout
3. A Failure At Liberty
4. From Glory To Where
5. In A Nameless Place
6. Deceit
7. Nightraid
8. The Sweet Hereafter

 

P.S: This was, by far, the most listened to piece of music that I used while I was studying for my exams. I used to get up at 3 or 4 AM and do a final revision for whatever a subject matter, put my headphones on and set Strife on repeat while I read my notes. I guess that says something about the album (or about the fact that I’m a complete weirdo, but there’s no spoiler here).
 

Once again, enjoy!