Lustmord : The Place Where The Black Stars Hang
The last of the Lustmord series reviews the seminal “The Place Where The Black Stars Hang” album.
This album, in short, is the definitive masterpiece, of Lustmord’s career. Without a doubt. While this may be a bold statement, given the very high quality of the majority of Brian William’s work (as well as the many notable artists and musicians he has influenced over his career), “Where The Black Stars Hang” has many facets to it which propel it higher than his previous work. It is amazing to believe that this album arrived a mere two years after “This Monstrous Soul”. While that particular album was good, it was created specifically in order to create a pre-determined mood, thus repetition and consistency were noticeably present throughout the album (to both positive and negative effect). “The Black Stars…”, on the other hand, is a work of incredible dense complexity, almost three-dimensional in nature. No longer content to create auditory scenes of subterranean hells or horror-filled alleyways, “The Black Stars…” is a masterpiece of synthetic soundscapes which vividly portray the cold void of space. It is difficult to describe the sounds which inhabit this album, as there are very few points of reference available. On occasion, more earthly sounds, such as extended human-esque vocal notes can be heard, but they (paradoxically) only further serve the alienating quality of the music (most notable on the track “Metastatic Resonance”). Another amazing feat the album manages is that, taken together, the album is a single 75 minute song, with many different movements and moods (though many of the themes overlap and reappear in various permutations over time). Basically, if you are in any way shape or form interested in electronica, dark ambient, and/or experimental music, this is a MUST OWN CD. It truly is a landmark in the genre, which has yet to be imitated or surpassed.
NOTE: This review covers the 1994 edition, and not the 2006 version, which was heavily remastered.
John Lithium 
Excellent review; I completely agree. This album is beyond words. I never get tired of it and it reminds me of why I love music. What I want from music is for it to move me and take me places in my mind that I could never go otherwise. And this album certainly does both. It’s not that I don’t like rock and roll, but this album demonstrates why I’m so into music like this.It’s a shame Brian Williams isn’t more well known.
While he might not be very well known within ‘traditional music circles’, it is unarguable that he is one of the most well known dark ambient musicians ever. It is also somewhat unfortunate, that his incredible originality has (much like H.P. Lovecraft) inspired a huge amount of imitators (some sincere, while many others merely slavishly mimicking).