This is a two disc CDR set on Somnambulant Corpse Recordings, a Redmond Washington-based imprint packed in a DVD-style case. Ellende (misery in Dutch) is a Tokyo-based collective that has been around the pasture for some fifteen years and who release very alarming dark ambient material ala Nurse With Wound, Maeror Tri, Zoviet France and the like. This band, of which two of the founding five members have passed, use corrugated vocals, partially recycled (and a bit rusty) metallic sounds and lots of primordial poltergeists and hazy aberrations. Most of their concepts are based on writings by Wim Bontjes, one of Ellende’s former members. Damaged… is a depiction of the sixth dimension. Its grays are radiant and its hollows are full-bodied. There are earthy moments that become distressed, elongated and simply soused – but all the while the dramatic undercurrents in the work are truly realized in episodic style. The disc cover’s empty-eyed doll figurines by Ryoichi Yoshida recall works by Hans Bellmer, or even Chawky Frenn, and fully illustrate the medievalist wicked contents. These could be short stories of the undead, or a channeling of spirits – it is definitely a collection of thrilling soundtracks.
