RAISON D'ETRE

Raison D’etre is Peter Andersson’s best-known music project. Formed in 1991, Raison is used as a tool of expression, with the ultimate goal being one of self-realization. Over the past decade, Andersson has assembled several tapes and eight CD releases of overwhelming dark ambient industrial landscapes that combine opposite sides of the mood spectrum – The sounds of great beauty and deep sorrow meet head on within the musical world of Raison D’etre. The inspirational flow of the music never seems to run dry, and from the first release that was ‘Prospectus I’ onwards, the sound has evolved and been refined into what it is today – Haunting, eerie, dark and foreboding electronically created soundscapes and sound collages, crafted using all the electronic tools of the trade, including deep, thunderous and distant percussion, Gregorian chants, heavenly choirs and all manner of ghostly samples and effects that add subtle intensity to the finished pieces. Some of the environments created are more orchestral sounding, with sustained strings, bells and Gregorian choirs bringing some semblance of light to the deep darkness of the drones of the industrial wasteland ambiences. Raison D’etre has the ability to incorporate the most contradictory elements into an imaginative realm of drama and splendid unity. This is Gothic atmospheric music that’s in a ‘world’ in itself, where the dark choral textures evoke images of vast open spaces at one moment, then huge spirit ridden rooms in old, ruined mansions the next. There are sounds like giant wooden doors shutting in some dark gothic castle, and others that feature the strains of distant siren-like choral female voices wafting overhead. This is medieval, majestic, time-travelling music, that flows through the airwaves under a canopy of multi-textured fogbanks of keyboards percussion and all manner of sampled effects with vast seas of breathtaking, treated choral voices everywhere. This is where the dark skies of Europe replace the blue desert skies of America in the world of cosmic/ethereal music, and the best place to start for the Raison D’etre novice is ‘Empty Hollow Unfolds’.

This album largely drops the drums from the soundstage, but it will still delight existing fans and must surely be the best place to start for people unfamiliar with the dark, gothic, synth/samples/bass/effects – laden, multi-layered soundscapes that are the trademark of what has become the leader of instrumental dark-wave music. Throughout the 5 amazing tracks you get the full works: towering slabs of keyboard sounds, string synths, deep rumbling bass, rich choral effects, Gregorian chants, strong eerie textures and ethereal samples that rise up from the depths. At one point it all becomes pretty celestial and ghostly, then it wells up to form mighty webs of sound that flow and soar, still with the dark air of cloudy skies and huge black fortresses well to the forefront of the mind’s eye. This has to be one of (if not THE finest) Raison D'etre albums to date – fifty-three minutes of absolute essential listening for all fans of the dark-wave genre, and for anyone who has not yet explored the ghostly atmospheric delights of real dark-wave electronic music before… try this one and experience the earth shattering depths it reaches!

483108
Weight: 150.00 g

The final twenty-seven minutes of this album are totally breathtakingly beautiful, but all that goes before is also pretty damned engaging too. 7 mostly lengthy haunting industrial panoramic soundscapes take you off into a gothic ‘other world’ with base elements of huge, grandiose symphonic synth layers, haunting, spacey keyboard textures, heavenly choral voices, some Gregorian chanting and thunderous, but well controlled percussion. The atmospheres created are magical to say the least, and musically often encroach on the cosmic space occupied by the likes of early 1970's Tangerine Dream - The title uses the word 'Enthralled', and enthralled you will surely be!

498362
Weight: 150.00 g

Click here for more product information

This is the 4th Raison D’etre album and it's just brilliant, taking the ideas exhibited on the previous three releases up on to an altogether higher musical plane. All the vital Raison elements are present throughout all 6 tracks: thick, misty atmospheric synth layers with rumbling electronic thunder, booming bass currents, dark & haunting chorals, distant Gregorian voices, scary electronic effects, drums and percussion. It is a multi-layered collage of symphonic splendour, featuring huge, but distant soundscapes and effects that, for example, can sound like giant wooden doors shutting in some dark gothic castle, with the strains of distant siren-like choral female voice wafting overhead. This is medieval and majestic, time-travelling music that flows through the airwaves under a canopy of multi-textured fogbanks of synths, keyboards and other sampled effects with vast seas of treated choral voices that are just breathtaking.

