CoC : Nightmare Lodge - Blind Miniatures : Review

Nightmare Lodge - _Blind Miniatures_
(Red Stream, 1999)
by: Aaron McKay (4 out of 10)

Kind of a snoozer here, fellow metal devotees. I am reminded during most of Nightmare Lodge's forty-eight minutes of watered-down, techno-influenced, ethereal keyboard menagerie of what my girlfriend might delicately place in the CD player to provide some background distraction while touching-up her makeup for some required Woody Allen film festival. As an (unfair) basis for comparison, however to simply provide all reading this with some kind of a working knowledge of Nightmare Lodge's style, to a much lesser degree, as I am a magnificent supporter of Mortiis, _BM_ would put the listener in mind of one of the two tracks off of _Fodt till a Herske_. As I said, comparing Nightmare Lodge to Mortiis would roughly be the equivalent of saying Kingdom Come is like Led Zeppelin. The statement, however remote, is true, but almost laughable, at the same time. Let me share my thoughts on the four points that Nightmare Lodge earned. The first attribute (worth two points, for those keeping score) being that David Gilmour explained once, and I'll paraphrase this, that as long as music of any kind is accomplishing its goal by making someone happy, it is worthwhile. The second attribute (worth the remaining two points) lies in the fact that this release is most certainly, as Nightmare Lodge is described, full of "haunting passages of subdued and quiet minimal soundscapes". There is a lot to be said for describing a band on such a vivid word-picture canvas. Still, this doesn't change the fact that I wouldn't put this CD on while slammin' a cool one down waitin' for Slayer tickets to go on sale. Probably sleep right through 'till the following morning...

(article published 15/6/1999)