Reviews:

From Side-Line: (by PL)

  Deadwood is the solo project of Swedish dark ambient/death noise musician Daniel Jansson. Three years in the making, "Ramblack" was recorded between 2006 and 2008 using synths, computers, guitar, distortion pedals, contact mics and field recordings. Darker than the depths of the deepest chasm, this 53 minute album is drenched in swathes of droning texture from the deeply atmospheric opener 'Deteriorate' through the abrasively demonic 'Null And Void' and on to the huge distorted mechanical rhythms and howling guitars of 'Ordo Infernal', the mood is kept tense and dark throughout. Constantly undulating and restless, each track screams and howls its own tortured story. Although generally grinding, layered and slightly abrasive, at times Jansson strips back the grating industrial grind to reveal the dark ambient underbelly of his work. When he does this, his work remains dark and disturbing but takes on a more emotive quality that isn't immediately obvious otherwise. Processed voices scream and taunt from within the swirling maelstrom of noisy droning layers like a demon calling from the depths. "Ramblack" is a very dark, dense album with layers of noise interacting with each other to form a slowly undulating, heaving mass of industrial drone coupled with the growling voice of the demon within. A well constructed album of intentionally dark and disturbing textures.

From Medienkonverter: (by Veit)

  Vor knapp 3 Jahren erschien das Projekt Deadwood auf der Bildfläche und zeigte mal wieder, dass die Skandinavier einfach für düstere Musik, in diesem Fall Death Electronics, prädestiniert sind und das Industrial und Noise gar nicht so weit von Death oder Black Metal entfernt sein müssen. Deadwood-Mastermind Daniel Jansson hat auch schon selbst für die Black Metal Band Blodulv hinter dem Mikro gestanden. Aber das wissen wir ja bereits.

   Nun ein neues Album also. "Ramblack" heißt es. Die Informationen des Labels zu diesem Release machen einem ganz schön den Mund wässrig. Da ist von 'Gebeten von Dämonen' und 'Schreien von Engeln' die Rede und man lobt das Kranke dieser Platte in den höchsten Tönen. Das Label Cold Spring scheint es damit durchaus ernst zu meinen, denn schließlich hat man dem Album auch eine limitierte Vinyl-Version zur Seite gestellt.

   Derart neugierig gemacht, stürzt man sich mit Vergnügen in dieses tiefschwarze und verstörende Abenteuer, wo man erst einmal von "Deteriorate" mit sanften Störgeräuschen in Empfang genommen wird. Ab "Null And Void" bricht dann das Chaos aus. Da wird in die elektronisch angeschlossene Klampfe geschlagen und gebrüllt, was das Zeug hält. Alles natürlich schön verzerrt und mit Noise verfeinert. Nichts für den Volksmusik-Fan, aber auch für geübte Ohren eine kleine Herausforderung.

  So geht es dann auch weiter, in verschiedenen Intensitäten, mit mehr oder weniger verständlichen bzw. unverständlichen Vocals. So schwarz und böse wie versprochen ist "Ramblack" aber leider nicht, obwohl schon deutlich dunkler als vieles andere. Besonders empfehlenswert sind die Songs "Forakt" mit Maniac (Skitliv, ex-Mayhem) als Gast-Sänger und "Ordo Infernal", da sie sich nicht ganz im sinnlosen Chaos ergehen, sondern wenigsten ein bisschen Spannung erzeugen. Somit ist "Ramblack" zwar ein gelungenes Release, das aber nicht den Erwartungen gerecht wird.

From Filth Forge: (by Simon V.)

  Following their decent but rather unimaginative debut CD, "Ramblack" brings back Swedish Deadwood in a more complex and convincing form. Daniel Jansson learnt the lesson of BDN and MZ.412 so well, that he's now trying to depart from the masters' model and go his own way: he seems to succeed with tracks like "Null And Void" or "Kadaverdisciplin", dark and oppressing as in the best Norse death industrial tradition, or with the paranoid "Forakt", featuring the horrendous whispering vocals of ex-Mayhem screamer Maniac. The most accomplished results, however, come with "Bloodcult", where the noise strata are able to achieve a level of symphonic grandeur, and the very Maschinenzimmer-like rhythms of "Ordo Infernal". This journey into the darkest regions of hell terminates with the cadaverous ambient miasma of "Akeldama".

