Black Ice 9 - Hall of the Serpent Lord

Hear The Track Here

Brand new electronica name to me, Black Ice 9 is an American musician who seems to specialise in Game Soundtracks (Ed: oh dear). Now before my editor starts chopping my review into peices, let me state quite simply that I fekkin hate ANY kind of soundtrack; whether it be be film, tv or videogame. I just can't see the point. Yes, I love sound film scores and even some game scores but if I were sitting down to an extended playlist session the very last thing I would be loading up are tracks of this type. I rather be playing the game/watching the film etc.

Ahh, but I am a well known philistine in this respect. (Ed: got that right Gilmore)

My heart sunk to my boots when - while downloading the track - I happened to glance at the song comments. 'Track 4 in my series of compositions fusing dark electronic and cinematic/soundtrack elements based on an epic fantasy theme' it chortled gleefully as if this could possibly be thought of as a good thing. Mind you, I do like dark electronica, have a very pronounced taste for it even, so even I could have something else to hang onto. As it happened I might as well not worked myself into a snit, I should have just plonked the track on there and then. Then I would have discovered that - no matter how huge my misgivings - assumptions are for assholes.

Truth is, Hall Of The Serpent Lord is an excellent, extremely well realised slice of the darkest electronica, well produced, well performed and very well stitched together. As it happens I am familiar with some of the sounds used on this track because it wanders into my territory with some excellent Middle Eastern touches that give the counterpoint to the dark layer it sits on. Not sure why BI9 visualises fantasy images with this track because I get deserts, extreme heat and huge horizons. There again, it could be the desert planet Tatooine (Star Wars, doncha know) I have just spent two hours watching with my kids. Whichever one it is, this is a track to savour.

Excellent blend of electronica, dark huge and mysterious. MUST HAVE.