M!R!M - Heaven

Initially started as a duo, M!R!M is now the solo project of Iacopo Bertelli, an Italian living in London. Last year saw the release of his debut album Heaven, which comes of like a superb fusion of effect-driven guitars and cold, cold, cold synthezisers. This album really strikes a note with me and seems to become better on a day to day basis.

Heaven has got an overall gloomy and eerie atmosphere to it. The synthezisers creates a cold and alarming feel, and it could very well have been included on the soundtracks to sci-fi classics such as Alien and Blade Runner. Especially the latter seems to make much sense, as there's some serious melancholic moods taking place on this album. Imagine a mixture of the aforementioned soundtracks and a project like Tropic of Cancer, and you get the idea. Somewhere in between these synths lies the effect-driven guitar sounds, reminiscent of early The Jesus and Mary Chain. In fact these guitars are so bathed in effects that it's sometimes hard to distinquish them from the synths. On a track like Sodoma, it almost sounds like it's a chainsaw making the noise, but since Bertelli isn't Frank Tovey I will have to assume he's not that crazy.

This is a quality album and should appeal to everyone who loves stuff like Tropic of Cancer, The Soft Moon, My Bloody Valentine, The Jesus and Mary Chain and those haunting sci-fi soundtracks of the eighties.