  Undoubtedly, "Ramblack" is a fine death / black industrial album with little to envy to the classic Cold Meat Industry releases of the 90s' and, even without adding anything at all to the formula, thus risking to sound just like another copycat of the historical Swedish acts, Deadwood will surely satisfy the appetite of every MZ.412, BDN or Archon Satani faithful. The album is also available as a limited edition marbled brown vinyl LP, limited to 300 copies and featuring a different tracklist from the digital version.

From Hierophant Nox: (by Satanic Muttley)

  Genius is a word that’s grievously overused, but on this occasion it is justly awarded, and genuinely undersells what an epic and amazing project Deadwood is. It is (of course) the brainchild of Swedish extreme maestro Daniel Jansson (see also Keplers Odd/Blodulv, and Culted etc.), and is a blistering hybrid of black metal, death industrial, raw black noise and haunting, hypnotic black ambience. To call it unsettling, hard-going, and downright disturbing is to do the album a huge disservice; it’s sonically caustic, monumentally heavy, blisteringly savage, unrelentingly brutal… and to my mind is already a classic in its own right.

  It could (naturally enough) only have been released by the UK’s very own Justin Mitchell’s wondrous Cold Spring label (yes, I am unashamedly a huge fan), home to bands who specialise in all forms of extreme media, but particularly: black ambient, dark ambient, neoclassical, neofolk, medieval, martial, orchestral, power electronics, noise, Japanese noise, minimal, drone, doom, death industrial, dark soundtrack, experimental, and obscure electronics – so Deadwood – as you can clearly see - belong very firmly amongst the CS roster.

  In Daniel’s own words, the “Ramblack” album is “A project that focuses on the "darker" side of spiritualism, soul and psyche” and to be sure, it is a raw, heartfelt, mystical, and passionate sounding magnum opus. Lacking entirely any sense of melody or harmony, it is barren, disheartening, threatening, claustrophobic, overwhelmingly oppressive, and genuinely emotionally draining to experience in its primitive entirety. Trying to give you musical frames of reference is surprisingly difficult – I (personally) hear elements of Grey Wolves, Schloss Tegal, Brighter Death Now, and even Agalloch, but it’s a truly difficult release for which to draw comparisons.

  As an instrumental album it would more than hold its own, but add to the harshly morbid noise Daniel’s own ‘mechanical’, almost inhuman vocals and the overall effect is honestly terrifying, truly the stuff of sickest nightmares… it could scarcely get any darker. Then Daniel plays his “trump card” – a guest appearance by Maniac/Sven (Skitliv/ex – Mayhem), whose bestial shrieks during the masterful “Forakt” add yet a further evil dimension to proceedings; this truly is Hell on Earth!

  If you’re looking for a single album that will shock, disturb, chill and haunt you, “Ramblack” is your perfect choice of poison chalice. Each of the seven epic tracks draws you into its malicious impiety with cloying wicked ferocity. This release could well be the definitive soundtrack to the vision of Hell as imagined by poor deluded Christians every where, and Daniel Jansson should be commended for unleashing such a slab of unfettered evil onto an unsuspecting world. Simply brilliant! (95/100)

From Vital Weekly: (by NM)

