Le Mur: Exorta

2018 has been quite the year for trippy music. It seems the albums keep on coming and the latest in the cue is the German band Le Mur and their third album titled Exorta. The band formed in Bochum/Oberhausen, Germany in 2007 and released their debut Tenebris in 2012 followed by Silentia Nova in 2013. This brings us to the their latest effort marking the end of the trilogy.

I must confess to never having heard the band before and the prospects seemed quite intriguing. They label their music as “heavy dark trip rock� and I certainly won’t argue with this. Also of note the album was mixed by EROC, a German legend in the Kraut rock scene.

The disc begins with the very interesting “O.M.E.N. ��" Towards the End�. Big distorting droning sounds breaks into gentle acoustic guitar before clean electric and a grooving bass line are set free. The music gets really spacey when vibrating blasts of synths and spaced out guitar weave through the soundscape. The nine plus minute “Die Nacht der Lemuren (Teil 1)� starts with a fuzzy and distorted guitar which I really like. The bad part is the screaming vocals which I didn’t care for at all. The good part is the song is mostly instrumental and long enough to meander along different paths. Excellent organ, echoing guitar chords and wonderful saxophone fills in the rest. The song’s loose structure makes this a challenging yet productive listen. “Our Doom� begins with harsh synth tones traversing a doomy bass rhythms and monotone half sung/half spoken vocals. The vibe here is pretty gloomy but still a good track. More unconventionality can be heard on “These Symptoms are Temporary� beginning with a distorted guitar motif that returns throughout the track. A pretty cool beat and bass line forms the backbone that occasionally stops so the guitar distortion can be fully realized. The disc ends with “O.M.E.N. ��" Arisen�, one of the trippier tunes with creepy monotone vocals and instrumentation to match creating an unsettling sound palette. It’s a slow tune with some nice bass and electric guitar intertwining as well. The minimalist song structure makes this quite a gripping listen.

For those into the Kraut rock sound there should be plenty to enjoy here. If not, you might find this a difficult listen. Check out some samples to see if this one is for you.

Track Listing:
1. O.M.E.N. ��" Towards the End (3:18)
2. Die Nacht der Lemuren (Teil 1) (9:25)
3. (Intro) The Broken Pieces of…(3:55)
First Piece: Fields of Misery
Second Piece: Broken
Third Piece: Intro From the Past
4. Our Doom (6:09)
5. These Symptoms are Temporary (8:19)
6. Exorta (8:01)
7. O.M.E.N. ��" Arisen (8:00)

Added: December 6th 2018
Reviewer: Jon Neudorf
Score:
Related Link: Band On Bandcamp
Hits: 970
Language: english

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