Finally, it's re-released
Isaac Fischer | sacramento, ca United States | 04/03/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"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..."
Lustmord is cosmology
The Pitiful Anonymous | the Acres of Skin | 12/24/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"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."
Track Listings (5) - Disc #1