  Swedish sound crusher Deadwood has left the cave, ready to attack the innocent listener with his symphonies of sickness. A couple of years ago Deadwood proved that Swedish power electronics-scene reached far beyond legendary Brighter Death Now with his debut-album "8/19". On his second effort titled "Ramblack", Deadwood continues his explorations into landscapes of sheer darkness and brutality. With a background as vocalist in black metal-band Blodulv, Deadwood knows how to make his voice sound like a chainsaw. Combined with the deep rumbles of power electronics, sounding like the loudspeakers burn from the inside, Deadwood manages to create dark atmospheres. No sweet melody on this one! This time Deadwood has joined forces with another master of the black metal-scene. Norwegian throat-grinder Maniac from legendary Mayhem guests with vocals on one of the seven pieces of the album, adding a more high pitched, yet just as evil vocal. Compared to the power electronics of aforementioned Brighter Death Now, the sound of Deadwood operates in deeper sound levels of crushing electronics resulting in almost drone-based expressions. With "Ramblack", Deadwood establish his position as a true master of contemporary hell.

From Chain D.L.K.: (by Mariano Equizzi)

  Deadwood is a master of dark noise menace, and he is also a master in creation of terrifying soundscape, he puts in right place every layer and the result is in the same time aggressive but not hysteric...is art is a good-to-hear-art-of-noise. Surely he works with very provocative icons of the underground and occult culture, another time he does it with Swedish elegance and competence. His technical set up reveals a deep knowledge of analogue and digital instruments and the field recording puts this artist of extreme sounds in the right light in terms of research and experimentation. I am keen to think that the art of noise is an art linked with the reality around us, in many sense it is a scientific psycho-research of the dark side of sounds. Another thing I like so much in this work is the use of voice filtered by microphones, it is really scaring and demoniac, he seems to be possessed by demons. The carpets he uses in the tracks are well built and there is no sense of dejà vu hearing the whole work. It is a perfect work to give sound to horror feature, I think that horror directors have to consider it seriously, the panorama he created is something so bad but well thought, Deadwood is a cinematographic artist in the sense of sound creation for movies and images. My favorite track? The seventh, it's really thrilling and subtle a perfect probing inside the hell of death noise after the fall of demons. (4.5/5)

From Gothtronic: (by Fabian)

  Deadwood, not to be mistaken with Darkwood, had a great success a couple of years ago with their debut album ‘8 19’, also on Cold Spring. I have to say I wasn’t as impressed the first time I listened to it, but that album really grew on me and I did appreciate the extremely dark sound. Now they are back with their second offering.

  The album starts with the extremely dark ‘Deteriorate’. This is mostly a black ambient track with some unnerving screeching sounds. The dark mood is set instantly. The second track, ‘Null and Void’, starts of with a short sample, before all the dark industrial mayhem is starting. Hard and distorted vocals over harsh power electronics. There is also use of distorted guitars. The whole album is made up of extremely sick and disturbing atmospheres. If you want to know what Hell sounds like, this album is it; the sounds of Hell in its truest form, which climaxes with the brilliant ‘Ordo Infernal’. All is harsh and evil, with only the last track to breathe a little, though no less dark.

  Where the former album was a combination between black ambient and power electronic tracks, it jumped between those two, this new album feels more coherent. The album starts and ends with black ambient, but the rest of the songs are all harsh and sick industrial mayhem. This is recommended to fans of MZ.412 and lovers of power electronics, post-industrial or just extremely dark music. Essential!

From Rock-A-Rolla: (by John S)

  When it comes to depraved ambient noise, no one does it better than the Scandinavians. True to Cold Spring form, this slice of pitch-black Death Electronics / abstract BM from the Swedish noisemonger Daniel Jansson is utterly bleak and depressing. Former Mayhem vocalist [Maniac], currently of labelmates Skitliv, pops up for a guest spot and, impossibly, things get even nastier. Somewhere out there in the cold, dark forests of Sweden and Norway hides a terrifying inspiration for these demented recordings - looks like Deadwood have stumbled upon it with a vengeance.

