Like its predecessor, 2 is based on elements that Stephen O'Malley (Sunn O)))) and Peter Rehberg (Pita) created as a score to the Kindertotenlieder theater piece by Gisele Vienne and Dennis Cooper, but stands on its own as a coherent work. The disc does not represent a new piece as much as a companion piece to the first, based on the same recording sessions from 2006-2007.
O'Malley and Rehberg have created another installment of genre crossing experimentation that definitely meets the requirement of "dark." The material shows its pedigree well, with neither artist dominating the other sound-wise: O'Malley's slow motion riffing is augmented nicely with Rehberg's laptop electronics. Opener "Game" and ending piece "Snow 2" bookend the work well, the former being a heavy low-end drone that begins near inaudible and builds greatly in volume and dynamics by the end, while the latter sounds like extremely lo-fi guitar parts recorded deep within a dungeon, mingling with the electronics that end up closing the disc with a film score flair. The sprawling middle tracks differ more widely from each other.
"Theme" begins with a slow, simple kick drum pulse, slathered in reverb as synth tones and loops of what sound like harpsichord begin to build in volume until it dominates the mix like a swarm of angry insects that create the most violent organ tones this side of "Sister Ray." It makes for a dark, bleak, evil variant of psychedelia that's not too distant from the acid influenced electronics of C.C.C.C. "Abattoir," on the other hand, is built more like a Sunn O))) track with all sustained monolith riffs, but in this context it sounds like it is being blasted from a loudspeaker in a deep, dark forest.
Stephen O'Malley has been quoted as saying that the KTL project represents a new form of black metal, and it's a pretty accurate depiction. The material does feature that dark, evil atmosphere, but thankfully without the trappings of cookie monster vocals, corpse paint and battle axes. However, it may be closer, both in sonics and spirit, to the mid 1990s ambient offshoot isolationism, helmed by the likes of Lull, Final, and especially the (sub)genre defining Heresy by Lustmord. 2 is not a work with major crossover appeal, but fans of the black metal scene as well as the experimental electronics scene will enjoy this.
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