CD, The Eastern Frong, 2007
www.myspace.com/bleiburg
If you’re looking for an amalgam of the bizarre, Bleiburg’s “Way of Crosses” is exactly what you need. At times militaristic, often bombastic, but always atmospheric, this record veers across genre borders resulting in a celebration of dark diversity. It’s minimal, it’s confrontational and more than a little frightening in its intensity, but it’s also quite sublime.
From the crushing, repetitive drums of “Advocatus Dei” (featuring guest artist Larrnakh) and practically diametrically opposed delicate organ melody of “O Sacrum Convivium”, through the trance-like buildup of “Gebirge, See, Flachland, Spree”, to the neo-folk inspired “Križni Put” and culminating finally in the almost whimsical “Shadows Will Survive”, this album never fails to surprise. “Way of Crosses” may not deliver any club singles packed with electro-inspired dancefloor beats, but as a single entity, it is a thing of beauty – both musical and mystical. And I believe that’s exactly what producer/composer S Rukavina, the creative spirit behind Bleiburg, hoped to achieve here.
Personally, I can think of very little else that compares with this; there are brief moments where connections can be made to artists like Will, Frontline Assembly’s symphonic alter ego, but without warning I find myself put in mind of such disparate influences as Leonard Cohen, or even Wagnerian operas, thereby obliterating any hope of confining Bleiburg to any single classification.
I can find nothing negative in the musical content of this disc – but I found the presentation of such a profound item of creativity to be severely lacking. The quality of the artwork and the format both could benefit with better, more sensitive, art direction, as befits the music
[8/10]
— David vander Merwe