Ordo Equilibrio
Reaping the Fallen... The First Harvest

From as far back as 1995 comes this "Reaping The Fallen...The First Harvest," the debut work of the Swedish duo Ordo Equilibrio, currently active as Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio. I remember with immense nostalgia that time when I accidentally discovered the existence of "truly" dark music, capable of transporting the listener into the most terrifying depths of the soul, a new musical movement brought to the forefront by the Cold Meat Industry, a Swedish label active since the '80s and led by the charismatic and insane Roger Karmanik, the mind behind the extremely violent noise/industrial project Brighter Death Now. The releases from this label were all characterized by an elegantly and carefully crafted graphic design that alone was mouthwatering, and often supported by the "musical" (in a metaphorical sense) quality of the projects, making every Cold Meat CD a true collector's item...those were the days!

Unfortunately, as always happens, even this musical trend has long since become saturated, and Cold Meat now churns out an endless number of CDs in which the glory of the past is hardly traceable...anyway, let's get to the sound matter. I must admit that when this CD reached me (I had ordered it by mail because they were not easily available products), I was at the beginning of my journey into "dark" music (up until then, I had fed exclusively on metal in almost all its forms, especially death and black), and after listening to it with headphones while comfortably lying on my bed, I was overwhelmed with the irrepressible desire to get rid of it, but not because I didn't appreciate it. The reason was that I was AFRAID, yes, I was terrified by the atmosphere of that record. In a cold state of mind, I analyzed the situation afterward, listened to the CD several more times, and began to grow familiar with those sounds, began to fall in love with them...the entire disc is saturated with morbidity, perversion, illness, but all of it is not rendered with violence (and this is the beauty), the atmosphere is muffled, it's intimate, everything is very "warm."

Absolutely don't search for musical technique within this CD (and generally within almost all products akin to this); what counts here are the emotions described above, which envelop you and at times seem to suffocate you, but with gentleness, with love. It ranges from markedly Dark Ambient episodes to extremely simple acoustic ballads but with disarming morbidity. Here and there are sado/erotic moments (see also the images of the splendid artwork) or ill-advised invocations to flaming entities. The title track, above all, stands out for having truly chilling moments!

Ultimately, it is recommended, obviously for enthusiasts of the genre, to "possess" this cult disc, definitely the best episode of the Ordo Equilibrio saga.