From Industrialized Metal: (by Gerardo)

  What do we have here; another band from Scandivania. Well, band... Deadwood is a Swedish one man project existing since 2003. Various stuff was already released on various labels before the release of the 'Ramblack' album in 2008. According to the biography, the aim is to 'to satisfy my lust for raw and filthy black Industrial music', and we shouldn't have any different expectations for this new album as: 'nothing less than pure fucking darkness!'. Also worth mentioning, this album contains of seven tracks, of which the one standing in the middle features guest vocals by Maniac (Mayhem).

  Deadwood doesn't offer you stuff you hear every day. The music is mostly ambient based, mixed with sick noise, dark electro, even a little wave and lots of atmosphere and melancholy. Within all of this, there's surprisingly some variation hidden. 'Deteriorate' is more slow and "gentle", while 'Null And Void' is extremely distorted and sick. 'Null And Void' gets a bit less noisy near the end, to catapult the next track, 'Kadaverdisciplin', straight into a black hole. It switches from disturbing industrial passages to slow and dark ambient, while in the meantime beeing heavely distorted. 'Forakt' is the track including Maniac on guest vocals and musical abuses, which isn't a change in the plan at all. The track overall is very dark ambient, with schizophrenic vocal lines and slightly added guitars. 'Bloodcult' opens more "gentle" and "accessable" (like 'Deteriorate'), as farm as those terms really fit the music, to explode into an outburst of pure sickness. 'Ordo Infernal' is more of a schizophrenic track, mixing weird vocal passages with dark ambient "tunes" and a few harsh noise elements. The release ends with 'Akeldama', which is a surprising end of the release with it's easy going ambient tunes. Overall this album shows a different path though. No metal, no industrial - just insane noise! And to think that the shortest track is already five and a half minutes...

  'Ramblack' offers you stuff that will crush the weaker soul with ease. If you consider yourself not one of them, and have the nerves to give it a shot - be my guest, but don't hold me responsible for anything! This stuff is dark... very, very dark... darker than the darkest spot deep within the ass of a dark raven in the Black Forest.

From Darkroom: (by Michele Viali)

  La tradizione del black industrial sembra essere ancora in vita, e a rinverdire i fasti del verbo più nero ci pensa ancora una volta un nome svedese: Daniel Jansson, che dà finalmente un seguito a "8 19", primo album pubblicato a nome Deadwood nel 2005, sempre per i tipi della Cold Spring. "Ramblack" consta di sette tracce in cui non filtra luce: l'elettronica moderna (i computer e le registrazioni dirette) si fonde a quella più datata (i sintetizzatori e le pedaliere), nonché agli strumenti (chitarra e basso), per dare vita a muri sonori impenetrabili e compatti su cui si ergono i grugniti di ciò che può solo sembrare una voce. Deadwood continua a porsi sulla scia di nomi chiave come Brighter Death Now ed MZ 412, ma fornisce a tratti atmosfere più caliginose e sporche da cui si sprigiona una ferocia sonora che stordisce, fatta di rumori che trasformano il buio in formato audio, toccando sia momenti di aggressività ferina (in "Bloodcult" e Ordo Infernal") che passaggi maggiormente pacati ("Akeldama"). Come evidenziato nell'album precedente, anche in questo nuovo capitolo rimane in evidenza una certa connessione con il black metal più scabro e minimale, sia nelle partiture vocali che nell'oscurità sonora, e non è un caso che l'ex-Mayhem Maniac presti la propria malata voce al brano "Forakt", di cui è anche autore del testo e interprete dei ruvidi riff di chitarra. "Ramblack" segna le nuove coordinate di un sottogenere che sembrava estinto sul nascere, ma mostra anche la raggiunta maturità stilistica di Jansson, in grado ora di strutturare un album più deciso e meno casuale rispetto all'esordio. La Cold Spring, da sempre interessata sia al black metal che all'elettronica più cupa, ha approntato anche un'edizione in vinile colorato limitata a sole 300 copie, contenente quattro brani del CD più una lunga bonus-track: ottimo modo per celebrare un progetto originale e di tutto rispetto.