676200
Weight: 150.00 g

Click here for more product information

Opening with distant synth choirs and sampled voices that are way distant in the mix, the sounds of tumbling drums, vast string synth layers and underlying bass rumbles all converge to give a cavernous effect to the vast sound this band create. Sounds then proceeds to peel away, layer-by-layer, leaving just the bass and synth choir roots set to some echoed percussion bursts in the background. Then for the remainder of the album, the dark, brooding mix of gothic synth layers and textures can be heard to full effect, sometimes adding extra percussive layers without resorting to a traditional rhythm base. As with all other Raison D’etre albums, endless panoramas of keyboards and sampled choirs form the musical heart of this album – The music is both grand and beautiful, not to mention the fact that it is spiritually uplifting as well, whilst all the time, those visions of towering medieval castles run by evil barons, and dark isolated treeless wastelands come to mind. With a much louder set of tracks than ‘Enthralled’ and ‘Within’ has, ‘Prospectus’ is every bit as good as either of these CD’s, and, in essence, if you like any one of the three, you will also like the other two, and no mistake. All Raison D’etre albums are positively unique in the world of synth based cosmic music - the sort of thing you will play to death for years to come.

236362
Weight: 150.00 g

8 tracks from this album can be found on the rare tape release: 'Conspectus', but 5 previously unreleased tracks have been added for this fifty-minute CD release. It contains the first works by Raison D'etre created back in 1991 and these tracks have been reworked in 1994 and 1997 to obtain the most superior sound quality available. Musically, the CD features Raison’s trademark dark, gothic, booming symphonic soundscapes, but there are a couple of altogether moodier pieces included, with even more textures and layers added from a veritable sea of synths, choirs, slow drums, deep bass, samples and other electronic devices. The towering blackness of the core industrial gothic sound is never far away, but occasionally it does rise from the bleak, dark landscapes in normally presents, up on to a lighter plateau of orchestral symphonic sounds, where the string samples ring out amid the hail of dense, resonant undercurrents of bass and dark percussion effects. This mix of flowing textures and layers is always consistent within Raison D'etre’s huge panoramic soundscapes, maintaining an eerie, mysterious quality throughout each track, with plenty of creative ideas always flooding through. Initially, this one is moodier than most, but it soon develops into an absolutely mind-blowing spacey style industrial album.

695923
Weight: 150.00 g

Multi-textured male and female voices sing in a choral, wordless fashion over slowly advancing streams of strings and the thunderous distant bass rumbles that are embedded deep in the heart of each track. The music is all extremely gothic and atmospheric, and somehow becomes a ‘world’ in itself when the album is playing. The 8 tracks vary around four to ten minutes a piece playing time and each features that style of deep dark choral textures that evoke images of vast open spaces at one moment, then huge rooms in old, dark castles the next - all incredibly atmospheric and very spacey. This really is where the dark skies of Europe replace the blue desert skies of the States in the world of cosmic music.

456558
Weight: 150.00 g

Click here for more product information

All tracks previously unreleased and a fantastic set of music from In Slaughter Natives, Puissance, Arcana, Mortiis, Raison D'etre, Deutsch Nepal, Archon Satani, Ildfrost, Cintecele Diavolui and many more, and with a 135 minute total playing time playing time, it’s real value for money.

680359
Weight: 250.00 g

This idea behind this CD is great - Gather together all the groups and projects in which Scandinavian musical genius Peter Andersson has had a hand in working, and you will find a rich and diverse set of material ranging from harsh electronics to flowing soundscapes and richly textured gothic layers, from groups of the calibre of Stratum Terror, Raison D’etre, Atomine Elektrine, Necrophorus and more.

653620
Weight: 150.00 g

Nearly 150 minutes of mostly previously unreleased recordings (on CD) from the Raison D'etre archives, as well as some tracks from the available albums, making it an indispensable and value-for-money package for both fans and those not yet into the awesome musical world of this fantastic Gothic electronic music artist. Only 5 of the 30 tracks have been taken from a previously released album while the rest are all rarities – There are tracks from tape-only releases and tracks from CD compilations here, all providing a huge range of music that would take days to review in detail. If you have a fascination for huge production, music that conjures images of gothic castles, fog over the marshes, dark rooms, unnerving nights wandering through dark passages, refuge from the threatening world outside in front of a roaring log fire, and so on, or just music that transfixes you with layers of keyboard and synth textures, dark gothic choral passages, electronics, percussion, samples and beyond, plus a sense of vast space and time, then Raison D'etre is for you.

483107
Weight: 250.00 g