From Dagheisha: (by Roberto Michieletto)

  “All tracks composed, deconstructed, decimated, recorded and utterly perverted by Daniel Jansson at Nekropolitan Studios during the putrid era of 2006-2008”. E una simile introduzione/presentazione (concepita dallo stesso autore) ci permette di comprendere molto più di quanto innumerevoli parole sarebbero in grado di fare, poiché ci mette al cospetto di quella che è la realtà entro cui si muove Deadwood, creatura svedese che opera nella pura misantropia nichilista. Il che si traduce in una forma sonora dove la materia industriale tendente al noise elettronico incontra le più tetre e inesplorabili materializzazioni di suoni provenienti dall’emisfero black, che qui vengono traslate in contesti ambientali e drone, al fine di produrre la più perversa coniugazione malevola riconducibile a quanto fatto in passato da MZ.412. Meglio nelle tracce in cui sono le molteplici stratificazioni rumorose, magari anche supportate dalla voce di Maniac (Skitliv e Mayhem), a prevalere e a costruire un reale contesto di ruvida devastazione strisciante messa in atto al buio delle tenebre, rispetto ai brani dove Deadwood sceglie di muoversi nel sottosuolo, poiché così non sempre riesce a imporre la propria cruda arte di procreazione assistita di sick sounds e risultare pienamente efficace negli intenti deviati.

From Alternativmusik: (by Marius Meyer)

   Cold Spring ist ein wirklich vielseitiges Label. Das hat die Vergangenheit schon oft gezeigt: Da tritt Folk der harmonischsten Prägung immer wieder neben harschen Industrial und Klänge, die die Grenze des Ertragbaren für Otto-Normal-Konsumenten längst überschreiten. Diese Kontraste treten auch gerne direkt nebeneinander, wie die jüngste Lieferung des Labels zeigen konnte: War mit The Triple Tree ein recht harmonisches Werk dabei, so lag mit Deadwood das genaue Gegenteil direkt obendrauf. Wer bei einem Bandnamen mit –wood durch implizierte Naturverbundenheit an Folk denkt, ist hier in der Tat auf dem Holzweg, denn hier begegnet Noise der harschen Sorte mit Einflüssen aus dunklem Ambient.

  “True Death Electronics. The soundtrack to your end.” So titelt es der offizielle Text des Labels in Zusammenhang mit dieser CD – dazu der Vermerk, dass es Gast-Vocals der norwegischen Black Metal-Legende Maniac gibt (Skitliv, Mayhem). Damit ist beinah schon alles über diese CD gesagt: Langsame elektronische Collagen gibt es hier, die durch rauschende Frequenzen, repetetive Elemente, konsequentes Dröhnen und bis zur Unkenntlichkeit verzerrte Stimmen, die trotzdem noch geschrien werden, die Nerven das Hörer aufs Äußerste zu strapazieren versuchen. Songstruktur? Fehlanzeige. Zwar erkennt man den Anfang und das Ende, was dazwischen passiert, entzieht sich aber einer wirklichen Strukturierung. Stattdessen gehen die Songschichten ineinander über, entwickeln sich langsam und führen unbemerkt von einer zur anderen. Hierin und in dem teilweise monotonen Dröhnen, das sich im Hintergrund vernehmen lässt, besteht der Einfluss des Ambients – ansonsten ist die CD eine eindeutige Industrial-CD, bei der die Schwelle zum Noise konstant überschritten wird.

  Eine typische Veröffentlichung dieses Genres, wenn man so will. Und wohl auch eine gute, soweit sich das beurteilen lässt. Das aber soll am besten die dazugehörige Zielgruppe entscheiden – an dieser Stelle lässt sich vor allem konstatieren, dass es sich um eine interessante Noise-/Industrial-Veröffentlichung handelt, die auch für diejenigen Metal-Fans interessant sein könnte, die sich in den nicht ganz so harmonischen Gefilden des Genres wohlfühlen. Für alle potenziellen Hörer vorausgesetzt: Ein starkes Nervenkostüm!